Saw this on another forum and know there is a lot of interest in this particular model.

Honda press release from Sept. 3, 2020: "The 2021 Honda Trail 125 is scheduled for release in November and will be available in Glowing Red. The MSRP is $3,899."

Press Release Link

Features and general info about the bike link



Before anybody whines, yes, it's expensive for what it is but I suspect hot cake sales will still see serious competition...

Hmmmm.

Friggin street tires....

Step-through frame makes it a metrosexual motorcycle, what's wrong with using a traditional frame/gas tank??

Nice scooter.

I've got a 70 from the late 1970s stored in a shed. Looks very similar to that.

How much for a set of knobbies?

From the link about specs:


They don't look very "knobby" to me. Maybe this is the Millenial version of a knobby tire?

So today's modern young man can ride it...

An awful lot of non-modern young men, and older men, rode them back in the 70's.

Some still have them and refuse to let them go for less than more than I'm willing to pay.

The old ones would go many many places and if the new ones work as well, I expect they could get a hunter into a whole lot of places. And pack a bit of weight out a lot longer distance than just on foot.

That's normal / traditional for the "toilet seat" (Trail) 90, 110, etc. My grandfather had one from the 70s that I inherited. They're not a dirt bike in the traditional sense. Dang useful though.

Tom

Had a trail 90 back in the mid 60s. It was a lot of fun out on the farm.

This and the street version are the biggest selling motorcycles ever. Over 100,000,000 - one hundred million - have been produced.

Was just reading more links from the first story and it appears a dealer in Boise, ID was responsible for the first trail series.

"In 1960, the efforts of a Honda motorcycle dealer in Boise, Idaho, came to the attention of Jack McCormack, the sales manager at the 1-year old American Honda Motor Co. As told by Aaron P. Frank in his book, Honda Motorcycles, McCormack had noticed the sales of the popular step-through Honda 50 were off the charts in an area known more for its surrounding rugged mountain terrain than an urban core. He contacted the owner, Herb Uhl, seeking an explanation.

“He told me how he was selling them as a trail bike, putting a cheater sprocket on the back and some knobby tires,” McCormack told Frank. Uhl sent one of his converted Honda 50s down to California for McCormack to inspect.

“It was a brilliant little machine,” McCormack said. “It worked so well because it was light, and with the automatic clutch you could climb logs. To do that on a big bike, you had to have a certain amount of skill. I saw lots of possibility for something like Herb was doing, selling it as a bike that you could go in the woods and hunt or fish with.”

I think they’re going to sell a lot of them.

Ive always wanted a Yamaha TW200 for hunting, but maybe this Honda would work as well with better tires.

This guy in the youtube vid below has a nice trailer for hauling out elk with his TW200..


Watch "TW200 Elk 2" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/HvK9NqrT_Vg

The 90's and 110's go for serious coin here, posties still use them.

Correction, mine is a 90.

I have an ‘81 ct110
This was the first bike I ever rode. Although it was probably an early 70’s model
Been on a bike ever since

Yep. I remember that when we lived outside Brisbane.

The American version will have knobby tires, but no mention of low-range. Damn it!

That's really bugging me, too. Apparently the US version is branded as the "Trail 125" and the rest of the world gets the "CT 125". There is a picture of the CT 125 that shows the obvious dual range transmission but as you note there is zero mention of that in any of the Honda blurbs or anything else I can find online for the American version. The pictures of the left side of the Trail 125 aren't detailed enough to show anything.



Added: Just found it - they don't have the dual range transmissions, just a larger rear sprocket. Big mistake, really big mistake. Hopefully they will realize that and correct it.

"One disappointment is that Honda hasn’t adopted the secondary, selectable low-range gear that was a hallmark of the original Trail models, effectively giving them an eight-speed transmission."

https://www.cycleworld.com/story/motorcycle-news/2021-honda-trail-125-coming-to-us/

Wasn't this named the "Hunter Cub" ?

That is cool. The tw, especially the 350 has always been on my list.

I wouldnt mind this little honda for on the property though.

The 90's and 110's got quite a following for putting around the mountains. Should be a great little bike.

Fuel injected too, which is always nice

I was mainly looking for an on road/ offroad trail bike like the Yamaha TW200, or XT 225 or 250 so I could use it anywhere you could take a 4WD hunting vehicle. I don't think there are as many trail restrictions for street legal trail bikes as there are for straight dirt bikes...Not sure if you could pull a trailer like the guy in the vid has with all trail bikes though...

Might be fun for an old man to putt around on.
Like me. 🤠

Wonder what the top speed is ? They need a camo version.

Wish there was a bike rack of sorts to carry it on my back bumper.

I still wouldn't mind a BW350 ( like I could find one locally). We are close to sand dunes and decent trails. Not to mention our property.

https://www.smartcycleguide.com/motorcycles-for-sale/honda-trail-90

check out some of the prices.

Will a post-apocalyptic zombie killer version do?

I’d get a ramp and haul it in the back of my pickup. 🤠

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bumper+rack+for+small+motorcycle&t=ffsb&ia=web

LOL. That’d do !

Watched a couple videos and top speed is around 65 mph.

That’s plenty fast. Bout what I figured. The old Trail 70 I had as a kid would do 50 mph.

I am familiar with the bikes, I was growing up during that time. My comment, made in jest, was to imply that today's young man was also included. You know, the real rugged type so often seen.

In the 1970's, the sneaky trick was to bore out a Trail 90 cylinder and run a 125 piston. The stock 90's couldn't even get close.

It would be sweet if the Big 4 dirt bike manufacturers brought back the Fat Tire dirt bikes like the BW350...Seems like they got killed off just because of the scare over 3 wheelers being dangerous and they had big tires like the 3 wheeler...Only ones I have found being made now are made by Pitster Pro. The biggest one they make is a 190cc...I would think if they made a bigger Fat Tire dirt bike they could find a big niche with hunters because they would be cheaper than 4 wheelers, and actually maybe not as dangerous as 4 wheelers...

Get ready to give your checkbook CPR- - - - - -

https://www.rokon.com/bikes/trail-breaker

LOL!

Got it. Humor.

For those of us on the slow end, perhaps an informative image of "today's young man" might help with the picture you were trying to draw?

Is this along the lines of what you were alluding to?

The Hunter Cub was supposed to have a dual range trans. Not sure if Honda dropped the idea or if the dual range trans will follow in another model.
There will be a line a mile long to buy either model. The RV people will love tossing one on the back of their RV or inside the truck bed.

Yeah one of those red scoters would be nice. I haven't stayed up on the pricing. Could be a lot of money for a toy of some sorts.
My wife and I have been talking about a Jeep. We use to have a Jeep or two when we were younger.

Ive got a 2013 Trailbreaker, a grail item from watching Mutual of Omahas wild kingdom in the 60's. Fugger will go anywhere just not fast. It's a specific tool where my Grizzley 700 or my Teryx can't get me.

That said I'll probably get two for the wife and I just because I have such fond memories of cruising the neighborhoods in San Jose with my great uncle and aunt back in the 60's.

Deflave has one of those.

I lost a Honda 90 3 wheeler that broke down about 45 years ago after dark.

Took me 3 days to find it and it was Red.

The absolute last thing I want in the woods is anything that blends into the woods and is hard to see and cost thousands of dollars !!

If I was to use one today I would want it to glow in the dark and have an alarm so I could push a button and it would go off and be found easily if it was lost anywhere !!

Don't have to be camo to be used hunting,I have had deer walk up on me while I was sitting on a running atv.
Killed deer that walked up on me while I had a fire going,Cutting wood with a chainsaw etc.

I have had squirrels all around me while I was wearing blaze orange and deer hunting .even walking through the woods.

Camo is way overated for hunting and has created a helluva money making industry for the makers of camo clothing by convincing hunters that they have to be camo clad to be successful, but as far as hunting critters goes it is not really needed in my view.

fail

If they are like the old Trail 90s, they will last forever if they are taken care of even a little.

Found this nice one on CL...$3500. Crazy.

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/mcy/d/saint-paul-1972-honda-trail-90-exlnt/7188614169.html

Yeah, postie bikes do seem to go for pretty ridiculous money here. You can't buy them new either, only ex-Australia Post, though at one time there was a version of the CT110 sold for farm/agricultural use (CT110AG), and road-registerable, which had a dual range transmission among other things. They were not a bad little jigger either.

I just looked it up, and it seems that Honda is going to be selling this CT125 to the public here in Oz, but at a MSRP of $6999 AUD. Nearly three times the price of a new CB125, and dearer than a lot of bikes with bigger engines and more capability. They're dreamin'

Lmao. $4k for a kids bike. Easy pass.

As have I. Once had a doe walk with in 10 feet of me while I was taking a dump off the bumper of my bright red F-350 Diesel pickup. It was running with the stereo blasting.

I just meant the Camo versions would sell like hot cakes.

I was gonna same something similar, very similar to the way the looked in the late ‘60’s! memtb

The 2 speed made the Trail 90 and even then is was way underpowered for packing game. We talked about this a while back and someone said this one has a 2 speed but Honda says it doesn't. Without that, it's useless in the hills.

There was a picture of the CT125 a few months ago which clearly showed a dual range selector lever. The CT 125 is what Japan and Thailand and I think Australia is getting while the version Honda is importing to America is branded the Trail 125 and doesn't have the dual range, just a bigger rear sprocket. At least that's the latest news I can glean off the net, most of the bigger cycle websites have some kind of announcement about it. Could be that picture was a pre-production model and none of them have that, there isn't a whole lot of info about that.

Supposedly this new one doesn't need a dual range since it has a lot more low end and mid range power than the older ones. At 8 ft/lbs of torque I guess "lot" is relative. Still, that dual range was a big selling point for the earlier ones.

Either way they're still going to sell a big pile of them.

This is from Cycleworld:

In 1965 we got a new Honda Trail 90 for $378.

I was 14 and paid for 1/4 of it.
My brother was 12 and paid 1/4.
My father was 44 and paid 1/2.

In 1984 I bought a Honda trail 90. It had overhead cam and quick trail gear change.


2021 TRAIL 125 ABS
BASE MSRP: $3,899 Tooltip Asterik

+Destination Charge: $190.00

Expensive like it is not made in China with old Honda drawings... must be made in Japan.

That’s a deal breaker for me.

A friend of mine had a Trail 70 when we were kids. He wrecked it with me on the back one day and I had a burn scar from the muffler cover on my right calf for a couple years. 3 or 4 vents and a Phillips screw head.
I saw these at the Mecum auction in Harrisburg, PA last year and it brought back some good memories.

Mine was red. Great childhood memories!!!

:

All they're doing is making the old ones (with a dual range transmission) more valuable...

To bad they decided to cut this corner. For me this lessens it's appeal.

One of the fellas at work rides a 110 to work each day, a couple of other fellows ride harleys...the 110 is more interesting and gets more conversation time.

Oh yea I am sure they would sell
Funny story about the doe walking up on you !

I’m going to wait until they arrive at my dealership and see what is true and what isn’t.

I look forward to swapping the Michelin T63 knobbies on my KLR for Shinko 705's, the buzz on the highway is annoying and the Shinko's will be fine for everything short of mud bogs.

I wanna know what all these old bastards are wanting to do with the low gear.

LOL

Slow ride next to their Rascal driving wives.

No Rascal for MY wife, she has to walk and keep the dogs in shape. And herself too.

That low gear would be to haul my old ass up to the hunting spot so I could climb the hill on foot. Makes no sense to use the moto to get to the top, one would just have to climb back up the hill to get it to ride down. Might as well climb while fresh and cruise down, no?

Honda came to America in the early sixties. I wanted one real bad. Folks wouldn’t allow it. God bless them!!!

TW 200.

Climbing very steep stuff around trees and rocks where there is no trail and motorcycles shouldn't really be. 90s and 110s were the only thing that could haul a decent load to remote places where there are no roads other than snow machines in winter. Yes a good pack horse will work fine, if you want to own a pack horse. You are welcome, punk.

I loved my uncle's Tote Gote when I was kid. At least I think that's who owned it. I'd run one now if I had one, especially a 6 HP one

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tote_Gote

Given that high price tag for a new one, now might be the time to off load my hardly used CT110. The main advantage of the Honda CT is that it is street legal and doesn’t stall with that automatic clutch. Pretty much just a replacement for legs without great suspension and too narrow a rear tire. That low range is good for picking your way along in a tight woods, but you had better have a good trail. A Rokon is better in the woods, but not street legal.

Speed limit in the 55+ RV Resorts is only 10 MPH.

. Go slow, what else! Why ask rhetorical questions?

Go somewhere other than boring flatlands.

Jim in Idaho: I owned not one but three "Honda Trail 90's over the years. I also owned a nifty little Tote Gote for several years.
Used them to get quickly into remote places to Hunt Big Game and Grouse and for fishing.
Extremely useful "tools"!
The quietness of the Trail 90's did serve me well on some high country Elk Hunts also.
There is a lot to like about a reliable, quiet, fuel efficient, light weight, trail bike that you can strap some game and some gear to!
I think I will be a "playah" for one of these myself!
I wish "Big Green" (Remington) had half the brains/common sense as "Big Red" (Honda!)!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

If you don’t need the higher speed the low range helps to lock in the automatic clutch quicker and offers more torque with less throttle. It comes in handy at times. The old lady’s ass ain’t gettin any smaller.

What attributes would make this better than a Honda Rancher. Price is same for a used one.

You can go between trees that are Just two feet apart.

Yeah, not happening.

Probably why they come with street tires. Stop kidding yourselves.



Plus....my TW200 would embarrass it.

Jim Conrad: The original Honda Trail 90's weighed right at 100 pounds LESS than the current Yamaha TW200's!
That comes in handy when moving the bike on and off its transport to be put into use and when maneuvering in trail-less difficult terrain with an Elk quarter on the cargo platform.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Or pull them under fences, lift them over logs... yeah, that stuff
Used to rig up a tire chain for them back in the day. That woke them up!

You guys are killing me.

The trail 125 is a fun neighborhood bike, but it damn sure isn’t a real trail bike.

A CRF 125 weighs 50 pounds less, cost $700 less, has 2” lower seat height....and is about 10x as capable for actual trail riding.

I get the retro appeal gentlemen, but for function technology is well beyond this “new” machine.

Dave

p.s. I ride a Beta 300 personally, but at 48 my best riding years are behind me and I’ll be moving backwards in machine soon enough. When I do, it’ll be to a 125 of some variety.

Buzzkill.

Hahaha... guilty. That was a bit douchy of me. I hunt with a pre-64, so I should confess I rarely follow my own advice.

Yes, if someone wants a real off road motorcycle there are literally dozens and dozens of them out there that would outclass the Trail 125 for 100% off road riding. But a CRF125 isn't street legal and has no built in ability to carry anything. If you want to go dual sport you need to go up to a CRF250L which is more expensive, a lot taller and a lot heavier and still doesn't have any built in cargo capability. Other makers have decent dual sports but most of them are 80% off road with some provisions for street riding. The Yamaha XT250 is like the Honda 250 - taller, heavier and more expensive.

Then you get into the adventure bikes and such with 400cc or even 650cc engines. Great for touring on paved and dirt roads if you want to go long distances and carry a lot of gear. Not so great to carry around unless you put them in the back of a pickup.

The TW200 is an excellent little dual sport with decent to good on road capability. I had one briefly, and it has a very low first gear for hauling - you switch into second at 5 mph or it's screaming at 10. Top speed is about 55 to 60 mph. it might go faster but I wasn't real comfortable on it at that speed. With a cargo rack they're very versatile - you still need to buy an aftermarket cargo rack - but I'd see them as the biggest competitor to the Trail 125 for a country work horse that can legally travel on the street.

The old Trail 90 and 110 had a definite niche utility even though they were easily outclassed by larger street or off road machines if you want to go bombing through the countryside. But sometimes you don't need that, you just want something that will putt putt along, easy to ride and bullet proof if given even a little maintenance. Or not. They were definitely the RV'ers or car camper's friend. The handlebars turned 90 degrees to make them easy to carry in a rack behind a four wheel vehicle and their light weight made them easy to handle, load and unload from a rack, and they really would pull well over their weight class.

The new 125 without the dual range and without folding handlebars loses some of that utility but they're still smaller, dual sport motorcycles - more on road with the ability to go off road - that will be easy to ride and maintain and can carry a load. I'm really looking forward to seeing one in person.

Uhhh, OK.

What about the low gear?

(possibly)

I'm sure the 125 has its place somewhere, but I'll stick with this one.

Another deal that made the older Honda trails unique and handy at times was the automatic clutch. In low range you could walk beside of it and go from starts and stops with just one hand on the handle bars while stabilizing the bike and load with the other. They really were sort of in the utility vehicle realm in their own way. Kind of like a burro lol
My dad had one, I always rode bad ass trail bikes.

A new front sprocket on about any bike made runs about $15 for anyone that wants lower gears.

A bike doesn’t need a built in rack to carry stuff btw. That’s what a pack is for. Here is my son when he was 12 packing a quarter form the first elk he killed. He was 12 in this photo and riding a CRF100.

Dave

I'm looking forward to the second year production models (after Honda realizes they screwed up by not including low range and rectifies their error).

i had a brother in law in early 60's that bought a honda super cub. fairing came off easily enough, and a larger sprocket on the back it converted into a trail machine. I also had a tote goat.
later several trail 90's.
and i have in various states of repair three or four of the trail bikes waiting to get rebuilt.

Kudos to your boy Dave.

one drawback to a pack load on your back..............raises the center of gravity. I can remember delivering papers and I'm sure glad I had a rack. 50 papers in those bags over my shoulders was no fun on the few times I had to walk the routed, and sure would have made me less stable jumping curbs and stuff on the old paper bike. I've always loved a good rack (pun intended)

Don't think I've seen anyone address a benefit of the step thru design either. I've had one knee replaced, have arthritis all through my lower back along with a couple of bulged discs and I'm sure it would be much easier to mount up on the step thru bikes.

Thanks for the kind words about my boy. He’s turned into an elk-killing machine in the last few years, and he’s a damn fine young man (18 now).

The center of gravity isn’t all that tough to overcome. You just relax the shoulder straps enough to let the quarter rest on the seat if it really bothers a fellow. Sternum strap and waist belt stay tight of course. Having said that, my kid was able to overcome the issue at 12.

To each their own of course, but I’ve had more than a little success incorporating bikes into the equation and started clearing trails in the wilds of Idaho off of a dirt-bike as a job when I was 18.

Great photos iddave

Your boy has good taste! Ive carried a truckload of moose meat out of the woods with one of those Bullpacs!

Thanks bud. He’s a great kid. I just spent this last weekend scouting with him in fact.

Here he is last fall with his third bull with an OTC tag on public land. We hunted on foot, but packed this bull a large part of the way back with our bikes fwtw.

Dave

p.s. forgive me for bragging him up a bit too much. I’m just an extremely proud dad.

Ditto

These things even work in the snow!

A trip the boy and I made this last winter. Last one I’ll make you guys suffer through I swear...

Jeez, he inherited your "smile" too

About larger rear sprockets...in the 70's, I had a 175 Yamaha Enduro. I wanted a larger rear for off road but I rode it to work and needed the stock sprocket. Someone told me about an easy quick change conversion.
At that time, you could get a larger sprocket with a center hole that was made to fit exactly over the stock one. It had 4 notches to put 4 bolts between the teeth of the stock sprocket to hold it in place. I don't remember tooth counts, but it added about 2" to the outside diameter. Of course you had to drop the rear wheel to put it on. This conversion avoided that. You could put it on by just breaking the chain.
I drew a line straight across it, crossing the center as close as possible. I drilled holes on both sides of the line to match the pins in a chain link, 2 links on each side. Then I cut the sprocket in half. To install it, put the 2 halves over the stock sprocket and insert 4 chain links through the holes. Then put in the 4 bolts through the teeth as it was designed to have. Add the necessary extra chain and tighten it. Once it's set up, installing it took about 15 min and it worked perfectly. It wasn't balanced enough for high speed but for off road it was great.

I wore the tires off the two trail 70's my Dad bought cheap when I was a young buck. Tried to keep up with motocrossing buddies on Elsinores and Bultacos. That was how I learned about the Honda trail 70 handlebar death wobble.

Not fun, I still carry the scars.

Most of these old bastards never knew the 90 had a two speed.

Probably never knew they had a helmet latch either.....

I have both.

Also...I never needed to transport a bike anywhere.

Helmet?

in the 70's?

Huh?

Like Evel's helmet......but no stars.