AMERICANS: Would you buy a 125cc motorcycle for the street?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

I would find the reserve you speak of, too little, especially on the interstates here where cars go 80 to 100MPH.

Overspeeding is not so uncommon here too, but my main concern would be the big rigs due to their poor braking performance.

[woodsrat]

With all this obsession over the ability to get down the Interstate here's something to think about...

There is approximately 4,071,000 miles of road in the United States, of which 2,678,000 are paved leaving 1,394,000 unpaved.

Of the paved roads only 46,876 are Interstate leaving 2,631,124 miles of non-interstate paved roads. While there are many non-interstate two and four lane roads out there where you need to be able to run at a pretty good clip I'd venture to bet that the vast majority of the non-Interstate roads are perfectly suited for 125cc use.

The non-paved roads, on a lightweight bike, open up all kinds of possibilities as well.

The bottom line here and my point is that by slightly adjusting your routes you can go about anywhere you want on a small bore motorcycle. I've been doing it the last five years and you can, too.

So many roads, so little time. Get out there and RIDE...

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

That's definitely a good point.

[jkv357]

Originally Posted by JSH

The Himalayan has been tested. It has been sold in the Indian market since 2016. It was so unreliable that Royal Enfield shut down the production line for a couple of months in 2017 to try to fix the issues. The model for sale in the USA is claimed to be new and improved but that is yet to be seen.

Speaking of -

https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/r...efault&src=syn

[JSH]

Originally Posted by jkv357

Speaking of -

https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/r...efault&src=syn

I'm not impressed. The fact that Royal Enfield has resorted to setting up an inspection location in the USA only confirms that they are not getting good quality out of the factory.

[Grant-53]

Consider the bike routes on Google Map

[woodsrat]

Another smallbore enters the U. S. market--and it's a runner:

2018 Benelli TnT135 Review - First Ride - Motorcycle.com

That makes five in the "Grom" market (12" wheels) and obviously importers see a market here.

At $2499 it's a helluva buy and has much, much better suspension than either the Grom or Z125. It has a five speed tranny, too and acccording to the review will easily run 70 MPH--meaning real-world cruising at 55 will be a piece of cake.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by woodsrat

The bottom line here and my point is that by slightly adjusting your routes you can go about anywhere you want on a small bore motorcycle. I've been doing it the last five years and you can, too.

Yeah, but why should we want that?

Is it that much more expensive to put a 250cc engine in a motorcycle instead of a 125? I mean, you need the same number of parts for a 250 compared to a 125, so then it just comes down to the 250 parts being a little bigger.

I don't see the point in building 125s except maybe as beginner bikes.

Honda charges a grand more for a bike that has liquid cooling and is freeway capable. It gets something like 80 MPG instead of 130 in the 125cc, but then again, if I cruise around at 40 MPH on a 250, I'll get 130 MPG.

Perhaps there is a sweet spot between 250cc and 125cc. How about 200?

[jkv357]

Originally Posted by woodsrat

Another smallbore enters the U. S. market--and it's a runner:

2018 Benelli TnT135 Review - First Ride - Motorcycle.com

That makes five in the "Grom" market (12" wheels) and obviously importers see a market here.

At $2499 it's a helluva buy and has much, much better suspension than either the Grom or Z125. It has a five speed tranny, too and acccording to the review will easily run 70 MPH--meaning real-world cruising at 55 will be a piece of cake.

They obviously studied the Honda and the Kawi, and ramped the specs up a notch.

I saw another test that compared them. I'll post it if I can find it again.

The tester felt the quality was decent, but part of me is always skeptical of Chinese imports. We'll need to wait and see I guess.

Benelli was once a proud Italian marque, established in 1911 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benelli_(motorcycles).

[woodsrat]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Yeah, but why should we want that?

Is it that much more expensive to put a 250cc engine in a motorcycle instead of a 125? I mean, you need the same number of parts for a 250 compared to a 125, so then it just comes down to the 250 parts being a little bigger.

I don't see the point in building 125s except maybe as beginner bikes.

Honda charges a grand more for a bike that has liquid cooling and is freeway capable. It gets something like 80 MPG instead of 130 in the 125cc, but then again, if I cruise around at 40 MPH on a 250, I'll get 130 MPG.

Perhaps there is a sweet spot between 250cc and 125cc. How about 200?

One word--weight. There's only one 250 available in the U. S. that's even reasonably light (the Yamaha WR-250R at around 300 lbs.) but it's sky-high seat height is simply too much for most of us inseam-challenged folks. Virtually all other 250-300cc bikes weigh in at 350 lbs. or more.

For me it's not so much about displacement as it is weight.

If you enjoy riding down the autobahn battling semis running 80 MPH more power to you. Even before I started riding 125's full time I found myself avoiding the highways and cruising down the back roads. I found that doing this on my Honda XR-650L was overkill given I was usually running 40-50 MPH and I discovered that I could do the same thing on my home-rolled 125 Lifan powered step throughs with far, far less weight (175 lbs. wet) and complexity.

Obviously this ain't for everybody. Ride as safe as you can on the big roads and hopefully you'll survive.