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

[teoman]

I have been thinking of an electric grom.

Claimed 90kph and 80km range.

ava-5000-002 | Kral Motor – Yuki Special

[ProDigit]

Originally Posted by 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...

But most people travel over highway and paved roads. Much fewer over the dirt paths.

[ProDigit]

Originally Posted by Daschicken

Holy cow, never ridden a road legal bike this slow. It was perfectly fine at 25 mph, but when you get on 55+ mph roads it doesn't feel like enough. 'Cruising' at 55 is about 90-95% throttle. Fully tucked down it would go about 57 mph without a drafting buddy. I also went into the superman pose, which it would get up to around 60 mph. Doing the superman pose and drafting the car in front of me I was able to get up to 66 mph(flat ground!) on a stock grom.

Ignore the non-riding pants and boots...





The wheelbase is super short, which makes the bike twitchy, especially since it is so light. The seating position puts you perfectly upright, any further 'upright' and you would start leaning backwards. Sitting on the passenger seat felt perfectly natural and gives a sportier riding position other than the pegs being more forward.

I feel like an aerodynamic bike with 15 horsepower would be just about perfect for what I want. 9 horsepower and terrible aero just isn't enough.

I used to ride a 250cc bike, about 80% of the time wot,
When you hit Wide Open Throttle more than 10% of the time, the bike is too small for you. Getting a bigger cc bike, revving lower revs at those same speeds, might actually get you better MPG too.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by teoman

I have been thinking of an electric grom.

Claimed 90kph and 80km range.

ava-5000-002 | Kral Motor – Yuki Special

This one is nice also.
.
KR14 VARUNA | Kral Motor - Yuki Special
.

[sendler]

Electric Honda PCX would be very nice depending on the price.
.
Honda PCX Scooter Goes Hybrid and Electric
.

[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.

I would think this Benelli would be a big improvement over the Grom as a base for something that could cruise at 60 easily, especially with some aero mods.

The overall quality, and parts availability, would be my biggest concern.

[ProDigit]

Aside from the Grom and the Kawasaki Z125,
there's:
Sym Wolf 150
Suzuki TU250x
K-Pipe 125

There's also a bunch of cheaper Chinese bikes, like Roketa which has customer support in Texas (they ship parts); and TaoTao, and if you like a CVT, there's ZNeN, BMS, Yamaha, Piaggio, and a few more...
You can even install a 22-50cc two stroke motor on a bicycle frame, and get good gas mileage!

All these are excellent for gas mileage; but are pretty limited in speed.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

No idea why the 250s weigh more than my 17 year old CB600. You can probably find my bike for $2k used. It would get 75 MPG if you geared it taller and drove it like a granny.

Two answers to this:

1. They don't weigh more than your Honda. 17 years ago manufacturers listed "dry" weights. No fuel, no brake fluid, no oil, no fork oil, no battery acid, no coolant, no anything liquid that adds weight. The dry weight for a CBR600F4i is 370 lbs. The "wet" weight (all fluids ready to ride) is 435 lbs. A 2018 Honda CBR300R weighs 357 lbs wet.

2. The other answer is that your CBR was Honda's race bike and lots of effort went into making it as light as possible. Aluminum frame, lightweight wheels, etc. I remember reading Sport Rider magazine in the 90's and 00's and every year there articles listing every way a manufacturer shaved a few grams of weight here or there.

250's are not race bikes, they are budget bikes dressed up to look like race bikes. Steel frames, budget suspension and wheels, every effort is made to make them cheap to manufacture and shaving weight costs money.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

A pair of random Korean 125cc mini cruisers from late-'90s

Originally Posted by Daschicken

There are plenty of mods out there to boost the top speed of the grom to acceptable levels, but yes I agree the stock top speed is too slow.

Its gearing and the RPM bands of its engine don't make it so well-suited to be an overall commuter like a CG.




NXR 125

[Daschicken]

Well, there is a video of me supermanning the grom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWwotwqnA9U