Honda CB125 Hornet: 40 commuters are becoming quite popular because they offer the look and feel of a 150 to 160 cc motorcycle in a compact 125cc package. Now, of late, I’ve been seeing a lot of TVS Radar 125s and Hero Extreme 125s out on the road. And this is Honda’s answer to that segment. This is the CB125 Hornet. We’ve got to spend a couple of days with this motorcycle. And here’s a detailed review.
Design and Styling Of Honda CB125 Hornet
The design of the Honda CB125 Hornet on it is outright sporty. You have this really well sculpted tank, tank shrouds, and golden upside down fox that does make it look nice and chunky from the front end. If you look on this section right here, this has clearly been inspired from the Hornet 750. But personally, I’m not such a big fan of this design element right here.
There’s just too much going on. And this also gets sleek indicator units. And at the rear, you have a split seat setup which looks quite good. And the best part about the rear section is that these grab rails are nicely neatly integrated into the bodywork. Overall, it’s sharp, it’s sleek, and it looks nice.
Exhaust and Rear Profile
The exhaust over here, it’s quite substantial. It looks good. But from this rear 3/4 section over here, the bike does remind me of the Hero Extreme 125. Overall, the build quality and fit and finish is like you would expect from Honda. It’s quite premium. Everything is fitting well. There are no panel gaps visible and yeah, it’s a nicely designed motorcycle.
Color Options
There are four color options on offer. This right here is the blue and it catches a lot of attention on the streets because mainly it also has color matched wheels which do make it look quite nice.
Ergonomics and Comfort
In terms of ergonomics, I’m around 5’7 in which is not very tall, but I do fit well on this motorcycle. As you can see, I’m not able to completely flat foot to the ground, but that’s because the seat section over here, it’s quite wide and substantial. Overall, it’s a very comfortable seat. I’ve done quite a few kilometers on it, and I didn’t face any strain. The foot pegs are placed not too far ahead or behind and kept my legs in a neutral riding position. With the lightweight of the bike, it’s easy to move around at a standstill and feels easily approachable.
Handlebar Position
When we talk about the handlebars, the first thing I noticed is that they are set slightly forward. So, you’re not completely upright. There’s just a slight reach forward. I think taller riders might be completely upright, but for me, that’s how it is. Overall, this position is good for city riding and maybe small highway rides as well.
Engine Performance
Performance-wise, this gets a 125 cc single cylinder engine putting out around 11 horsepower and 11 mm of peak torque. As expected from Honda, the acceleration is smooth, and I was impressed with the potent mid-range performance. It feels quick enough when you need to make overtakes and delivers quite an engaging ride experience. In the city, this is a light and nimble machine, making it easy to filter through traffic. It is tractable enough to cruise at around 30 km/h in fourth gear. But what enhances its rideability is the butters smooth gearbox and light clutch action.
Highway Performance
I think the bike feels in its element when it’s in fifth gear at around 75 km per hour. When you start pushing it to 80 85 km/h, you start noticing a slight buzz on the handlebars which only increases as you go faster. But yeah, that’s good performance for such a motorcycle.
Acceleration and Top Speed
In our performance tests, the bike achieved the 0 to 60 km an hour sprint in 5.84 seconds and took 11.31 seconds to get to 80 km/h. While we did achieve an indicated top speed of 107 km/h, the true speed was around 95 kph, indicating that the bike does in fact have quite a lot of speed of error.
Fuel Efficiency
During our efficiency runs, we were cruising at around 70 km/h on the highway and managed to get an impressive 69.3 km per liter. While in the city, we achieved 59.8 km per liter. This was also thanks to following the eco meter on the display, which helped us in extracting the best efficiency. Expect mileage to vary depending on different riding styles.
Handling and Suspension
In terms of handling, it’s a light machine. It’s pretty nimble, so you can quickly flick it into corners, change direction quickly, and hardly any effort is required to steer the motorcycle. And the tires, these are MRF tires that you get as stock. They do a good job in the dry, but in the wet, they did feel a bit uninspiring.
Suspension Setup
It gets an upside down fork at the front, making it the first bike in the segment to get one, and the rear is a monoshock unit. The setup felt compliant enough to take on small undulations and rough sections of road that aren’t too bad. But when tackling sharper speed breakers and potholes, the front tends to run out of travel, bottom out, which creates a jolt on the handlebars. In general, the suspension over bad roads doesn’t feel as compliant as some rivals. So, keep in mind that you will have to slow down over poor and unpredictable roads.
Braking Performance
The braking of this bike is good for the levels of performance that it offers. All that you need are two fingers on the front brake lever and it quickly gets the bike to halt when necessary with sharp bite. Now at the front you get a disc brake and at the rear you get a drum brake. At this price point a rear disc would have been a nice addition but in all fairness it is not really needed.
Features and Technology
In terms of features this gets a small TFT screen which does display information pretty well. It looks nice. You can choose between a light or a dark theme and information is crisp and visible at all times. You also get Bluetooth connectivity via the Honda Road Sync Duo app. But I do honestly feel like this TFT unit could have been slightly bigger. I mean, right now it just feels like there are very huge bezels around it with the other information. It could have entirely just been the TFT unit. Additionally, this also gets a silent start system and a type-C USB charging port.
Overall Ride Experience
The CB125 Hornet is quite a characterful motorcycle to ride and I surely enjoyed my time spent with it. It has this refined engine with potent mid-range performance. It has nimble handling abilities. It has good build quality and it has all of the necessary features that you could ask for. All of these things surely make it a really potent daily commuter in my opinion. And I actually wasn’t expecting to enjoy a 125 cc so much, but this motorcycle is very engaging to ride.
Pricing and Value
When the bike was launched, it was priced at rupees 1.12 lakh x showroom and now the prices have come down to rupees 1.0. 02 lakh extra room. Now, it’s still the most premium when you compare it to the Radar and the Xreme. It costs around 7,000 more than the topsp spec variants of both those models, but I think you can justify that price considering the reliability that we all know Honda motorcycles for.
Final Verdict
Do let us know if you would pick the CB125 Hornet, the TVS Radar 125, or the Hero Extreme 125 in the comment section below.