There are videos online of the CT125 being uncrated and dealer prep done. Not much falls on the dealer for these bikes, which makes sense. Honda likely want to avoid dealer prep as much as they can to reduce the room for mistakes outside their control. Dealer prep isn't always done by competent mechanics or even mechanics, for cost effectiveness it's sometimes done by less experienced staff at the dealership with the same care as bicycle assembly at your local big-box store. Battery upside down on the Super Cub definitely sounds like one of those issues
Factory QC issues are common with many brands of motorcycles too though. Undertorqued fasteners, bearings not packed with enough grease or at all, loose hose connections, low high or uneven fluid levels, globs of gasket maker, misaligned axle alignment ticks on swingarm, etc.
A nice thing about such a simple bike is that the important things are mostly visible and don't take much time to inspect. The stock exhaust is 1 piece with 4 fasteners, so as hotshot truckers say "that ain't going nowhere". I have an Outex exhaust on mine which has different hardware that replaces the OEM acorn nut. Dabbed some blue threadlocker on the threads same as any other metal on metal fasteners on the bike because it's an offroad thumper and things are bound to rattle loose over time and terrain.
Factory QC issues are common with many brands of motorcycles too though. Undertorqued fasteners, bearings not packed with enough grease or at all, loose hose connections, low high or uneven fluid levels, globs of gasket maker, misaligned axle alignment ticks on swingarm, etc.
A nice thing about such a simple bike is that the important things are mostly visible and don't take much time to inspect. The stock exhaust is 1 piece with 4 fasteners, so as hotshot truckers say "that ain't going nowhere". I have an Outex exhaust on mine which has different hardware that replaces the OEM acorn nut. Dabbed some blue threadlocker on the threads same as any other metal on metal fasteners on the bike because it's an offroad thumper and things are bound to rattle loose over time and terrain.