If Doug DeMuro Reviewed A Honda Trail 125.

[calobster]

 

[dmonkey]

Good review.
Who is getting 130mpg with this bike and how big of a hill are you going down?

 

[calobster]

Good review.
Who is getting 130mpg with this bike and how big of a hill are you going down?

Lol it seems like when you Google it you can find mpg estimates ranging from 110 to 158 (the highest I saw) I think I got the 130 from TFL bike, that was their estimation.

 

[SneakyDingo]

Great video. I have no idea who Doug DeMuro is, but I really liked the approach to break it down.

The postie bike was used to deliver mail until 2018, which was in part because the Australian government made some decisions in 2017 that made it no longer suitable (due to motorcycle safety) and due to increased package delivery with Amazon deliveries and cost cutting. Because of that, Australia Post no longer uses the CT110's to do deliveries, and have now switched to glorified golf carts, which is in general where the rest of the world is heading to (Brussels Effect, the EU has been heading in this direction for a while).

Honda also did produce this bike until 1986 in its original form, but they continued to modernize it with small tweaks until 2012. That information is actually kind of hard to find, but it's largely things like slightly newer instrument clusters, etc. - the core of the bike remained the same.

There were only two things that were missing from the "features and modernization" that I kinda feel strongly about. The first was that when they modernized it, they switched it from the old 6V system to the newer 12V system. In addition to that, they added the ABS pickup at the front wheel only. Both of those features were two very, very highly prized aspects to me for buying this bike over a CT110, and the entire reason why I decided not to buy one in the intermediate. On a lesser note, one of the other unique aspects of this motorcycle that is pretty rare is that the front and rear wheels are the same size; the only other motorcycle I know of that's famous for this is the ironically named Ural CT, the sidecar with a drivewheel motorcycle that uses 18" rims on all three wheels.

I'm tracking my MPG at near GVWR and I'm getting 114 mpg.

EDIT: Ironically I'm watching the video and at 9:17, someone on an eCargo bike rides across the intersection from right to left. The rider is on a Tern GSD, which is my other other hauling vehicle. I usually think of this as a Farm bike (can carry up to GVWR 440 lbs, so I use it to haul a trailer of 100 lb capacity up at around 550 lb GVWR - perfect for a lot of shopping runs, even Costco, even really insane beer runs, even *gulp* a light rider carrying a CT125 on the back). You could sling a sheep over the top of the bike but you're probably not gonna do 60 to muster cattle. The tires are a bit too skinny to be a true farm bike though.

 

[dmonkey]

Australia Post does still use some Super Cub 110s for mail delivery though, an acquaintance of mine is a postie and rides one for work. Will be a shame when those go away like the CT110 did, but without a motorcycle replacement.

 

[SneakyDingo]

Officially, AusPost isn't buying any more and will phase them all out by 2025. They're switching to EV trikes, which are slower and shorter range.

On a personal level, I think this is a pretty good shift. At a very generic level we're seeing the turning point of transportation shifting to electric ("again" as electric vehicles existed early on as well). Battery and lighting tech needed to catch up; I think motor tech has been there for quite some time though. Production scaling needed to happen too. In many ways, I think the 125 motor might be the last time we see Honda release a CT series motorcycle in a non-electric form. It's possible we'll see one more version come out, and it'll continue to be produced for other markets, but even in Washington state they've signed a similar statement as Australia and the EU has, no new petrol vehicles as of a certain year (I think it was 2030). @calobster says these are on the overpriced end right now (and I agree) but I think they'll become a collector's item somewhat soon.

As for me, I've already made a partial investment into a fully electrified future. The real question is what will become of motorcycles at that point. Until energy density really gets better, it's still tough to get decent range. For something like the CT and Super Cub, it's a pretty short range bike already and a parallel already exists, so that market might continue to exist. Honda supposedly was working on something but they've been saying that since 2016. The investment into DCT might also be to incrementally warm riders to the idea of a fully electronic drivetrain in the future. Only time will tell but the next 15 years will be pretty exciting.

 

[Allhatnocattle]

Good review.
Who is getting 130mpg with this bike and how big of a hill are you going down?

I got 120 out of my first tank and refilled before it ran out. Could've gotten 130 for sure.

 

[dmonkey]

I've hit just shy of 133 mpg on a tank, but that was babying it with OEM tires on paved back roads and neighborhoods with roundabouts. That's a single data point though and not representative of normal riding. In the real world some Super Cub C125 owners report averaging ~119 mpg, it makes sense that with the gearing, tires, and weight of the CT125 it would get less than that, especially if ridden on unpaved roads (which rob a lot of fuel economy). My average is 96 mpg right now, which includes trails, dirt and gravel roads, snow riding, sketchy highway riding, knobby tires, hauling cargo, high elevation riding, and a lot of elevation change in the mountains. As an average that number is far off from 130 mpg, but it's still something I'm really satisfied with.

 

[Carolina Vagabond]

I've hit just shy of 133 mpg on a tank, but that was babying it with OEM tires on paved back roads and neighborhoods with roundabouts. That's a single data point though and not representative of normal riding. In the real world some Super Cub C125 owners report averaging ~119 mpg, it makes sense that with the gearing, tires, and weight of the CT125 it would get less than that, especially if ridden on unpaved roads (which rob a lot of fuel economy). My average is 96 mpg right now, which includes trails, dirt and gravel roads, snow riding, sketchy highway riding, knobby tires, hauling cargo, high elevation riding, and a lot of elevation change in the mountains. As an average that number is far off from 130 mpg, but it's still something I'm really satisfied with.

Mid 90’s mpg for the type of riding this bike was made for is spot on, everything else is gravy....

 

[SneakyDingo]

TFLBike just did a Navi vs. Monkey shootout for efficiency where the monkey got 136 mpg on a 50 mile loop, and they mentioned that the Trail 125 got closer to the 130 mpg than the 90 mpg rating. Neither of those guys are fat, nor are they constantly going up and down hills like I am.