First Look: 2018 Honda CB125R And CB300R
125cc and 286cc wrapped in Honda's Neo-Sports Café Concept
While we don’t know if either the 2018 Honda CB125R or the 2018 Honda CB300R will make it to the American shores, they were announced today at EICMA in Milan. Sharing a family resemblance with the also-just-introduced 2018 Honda CB1000R, the little CBs are also a product of Honda’s Neo-Sports Café Concept.
CB125R
Honda calls the CB125R an example of a motorcycle pared down to its bare essentials – to a state where less-is-more. This paring down is also a key component of the Neo-Sports Café Concept styling. So, function and style are pursuing similar paths.
The CB125R’s 124.7cc SOHC 2-valve liquid-cooled single cylinder engine is derived from the CBR125R and delivers 9.8kW (13.1 hp) at 10,000rpm, with peak torque of 10Nm (97.4 lb-ft) at 8,000rpm. The frame is a tubular and pressed steel unit. A 41mm inverted fork and a single rear shock handle suspension duties.
The front brake is a single 296mm hubless floating disc embraced by a radial-mount Nissin 4-piston caliper. A 220mm disc a single piston caliper is all that is needed in the rear. The two-channel ABS works in conjunction with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU). The radial tires are a 110/70R–17 front and a 150/60R–17 rear.
To keep with the modern styling, all lights are LED units.
CB300R
Positioned as the Honda to move up from a 125cc bike to, the CB300R is powered by the same 286cc DOHC 4-valve liquid-cooled single cylinder engine as the CBR300R and produces a claimed 23.1kW (31 hp) at 8,500rpm and 27.5Nm (20.3 lb-ft) at 7,500rpm. The power makes its way to the rear wheel via a 6-speed gearbox.
2015 Honda CBR300R First Ride Review
The frame is constructed of a mixture of tubular and pressed steel with a 41mm USD fork up front and an irregular-cross section steel swingarm. The rear suspension offers five-positions via a ramped adjuster. Braking comes courtesy of a radial-mount Nissin 4-piston caliper squeezing a 296mm hubless floating disc. Out back, 220mm disc a single piston caliper take care of stopping duties. Two-channel ABS is standard fare. All this rides on 110/70R–17 and 150/60R–17 radial tires, front and rear, respectively.
The riding position should be comfortably standard thanks to the aluminum fat bar-style handlebar. The seat height is a reasonable 31.5 in. The 53.2-in. wheelbase coupled with a 24° rake means that the CB300R should be quite spritely as it works its way through urban traffic.
Like most of the best happenings in his life, Evans stumbled into his motojournalism career. While on his way to a planned life in academia, he applied for a job at a motorcycle magazine, thinking he’d get the opportunity to write some freelance articles. Instead, he was offered a full-time job in which he discovered he could actually get paid to ride other people’s motorcycles – and he’s never looked back. Over the 25 years he’s been in the motorcycle industry, Evans has written two books, 101 Sportbike Performance Projects and How to Modify Your Metric Cruiser, and has ridden just about every production motorcycle manufactured. Evans has a deep love of motorcycles and believes they are a force for good in the world.
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This can be such a fun bike for so many people. If you’re taken with that small cb360 cafe job on craigslist, but freaked about carbs, and tank rust, and drum brakes, and fork seals, and malfunctioning dials, inaccurate dials, petcock nuisances, oil seeps, etc, here is a template that will serve nicely with very few mods (bars, tail tuck, fender elim?) and supreme reliability and more highway prowess, even if the top end is about equal. What’ll the price be? $5999?
Any updates on if the CB300R is coming to the US?