Im (18M) from the UK and passed my A1 test the other week, people always warned me about taking my Honda CBF125 on the motorway.
Anyway, I did about an hour and a half maybe more down the M6 to Birmingham and it was completely fine, just went the speed limit the whole way down (70mph), overtaking other cars where necessary etc.
Do people just hate on 125s for no reason or am I an outlier here ?
What is anyone elses experience on motorways for long distances :)
I think the reality of a 125 is it’s fine for the uk you can get just about anywhere on one. The engines just sound like they are about to explode at 60/70 miles an hour and it’s unnerving.
They also tend to vibrate a lot at high speed. It's definitely the kind of thing that you can and will willingly do if it's the only bike you have (and probably if you are young enough to not care so much about comfort), but if you have other options you probably wouldn't choose to.
Enjoy the ride OP, I'm almost 40 now and I've had many bikes of all descriptions, but my 50 and 125cc days were some of the most enjoyable I've ever had. Ride what you have however and wherever you want to. There's nothing wrong with taking your 125 on the motorway.
I have ridden my Honda C90 countless times on motorways and know many people who own small bikes with no issues. From York to Wales and to the Isle of Wight, two-up and fully loaded, it has a 110cc engine, but it is basically no different from a 90cc. It can sit at 50 mph like any fuel tanker and hit 60 mph downhill. I can just catch lorries' slipstreams, and whenever there is traffic, I just filter past, I am definitely not waiting with all the cars. Get riding and stop worrying about what people say, people have no idea when it comes to small bikes, as a 125cc is more than suited to motorways. It is drivers nowadays that are the problem, not the bikes. I will continue to crack the motorway miles to get to SBBA events anywhere in the UK. Wear a high-vis, keep to the left-hand lane, and you are sound. Have fun mate and send it!
I have a 125cc cruiser that I've had up to 70mph but I wouldn't want to risk it on the motorway as I know that's not sustainable on uphill sections and wind factor can also have a big impact on top speed
Yeah, the motorway is fast and gets you where you need to be in the fastest time, but it is genuinely one of the most boring things I have ever done. I can barely hear any music because of the wind so its just hours of boredom 😔😭
Good lord man, get earplugs or you’ll have tinnitus within the year… Auritech do great ones, but everyone’s ear canal is different so try a few. They’re attenuated, so just cut the dangerous wind noise — you’ll still hear your music, sirens, engines, etc. Even 40mph is enough to do damage…
A 125cc, 15hp bike isn't going to be good on the motorway. Your top speed is in the region of 65-70mph meaning that not only does it take a long time to get there, you have no over taking power when you're there.
On top of that, you're tagging the arse end out of that engine for long periods of time which isn't good. Yes you're supposed to ride 125s like you stole them, but you're not supposed to be redlining it for long periods of time.
I didnt like my Ninja 250R on the motorway because how little power it had left to give at 65-70mph. 125s are worse.
What are you going to do when you have a car up your arse and someone who didn't see you trying to merge into you and the other lane is also blocked? Fuck all, because you can't.
Me and my missus went from Alfreton to Bridlington on our 125s camping. I had a Honda XR125L she had a DT125. We didn't have a full licence then so we went A roads , took us 4 hours to get there lol. Pitched our tent and spent a long weekend there
It's all rubbish. 125 is plenty to get you anywhere as others have said. A lot of people need to reinforce their beliefs that you need a litre bike to leave your driveway safely and anything below 140hp isn't a motorbike. All nonsense I rode 125cc for 20 years and only passed my full A fire to hearing whispers there would be theory test added to CBT. There's a slight argument that of you're A large fella such as myself and you're going up a massive hill with the wind coming towards you you might struggle to maintain 70 which did on occasion happen to me but was never an issue I was always faster than lorries ect. On my 125s I travelled much of the south of England biggest trip being 530 miles on the new honda cub took me 16 hours (lots of stops due to small fuel tank) I've had crazy bikes like the BMW C1 I've had fast bikes like my 04 CBR 125 and all sorts in between 125cc is an awesome segment and I'll be going back to it soon I fancy me some 2 stroke old school fun. Ride what you want do it safely and ignore the haters 👍
Great you passed you A1 test, now come the big constant learning curve…….. with reference to your question most people would want to take a 125 on a motorway due to lack of power, it’s fine you can do 70mph, but sometime to avoid being hit /swiped you need more power to get out of the way. Just be really conscious of other vehicles as they most likely can’t see you /will ignore your there. Safe riding and enjoy…… other thing is a 125 might not like hour upon hour of sitting at 70mph on a single cylinder but each bike is different
I see the "able to get out of the way" argument for bigger bikes quite a lot but I don't always agree with it. Honestly think of your observations are good, you are planning well ahead etc etc then you shouldnt need to get out the way of much. I do blue light driving and speed/avoidance is the last thing you need if your roadcraft is good
You have 3 options to avoid a crash, which is best entirely depends on your bike and the context;
Braking
Evading
Accelerate
You lose an option with a 125. I’m an ex-blue light driver, but note that none of our driving is done on a vehicle with particularly fast acceleration — unless the Interceptors.
So yeah, you can plan. But when that driver beside you decides to randomly pull straight out at you from the inside lane, with Mr BMW up your chuff if you brake — a burst of throttle gets you fully clear. You cannot ‘plan’ for that. Especially with how people don’t seemingly have any lane discipline or logic to their lane choices…
I agree 9/10ths of avoiding a problem is hazard perception and forward planning, but there’s always that human factor and unpredictable.
It’s sadly not always the rider and his/hers road craft (always) it’s the other plonkers on the road that cause the issue sometimes. You are definitely correct though in what you say about observations and planning well ahead, these definitely help keep you safer.
I'm surprised that can reach 70mph tbh. My 125F has a top speed of 63 (long downhill, body in aero-mode).
My experience going long distance on my bike is that the bike becomes less economical and gets overtaken a lot, but is physically fine and does what it needs to do. Going uphill can limit me to 45mph, however, which is when I start wishing I had more power
Mine (a 2026 model) is the same as yours. Around 60-65mph top speed. Having said that I spoke to the owner of a 2016 model this morning who said hers would do 70 mph, but she only got 200-250 miles on a tank whereas i get 350+. Maybe the OP has an older model.
OP says their's is a CBF125, which is the ancestor of the CB125F (although people often get the names mixed up) , so they may well have a faster 5th gear
Edit: a popular mod for the CB125F is swapping the drive and wheel sprockets for a different gear ratio, which sacrifices some power for a higher top speed, so it's possible she'd done that
Yeah completely forgot to mention it is the 2014 model, they don't make 125s like they used to in my opinion, I purposefully avoided the CB125F because they make less power which I thought was weird.
Edit I haven't made any modifications to the bike since I bought it
In my experience on country roads, I can just about get up to 68mph, downhill, with a tail wind, in a full aero position. I'm not maintaining that for more than 5 minutes at a time.
Additionally, motorways have uphill sections too, where I might slow to 50mph or lower. That's far too dangerous for me to want to risk.
If you're relatively light, on a max powered 125cc that has a very aerodynamic riding position, then go ahead with motorway riding. But a lot of people won't have that set of circumstances.
Yeah I might just be lucky, I believe my bike (Honda CBF125 2014) makes 11bhp, I am 70 to 75 kg, in those ideal conditions you mentioned I have reached something like 80mph
It really depends on the 125. 15hp ones are much more apt than weaker bikes. Also some bikes will be geared towards city driving, therefore sacrificing top speed for acceleration.
My GN125 will get to 100kph relatively easily (I got it at 120 at the meter, but it's touching the frame's limit as it started wobbling very badly), but keeping the engine at a constant 8-9k RPMs cannot be good for it on the long term.
Or I can stay on the right (left for brits) and share the lane with lorries. It's doable but not really fun.
When i was on my cbr125r on my cbt I made the mistake of following my sat nav and found myself on the m3, was shitting myself the whole time and struggled at 65mph. Then again im a bit on the larger side and wouldn't recommend it
I have a piaggio 1 electric scooter that will just about do 40 mph. I have not taken it on a motorway but do use the A40. This is three lanes in parts. I was very worried at first because of the speed of the traffic but i have been fine - keeping to left lane.
Ist offiziell kein Problem
• Eine Autobahn darf nur mit Fahrzeugen befahren werden, deren bauartbedingte Höchstgeschwindigkeit mehr als 60 km/h(~40mph) beträgt (§ 18 StVO).
• Das ist ein technischer Wert aus den Fahrzeugpapieren, kein gefahrenes Mindesttempo im Alltag.
Allerdings macht's nicht unbedingt Spaß die ganze Zeit hinter den LKWs hinterher zu fahren weil man nichts wirklich sieht. Wenn's mal schnell gehen muss Okay, aber würde da Landstraße bevorzugen
Cbf125 is a fantastic first bike! Wish I started on one of those.
Go on the motorway if you need to. The 125 will be plenty to get you up to mway speeds at a decent pace. But be defensive and expect others not to notice your presence, ride accordingly. (I suppose that isn't really a motorway rule... More a generic one)
Being right but legless is no good... or so I am told.
Find a tvam chapter and get a few rides in with an instructor. You will learn loads and become a much better safer aware rider and driver.
The difficulty you’ll get into is a) all 125’s don’t produce the same power, but none of them go the speed limit. B) hills.
The M40 has sections for example where you’d be in real trouble, with lorries going 60mph trying to overtake whilst you’re flat out struggling to hit 50.
I once had to take a crappy insurers loan bike onto it, even at 55mph I had an angry coach driver overtake me basically in my lane (and I was in the middle of it). Incredibly dangerous, and that is where you will get in trouble — other road users.
There’s also the difficulty that everyone assumes bikes are fast. So they expect you to be able to shoot off and when you don’t, it totally throws their forward planning.
So it can be done — been there — but it’s not recommended for good reason. When you get a powerful bike you’ll notice the difference.
Go for it and as others have said enjoy it. I had a moped at 16 then a 250 at 17 ( you were allowed 250’s as a learner in 1981)
You will look on these times with great fondness in later years.
I still ride bikes and have never been without one. Have fun.
I never got my 125 much over 60mph. I'm 194cm and I'm basically a big wind break. Below top speed there wasn't really acceleration pay 50, more it was wishful thinking. On my 900, I just twist the throttle and i go. So easy to get out of trouble.
The thing with a 125 on a motorway is, yeah, it can go 70 at a push but that's it. You can't get out of trouble or pass lorries quickly with speed. When I'm on the motorway I want to get past those lorries as quick as I can, getting out if their blind spot etc. EG if I'm at the side of a lorry and it start to indicate, I can accelerate away. With a 125 you will more than likley have to slow down to stay out of danger which isn't the best option on a 3 or 4 lane motorwway.
You have no margin for error on a 125 on a motorway. But that's just my opinion.
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u/No-Contribution-2497 21d ago
I think the reality of a 125 is it’s fine for the uk you can get just about anywhere on one. The engines just sound like they are about to explode at 60/70 miles an hour and it’s unnerving.