Honda CB125 Hornet

The Honda CB125 Hornet is an all-out sporty and youthful-looking bike. Its design language is miles apart from its closest sibling, the Honda SP125. It looks sharp, and premium, especially with its golden-coloured inverted fork. Younger buyers will find it more appealing. 

While all of its sharp edges give it an aggressive look, the headlight unit may not be easy on the eye for all – of course, looks are subjective. So if you are planning to buy one, make sure you take a good look at the bike in the flesh.

The fuel tank has a lot of creases that add to the athletic feel of the bike.The tank extensions look quite neat and proportionate. Along with the side panels, they do a neat job of hiding the frame of the bike. The split-seat setup further cements the sporty intent of the bike.

There are 4 colours to choose from: Pearl Igneous Black,Pearl Siren Blue with Lemon Ice Yellow, Pearl Siren Blue with Sports Red, and Pearl Siren Blue with Athletic Blue Metallic. All except the black one have neon-coloured wheels. 

It has the looks that will make people turn their heads – especially if you get one of the neon-type colours. The colour we had for testing was the blue one. The Hornet strikes the right balance in approachability and being striking in this colour scheme. Its bodywork is in a deep shade of blue. At night or in dimly-lit areas, those can easily pass off as black panels. That said, looking at the photos of the other colours, all of them look quite bold and youthful. 

The fit-and-finish of the CB125 Hornet is on par with what you would expect from Honda. Even the paint finish looks premium. The quality of switchgear isn’t cheap or flimsy, and panel gaps are even.

One of the highlight features of this Hornet is its 5-inch colour TFT console. Everything is neatly laid out, and doesn’t look cluttered. The 4-way switchcube allows you to intuitively toggle between different bits of the display. Pairing your phone with the bike, and connecting it everyday, is quite easy and simple too.

As soon as you swing a leg over the bike, it feels tight and compact, clearly meant for a small-built rider or those who are just learning, not someone with a 6-foot frame. If you are tall, like me, you will feel your legs to be a bit cramped and angled outwards when gripping the tank. If you are 5ft 8in or under, the bike can feel adequately spacious. There is just enough amount of forward arching to get to the handlebar to call it sporty without it feeling cumbersome or commuter-y.. Rider footpegs are a similar case – a little rearwards to give you that feel without it being too uncomfortable. 

While Honda hasn’t specified the seat height, it’s low enough that you can get both feet flat on the ground - even if you are reasonably short. At 124kg (kerb), the bike is quite light and easy to move around in parking lots and other tight spaces. 

That said, the test unit had a dealer-installed thick, soft seat cover and chunky throttle grips, both of which are a little unnecessary and rob you of good feel.

The Honda CB125 Hornet has a 123.94cc air-cooled, single-cylinder engine that makes 11.14PS at 7,500rpm and 11.2Nm at 6,000rpm. It’s the same engine as on the Shine 125 and SP125, but makes the most power here, and doesn’t have a kickstarter like the other two. It’s paired to a five-speed gearbox. 

City Performance

Riding the baby Hornet in the city is an easy affair. The engine felt smooth in lower revs – between 2,000rpm to 4,500rpm. You can ride around in the second or the third gear even at relatively low speeds. The clutch lever action is light, making it easier to ride in stop-go traffic, and lack of low-speed or crawl assist will mean you will have to manually modulate the clutch.

I felt the gearbox wasn’t as smooth as I would have expected from a Honda, but it is not uncomfortably hard to shift between the gears. However, the bike was brand new with just 2 digits on the odometer; the gearbox could get smoother after the first service. The engine has decent punch to get you quickly off the line – which means you can quickly accelerate from a signal, or in stop-go or slower traffic conditions. 

Highway Performance

The CB125 Hornet has a decent performance to not feel out of place on a highway. It can reach and stay at 80-85kmph comfortably. However, going faster is a bit of a task, and that’s okay considering it’s a 125cc bike. The engine feels a bit buzzy between 5,000rpm and 6,000rpm – not something you would expect from a Honda engine. That said, the engine feels like it’s out of breath after 7,000rpm, which means revving it out as much is unnecessary. 

Overtaking at highway speeds needs some planning. You need to go down a gear or two, depending on your speed, to get the move done.

Handling

It is quite nimble, and direction changes are quick. This means riding through slower traffic can be quite fun once you get acquainted with the sharpness; its light weight makes it easy to flick around. And when you go to your favourite twisties on a weekend, it can leave you grinning with its corner carving skills. 

Ride Quality

The Hornet takes its sporty character quite seriously, and it shows with its firm suspension setup. In fact, it feels firmer than most of its rivals. The way it is set up, small, sharp bumps do filter through to the rider and cause some mild discomfort. However, it handles bigger bumps better. You can get used to this but it will need some dedication. 

If you encounter a lot of broken or bad roads in your everyday riding, its 166mm ground clearance is sufficient. It never once scraped its belly on any of the scary-looking, pointy rocks that came my way on some of the dire monsoon-inflicted Pune roads. That said, it transferred those bumps straight to my back, because of which I decided to ride a bit slower on my way back. That made it a bit easy and bearable.

Brakes 

The Honda CB125 Hornet has a 240mm disc up front, and a 130mm drum brake at the rear. While the bite is sharp, lever feedback is pretty less. Hence, it does slow down the bike rather rapidly without giving you the feeling of just how much force you need to dial in. We must praise Honda for taking an extra safety initiative with the Hornet as it has given single-channel ABS without it being mandatory for 125cc bikes.

The Honda CB125 Hornet’s biggest rivals are the TVS Raider 125, Hero Xtreme 125R, and the Bajaj Pulsar N125. Here’s how these bikes are priced:

The Hornet is clearly the most expensive amongst its rivals. To know how it fares against its rivals, here are few stories that can help:

We explain the top 5 differences between the Honda CB125 Hornet and TVS Raider 125. However, if you just want to check how they stack up against each other, here’s a full spec comparo.

We have also done a Honda CB125 Hornet vs Hero Xtreme 125R spec comparo to help you understand better.

This Hornet also rivals its sibling, the Honda SP125, and here’s which one can suit you the best.