BREAKING: Honda Shine 100 DX, Honda CB125 Hornet Unveiled

Quick News Highlights:

• The Shine 100 DX sits above the Shine 100 and below the Livo, and competes with other premium 100cc commuter bikes

• CB125 Hornet sits above the SP125, and will rival other sporty 125cc motorcycles

• While the Hornet 125 is a brand-new bike, it borrows engine from the SP125

Honda has unveiled two new motorcycles: the CB125 Hornet and the Shine 100 DX. The bookings for both will start on 1 August 2025, and the pricing is likely to be revealed by July-end. That said, expect the Honda Shine 100 DX to cost around Rs 72,000, whereas the Hornet 125cc bike could cost around Rs 1 lakh (both ex-showroom).

Design

The Honda CB125 Hornet follows a streetfighter inspired design with a muscular fuel tank, split seats, sharp tank extensions, and a split headlamp setup. Notably, it gets a golden-colour inverted fork and the ignition key is placed on the fuel tank - both of which are a segment first as far as air-cooled 125cc bikes are concerned. It gets 4 colours: Pearl Siren Blue with Lemon Ice Yellow, Pearl Siren Blue with Sports Red, Pearl Siren Blue with Athletic Blue Metallic, and Pearl Igneous Black.

The Shine 100 DX carries forward the Shine 100’s commuter styling but adds modern touches like chrome accents on the headlight, exhaust cover, handlebar, and gear lever. New graphics and colours also add to the styling, not to mention a more premium fuel tank cap. It also has 4 colours: Imperial Red Metallic, Pearl Igneous Black, Geny Gray Metallic, and Athletic Blue Metallic.

Engine

The CB125 Hornet is powered by a 123.94cc, single-cylinder, air-cooled engine shared with the Shine 125 and SP 125 but has higher output figures. It makes 11.14PS at 7,500rpm, 11.2Nm at 6,000rpm,  and is paired to a 5-speed gearbox. The figures are very close to the TVS Raider’s 11.38PS and 11.2Nm and honda claims a 0-60 kmph acceleration time of 5.4 seconds, decent for a 125cc bike.

The Honda Shine 100 DX continues with the tried-and-tested 98.98cc engine seen in the Shine 100 - delivering 7.38PS at 7,500rpm and 8.04Nm at 5,000rpm, mated to a 4-speed gearbox.

Underpinnings

The CB125 Hornet uses a diamond-type frame, inverted fork, and a 5-step adjustable monoshock. It rides on 17-inch alloys with tubeless tyres (80-section front, 110-section rear) and gets a 240mm front petal disc brake with single-channel ABS, a 130mm rear drum. The kerb weight is 124kg, fuel tank is 12 litres, and ground clearance 166mm - all 3 figures are reasonable for its segment.

The Honda Shine bike also gets a diamond frame, but a telescopic fork, and 5-step adjustable twin rear shocks. It runs on 17-inch tubeless tyres (2.75-inch front and 3-inch rear) and drum brakes at both ends (130mm front, 110mm rear), along with a Combined Braking System (CBS). It has a light 103kg kerb weight, generous 168mm ground clearance, a 10-litre fuel tank, and an accessible 786mm seat height.

Features

The CB125 Hornet gets a full colour 4.2-inch TFT console with Bluetooth connectivity via the Honda RoadSync app - which adds turn-by-turn navigation, call/SMS alerts, and music controls. Other features include all-LED lights, USB Type-C charging port, silent starter, and side-stand down engine cut-off function.

The Shine 100 DX now features an LCD console borrowed form the Honda Livo and it displays real-time mileage, distance-to-empty, and service reminders. It also gets a side-stand down engine cut-off feature.

Rivals

The CB125 Hornet will go up against bikes like the TVS Raider 125, Hero Xtreme 125R, Bajaj Pulsar NS125 and N125 in the sporty 125cc commuter space. The Shine 100 DX is aimed directly at the Hero Splendor Xtec range, the recently launched Hero HF Deluxe Pro, and the Bajaj Platina 100.

BikeDekho Says

The Japanese-bike maker already has the highest selling 125cc bikes in India with the Honda Shine 125 and SP 125. Honda sold a combined 1,34,817 units in June 2025, which is not a small number by any means. However, Honda lacked a direct rival to the new range of sporty 125cc commuters and it seems like the Hornet is Honda’s response to this space. It makes sense for the brand to call the new 125cc bike the Hornet because the Hornet family established Honda’s sporty streetfighter segment in India.

The Shine 100 DX, on the other hand, has been introduced as Honda’s been struggling in the 100cc commuter bike space. The Shine 100 sold only 8,401 units in June 2025 down from 9,983 units in May 2025. These are nowhere close to the sales figures of Hero HF bikes, so with the new variant, Hero hopes to drive up the sales a bit. We feel Hero should’ve brought a feature-packed variant a long time ago considering Hero launched a more feature-packed Xtec variant of the Splendor a couple of years ago.