New cheap Honda trail bike!

**carver** · 5th June 2006, 15:59

thats right, this is a review of a bike which i strongly recomended for a friend to buy to learn to ride on.
its a 2006 honda NXR 125, he brought it new 3 months ago.
to date it has been crashed by him twenty times (no kidding)

it is one tough bike!
it still runs fine, it has had 3500 kms of pure thrashing, it has been in forests, on mx tracks, on highways,up steep hills, i have sunk it up to its engine in mud, jumped it, reved it till it could rev no more, its been left out in the rain, and it got its first servce 800kms late.
i initially had a DT 175, which the good bastards at waikato yamaha charged me 3,500 for (new)
when riding together he could keep up with me, and he didn't have the vibration of the 2 stroke, the DT is a fun bike with its power delivery, but the 4 stroke honda is just so easy to ride, although the stock pirreli MT60's aint the best in the mud.
the rear shock is better than the yamaha, and the styling looks the part, mimicing the XR and CRF-X range.
this bike does 90kph ok, nice and smooth, 100 flat tack.
it slows down with a passenger, but the shock handles it good.
also the front forks seem rather skinny, and they twist easy, but they are also easy to twist back.
it has rubber footpegs for rider and passanger.
i have done good 3m long jumps on it

, and its ok for that.
its got very usable power, and a rather revvy engine, for those of you that remember the excellent CG 125 honda used to import, it has the same engine as that and many of the same components as the new euro model.
the seat on this bike is wide and comfy, fuel economy is 28km-l and with a 12lt tank it lasts ages.
headlight aint great, but thats about it, front drum brakes work ok, but the bike only weights 117kgs anyhow.
damn honda, they should bring in the 150cc elec start disc brake model!
the FXR 150 was a sucess for suzuki, i figure the NXR 150 bros could be too!
this is the only decent sub 4k brand new road legal trail bike out, why buy chinese when you could get a honda?
its listed as a farm bike, but in stock trim the gearing is miles too high for the farm, ditto the tyres.
so if your a NEWBIE, or someone in need of a fun commuting hack, this is your ticket.
im selling my KLR to get one

, lets face it, who wants to throw around their 10k 180kg adventure bike in the sloppy waikato mud?
pm me for any info
cheers
carver

**Motu** · 6th June 2006, 12:47

Nice knee pads.Get him to stand up and he might not drop it as much.A modern version of the SL100/125/175 that everyone rode in the '70's,pretty hard to kill - and we were even stupider than young dudes today.....

**Ixion** · 6th June 2006, 13:33

I really liked the SL125. It was light enough that you pick it up an carry it, you could lower it over cliffs on a rope, or hoist it up, pull it through deep rivers , they were well nigh indestructible (apart from a tendency to bend valves if you over revved them to about 15000 rpm).

Only thing is that off road riding places then were just down the road. Now they're 50km away.

**carver** · 9th June 2006, 17:23

anyone know what holds one of these back from getting more HP?
carb, cams, exhaust, cdi....?

**Kornholio** · 12th June 2006, 22:49

Originally Posted by Ixion

I really liked the SL125. It was light enough that you pick it up an carry it, you could lower it over cliffs on a rope, or hoist it up, pull it through deep rivers , they were well nigh indestructible (apart from a tendency to bend valves if you over revved them to about 15000 rpm).

Only thing is that off road riding places then were just down the road. Now they're 50km away.

The first bike I learnt to ride was the ol SL100...I inherited it when the old man traded up to a CT125 farmbike.....quite heavy tho for a skinny little 7yr old