Honda CG 125

History

The Honda CG125 was in production from 1976 to 2008 and was originally manufactured in Japan, but source for European market was eventually moved to Brazil in 1985 and also Turkey for the W and M models. The CG125 is powered by a 124 cc (7.6 cu in) four-stroke, overhead valve, single-cylinder engine that has changed little over the years.

In Pakistan it is still in production by Atlas Honda Ltd. The Pakistani version resembles most of shape of original CG125. Two other variants, CG 125 Dream and CG125 Deluxe are also available with some improvements, the later one has 5 speed gearbox, front disc brake and wider rear wheel.

In the UK, the CG125 is popular with learners due to licensing laws which allow a rider to operate a 125 cc motorbike with L plates by completing a Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) course.[1]

Due to its design success, several direct copies of the CG125 have sprung up (mostly from Taiwanese and Korean manufacturers), such as the Sym Wolf Classic, Kymco Pulsar 125, Hongdou CG125, Champ Commuter, Warrior Dispatch.

In Brazil, due to emission laws from 2009, the engine has been redesigned with an overhead camshaft (bore and stroke also changed from 56.5mm x 49.5mm to 52.4mm x 57.8mm). Due to Euro 3 emission laws the Honda CG125 has been replaced by the fuel injected CBF125 in UK and Europe since 2009. Other manufacturers made overhead camshaft versions of CG125 engine with same piston bore and stroke (56.5mm x 49.5mm) to comply with Euro 3 emission laws and they are widely available.

The CG125 was developed from the CB125 for developing countries markets. There were many parts in common between the two. The two models were very similar. The main difference was in the top ends, the CB had an overhead cam. One fault with many Honda OHC engines of that era (generally denoted CB), was that they had a tendency to wear the camshaft bearings if oil changes were skipped. The CG engine was developed specifically to address this problem (amongst others) as Honda realised that riders in developing countries performed little or no preventative maintenance. To make the bike more reliable with minimal servicing, the CG125 uses overhead valves with push rod, a washable foam air filter, and fully encased chain guard.[2]
Changes

Over its lifetime, the CG125 has received numerous enhancements and tweaks:

The electrics were upgraded from 6 V to 12 V (1985 in UK)
the point(contact breaker) ignition system was replaced by the capacitor discharge ignition(CDI) system (1989 in Japan) and a little later in other countries by 1993 honda was producing only CDI system ignitions in every motorcycle to any country.
An electric start was added in 2001, originally alongside the original kick start and replacing it completely in 2004 (in the European Market).

2004 saw a number of further changes in the European market:

The front drum brake was replaced by a disc brake
A new instrument cluster, including a fuel gauge for the first time, replaced the old square unit.
The fuel capacity was increased from 12 l (2.6 imp gal; 3.2 US gal) to 13 l (2.9 imp gal; 3.4 US gal)
The styling was modernised
The chain casing was dropped in favour of a simpler chain guard. This last change is one of the very few changes that sacrificed functionality (longer chain life) in favour of aesthetics.