First step to Bikerdom

"Dad, can I get a go-kart?"
"No"
"Dad, can I get a go-kart?"
"No"
"Dad, can I get a go-kart?"
"No"
"Dad, can I get a motorbike?"
"OK"

So for my 15th birthday and as a reward for doing all the labouring when we built the extension on our house, my old boy was despatched to find a nice cheap trail bike for me to potter around our fields on. Having turned down a few really nice looking bikes, I was a little puzzled when he turned up with a B reg Honda MTX125 with seized rear suspension and absent front brakes. But as he assured me, for £350 we could afford to spend a bit on repairs and it wasn't a grenade on wheels like the other bikes we'd seen.

As a nervous learner, slinging a leg over the Honda for the first time was honestly a bit of a task in itself. You'd think that a manufacturer with the research budget of Honda building bikes ridden mainly by teenagers, that they'd make the seats a bit lower. Being a bit of a shorty, I could only just make both my toes touch the ground at once, not ideal when you're plodding about in first gear feet down as only a true learner can. However, a few turns with a spanner on the rear shock adjuster lowered the ride height enough to get a bit of balance while stationary. Apart from the minor tallness issue, the Honda was a dead easy bike to learn on, the front (once replaced) and rear brakes were more than up to the task, and the newly freed off rear suspension along with the front forks were soft enough to soak up all the bumps. The clutch lever was nice and long meaning it had plenty of travel so stalling was easy to avoid and the neutral light gave added peace of mind. Being a two-stroke bike however, the engine wasn't exactly well suited to low speed tootling around, two-strokes only give their best performance when revved like crazy which most saddle virgins aren't exactly keen on doing.

Most usually, when modifications are made to a bike, especially in the engine department, reliability tends to go downhill. Being a two-stroke which are notoriously fragile I was expecting to have to embark on at least one engine overhaul before I was old enough to get my licence. In anticipation, I even bought all the necessary parts straight from Honda at a fair old expense so I wouldn't have to mess about waiting for spares when it did go pop. Probably serves me right for having no faith because I never needed them. In two and a half years I clocked up a good 4000 miles of off road thrashing (and some illegal road expeditions) on top of the 21000 miles the bike was already showing and the motor never missed a beat. Apart from the initial front brake job and suspension linkage overhaul, the only problem I had with the bike was when some badly repaired wiring behind the clocks short circuited and melted. Had the previous owner fitted the recommended 10amp fuse and not a 35amp however, this could have been avoided, but as I'd stripped most of the lights off anyway, the call to the auto electrician was only for peace of mind. But caveman previous owners aside, Honda’s famous reliability scores highly again.

Having modified my bike in virtually every way from the engine to the transmission and suspension, when I did sneak out onto some back roads the bike was an absolute pig to ride. The knobblies were noisy on the tarmac and held the speed back, the suspension, perfect for jumping over things was useless for going round corners and the low gearing meant the bike accelerated really fast but topped out at around 50mph. However, I’ve ridden an MTX200 on the road, which has the same chassis as the 125 and it felt fine, nice and easy to flick from side to side and the Avon road tyres it was running held the road fine, giving the impression that a standard 125 would be a great little bike for belting down B roads. I would however definitely recommend shelling out a bit more for a later bike with disc brakes, for as long as there will be bikers there will always be a 90 year old Volvo estate driver just waiting to pull out in front of you. I estimate fuel consumption for the 125 would be roughly 45mpg, but there's always two-stroke oil to pay for as well and you should always buy the best you can afford, especially if you've modified the engine. Last I checked road tax for a 125cc bike was round about £55 and insurance for a 17 year old for TPFT with zero no claims should be around £450, so it isn't exactly the cheapest mode of transport on the planet but definitely one of the most enjoyable and not as expensive as some may expect.

But despite being as robust as they are, many of these bikes will have succumbed to learners mistakes, and others will have been thrashed to death on off road tracks. Others will lie neglected in sheds after their once proud owners passed their tests and got bigger, faster bikes, so it won't surprise you to learn that there aren't that many of them still buzzing about, especially as Honda stopped making them in 1993. Nowadays Honda's flagship trailbikes are the XR models, which are lovely machines, but I still find myself hankering after another MTX125. For a field bike with no tax, MOT and several scratches, expect to pay in the region of £300. At the other end of the spectrum, a very late, disc braked model will set you back £800 at the most, more than that and you can pick up an early XR. As will all learner trailbikes, scrapes and dents are inevitable, but these are easily sustained without major damage so use these to try to haggle the price down as much as you can. Keep an eye out for weeping fork seals, cracks in the front chassis member and twisted forks, all characteristics of a used and abused bike and definitely reasons to keep clear. 125cc bikes are the most stolen bikes in the UK so do all the usual checks on paperwork etc and always try to suss out the seller as much as the bike. If suspicious, walk away, there are plently more 125cc bike of various types out there.