I don't care if I look silly on them, I like small motorcycles - and when it comes to dirt-bikes, that goes double. Most small dual-purpose machines are easy to ride, solidly built and as friendly as puppies.
They have to be durable to survive the unsympathetic treatment meted out to them by teenage, rookie riders and they're easy to ride because they have basic, no-frills slide carbs and floating-calliper brakes that simply don't have the power to bite you.
Honda's XR125L is a case in point. It has an air-cooled 124cc pushrod single that's straight outta the 1960s with one intake valve, one exhaust valve and one Keihin 22mm slide carb.
It runs a combustion-friendly 9.5:1 compression ration and squeezes out a claimed 8.5kW at 8500rpm and 10.6Nm at 7000rpm - hardly the stuff with which mountains are moved.
But it starts first time, with or without the choke (just as well, because the choke lever is so well tucked away on the “wrong” side of the carburettor it took me two days to find it) and picks up smoothly and evenly from just off idle without any jerking - or any discernable power band, for that matter.
Even if you wring its neck all the time (and I challenge you to find a 16-year old that won't!) it just gets a little noisy and loses its impetus as the power drops off sharply beyond 9000rpm, almost forcing you to hook the next gear.
On the road, it has enough mid-range to cruise in top at 80km/h while carrying its own weight in payload and, in the dirt, first and second will take you just about anyplace you can walk, at 20-30km/h.
The clutch is one-finger light, taking up sharply, quite close to the grip, but always predictable when riding on the street. It became unpleasantly juddery after about an hour of heavy-duty off-roading in thick bush and deep sand, at which point the engine oil must have been hot enough to deep-fry a turkey, but soon recovered its equanimity after a few minutes' cruising.
The gearbox is generally crisp and slick, although distinctly notchy between first and second. The upside is that neutral is always easy to find - important for a new rider - and missed shifts are rare. I soon got used to changing between second and fifth - in both directions - without the clutch and didn't miss a shift throughout the week I had the test XR.
For the record, top speed was a true 102km/h with a needle's width more than 110 showing on the analogue speedometer, and fuel consumption averaged out at 4.4 litres/100km over a week of mixed commuting and messing about in the green belts near my home.
This user-friendly powertrain is housed in a tubular-steel frame with 31mm, long-travel forks and a rectangular-section, steel monoshock swing-arm.
Steel chassis may be vulnerable to corrosion at the slightest scratch (which can make them look old before their time) but are generally stiffer than alloy equivalents and able to shake off minor spills without structural damage.
With the exception of the steel fuel-tank, all the body components are colour-moulded plastic, which makes them virtually scratch-proof. They include a blobby little bikini fairing with a moped headlight that looks seriously out of place on an off-roader, neat little radiator shrouds (which help keep mud off the rider even though there's no radiator to shroud), a long, deeply padded, enduro-style seat and a very tidy tailpiece complete with a steel parcel rack.
Instrumentation is basic, with nothing more than an odometer and tripmeter set into the speedometer face and three warning lights - neutral, high beam and indicators - and not a liquid crystal in sight. Nevertheless, the instrument pod is robust, as is the switchgear, and the electrical controls have a crisp, positive action that adds greatly to the bike's overall air of quality.
The only area where the test XR125L's Chinese heritage shows (It's built by Sundiro Honda at Tianjin in Hainan province) is on the price-tag, a distinctly affordable R13 999.
The XR is not as compact as it looks and the ergonomics are quite relaxed, even for adults, with a reasonable reach to the handlebars and (just about) enough room around the footpegs for my size 10's, although it feels a bit cramped when standing up.
The plush suspension makes this lightweight (125kg with a full tank) bundu-basher remarkably comfortable off-road, soaking up bumps and jumps with equanimity. Handling on the road is generally predictable. The bike is stable up to its top speed and turns accurately into corners, within the limits of the rather plasticky dual-purpose tyres, while ground clearance is (need I say it?) practically unlimited.
The sliding-calliper front disc brake can be made to use up most of the forks' 180mm of travel with just two fingers (which just makes the bike more nimble in traffic) but has enough feel to be used off-road without pushing the front wheel out from under the bike.
(That big tumble in the sand was my fault, Cyril, not the bike's; I tied to turn too sharply while braking.) The rear drum brake lacks the power to get you into trouble (you really have to stomp on it to get the back to break away, even on loose gravel) and may suffer from fade if abused, but is generally adequate for hill-starts and steadying the bike on wet roads.
VERDICT
The XR125L is a robust, if rather basic, dual-purpose machine with a lot more schoolyard cred than an entry-level scooter, for not much more money.
Price: R13 999.
Test bike from Honda South Africa.
SPECIFICATIONS
Engine: 124cc air-cooled single.
Bore x stroke: 56.5 x 49.5mm.
Compression ratio: 9.5:1.
Valvegear: Pushrod with two overhead valves per cylinder.
Power: 8.5kW at 8500rpm.
Torque: 10.6Nm at 7000rpm.
Induction: Keihin 22mm PD-type carburettor with throttle position sensor and manual choke.
Ignition: Digital transistorised with electronic advance.
Starting: Electric.
Clutch: Cable-operated multiplate wet clutch.
Transmission: Five-speed constant-mesh gearbox with final drive by chain.
Front Suspension: 31mm conventional forks.
Rear Suspension: Monoshock adjustable for preload.
Front brakes: 240mm disc with twin-piston floating calliper.
Rear brake: 110mm single leading-shoe drum brake.
Front tyre: 90/90 - 19 tube type.
Rear tyre: 110/90 - 17 tube type.
Wheelbase: 1361mm.
Seat height: 825mm.
Kerb weight: 125kg.
Fuel tank: 12 litres.
Top speed (measured): 102km/h.
Fuel consumption (measured): 4.4 litres/100km.
Price: R13 999.
Warranty: One year unlimited distance.
Service intervals: 2500km.
Bike from: Honda South Africa.