The US market is finally catching up to Europe, where it concerns the Honda Grom, as we get word that the updated miniMOTO machine is coming to the United States as a 2022 model year machine.
The highlight of the the 2022 Honda Grom include a more powerful motor, with 9.6hp on tap, a fifth gear in the gearbox, and a revised styling package.
Updates are coming to the popular Honda Grom mini-bike for the 2021 model year.
Honda Motor Europe is showing that the newly named “Honda MSX125 Grom” will get a power boost (now 9.6 hp), a fifth gear, and a modest restyling for next year.
Understanding one’s lust for a Honda Grom is a lot like explaining good pornography: it is difficult to describe, but you know it when you see it.
That idea encapsulates everything you need to know about Honda’s monkey bike. We can’t tell you why you want one, we just know that you do. Honda’s sales on the Grom back that notion up, as well.
In fact, the Honda Grom has been so successful, now Kawasaki has its own version of the pocket-sized machine coming to the US, and we doubt that they are the last manufacturer to do so.
Beyond being just an adorable grocery-getter, we are seeing a plethora of Groms at the race track – and not just as pit bikes. Grom racing is becoming a thing, with more than a few minimoto series making spec-classes for Honda Grom racers, or including them in their 150cc programs.
To that end, Honda’s racing department, HRC, has the Grom that you want – nay – need. Behold, the Honda Grom race bike from HRC.
Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali has made it pretty clear that he has no plans to take Ducati into the realm of small-displacement motorcycles, and he has flat-out squashed the chances Ducati making a scooter.
This could make thigns difficult for the Italian brand, especially as the hot regions for growth in the motorcycle industry are teeming with machines under 500cc in engine displacement — markets like Southeast Asia, India, China, and the countries of South America.
So what are Ducati fans in these countries to do? Well, where there is a will, there is a way…and for some Thai riders, that will manifests itself in a big way. Taking one perfectly good Honda Grom monkey bike, add in some impressively downsized Ducati Monster bodywork, and well…we introduce to you the Gromcati.
We already covered the Honda MSX125 monkey bike when it debuted at the start of this year, and at the time we knew that the tiny street-terror would be a world market machine. Confirming our hopes at the time of its launch, Honda Motor Corp. has announced that it intends to bring the MSX125 to the United States, renaming it the Honda Grom.
The 2013 Honda Grom will come with just under 10hp, and features a four-speed gearbox that is mated to a 125cc single-cylinder motor, which comes from the common-parts bin of the Japanese company’s popular Honda Wave 125i scooter. Fuel-injected, 225 lbs at the curb when topped-off with its 1.45 gallons of fuel, and priced at $2,999 MSRP, we think Honda hit its mark with an affordable, bulletproof, and fun grocery-getter.
Track day enthusiasts, we have found your perfect pit bike; new riders, we have the ideal machine for you to cut your teeth on, while still being “cool” in the eyes of your more experienced riding friends; and for those who are vertically challenged, your 29.7 inch inseam machine is ready. More photos after the jump, but note America will only be getting the red & black models.
Judging from the response we got on Asphalt & Rubber, there is a lot of buzz regarding Big Red’s new monkey bike, the 2013 Honda MSX125. A small-in-stature motorcycle with a single-cylinder 125cc thumper that puts out 9.7hp, the Honda MSX125 is designed to be a world-market machine that is both fun and practical in nature.
We don’t know how practical the MSX125 might be on the roads here in the United States (it makes a lot more sense in the tighter, pot-hole riddled, car-less roads elsewhere though), but man it sure looks like a fun small-displacement motorbike. Maybe the marketing is working on us? More photos after the jump.
If there ever was a motorcycle that earned the word “cute” is its best descriptor, the Honda Monkey might be it. A diminutive and fun motorcycle, it was hard to look good on Honda’s old Z-series bikes, though the machines themselves still carry their own unique flavor of cool to this day.
Fast-forward fifty-years later, and Honda is bringing the Monkey back, this time in the guise of the 2013 Honda MSX125. Manufactured in Thailand, the Honda MSX 125 (MSX = Mini Street X-treme 125), the 125cc, 9.7 hp, four-stroke, two-valve, single-cylinder, fuel-injected fun machine will be a Spring 2013 model in markets around the world (no word on North America though).
The ultimate pit bike for us Anglo-Saxons, the Honda MSX125 also serves as a practical and durable machine for markets where potholed asphalt is a luxury where roads rarely exist. With the seat just a touch above 30 inches off the ground (30.1″ to be exact), the new Honda Monkey is a friend to the short man (or woman) as well.
