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.
Here is one for a bit of nostalgia, as Honda is set to bring a concept motorcycle that riffs on iconic machine from Big Red’s lineup. The motorcycle shown above is the Honda CT125 concept, which is to debut in a month’s time at the Tokyo Motor Show.
For those that know their motorcycle history, the “CT” name should be a familiar one from Honda, as the trail-oriented motorcycles were the off-road counterparts to the popular Super Cub street bikes.
Since it debuted in 2013, we have seen more than a few radical builds the included the Honda Grom. There is something about the unassuming street bike that begs for more, and there have been no shortage of willing people to realize those dreams.
We just recently talked about a sidecar kit for the Grom, which in our eyes would make it the perfect pit bike and grocery-getter. We hear that the Honda CBR300R is a direct bolt-in way for ludicrous power, and then we have today’s story…the ultimate electric Grom.
The result of what happens when you drop an Alta Redshift MX powertrain into the pint-sized Grom chassis, what you are witnessing is a 50hp electric tire-shredder that doubles as a motorcycle.
When the Honda Grom came on the market in 2013, we weren’t quite sure what to make of it. The name came from the surf/skater community, and the bike was two-thirds the size of a normal motorcycle.
Despite its small stature though, the fun factor was there for the Grom, and the pricing was right. This made the Honda Grom an instant hit.
Now with an update under its belt, we see the Grom platform in the Honda Monkey and Honda Super Cub as well, making for a three-bike lineup in Honda’s mini-moto offering.
But, there has been something missing all this time, which we didn’t know we needed until right now. Enter, the Honda Grom sidecar.
The work of the folks at Industrial Moto, the Grom Utility Sidecar is a bolt-on kit to add a third wheel of fun to your Honda Grom lifestyle. The perfect grocery-getter, the ultimate pit bike, the coolest way to take your kid to school…we need one.
“How many axes does the IMU use?…And who makes it? Bosch?” asked a journalist during our press launch briefing for the new Honda Monkey. That journalist was yours truly. I am that guy at the Monkey launch.
To be fair, my curiosity was mostly personal. After all, one of the cheapest motorcycles in Honda’s arsenal comes available with IMU-assisted ABS, while more than a few of Big Red’s full-on sport bikes in the lineup do not…how weird is that? Please tell me more, Honda.
But, the question strikes a larger tone when it comes to bikes like the Honda Monkey: the tech specs don’t really matter. No one cares. The appropriate measuring stick for a bike like the Honda Monkey isn’t an objective one that is found on spec-sheets and lap times, which is a tough pill to swallow for a detail-oriented motorcycle journalist.
To that end, I am not sure if the Honda Monkey is a good motorcycle. But more importantly, I am not sure that it matters. Let me explain.
Hello from Santa Catalina Island, where we are about to go ride the new Honda Monkey mini-moto. A play on Honda’s past, the Monkey is built off the modern Honda Grom platform, but uses styling that is more at home in the 1970s.
A retro-modern approach to the mini-bike craze, the Honda Monkey is trying to rekindle some of those “you meet the nicest people on a Honda” feelings, which launched the Japanese brand into the public mainstream almost 50 years ago.
As such, we will be spending the day on this popular Californian destination to see how the Honda Monkey handles not only from a technical perspective on the road, but also we want to see what “je ne sais quoi” of two-wheeled fun the Monkey brings to the table.
With cars largely verboten on Catalina, bikes like Honda’s old Trail 70 and Trail 110 are popular choices here (as are golf carts, but that is an entirely different story), which makes the island a smart pick for this press launch.
Per our new review format, I will be giving you a live assessment of the Honda Monkey right here in this article (down in the comments section), and I will try to answer any questions you might have about this unique motorcycle.
So, here is your chance to learn what it’s like to ride the Honda Monkey, before even my own proper review is posted. As always, if I don’t know an answer, I will try to get a response from the Honda personnel. So, pepper away.
You can follow our thoughts on the bike live via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and you can see what our colleagues are posting on social media by looking for the hashtags #HondaMonkey, #POWERofNICE #RideRed.
There is something about the Honda Monkey that we find adorable and appealing, as we did with the Honda Grom, of which the Monkey shares a platform (namely, its 125cc single-cylinder engine with DOHC).
So needless to say, we were thrilled when we heard that Honda would bring the Monkey into production, and today we get confirmation of news we expected: the Honda Monkey will come to the USA as a 2019 model.
Priced at $3,999 of the USA ($4,199 if you want ABS), the 2019 Honda Monkey will be available in October, and come in two colors: red or yellow.
When the Honda Grom debuted, we didn’t know what to make of it. A mini-moto for the street, the 125cc motorcycle was unassuming, underpowered, and oddly positioned. We loved it, and so did you.
Now with the space heating up with competition from manufacturers like Kawasaki and Benelli, Honda is having to defend the niche that it carved out with the Grom with a new model.
Big Red is doing that with the 2018 Honda Monkey.
We have been speculating for some time whether Honda would bring its monkey bike concept to market. As we predicted, the model wasn’t destined for the 2016 model year, but now two years later, and with the Honda Grom at the end of its product cycle, the 2018 Honda Monkey is finally ready for primetime.
I won’t rehash too much of what we have said about how the Honda Monkey is a master-stroke from the Japanese brand.
Simply stated, the Honda Monkey builds off the popularity of the Grom, adds in some retro flare (which is so hip right now), and creates the potential for an all-new “You Meet the Nicest People on Honda” moment. Now it’s time to put those words to the test.
The Honda Grom is a motorcycle I cannot explain. I don’t know why Honda built it; I don’t know who that bike is for; and I don’t know where you would actually ride a Grom…I just know that I want one.
Interestingly, the Honda Grom shares an ancestry with the Honda Monkey lineup – a series of small-displacement, and curiously sized, Z-series motorcycles from the 1960s and 1970s.
Now paying homage to the Monkeys of yore, Honda has one last concept from the Tokyo Motor Show that we need to cover: the obviously named Honda Monkey 125 concept.
American Honda is recalling two machines for problems with their fuel pump internals, the Honda Grom (MXS125) pocket bike and the Honda Forza (NSS300) scooter.
The recall affects 2014-2015 model year machines, and centers around the resin bracket inside the fuel pump, which may swell and cause the pump impeller to seize.
As a consequence of the resin bracket swelling, the fuel pump may seize, which would stall either motorcycle. Because a stalled vehicle can increase the risk of a crash, a safety recall has been issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.