CN
III VOICES
W H A T Y O U A R E S A Y I N G
"Oh the power, ughhh the handling."
Good Memories,
Bad Memories
Your fantastic picture of the re-
stored Suzuki TM125 reminded
me of the centerfold in Popular
Cycling many, many years ago.
It was a picture of one of their
test riders on a TM400 Cyclone
with the caption "Testing The
Cyclone 400, An Occupational
Hazard."
Oh the power, ughhh the
handling.
Dan Hirst
Honda C125 Super Cub
It is nice to see a new version of
Honda's venerable "C" step-
through available, if for nothing
more than nostalgia. I am of
the age where the "you meet
the nicest people on a Honda"
slogan first was heard and the
real motorcycle explosion first
began. My first bike was a C110,
and my last, so far (60 motorcy-
cles later) was a Suzuki B-King,
with every size and type of two-
and four-stroke engine available
among those 60 motorcycles. I
tell you this to give you an idea
of my qualifications to judge the
new Super Cub.
The original of the Super Cub
was a 50cc OHV single with a
claimed five horsepower. With
the same basic engine, my C110
would get to 40 mph on level
ground and got just over 100
mpg. It cost under $300 but it
has been so long I cannot tell
you the list price exactly.
My first comment is about
cost, and since the original CT
was about the same price as
mine, even with inflation, my
opinion is it is overpriced by
about $1000. $2499 sounds
about right to me, also consider-
ing that the Grom is more motor-
cycle at about $400 less cost.
$1999 would be even better
and be a bargain in the original
Honda tradition.
Second, with only nine
horsepower for a 125cc engine,
it seems a little anemic to me.
With modern technology, 15
horsepower is not out of line
even with acceptable torque
figures. After all, the 60-year-
old 50cc engine put out five
horsepower and was one-fifth
the displacement.
Lastly, on the positive side, it
is an attractive bike and could
sell well for something like a
carry vehicle on a motorhome if
Honda can do something about
the above comments. Honestly,
Honda seems to be relying
too much on nostalgia and not
enough on practicality. After all,
their own 300cc street bike isn't
much more than the Super Cub
at $4399, which seems like a
much better value at only an ad-
ditional $700.
Laign Eton
Empire Of Dirt: TV
Personality Ricky
Carmichael
Great piece to close out this
week's issue of Cycle News.
Steve Cox was dead-on ac-
curate in his explanation of Car-
michael's prowess in the booth.
Like Steve, I too was upset at
Emig's departure because I
thought he performed extremely
well. Then again, I always
thought David Bailey was initially
much better than Emig when it
came to moto-announcers, so
what do I know?
Great piece. Great publica-
tion.
David Muzzatti
P6
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Suzuki TM125
Honda Super Cub
Ricky Carmichael
