World's best Adventure bike? Honda Wave 125i | RTW  

@Tonycorneat...My Honda Wave is 2007,16 yrs and still I am using it,overhauled once in 2019,

This type of bike is everywhere in SEA, pretty much the motor will run upwards of 250k km with just regular oil change. Used one since 2012 - all original parts aside from fast moving parts like drive chain sets and stuff. The plastic bits however don't hold as well as the mechanical parts.

True... also their ancestor from 1990 ish... still running like a champ in my country...

I stil have a start-first-time 2001 honda dream excess and it still runs the same as ever. more than 240,000 km on it clocked it twice and a half

I'm in the process of restoring my dad's 2005 Honda Wave Alpha, still kicks like a horse.

A lot of it matches my experience (although I haven't owned adv bikes over 500cc) and well said on the oil level. I guess you'll have to see the video to see if I mention it too ;) I wish Honda have brought this version to Europe. That newer EFI engine while less powerful in the top end compared to the older ANF, just feels so much torque-ier in the low to mid rpms. If you ever get a new EFI 125cc Honda, the ECU's usually have a setting for high altitude. Hopefully all goes well when I set off next year. Then I will have to see how the European Mountains will feel :) This bike has done a few 2up trips up to Doi Inthanon (2500m AMSL) in Thailand and a few other mountain passes in South East Asia. It's a bit of a mountain goat despite the high gearing that I run. On the trip this thumbnail is from, it managed to climb the 36% inclines on the Bloomfield track, fully loaded with exception of the 2 spare tyres, granted that this track is not too high above sea level and I am only around 80kg. So far it was only defeated was when I went up to Preah Vihear in Cambodia with my parntner as pillion + both of our luggage. I kindly had to ask her to walk the last couple hundred meters as those were just too step for both of us on the little 125. It was then that we learned why there's a shuttle service in proper 4x4s and why the ticket ales people were looking at us funny when we said we were going to ride up there :D I completely get what you mean with fun. That's why I love this little bike so much. I could take my much more comfortable CB500x, but this has more character. As you said, it's also much easier on trails.

Appreciate the comment! Glad Tom was able to reply also. Sounds like you guys had the adventure of a life time on the right sized bikes.

fuel costs is also much more affordable with these scooters

It's not a scooter!!!

Scooter ya mum

Haha the Dream is a really great bike!

He came to New Zealand which was cool - I missed seeing him as he was riding quick through the country. But his trip was amazing. I still follow his current journeys.

Thats awesome! They really are a versatile machine.

How much kilometers have u done on it ? What iis the oil change interval and what oil do u use ? 😊

@@audiophilipp i don't use it that much now, only using it to get around the village so i only change its oil whenever it turns darker, it can go on a year and a half before I change it, i use any SAE 40 oil, and for the millage, it stopped at 19k and I didn't bother replacing the speedometer.

Thats awesome. They really are a great commuter bike.

@Ashraff Nor Ariff.....I am from Malaysia too, I am using this 1st model Wave for 16 yrs,overhauled once! Sekarang saya berfikir samada nak beli motor RS 150 atau LC 135?

RS 150 yang first model punya okey bang. Yang latest ni manja sikit nak jaga. LC135 bagus jugak. @@sivaratnamasabaratnam8946

​@@sivaratnamasabaratnam8946I still see people running with classic lc135 untill now made me jealous they easy to fix since it's carburated type

I have the old model not the "i" one. It a beast with Thailand mod racing during my drag racing year. Then i overhaul it with original part, using it for off-road for hunting still going great.

Yes thats so true. 125cc is capable of a lot. I have ridden the XRM125 which is so popular there, and it can do anything!

Yes,4 stroke engine without water cool radiator,every 350 milage changing engine oil before it turn extreme black !

Legendary bike in SEA

So cool!

Haha thats a great way to put it - it has a lot of modifications but Tom can now ride long distances safely.

Yes its true , i made alot of long trips on a honda wave in Thailand and Cambodia. On the road , in the mud , everywhere i went he never let me down . Because of that i bought a honda wave in my home country back in 2005. Great bike 👍

All the right accessories for a long ride!

I like the CT125 but uta not selling where i am. Got myself a Raider 150 instead. Planning for my road trip soon

Epic, the CT125 is a great bike!

@@kllam2696 Where are you based? The Raider is a great bike!

​@@SmallBikeStuffKL, Malaysia. Planning for a road trip to Thailand end of next month.

Awesome! I'll be in KL in February 2024. I hope I can meet some of my watchers.

Jealous of the quantity and access to these epic bikes that you do have. There are some pretty spots around where you are. I would have ridden past your area in 2015 when I did a ride into Vientiane on that bike. It was funny convincing the border guard who told me I needed at least a 250cc bike (showing a picture of that bike on a previous trip helped). I honestly can't wait to get back to Thailand again.

Ditto!

They are a great bike, and have been the main ingredient for many peoples motorcycle story.

That’s awesome. Big love for the Honda Waves!

Great idea! Tom has already done some amazing adventures.

He really is!

Nice! I hope mine will reach and exceed that distance. Epic little machines, that's for sure.

179000km?? Lol wirh some crappy cars youre glad you make that

Hallå! Thanks for watching. Nice to know there are a few people out there with these bikes.

Agreed! Tom put a lot of effort into filming. It's turned out really well.

Thank you!

They’re awesome bikes! And don’t seem to fetch a ridiculous price there. The UK Innova is the model before this one but still a great bike.

Thanks for watching.

Thanks for watching.

@@SmallBikeStuff well come. Waiting for some new advencher ❤️❤️ Best wishes ❤️❤️

I'm very happy to hear that :) It certainly doesn't take much to travel.

​@@tomonabudgetI suprise small bike is released on Au too😅😅, in Indonesia it called vibration head, because it headlamp will vibrating sooner or later

Thanks for watching!

Haha mods are the way forward! Thanks for watching.

Great bikes!

Honda Wave's are perfect for so many uses! Thank you for watching.

i've had a honda wave when i was in high school, as traffic got harder to navigate because of big Fords hogging the lanes and driving bumper to bumper, i've decided to get an automatic instead as i don't have to do cardio every time traffic moves for a few inches. but if i ever get to live in a rural area, i will definitely sell my scooter and get a honda wave again as it's basically an immortal bike to have. My grandfather who lives in a rural area has one and it's literally a beast at climbing up steep rocky hills, all you do is kick it into first gear and step on the gas.

Thats awesome to hear.

Very cool. Almost 20 years old!

Thanks for watching, I appreciate it!

They really are cool little bikes.

Thank you so much for watching. The Honda Activa looks great!

@@SmallBikeStuff my pleasure, have you seen the model of Honda Activa scooter on the websites 😍😍😍😍

Thanks for being a part of the Series, Tom. It was a long edit but a pleasure. Hope others appreciate your handy work as much as I do.

I want to take a long trip to Vancouver from Texas's Paso

Nice sensible, mods Tom , il check your channel out,regards

Thats awesome! Great idea. Opening the seat all the time can get annoying if you've got anything secured too it also.

Thanks Jeff! Well done getting it to work with an EFI NBC. I do have a pit-bike tank leftover from escorting Nathan Millwards Garbage run in 2019! I really wanted to fit it. But it would foul with the seat, which opens quite far forward. I also open it a lot since it is a quick access hole for the storage bin. I'd have to create some sort of double hinge mechanism to allow opening it. At least that Wave has an ok sized tank with 5.4l and 250km range if you're keeping your cruising speed in check.

Thank you! Couldn’t have done it without Tom’s efforts. Glad we can share this globe trotting machine with the rest of the world.

Thanks for watching!

My Aunty's husband had this 50s Lamberta he used it from late 1960s till 1986, it has the problem for replacing the accelarator cable cord unlike Vespa.

Hi sound like your on about the gear cable which on the Lambretta up 1954 would of been Teleflex & use to be hard to find. All the French D/Ld's used teleflex calbles for the gears too but in 1954 the D/Ld's made by Innocenti had to gear cables . The accelerator on lambrettas are not hard to find as the can be made up using an adjustable nipple at the carb end @@sivaratnamasabaratnam8946

Yes, Tom has been active in many groups over the years. He even did a talk at a Horizons Unlimited event once. Riding slow bikes fast is much better than riding fast bikes slow!

Nick i'd say you're mad but I wouldn't expect anything less from a fellow Small Bike enthusiast. Enjoy the video!

I just checked out your channel. Nice work on a CB125F! IMHO Australia's most underrated motorcycle. The king of Uber Eats and the forgotten adventurer. I wonder how the aerodynamics are on that. I had a CB125E, which was more capable off-road than the Wave with its even bigger 18" wheels, higher clearance and bone running under the engine. But boy, did you need stamina to ride this bike for long periods. While the engines sounded like a sewing machine at low rpms, it sounded like an angle grinder at 90kmh (I hope the newer one sounds better). The more challenging part were the aero-dynamics that would constantly pull your legs apart. Again, something I hope they improved. Great bikes though! I called mine the Taliban bike because of its heritage. I'm still thinking about one day taking 3 weeks off, buying one of them and just ride it almost unmodified across the country. Fuel range with the huge 14L tank certainly won't an issue, even less with since the F has EFI.

@@tomonabudget Yeah it's not what I'd call aerodynamic :) I love taking my bike along gravel mountain backroads, it handles it with surprising ease. It's so easy to ride it almost feels like cheating!

Thank you so much! Glad that you took some useful tips away from this video. Groms are epic. My partner has an OG and there have been a few people like Nicklas Aittamaa that took theirs on some big trips. The 3rd gen is is lovely with the 5 speed gearbox, a bit more power and oil filter. Even on the OG, the spinner was easier as you don't have to take the exhaust off and you don't have the funny stack of components to reassemble when servicing the spinner. On the pipe, if you want to paint it black: remember to use plastic primer as most paint will just flake off. One cool mod that would make the Grom more capable if you want to go on gravel: Taller tyres! The size of the tyre you find on the Monkey add a good amount of extra bounce (particularly when you let pressures down). That way you get a nicer ride on gravel even with road tyres, while retaining great grip on sealed roads. The taller tyres will also add a little more ground clearance. I only did a test fit on my partners Grom using the wheel of her Monkey and those make it feel a bit more like a little dirt bike :)

Thank you for watching!

Thats awesome, a huge effort. Lots of riding on the SH125i.

Yes I know the rattling body panels. Mine does that too. The story of your gramps is really awesome. Thanks so much for sharing.

Supra batok geter

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for the info! Interesting to hear about that Kevlar Strip. Looking around I find them for bicycles, but not for motorcycles. I'll certainly do a bit of digging. I used to get punctures every once in a while when I was running the stock tyres and tube. Those punctures went down when I moved to onto IRC-NR1 tyres which have a 6ply rating. Since about 30,000km I've been running them together with Vee Rubber HD tubes in the rear. Ever since then, I haven't had a single puncture. You can use HD tubes for a few tyres since they're just so much stronger and under-stressed in my application that I'm using them in. Can I ask, is that info from bicycles? I used to ride when I lived in Europe and on those punctures are a royal pain in the neck. I can only imagine how much worse they'd be in Australia since we have Bindies / Devils thorns.

@@tomonabudget You can use the bicycle kevlar strips, just double them up if they are not wide enough for your tires. I think the 'Slime' brand makes them.

i never knew you could do that on tires, i'm certainly going to do that at some point

Thats what I was thinking while editing this. The Honda Wave may not be readily available in most western countries, but the NBC110 is a prime candidate for similar mods.

Wish you the best of luck with the mods :) One that I recommend also is to upgrade to the IRC-NR1 3.00 tyres. The extra bounce over 2.75's or the 70/80 - 80/90 tyres is just wonderful. IMHO, by far the best tyre you can put on these bikes. I talked about them, but that didn't make the cut as I think I may have talked a bit too much in that segment and the video would have never ended :-).

Thankyou for watching! The Philippines is awesome.

Very cool name :)

I forgot the oil filter. Yes totally! It sucks having to take the exhaust off as part of regular servicing. A filter is the same cost as the 3 gaskets you need to replace for the spinner service.

They really can put up with anything. Strong bikes!

Love Vietnam!

I owned a couple Wave 110i's. They're great little machines. A bit more screamy than the lower revving 125's, but amazing little machines. I'd be curious to hear how you go with an SH300. It's probably going to be a lot more comfortable on roads. The CVT's make them faster to accelerate than much bigger bikes.

+1 to these comments. SH300 is something I wish we could get in New Zealand.

I know the video you're referring too. I have tried the stand down method too with varying success.

Thanks for the suggestion. I thought about that too, mainly when I still used a DJI Mavic Pro. There the "car" charger needed a steady 13V with massive 7amps to charge the batteries and the stator simply dropped a little too much during the initial inrush current when the charger fills its own capacitors. However, setting something up that works well without popping fuses and draining the battery over-night is unfortunately much more difficult that it sounds. For most other cases, a capacitor sadly doesn't bring as much of a benefit. As you mentioned yourself, they are most useful for comparatively small total capacity, but very high loads. I.e.: What speakers demand or to assist with the start of high inrush-current applications like starting a big electric motor. Batteries can supply a higher total amount of electricity, just not at this high of an amperage. The grips don't really draw that much, about 4 amps if I remember it right. The battery can fill the gap there for some time without causing too much wear on it (they really don't like to go through big charge cycles). Maybe a couple traffic light stops. All so long as you get your electricity consumption below the max output of your stator + rectifier at the speed you ride on average. The grips will automatically reduce power draw as they are just resistors, powered through PWM and the controller will put them into stand-by mode when the charge drops too much. In my case, I want to run the grips over long periods. On my rides I can go do 12hours+ in the seat. If that's in cold temperatures, then the grips are on for a large amount of time. At night time I'll also want really bright lights and a capacitor simply wouldn't do it here sadly. An alternative to your suggestion that works is to use a portable power bank that you charge up with the cig-lighter to then power stuff afterwards. Some even come with 240V inverters. I know a guy who has sleep apnoea and uses it to run his sleep device when camping. Besides the mod that I've mentioned, another modification you can do is to upgrade the stator. HOWEVER: that's also more complicated than one might think. I tried it by buying a spare and re-winding it with the same wire thickness and 20% more windings. The end result was a higher idle power output because the coils got more induction from the magnets. However the output at increased RPMs was lower, because the added length of wire, also added resistance and that resistance was higher than the additional induction I was getting. So you now need thicker wire and getting that correct is beyond my expertise. Even electricians when I ask them, all just run away as the math ain't easy.

Nice to see others who have 2 similar bikes to mine and think in a similar way too (you can seem my Video on the 500x in the pinned comment). I wonder which one you have? I wonder why the Trail's rear raack hasn't received a higher rating since some markets sell them with rear footpegs and a cushion to seat a human on there. I totally get your complaints about the CT125 :) It's odd it has such a small tank since the CB125E and CB125F come with massive 14L tanks! On the C125 and CT125 I would have hoped for a larger tank compared to the Wave since neither of them have under-seat storage. The head-wind slow-down is also why I would have liked a slightly more powerful engine. With a tail-wind these bikes just haul! Even in Australia where our speeds are slower. If I'm hitting a strong head-wind, I'm sitting over the line as I'm just sloooooow. At least you tend to get thumbs ups when cars do pass you.

Agreed!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching! Really appreciate it.

Thank you. I'll have to finally get to making videos. It's a lot of work. I'll try to use this account / channel. Just slowly setting things up. For sure, I will keep uploading images on FB. Maybe I will get around and do the Instagram thing, but we'll see :)

Looking forward for more videos

Tom has a way with words!

They are strong little bikes!

Thats some really awesome advice! Thank you for commenting. My centre stand is *okay* for now. It's regularly lubricated. But I will keep an eye on it.

South America has some great bikes that we can't really get here. New Zealand and Australia have too many laws for new bikes.

@@SmallBikeStuff you should check brazil bikes and colombia, they are the ones with a lot of brands a models!

I love the small Honda engines. What model is the 1988 bike?

Hero Honda CD100. @@SmallBikeStuff

Thats awesome! In Thailand there are tonnes of old 90's and early 00's Honda Waves still on the road.

i m from indonesia by the way, an it's called honda supra x instead of honda wave

Yeah that sounds about right. Wave Alpha 100 is still a great bike!

Amazing distance already!

The Dream is a great bike!

Dream's have legendary status wherever they were sold.

I almost bought a Suzuki Smash years ago! Cool little machines.

:)

Great idea! Malaysia has good choices for bikes.

Thanks mate. Bike theft really ain't fun :( Nice to see others that can appreciate having a small light bike and a bigger comfortable tourer :) The economy on the SH300 sounds about right. I get similar fuel consumption on the 500x (link in pinned description) at similar speed. It's certainly a lot more comfortable at speed I'd be curious to hear what bike you've been thinking of since I don't know many Scoots at that exact displacement. The Burgman's I know are usually either 400 or the half-abusa 650cc engine. With Honda the X-ADV is also a 750.

Yeah. I won't be, considering above 650cc displacement it's just really heavy to get up and moving a bike unpowered. Other, the Honda Forza is nice, having a comfortable driving and large fuel capacity that gets me more travel and less refuelling than Honda SH bikes. I used to carry a fuel can with Innova (it was only ~180km cover), SH300 has plenty fuel tank enough to cover 200~300km (depending speed on CVT optimal gear ratio) I did think about Burgman 400, but nah. Forza 350 does better with 3,33L/100km and 11,7L tank capacity. Burgman consumes ~5L/100km due to this heavier weight 217kg compared to 184kg on Forza 350. One year ago I have bought electric scooter "Super SOCO CPx" with two batteries detachable (redundancy and 140km distance cover) it was really very fun instant acceleration than 300cc. EDIT: Very nice your vid!

Love the Honda Wave!

Sounds really awesome. Where do you live?

I'm from the Philippines. I daily my bike, purposely built it so I can daily drive while I ride with my buddies who got 155cc scooters like the yamaha Aerox and nmax.

Thanks for watching!

Ahhh yes I know the ones you mean. I have seen them for bigger bikes before - it would be interesting on a Small Bike like this. Do you ride a motorcycle in India?

Thanks for the insight! I've seen ryan from Fortnine use something like silicone to seal the spokes on his BMW when je fitted a car tyre on it. Maybe that's what he used? I'd probably still have to replace the rim as these steelies have grooved lips which aren't great for keeping air in. Something to consider if or when I upgrade to a wider rim?

Thanks so much for watching! The 110i is a commendable bike for sure. I wish the UK still got the later versions.

Thanks a lot!. I agree with you and Calum. The 110i, is a fun and capable little bike. I owned 2 - 2010 Wave 110i's. I rode the first one over 6 months from Thailand, via Cambodia to do the Top Gear Vietnam trip (I talk about that trip in the interview with Calum on this channel) and back to Thailand through Laos. It's amazing how similar and yet different it is to the just slightly bigger 125. The biggest one may be how rev-happy the little engine is. Sure it has less bottom and low end torque, but boy does it love to get up and go. I hope that Honda Europe / UK bring the Wave / Innova back again.

That’s so great! Lucky to find one in Germany. I wish we had more in my country.

​@SmallBikeStuff We have here in Germany also only a few of those motorcycle. I never saw one honda anywhere in the streets. My hometown has about 540.000 inhabitants and I guess, Iam the only one here 😊You get it only second hand. All the best 👍

Servus, vielleicht komme ich dort vorbei ind dann gibt's zumindest temporär eine Honda Wave mehr dort :) Germany is on my list.

HIghschool me is jealous :) I only occasionally drove my mum 1993 Opel Corsa 1.2, but mostly got around on a bicycle.

@@tomonabudget haha, sadly parents sold it few years ago, because the bike was never really used that much. Its a pretty common bike here in your neighbor indonesia 🤣

XRM's are great little machines, it's a shame more countries don't have them.

Agreed on the regularity making a difference, particularly with engines that don't have a good oil filtration system. Synthetic oil depends on the bike sadly. I've encountered a bit of clutch slipping when I ran fully synthetic Penrite oil. Semi doesn't do that. I've also seen similar reports from Innova owners. The Grom and Monkey don't mind about either. The biggest advantage with fully synthetic is stability at a wider temperature range, which air-cooled engines do go through. I might try it when I start riding in icy conditions.

Like Tom says, even if something does break you can usually still ride all the way to your destination. Really amazing bikes.

I would love to Visit the Philippines soon! And so would Tom. Thanks for watching.

@@SmallBikeStuff alright bud,have a safe ride ..i can be your tour guide when you come here, just visit my hometown tacloban city and just message me..ill be happy to assist you here your very welcome here..

Completely agree. It's the same for most western countries. We get ignored. I was lucky enough to find the only Honda Wave 125 in New Zealand, it had been privately imported.

Oh my. The raider is great. I nearly got one instead of the Wave. Here you have a jealous Kiwi and an Australian looking at America where you can still legally buy the Cub 125 and CT125. While 110cc underbones (not Waves though) used to be absolute staples of our postal services, our government to put an end to that with new brake requirements for new vehicles that are the strictest around the globe and which almost completely killed our small bike markets.