2021 Honda CRF125F Review

This year has been full of firsts for this father. My oldest left home to start her adult life on a university campus, and my youngest told me that she wanted to learn how to ride motorcycles. Guess which of those I’m going to write about here? For a 13-year-old, there is really only one option for piloting their own bike, and seemingly within minutes of her statement, I had her signed up for an MSF-certified off-road training with proper riding gear ordered and on the way. I didn’t want to miss the window of interest. The class run at the Colton Rider Education Center sealed the deal from the moment she first eased out the clutch successfully. The bike she was learning on? A Honda CRF125F.

Making A Rider: Teaching Your Kid To Ride

Honda, when designing the diminutive CRF, was smart enough to build two versions – because kids come in a variety of sizes. The CRF125F my daughter first threw a leg over was the smaller version, with a 17-inch front wheel and a 14-inch rear. The CRF125F Big Wheel features a 19-inch front hoop and a 16-inch rear for a more full-sized riding experience. Aside from an almost 2-inch higher seat (the standard CRF has a 29.1-inch seat, the Big Wheel 30.9 in.) and component variants to accommodate the bigger rims, the two bikes are functionally the same.

As far as I’m concerned, the two most important features of the little CRF are the easy-to-use clutch and the friendly, reliable engine. For the littlest of the littles, a semi-automatic transmission is ideal for starting to ride, but for a 13 year old, learning to use the clutch properly from the get go was way up my list of skills I wanted my daughter to master. The perky little air-cooled 125cc Single features a SOHC and two valves. It also has fuel injection and an electric starter. Even better, it is tuned for bottom-end torque, making it easier for new riders with their inconsistent clutch hands to get under way without stalling. The short gearing also plays a supporting role here.

Once moving, the tame power delivery builds in a non-intimidating way, leading us to an interesting tidbit. All that bottom-end torque comes at the cost of top-end power, meaning that at a certain point, spinning the engine faster doesn’t deliver appreciably more power, just vibration and noise. I’m certain that my daughter would have been happy tooling around in first gear much longer than she did – if she could’ve gone just a little faster. Alas, she had to learn how to shift. While in our time with this Honda, she hasn’t reached the top of the four-speed gearbox. Still, it’s good to know it’s there for her continued growth as a rider.

The steel frame is about as basic as they come, and the steering geometry (27° rake and 3.2-inch trail) is more for confidence-building stability than motocross flickability. The 31mm fork has 5.2 in. of travel, while the rear Pro-Link single shock has 5.5 in. The suspension seems ideally set up for the speeds and abilities of its ideal rider, meaning that, in my experience observing from the sidelines, it works great over washboard bumps and whoops at the speeds a new rider is likely to be going.

I have yet to see any air under the tires (except when the bike is lying on its side), but given the simple needs of a new rider, my guess would be that once the rider is doing any significant jumping, it’ll probably be time for an upgrade to a more capable dirt bike. (This is just conjecture on my part, and Burns says that the TTR125L he and his son had during this stage of his parenting could handle jumps just fine.) Then the little CRF can move on to its next owner, having fulfilled its duties as a gateway drug into the world of motorcycles in our house.

The two-piston front caliper squeezes a 220mm disc while a drum (gasp!) handles rear braking duties. Both are suitably powerful for a rider learning how to manipulate five controls with only four appendages.

Dirt bikes, by their very nature, spend more time lying on the ground than other categories of motorcycles. While my daughter should be capable of picking up the bike (with its claimed 194-pound wet weight), she has, so far, ended up under the bike on all of her crashes and needed me to lift the bike off of her. The plastic bodywork has received a few scuffs, and the steel brake pedal and shifter have needed to be straightened out a couple of times. So, far every component – except the clutch lever – has proved itself to be able to withstand her low-speed tumbles. Why a bike designed for newbies doesn’t come with hand guards to protect the levers is beyond me.

When I asked my daughter what she’d like to say about the Honda CRF125F for this review, she said that it’s the right size for her and really easy to ride. She also added that she wants us to get one permanently. From my perspective, it will be a sad day at the Brasfield house when we have to return the little CRF to Honda. Thanks to the COVID bump in dirt bike sales, new CRF125Fs are hard to find, and used ones are going for more than the $3,249 MSRP. Never mind, the hook has been planted (in both father and daughter), and we will find a bike to buy for her as soon as we can. The first change we’ll make is adding some hand guards.

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