Dauphine-Lamarck’s 1998 Honda CG125

The most significant trend in today’s motorcycle industry is the shifting of focus away from the aging baby-boomer crowd of wanna-be Hell’s Angel accountants and orthodontists who fueled the last Harley boom towards the young, trendy urbanites who will, hopefully, catch the 2-wheeled fire and fan its flames for the next 30-40 years of their lives. It’s a smart, calculated move- but new bikes from major players aren’t the only indication that “what’s hot” is light, nimble, and small-displacement. Enter Dauphine-Lamarck and his sexy, street-styled 1998 Honda CG125.

Like many of you, I’m sure, 1998 doesn’t seem like it was 16 long model years ago to me. Even so, the Honda CG’s basic design came to us even earlier- in the 1980s- and continues, mostly, in the bargain-basement CG110 Honda sells in Nigeria and other developing nations. That “boring” bike gets a subtle, but effective restyling by Dauphine-Lamarck that puts the little Honda CG125 on level playing field with “store-bought” cafe racers from Triumph and Royal Enfield (even if those bikes would, admittedly, leave the Honda in the dust).

The crew at Paris-based Dauphine-Lamarck specializes in small capacity Hondas from the 1960s through 1990s, and works to provides accessible, affordable customs to those that appreciate their philosophy and approach. What they’d be willing to do for you and your Honda Grom 125, however, remains to be seen- but you can tell us what you think of their “philosophy and approach” in the comments section, below.

Source | Photos: the Bike Shed, via Motorpasion.

2014 Honda CG110 is a Nigerian Prince Worth Having Around

The 2014 Honda motorcycle line-up is shaping up to be one the brand’s best in decades, and the over-arching trend is clear whether you’re looking at the 1800 cc Honda Valkyrie or the diminutive Honda Grom 125: the future is small-displacement motorcycles. With that in mind, it could be argued that the most significant new 2014 Honda motorcycle isn’t the trimmed-down power-cruiser or the hot-selling and genre-defying Grom, but is, instead, the new-for-2014 Honda CG110, set to debut in Nigeria early next year.

Honda’s new CG110 is built around a durable, air-cooled 110 cc single with corrosion-resistant drum brakes, easy-to-fix wire wheels, and readily-available headlight, turn signals, and “universal” looking mirrors. All of that serves to make the bike a solid investment in a third world country, where the 460-ish Euro asking price (about 630 USD) represents a significant percentage of a customer’s yearly income.

As a go-most-places, do-most-things commuter bike, the CG110 seems like a great buy- especially with Honda quality and at that price. It’s a pity, then, that Honda will probably never bring this 55 MPH, 100-ish MPG motorcycle stateside … even at twice the price. Which raises the question: if they did, would you buy one?

I think I’d be a player on a US-market CG110, especially with this oh-so-eighties aesthetic in play. If they kept the price around $1499, I’d probably buy two! What do you guys think- will this little commuter bike play in Peoria, or is this a third-world only sales move? Let us know what you think, in the comments.

Source | Photos: Honda, via Motorpasion.