One of the cutest motorcycles ever made gets updated as the 2022 Honda Monkey 125 gets a Euro 5 compliant engine to continue riding around city streets and villages across the UK. Which is good news for fans of the bike, reintroduced in 2018 as a fun 125cc option. It also gets a new colour option and a 5-speed gearbox for cruising at higher speeds.
You have to be pretty cynical not to appreciate the Honda Monkey, first developed in 1961. But the latest version should be the most practical option ever produced.
The first change is a new 124cc SOHC two-valve air-colled engine, inherited from the Honda MSX125 Grom, and offering 6.9kW of peak power at 6,750rpm, and 11Nm of torque at 5,500rpm. And that means a top speed of 91km/h (around 56mph).
It might not seem like a lot of power, but you can still have fun on a bike with a 775mm seat height, and weighing 104kg. To make it easier to enjoy, the 2022 bike gets a new 5-speed gearbox, with a wider spread of ratios to offer more relaxed cruising. Handy if you’re commuting on A-roads before heading into town.
And it’s an economical option, offering 100km on a 1.5 litres of fuel, so you shouldn’t have to top up the 5.6 litre peanut tank too often.
Plus it looks good, whether you pick the new Pearl Glittering Blue paint, or the existing Pearl Nebula Red and (comedy name alert) Banana Yellow. And it gets the charming Classic Wing Honda logo for the right vintage look.
The Monkey has some other features worth mentioning, including the steel frame, USD front forks, and twin rear shocks with new two-stage springs and revised damper rubbers. Along with the chunky tyres on the 10 spoke 12inch rims, they’ll help you cope with the typically potholed UK roads. And you also get the iconic plush seat of high-density urethane for some extra comfort.
The 2022 Honda Monkey 125 looks pretty good for a 60-year-old. And modern upgrades like the full-LCD circular speedo, LED lighting, and single channel ABS just make it easier to enjoy, rather than taking away from the classic styling. It even gets an inertial momenentum unit to sense if the rear wheel is lifiting under strong braking, to help new or heavy-handed riders if you need to stop suddenly and don’t fancy pulling an impromptu stoppie.
Obviously many Monkey owners can’t resist customising their bikes, and a tubular steel rack has already been confirmed as a practical official accesory if you need to carry extra luggage.
The 2022 Honda Monkey 125 costs £3,899 for all three colour options. There’s a whole host of secondhand bikes aavilable on eBay, as you might imagine. And as always, you can keep up with all our latest Honda Motorcycles news, features and more, here.
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