Channeling my inner 12-year old on the newest Honda MiniMOTO
The first true “motorcycle“ I ever rode was a Honda Trail 70 that belonged to my cousin Tommy. When I was in elementary school, my brothers and I had cut our teeth on little Sears & Roebuck pull-start mini bikes, or scoots Dad assembled from Western Auto. My cousin’s minibike was something entirely different- key and kick start, four gears with a toe shifter, a right side high chrome pipe, and brakes that actually worked. I was riding a “real” motorcycle, in my young mind.
Then one day I burned my right calf on the pipe while riding it (shorts on, my own fault), and I shied away from Tommy’s Trail 70 for a while. They eventually sold it, we soon grew into larger dirt bikes, and that Trail 70 became a distant childhood memory.
But not a forgotten one.
A restored Honda Trail 70, very much what my cousin’s looked like. Photo by VMR Paints.
With the rapidly growing popularity of small bore motorbikes these days, something we have documented frequently here at Road Dirt, Honda reached out and asked if we’d like to ride and review the 2025 Dax 125, otherwise known as the Trail 125. One look at the bike, it’s old school “t-bone” frame and design, and I had to ride one. It so recalled my cousin‘s old Trail 70, it made me think back and wish I had not been so easily deterred by that small pipe burn as a youngster.
Such a cool-looking bike. What’s not to love?
Formally known as Honda’s ST series, the bikes were dubbed the Dax in Japan and Europe, and the Trail in North America. Honda first shipped these to the states beginning in the 1960s, in three iterations: the ST50, ST70, and an ST90, actually called the Trailsport. Honda also labeled a CT series of similar bikes off/on in the 1960s-70s, which we found somewhat confusing in our research. Anyway, they became Honda’s second most popular selling motorcycle, behind the CB750. Many of us remember riding these Honda “Mini Trails“ in our childhood, first getting bitten by the motorcycling bug while putting around on them.
And learning to wear long pants when riding.
The Dax with a small Monster Moto 50 I’m tinkering with for my grandson, not unlike the little pull-starts we rode as youngsters.
While Honda has been producing small bore bikes prolifically in recent years, as in the Grom, Monkey, Super Cub, Trail125, and diminutive Navi, 2025 sees the return of the Dax 125 to their extensive “MiniMOTO” lineup. The Dax, Japanese slang term for a dachshund breed dog, trots around on Honda’s tried/true 124cc air-cooled single, but now with fuel injection (no more carb tweaking) semi-auto transmission with clutchless 4-up shifting, disc brakes and even a front wheel ABS. It’s come a long way since the Trail 70 my cousin T owned as a kid.
And no more pipe burns.
The 2025 Honda MiniMOTO lineup. Photo by Honda.
For all of its modern engineering bits, the Dax 125 still keeps that old school, childhood nostalgia. Heck, it’s even got a “wiener dog“ logo on the right side of the t-bone frame. How cool is that? The two-up bench seat, rear grab rail, small tires (120/70-12 front, 130/70-12 rear), and underseat 1 gal tank, not to mention the vintage looking paint scheme, turns heads and illicits smiles everywhere I ride it. Except on more trafficked roads. Drivers get a bit impatient behind, with the bike’s limited top end. Ask me how I know.
Ready to ride the little dawg.
Supposed top end, according to Honda, is about 55 mph. Throttle pinned, hunched over the tank for less wind resistance, I hit 61 mph with the little Dax on a back road near my home. Of course, I was also pointed downhill and had a little tail wind. With the 1 gallon tank, combined with it’s small single cylinder size, Honda claims you’ll get about 107 mpg, depending on how leisurely or aggressively you try to ride it. I’ve made it a point to top off every 100 miles, just to be safe.
Throttling around on back roads, preferably with sparse traffic.
To be honest, I’ve not been riding it extensively out on larger roads. Given it’s smaller profile, slower speed, and those smaller tires, I’ve pretty much just ridden it locally, on the less traveled country roads out where we live. I think I would be a bit nervous with the bike on a major county, state, or interstate freeway. In fact, I rather doubt I would even attempt it on those kinds of roads. Better to be seen, swift and safe.
Riding the Dax through horse country. Seemed appropriate. Even the horses stopped and stared.
I do think a bike like the Dax is perfect for putting around in open countryside, maybe down dirt roads, along the beach, definitely on mid-town surface streets and around college campuses. You can park these anywhere, and they weigh in at 236 lbs. Of course, this bike fits perfectly among those small bore rallies popping up all over the country. The Dax would even be a hoot to ride at “mini-moto” track day events like the one I attended a few years ago.
A day on the Dax. So much fun.
Hard-core enthusiasts are hopping up these engines, squeezing more hp and mph out of them than you can imagine. The smallbore subculture is growing, and they are a crazy, lively lot. So get you a Dax 125, and join the fun.
MSRP: $4199 (plus dealer fees)
Rob
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