A Baby XSR for the U.S. Sounds Fun
This is really Honda’s fault. The company has the small 125cc Monkey that’s awesome, fun, and cute as hell. It has other small-displacement bikes, too. Yamaha has to compete. We reported that the company is thinking of a baby Tracer, but now the rumor, according to RideApart, is that an XSR 125 could be headed our way.
A Little Retro Badass
Yamaha recently announced the XSR 155 for Thailand. It’s an awesome-looking, retro-inspired motorcycle. The XSR 125 would presumably be the same bike but with a 125cc engine. It could compete right with the rest of the 125cc models in the market, of which there are several at this point.
If the company were to actually build a Yamaha XSR 125, the bike would likely go to Europe first. From there, likely depending on sales, Yamaha would look at bringing it to the U.S. While small-displacement bikes are growing in number here in the U.S. the fact of the matter is that they make up a very small portion of the market.
The addition of the XSR 125 would fit the segment well, but I wonder how well it would actually sell. I’d consider buying one, but I absolutely love small-displacement motorcycles. I’m not alone, but I am in the minority of American riders who say that you have to have more displacement and more power.
I would much rather see the XSR155 than a XSR125 in North America. That 155cc engine has variable valve tech in it, gets good power for its size AND gets good mileage. The 321cc engine gets worse mileage than the 689cc engine and much worse mileage than the 155cc engine. I’d take a XSR155 or WR155R over any of the Honda Grom engine derived motorcycles.
Jacob deGrom
Here we are a year later, and Europe is getting the XSR125 to excellent reviews.
I’m sure it won’t come to North America – your average American rider considers anything less than a 650 a “learners bike”. Too bad – these small bikes can be great in the city or on country back roads.