Honda cm125 caféracer project -The story behind the bike

16 Sep 2021

by Kishan Vandael Schreurs

Honda CM125 Custom Café Racer - ‘La vie commence’

Motorcycles and cars have always intrigued me since I was a little kid. This probably had to do with my father, who has taken me to many oldtimer meetings from a young age. However, the interest in motorcycles started to grow thanks to a cousin of mine, who had been discovering the bike-, and bike rebuilding scene. One day he decided to pay me a visit with his own modified Suzuki GN125, always known as his own ‘Suzy’, which immediately set my heart on fire. This lead to an immediate decision to search for an oldtimer/youngtimer to try to get into the café racer trend.

Finding a bike

When I started reality struck since it seemed practically impossible to find a motorcycle on a student budget (since I was a university student at the time) that could serve as a base for the build. This lead to a crucial decision I’m still thankful for today; ‘Hey, let’s get a bike in France, I’ve seen a beautiful original Honda CM125 Custom from 1995. I can arrange a van, what do you think?’. And so it began.

I went on a road trip to ‘Rozet-Saint-Albin’ near the beautiful city of Paris to pick up, what seemed to be a very well preserved Honda CM125 Custom with only (roughly) 4000km on the dash. Once returned to Flanders it was unloaded, and after some necessary customs visits and while getting a rider license, the build could start.

Building the bike

The idea rose to keep the bike as original as possible while adding some Café Racer vibes. Original parts were kept, so I could always convert the bike back to its original state, and other parts were ordered and fitted. Simple modifications were made to give it that ‘look at that thing vibe’. After a quick carburetor revision, the bike ran beautifully and was ready for an aesthetic overhaul. The front fork was lowered by 6 centimeters, immediately transforming the chopper stance to a regular café racer stance. Honda Dax Clip-ons and new handles were added, the rear fender was shortened, and Motogadget LED-blinkers were ordered from caferacerwebshop.com and fitted onto the handlebars.

Making custom parts

So far, the easy part was done, since a café racer seat couldn’t be left out. In order to avoid having to grind into the bike's frame, a Mash 125 seat had been sacrificed and the bottom plate was modified to fit the frame. It then got some foam and a seat cover fitted onto it, immediately changing the overall look of the bike. At last, some bullet tail lights were added to replace the bulky original tail light, completing the new look of the bike.

Lessons learned

Overall, this build taught me that big money isn’t always needed, as long as you have fun and ideas to take a bike to the next level, although a little luck was needed with finding the bike, to begin with.

I have recently bought a completely new motorcycle, but this one will always have a special place in my heart and will still be taken to the oldtimer meetings, where it all started. Maybe we’ll see each other sometime.

Don’t forget to enjoy your build and be proud of it every time you ride it!