The Honda Grom may be the world’s coolest mini-hooligan bike, but it’s still a bare-bones bike. Honda’s giving it some slight improvements, at least in some markets—we haven’t seen these confirmed for North America, yet.
The biggest change to the Honda Grom is the new five-speed gearbox. Ever since its debut for 2014, Honda’s used a four-speed gearbox for the Grom. It’s cheap, and it works, and nobody really expects much more. After all, it’s a low-priced, air-cooled minibike, intended for hooning around urban environments, not countryside touring.
Honda’s added an extra cog for 2021, though, and there are some other minor updates as well. There’s a new LCD speedometer and some new bodywork; although neither of those moves is likely to spur a sales stampede, it’s good that Honda is putting a bit of work into keeping the machine relevant.
The big question now is, what other machines will get this new gearbox? There are several other machines based around the same engine as the Grom, although at this point, none are available in Canada. The Wave scooter, the Ape, the Monkey, the new CT125—they all use this same basic 124cc air-cooled, fuel-injected engine, and upgrades to the Grom bode well for these other machines. Hopefully, they’ll get upgraded as well, and also come into Canada, particularly the CT125.
Don’t be expecting the extra gear to turn the Grom into a speedster, though. Honda says the top speed increases from 92 km/h to 94 km/h, and horsepower and torque are basically unchanged.
I’m still hoping for the Honda ct125. That new little bike has Canada written all over it. I’m sure there would be enough buyers of all types to make it worthwhile for Honda Canada to import. I started riding motorcycles in the 1960’s and my big bike days are over. The ct125 would fill the bill for me now.
Coming to the US, but not Canada, at least not confirmed yet.