It’s still mid-summer 2022, but 2023-model dirt bikes have been slowly trickling down the pipeline for months now. That includes machines from Honda; after announcing next year’s big-bore motocrossers already this season, we now get a glimpse of several 2023 youth models, as released in the UK AND Europe. And, it seems there are no major changes for next season; we’d expect the same news when the bikes debut here.
That’s a complete flip from the world of competition dirt bikes—enduro, cross-country and MX machines were the most regularly upgraded machines in the world of motorcycle over the past decade, at least before COVID hit. The OEMs didn’t revolutionize the bikes every year, but they did make minor improvements in competition bikes pretty much every season.
However, the CRF125F, CRF100F and CRF50F are all low-performance models that are supposed to be affordable and reliable. Honda is much less concerned about their performance compared to their peers, especially since the other bikes in this range are all fairly mellow as well. Parents don’t necessarily want their kids ripping dank wheelies at younger ages anyway.
What the bikes do get for next season, is a strong dose of Bold New Graphics. As per the UK-market presser, each of these machines gets “a new graphical upgrade keeping it in line with its larger family members, the CRF250R and CRF450R.”
Sounds like that’s the same news for the Africa Twin series next season as well, btw—at least according to the UK-market news. Honda’s got other things to work on, and frankly, with the global economy the way it is, and governments around the world cracking down on petrol engines, don’t expect a whole lot of development for gas-powered bikes over the next decade.
