Honda CG125 Cafe Racer

We all know the usual suspects for building a cafe racer, with the Honda CB-series and BMW R-series as the most popular platforms. Small displacement bikes are usually skipped, but in my opinion, a small bike can also be a great base for building a custom motorcycle. And if we’re talking about small displacement motorcycles, you roughly have two places on the world that pop-up: Asia or Brasil. On these places small bikes are a common way of cheap transportation. Luckily there are some people out there who are not afraid to turn these practical (and rather ugly) machines into something special, just like Fernando Casado, a product design student from Brasil. He took a 1980 Honda CG125 and turned it into a beautiful looking, classic cafe racer.

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 4

We’ve asked Fernando to give some more details about the project:

In the beginning of 2015 I started thinking about customizing a motorcycle. I always was thrilled by old things and after reading a book about late cafe racers, I decided to build my own. I bought a 1980 Honda CG125 because they’re pretty easy to find and easy to work on. Besides that, there’s already a cafe racer inside this bike, you only have to find it (that sounds like Michelangelo…). The aesthetics of the tank, frame and seat already have a solid basis for building a classic cafe racer, so in my opinion this was the best bike to start my very first project.

My idea was to make it look like as if it had be designed by Honda originally in 1980, so I opted for original paint, stripes, and lots of chrome. Because importing aftermarket parts can be a real hassle in Brasil, I had to create a lot of parts myself. Luckily as a student product design, I was able to do all the prototyping in the laboratory of the State University of Maringá. One of my requirements was to keep the original structure of the bike, frame and brackets, so I can reassemble the bike in its original state in a few hours.

The experience with this project was very enriching since I came to understand the way the design was applied in vintage motorcycles, and also to work with different types of materials and processes, such as fiberglass, welding, locksmithing, and also to work on the electrical and mechanical components of the motorcycle.

I would like to dedicate this project to all my family, to the teachers and friends that accompanied me during the two years of this project. Especially to my grandfather and my father, who lived in the era of these bikes and helped me a lot in the development of my very own cafe racer.

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 2

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 7

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 6

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 9

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 10

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 8

By Published On: April 4, 2017Categories: Cafe Racer4 Comments on Honda CG125 Cafe RacerTags: 2.6 min readViews: 848

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About the Author: Ron Betist

Ron Betist grew up with motorcycles with a father heading the Amsterdam motorcycle police force. He has been riding (legally) for over 40 years and motorcycles are his true passion. With a life-long career in marketing and sales he has a huge international network. He joined as a contributor at BikeBrewers in 2017 to spread his word about bikes with the rest of the world.

4 Comments

  1. Armando Almeida April 4, 2017 at 10:35 am - Reply

    When I first got my 125cc license I used one of those! It was a war machine! This brings me back so much memories! Thanks for the share guys!

    Quite like it actually as a Racer! Not so much as stock…

  2. wong May 29, 2017 at 1:34 am - Reply

    I just bought one CG125 ,SAME MODEL AS YOURS,
    Do you have the list product thats you make your a true beauty, I will be happy to make same like your on red colours..Regards Denny.
    My email:dennywon@yahoo.com

  3. Shan December 14, 2017 at 9:38 am - Reply

    As I am Honda user and love to ride the Honda bikes. I have Honda CG 125. About this bike, I want to say that it is amazing and inexpensive it uses less fuel and the pick of the bike is very good. About its built quality.It is very strong bike and easily takes you anywhere where you want to go. Very good article and a nice topic about Honda.

  4. Francisco Xavier April 29, 2018 at 1:39 pm - Reply

    I am in the same position as Wong. I’d love to contact the creator of this little beauty to ask about components and tricks. My email is javikonejo@gmail.com

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Honda CG125 Cafe Racer

We all know the usual suspects for building a cafe racer, with the Honda CB-series and BMW R-series as the most popular platforms. Small displacement bikes are usually skipped, but in my opinion, a small bike can also be a great base for building a custom motorcycle. And if we’re talking about small displacement motorcycles, you roughly have two places on the world that pop-up: Asia or Brasil. On these places small bikes are a common way of cheap transportation. Luckily there are some people out there who are not afraid to turn these practical (and rather ugly) machines into something special, just like Fernando Casado, a product design student from Brasil. He took a 1980 Honda CG125 and turned it into a beautiful looking, classic cafe racer.

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 4

We’ve asked Fernando to give some more details about the project:

In the beginning of 2015 I started thinking about customizing a motorcycle. I always was thrilled by old things and after reading a book about late cafe racers, I decided to build my own. I bought a 1980 Honda CG125 because they’re pretty easy to find and easy to work on. Besides that, there’s already a cafe racer inside this bike, you only have to find it (that sounds like Michelangelo…). The aesthetics of the tank, frame and seat already have a solid basis for building a classic cafe racer, so in my opinion this was the best bike to start my very first project.

My idea was to make it look like as if it had be designed by Honda originally in 1980, so I opted for original paint, stripes, and lots of chrome. Because importing aftermarket parts can be a real hassle in Brasil, I had to create a lot of parts myself. Luckily as a student product design, I was able to do all the prototyping in the laboratory of the State University of Maringá. One of my requirements was to keep the original structure of the bike, frame and brackets, so I can reassemble the bike in its original state in a few hours.

The experience with this project was very enriching since I came to understand the way the design was applied in vintage motorcycles, and also to work with different types of materials and processes, such as fiberglass, welding, locksmithing, and also to work on the electrical and mechanical components of the motorcycle.

I would like to dedicate this project to all my family, to the teachers and friends that accompanied me during the two years of this project. Especially to my grandfather and my father, who lived in the era of these bikes and helped me a lot in the development of my very own cafe racer.

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 2

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 7

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 6

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 9

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 10

Honda CG125 Cafe Racer 8

By Published On: April 4, 2017Categories: Cafe Racer4 Comments on Honda CG125 Cafe RacerTags: 2.6 min readViews: 848

Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!

About the Author: Ron Betist

Ron Betist grew up with motorcycles with a father heading the Amsterdam motorcycle police force. He has been riding (legally) for over 40 years and motorcycles are his true passion. With a life-long career in marketing and sales he has a huge international network. He joined as a contributor at BikeBrewers in 2017 to spread his word about bikes with the rest of the world.

4 Comments

  1. Armando Almeida April 4, 2017 at 10:35 am - Reply

    When I first got my 125cc license I used one of those! It was a war machine! This brings me back so much memories! Thanks for the share guys!

    Quite like it actually as a Racer! Not so much as stock…

  2. wong May 29, 2017 at 1:34 am - Reply

    I just bought one CG125 ,SAME MODEL AS YOURS,
    Do you have the list product thats you make your a true beauty, I will be happy to make same like your on red colours..Regards Denny.
    My email:dennywon@yahoo.com

  3. Shan December 14, 2017 at 9:38 am - Reply

    As I am Honda user and love to ride the Honda bikes. I have Honda CG 125. About this bike, I want to say that it is amazing and inexpensive it uses less fuel and the pick of the bike is very good. About its built quality.It is very strong bike and easily takes you anywhere where you want to go. Very good article and a nice topic about Honda.

  4. Francisco Xavier April 29, 2018 at 1:39 pm - Reply

    I am in the same position as Wong. I’d love to contact the creator of this little beauty to ask about components and tricks. My email is javikonejo@gmail.com

Leave A Comment

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Tags