Hi All

I am planning a two week trip round central Europe in September, to test my new (to me) steed,
Here she is

Its a Honda CG-125 from 04, Brazilian import as it's the Cargo version.

I am planning to try and visit as many countries as possible, planning to stick to the smaller roads and wild camp as much as possible.

This is a rough idea of what i want to do on google maps



I was just wondering what your thoughts were and any recommendations.

Cheers

Mat W

My only advice would be review what you are taking and have a good trip, here is my XR125 packed for a 6 month trip to Central Asia.

Hi Matt

Another 125 nutter - there's a number of us here that roam around on small bikes. Here's a pic of my ancient Suzuki in the middle of France a couple of weeks ago :



A few comments Firstly, double check how secure your sleeping bag is on the top box. You would not believe how much stuff I've lost over the years from things working their way off of rounded top boxes like yours. I'd also worry that the last thing you want to get wet when it rains is your sleeping bag and it's right there in the line of fire.

Secondly, even if Google maps swears blind your route is 2400 miles it looks further than that to me and I suspect you'll end up doing over 3000 by the time you've finished. That's ok in the time you've got (I did exactly 2000 miles in 10 days (longest day was 410 miles) down to northern Italy and back) but it's going to be a lot of long days in the saddle and you'll often wish you could stop somewhere for a bit longer.

Glad to see you've got a screen fitted. Even at 125 speeds it makes a huge comfort difference on a long trip.

My main tip would be to take the fully loaded bike out for a 20-30 mile trip on a mixture of roads (inc some motorway if possible) and check if it'll cruise in top gear ok on a level road. You'll be doing enough gear changing as it is without having to constantly swap up and down as the luggage changes the aerodynamics. If it struggles go to a one tooth smaller front sprocket. That made a huge difference to my bike.

Re wild camping. No probs with that, but some official campsites - particularly small ones out of tourist areas, can be seriously cheap and give you a chance to use their facilities to clean up / recover etc. I stayed in one in France that was €4 inc free wifi.

I did that area on a CG125 last year. Stealth camping is no problem.

Sort of common sense, but the CG125 barely exists in Europe outside of the UK so spare parts are nil even when motorcycle shops are plenty. I was 'stuck' (actually quite nice) a week waiting for a new chain and sprockets to be shipped to Germany. So bring anything you think will need replacing.

I have had large and small bikes. After a while I learnt that small bikes are more fun and my CG125 was one of my favourites, I did some long trips on it. Enjoy European tour.