Joined
·
404 Posts
Not the best of reviews but just a few of my thoughts that I posted up on my blog with some ramblings etc after putting a few miles on my Grom. Original / Updated Honda Grom Review - Performance Mods - Click Here
When Honda first announced they were bringing the MSX125 to the USA as the 2014 Honda Grom, I knew right away I had to have one. I've been trying to find a Honda ZB50 for years, the only thing that bothered me about getting a ZB50 is that I would want to ride it and those little gems are like gold mines these days. The Grom to me is basically an updated ZB50 with newer and better technology etc.
After waiting month after month for the Grom, at some points I started to think to myself "Is this thing really going to be worth the wait?" and I really started to doubt this $2,999 decision for what is basically a toy. Thankfully, I never talked myself out of buying the Grom...
I got to take it home last week and in that time I haven't got to put as many miles as I would've liked but I have still had an absolute blast on it! So far I haven't really got to "peg" it out yet to find out what the Grom's top speed is with my heavy 6'2 / 220lb butt. I did however get it up to 65mph with a slight tuck on a very minor downhill slope. I'm curious to see how the engine handles a few more miles as a lot of Grom owners are experiencing slightly higher speeds as the miles accumulate.
The transmission shifts like a typical Honda transmission, like butter! At first I was a little worried as it felt clunky when I put the first few miles on it but after I put about 20-30 miles on it the tranny really seemed to settle in and has been great.
I haven't rode any long distances yet but (knock on wood) the seat hasn't really bothered me as far as being hard or stiff etc. I've seen a few people mention the "hard" seat on the Grom forums, maybe my butt is just broken in from riding on CBR seats for so many years that might as well be a piece of 2x4 wood haha.
 |
| This is what I dream about at night... |
It really is amazing how much attention this little bike gets. Just about every time I stop, I have someone asking me "what is that?". The one thing I've noticed though over the last few days is that every single person that stops to look at the bike and or sit on it has a huge smile on their face. I think that proves Honda has really hit a home run! Now if only Honda will either speed up production on the Grom or kick production back into gear on these and get some out to us Honda Dealers so we can fill our 2014 Grom orders before the end of 2013.
I stopped by Sonic yesterday during happy hour to grab my usual slushy and it wasn't 10 minutes later I already had two people hit me up about the Grom haha. Both of them we're asking what it was and if they could sit on it. I'll have to say, everyone that looks at it or sits on it has nothing but a huge grin on their face which is awesome! That is what motorcycling should be about - having fun... Not caring about what other people think or thinking that you need the fastest and baddest bike with 200+ hp etc. Of course having a bike with a lot of horsepower is fun too, not knocking that by any means.
I've got a set of Michelin Pilot Power Pure SC tires in the OEM sizes (Front 120/70-12 & Rear 130/70-12) that I'm going to have mounted in the next day or two. Once I get them scrubbed in and get a feel for them I'll post up my opinion / review of the Michelin Pure SC tires on the Grom. Until then the factory tires seem to work just fine and I'd say for 90% of people on the Grom the stock tires will be more than enough. I was going to throw them on before I put a mile on the Grom but I wanted to mess around and do a few hooligan antics on the stock tires with a few burnouts and slides before I put the good tires on.
Quick "Walkaround" Video of my 2014 Grom
Would I buy the Grom again? Yup, I would definitely do it all over again! I have lost a lot of the "fun" in riding over the years, you can only have so much fun riding ridiculously fast sport bikes. Usually the word fun on a sport bike involves break neck speeds and if you were to pass a cop the odds are you're going to jail and the odds aren't in your favor if you were to hit the ground at those speeds on the mtn. I converted my CBR600RR to a track bike a little over a year ago shortly after my first son was born and the itch never left me when it came to wanting something to satisfy my need or should I say want to ride on the street. On the Grom I don't have to be doing ridiculous speeds on the mtn to have fun. The old saying is spot on "It's more fun to ride a slow bike fast, than it is to ride a fast bike slow".
I've been fighting myself not to go crazy on aftermarket mods yet for my Grom but day by day it is getting progressively more and more difficult... A lot of major players in the aftermarket industry are still working on their product line for the Grom so that is why I'm trying to wait a bit longer, I'd hate to spend $5-600 on an exhaust just to find out a week later some other company released something so sexy that I've got to have it. The upside to waiting though, or at least that's why I keep telling myself to help with the wait is that the big players in the FI tuning world are still working on a Fuel Programmer for the Grom. We won't really be able to tweak out that last tenth of a horsepower on our Grom's and MSX125's until they release something that we can reliably tune them with.
I'm glad I did wait on the seat cowl I was going to order for mine as I found out after riding it that I sometimes stretch out and sit pretty far back on the seat, I wouldn't be able to do that with the seat cowls currently on the market. I believe I may go with a custom seat (pictured above & below) for the Grom though. That way I can have the "custom" look and clean up the rear a bit while still being able to slide back a bit and get comfortable.
