Honda started the step-through motorcycle craze back in 1958 with the Honda Super Cub C100. Anyone who was anyone had a Super Cub. It's been hailed as the most popular motor vehicle of all time. Not just motorcycle, but motor vehicle. Can CSC reach these kinds of figures with Chinese clones?
Over 100 million Honda Super Cubs have been sold around the world since 1958. In America, we all knew it as the Honda 50. The 1960 Honda 50 only cost $275 right off the showroom floor back then. In today's dollars, that's roughly $2,900.
Unlike the super-popular European Vespa 98 – which had a seating position that had your feet in front of you, and was released over a decade earlier than the Honda in 1946 – the Super Cub was a step-through motorcycle. Simple, reliable, utilitarian, and "so easy to ride that your wife and kids could enjoy it," was the whole schtick. Oh, and that "you meet the nicest people on a Honda."
Did you know that Vespa means "wasp" in Italian? When faced with what motorbike to get for the whole family, more people chose the friendlier Super Cub over the wasp, and a craze was born. Many iterations of the Super Cub were made, eventually lending its familiar frame to the Honda CT series of trail bikes.
Skip forward to 2024 and California Scooter Company (CSC) has been doing business in the states for 30 years, importing mostly Chinese motorcycles and scooters. CSC has just announced the coming of the Wolf 125, an all-terrain step-through trail bike at half the price of Honda's latest iteration of the Super Cub variant, the Trail 125.
Like the Trail 125, the Wolf 125 also has the number "one two five" in the name. Aside from that, the similarities might just be coincidental, if you don't count the fact that it looks nearly identical.
According to the CSC website, the Wolf pumps out a relatively meager 8.72 hp from its 119.6cc single cylinder compared to it making twice as much torque as a Honda CRF450R at 66.38 "Ft Lbs". On a bike that weighs 225 lb/102 kg (frankly, I'm surprised they didn't have decimals to at least the hundredths for its weight), those are some monster numbers. We're pretty sure it's a typo and it's supposed to be 6.638 lb-ft of torque, but we like the 66 figure better.
While that may not sound like much, it's plenty for what the bike is designed for: "Fun you can afford" on easy trails that the entire family can enjoy.
It'll even get you going to a lightning-quick 55 mph (89 km/h) on the trails with its 4-speed semi-automatic transmission. It's street-legal in all 50 states, so you can ride away straight from your garage to whatever destination you desire. Around the world, if you want. It has an OEM luggage rack and accessories like a robust top case ready to carry your extra knickers for a day-long adventure at the bare minimum. Not to mention, the Wolf 125 already has a USB port ready to charge your phone and accessories to keep you connected.
With its 1.19001-gallon gas tank and modern electronic fuel injection system, CSC estimates over 125 mpg (1.9 l/100km) fuel economy. That's just a smidge under 150 miles (241 km) to a tank. Even further if you opt for CSC's auxiliary fuel tank accessory.
A pair of 80/90-17 dual-sport rubbers will keep you connected to the ground with 5.51 inches (140 mm) of ground clearance. With a seat height of 30.1 in (765 mm), this little trail bike will work for any stature.
Should the unthinkable happen and you get a flat tire, all Wolf 125s come standard with a center stand. Unfortunately, they also come standard with a drum brake in the rear while the front has a modern disk brake. That being said, one of my favorite parts of the Honda Trail 125 competitors is that they also come standard with a kick-starter. It has a cheater button as well, but long live the old faithful kick-start in the most bleak of times at the bottom of a ravine.
With Intellectual Property laws being historically a bit weaker in China than in most countries, China has made some pretty big strides in technology. Perhaps through a bit of reverse engineering, Chinese motorcycle "clones" have come to be regarded as cheaper alternatives to "the real thing," even having respectable reliability figures these days.
Growing up in the '80s and '90s, seeing anything automotive that was made in China was unheard of ... except knockoff Hot Wheels cars, which, even as a child I knew were poisonous, tainted with lead paint. But they sure were inexpensive.
Starting at US$1,995, it's a pretty solid bang for your buck. CSC can even ship it to your door fully assembled with whatever farkles you purchased for it, for an additional $425. And we're pretty sure they stopped using lead paint in China.
Source: CSC
