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Kitaco Honda Monkey 125 Café – Edgy but Still Cute

  • Japanese aftermarket component maker, Kitaco, turned the cute Honda Monkey into an edgy café racer.

  • It looks like a riveted steel-plated beast but doesn’t lose its cuteness.

  • The Honda Monkey is a great platform for individualization.

The Honda Monkey has always been seen as cute bikes, but a Japanese aftermarket component maker turns it into something edgier. Case in point is this Kitaco Honda Monkey 125  Café.

Kitaco produces components for all for Japanese manufacturers. But they turned the playbike into this café racer. Their Monkey 125 Café was put together for the Tokyo Motor Show. It was also shown off during the 12th Monkey Meeting in Tama, Japan.

If you thought the stock 12-inch wheels are too small, Kitaco swapped them out for a pair of even smaller 10-inch items. The cowling was one-off but Japanese magazine said that it could be volume-produced. The stock rear suspension was replaced with a pair of Nitron shocks with remote reservoirs.

The engine also received attention in the form of a 181cc NEO big bore kit. Exhaust gasses are vented through a Kitaco exhaust tip.

The whole packaged is finished in a theme that looks like metal plates riveted together, with sakura (cheery blossom) flowers floating over them.

So, call the Honda Monkey small, impractical or whatever because some customization could turn it into something amazing.

Wahid's lust for motorcycles was spurred on by his late-Dad's love for his Lambretta on which he courted, married his mother, and took baby Wahid riding on it. He has since worked in the motorcycle and automotive industry for many years, before taking up riding courses and testing many, many motorcycles since becoming a motojournalist. Wahid likes to see things differently. What can you say about a guy who sees a road safety message in AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."

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