Bad photos or not, sometimes it’s fun to check out a rare motorcycle because of its features or its history. This is one of those cases, as, sadly, the photos are really bad. This 1968 Honda Super Sport (SS) 125A is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Dubuque, Iowa, and the seller is asking $2,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to NW IOWA CYCLE for the tip!
Sorry for always complaining about bad photos, but man. It’s 2025, and the seller clearly has a smartphone (i.e., a better camera than the SLR cameras most of us used a decade or two ago) as they took a running video of this great-looking, great-sounding bike. Please, for the love of all that’s good and holy, stand back and get the entire motorcycle in the viewfinder! Not to mention, please pull it out into the sun to get photos of both sides of this great-looking motorcycle the sun on them! Showing one side in shadow is unacceptable in 2025, unless it’s locked up and doesn’t move, which is what some buyers may think. Jeepers/criminy. Ok, I feel better. My apologies to the seller, but still, if a person wants to sell something online, get good photos of it. Bad photos = no interest and no offers. Good photos = lots of interest and a much better selling price, it’s literally that simple.
So yeah, other than that, how’s it going with all of you? Good, I hope. What’s that cricket sound in the background? Seriously, though, there aren’t many of these Super Sport (or SS) 125A Hondas around, and they’re asking a very fair price for this one so it would have been nice to give it the respect it deserves with better photos. It has some cosmetic issues – the gas tank and front fender need new paint, the seat cover doesn’t appear to be OEM (with the light trim), the turn signal stalks appear painted rather than chrome, etc., but for $2,500, it’s not a bad deal. Hagerty is at $3,800 for a #3 good example and $6,000 for a #2 excellent bike, just as a general reference.
Honda made the SS125A for three years: 1967, 1968, and 1969, and I’m a huge fan of this era of Japanese motorcycles with pressed-steel frames. Honda’s alphabet soup naming convention brought out the CL125A Scrambler in July of 1967, and in August, the SS125A Super Sport came out, with basically the same powertrain. You can see the top of the gas tank in the pic above, which is a screenshot from the video, as are the previous photo and the next one. This bike is Candy Blue, with the other two colors being Candy Red and Black. The fenders and gas tank were silver, no matter what frame “color” you chose.
The engine is Honda’s 124-cc SOHC parallel-twin with 13 horsepower and 7 lb-ft of torque to move this 230-pound bike to its 70 mph top speed in around 20 seconds, through a four-speed transmission. They say it’s a nice running bike and thankfully, the exhaust pipes look good, as they can be hard to find and are expensive if you do find them. I love this bike, and I’m sure after my “bad photos” rant, I wouldn’t be welcome to make an offer on this one. Have any of you seen a Honda SS125A?
That “HONDA” logo on the back of the seat meant QUALITY. Nice bike, I hope he gets what he’s asking for it, it’s worth it.
Absolutely agree. These were a big deal in Nevada as the “licensing” limit for riders under 17 yrs was 90cc’s the later 100cc’s, but riders who wanted to push the limit would take the badges off these and the 160’s thinking the cops wouldn’t notice they were twins..Strong suspicion was that between Viet Nam ramping up and the legislatures it was a way to further curb the growing number of male teenagers in the state.
In later years many of us discovered the cops didn’t really care provided the rider wasn’t being a total idiot!
This was a coveted bike in my hometown when they hit the street.
Insofar as this seller? It’s such a pits(sp) poor ad that one would think they really didn’t want to sell it!
These were a big deal in Nevada as the “licensing” limit for riders under 17 yrs was 90cc’s the later 100cc’s, but riders who wanted to push the limit would take the badges off these and the 160’s thinking the cops wouldn’t notice they were twins..
And in later years many of us discovered they didn’t really care provided the rider wasn’t being a total idiot!
This was a coveted bike in my hometown when they hit the street.
Insofar as this seller? It’s such a pits(sp) poor ad that one would think they really didn’t want to sell it!
Boy, do I remember these! A black one, a blue one, just like this one, and a couple of red ones invaded our neighborhood. My friend, Bruce, ditched his Honda CA90 in favor of one of these. Like the 90, it took no end of abuse. He must have put 12K miles on the 125 before he upgraded to the 450.
It seemed like he barely discolored the chrome on the exhaust pipes before he bought the 750.
Like I said in a previous rant, he thought Honda invented the motorcycle, and when he lost a drag race to my Norton, he never spoke to me again.
I sometimes wish that we had stuck it out with our insignificant little bikes before we got full of ourselves…
geomechs these were heavy little buggers for a 125.
To understand the authors gripe, he’s a professional photographer, so like anything, for him, poor photos are so much more noticeable, where as, I overlook that, and marvel at the miracle of these photos at all. Heck, sure beats the Polaroid on a laundry bill board.
This bike? Too small. I think this may do the speed limit, 55, at least, but a horrific trip getting there. Generally, you’ll find these as low mileage, because the owner found out it wasn’t that much fun. In the “seemed like a good idea at the time” group. I’ve always maintained the idea, if you are going to ride, put some zing between your legs.
Agree with you 100%. I got a Sachs Madass a few years back. Thought it’d be cool to have a lightweight small displacement bike for a while. It wasn’t. Couldn’t keep up with traffic o the hiway, then could barely keep up with traffic on surface roads. Traded it for a CL77. Not much traffic out in the desert
That seat is indeed original, including the gold beading. All stock.
I have one of these in my collection, identical to this one.
Thanks, cyclemikey! That’s great to know about the seat, I saw about half-and-half when looking at old ads, brochures, and other ones for sale.
I delivered newspapers on this one’s twin in about 1970-71 that I think I bought $250. I’d loaned my CL350 to my brother to ride while home from the Navy and he hit a brick mailbox with it, and I had to buy something to do papers with quickly and this was it. It rode a handled decent but with newspapers I had to put a bigger rear sprocket on it, and it couldn’t go but about 45-50mph downhill. Over-revved to death but never let me down.
Honda built a much better twin i the early sixties! 15 bhp,8″2LS brakes front and rear,better than any British big twin, easily adaptable foot controls from left to right operation,forward position to rearset.At the time it was ahead of its time for its size with adjustable rear shocks,fuses,die cast aluminum ohc engine/transmission split horizontally, cv carb,aluminum control levers,turn signals,mirrors,custom speedo,gear primary drive. Not to mention it had the performance of the contemporary quarter liter bike!
Listing update: this one is sold!