We bought one – Herald Brat 125

Herald Brat 125

Ineeded to find a motorcycle for my

eldest son, who had moved from a bustling metropolis with actual public transport and rents that swallowed every penny to somewhere that the bus arrives very occasionally.

With just a CBT, he needed a125cc. Second-hand 125s hold their value and sell extremely quickly. There’s a fair chance they’ll have been thrashed to death and denied any basic maintenance, too.

While I was at Midlife Classics in Droitwich looking at, erm, classics, boss Tim was prepping a new bike for a customer, a Herald Brat 125. Herald is based in Cambridgeshire and is owned by an engineering company. The Brat was midpriced at £3300, looked a cut above lowerpriced Chinese-made rivals, and equal to Japanese-branded 125s as well. I was impressed. Herald even builds the Brute 500, which is 80% built in the UK.

A semi retro styled 125, the finish on the Brat is really something to shout about. It’s got hip and groovy industrial-like styling, the brushed aluminium mudguards looked great, and the matt/satin paint and crinkle finish on the frame was excellent. The chunky tyres are fatter than those on my 750 Triumph, there are LED lights front and back, upside down forks, a monoshock at the back, and a tiny digital dash. The ignition switch is mounted on the side of the engine, like an old Brit.

Most mid and low-priced 125s have had the same 124cc air-cooled engines for ages, based either on the 40-year-old Suzuki 125 ohc single or on the very similar but slightly more modern Yamaha YBR single.

They all produce between 9-10bhp, which is feeble. The Herald has an all-new liquid-cooled, 124cc, fuel-injected, six-speed single, which was built to Herald’s spec and produces 14bhp, the maximum a learner 125 is legally capable of (unless you get an old one like a CB125T or an RD125 twin). Enough power to get the rider out of trouble, without getting them into it, and only slightly less powerful than my 1957 AJS 350, though it lacks the Model 16’s torque.

The Brat is a big motorcycle for a 125, taller than my Guzzi V7 750. The power take-up is excellent and the handling nippy. The riding position puts you up in the air, and unlike a lot of modern 125s, that gives you a presence on the road, which is a bonus if you are a learner. Brakes use braided hoses, footrests are the fold-up trials type, and everything that’s likely to get lunched in the inevitable spill is tucked away. A low-speed drop would take out a lever, a bar-end mirror or an indicator. I wasn’t completely convinced by the Herald having a bash plate with a catalytic converter mounted underneath it, but I can’t see these bikes doing a lot of off-road work, despite the mild street-scrambler looks.

After getting fed up looking for the unicorn of a decent, second-hand machine for son, I bought one. After a few weeks’ ownership, the Herald is now enduring the winter weather. How the finish will survive is yet to be seen, but so far, the only real issue the coolant warning light that comes on with the fan and Herald is sorting. Otherwise, all is good.

So, what is it doing in this magazine? Like many readers, I’ve got several bikes, but they have a habit of not being as reliable as we would like. The Herald Brat is reliable, looks great, and for those that need, is light and has electric start. It’s a new name to many but is as relevant as Royal Enfield.

The price of a Brat is £3299. Honda’s CB125R is £4600, while the Husqvarna Svartpilen 125 costs £4500. With two-years warranty and two-years RAC, the Herald looks good. We will update you on life with a Brat and how well it survives winter in a few months…