in the usa why dont we have 125 cc sports bikes?

When I was a teenager, in the 1960s, Honda (and later Suzuki, etc.) pulled off a revolution, introducing small motorcycles for zipping around town. The smallest were 50cc, really like mopeds. My generation learned to ride on 80s, 90s, 125s, 150s, etc., and then moved up to 350s, 500s, etc.

Today there's no market for little bikes. In most of the US, if you can't go on the highway, you can't get anywhere! A 125 would be okay around town for one person, but apparently people who want something really small and simple and cheap like that get a scooter today.

In much of the world--India, Thailand, Vietnam, China, etc.--small motorcycles are cheap, practical basic transportation. In the west, in the rich countries, motorcycles are recreation devices, not transportation devices. I was in Mexico a few weeks ago and I saw a lot of 125cc bikes there (along with the expected 750s and larger).

US has a few niche markets for that size engine motorcycle- but 'sport bike' that size is minimal. The Dual Sport/Trail bike market for a 125cc does exist in some markets and those models also get sold in some cities for light street bike use. Asian market has cost factor, license factors that encourage the under 250cc sales and use, Europe has some legal encouragements for the 125cc models- it is a license size break/requirement for new riders, a insurance cost break in some areas so a 'sport' style sells fairly well. US street market for that engine size is covered more by scooters in cities especially around campus areas where that size is the next step up from the 50cc 'mopeds'. Local MSF course used to use the Honda 125cc Dual Sports as basic trainers with the lower seated 'street' models for some of the shorter riders. John notes the 125cc 2 strokes in Europe with the pollution law break for them- that break doesn't really exist in the US - Aprilla 125 new sporty 2 stroke can't be sold in California market now, even the scooter market has had 4 strokes since mid 2000 as last years for some of the popular 2 strokes. The Graduate drivers license law in a few US states goes by a 150cc break usually- some 125s fit into that niche market but again the dual sport covers that and the mild dirt bike market, economic sense to market that type with street tires for city sales. A few American Market 149cc models share engine case family with the Asian Domestic and European 125cc market, some of the bare and sports models from those markets get imported to US for some niche- like the graduated drivers license in Illinois and California - markets.

Speed limits, traffic congestion and distance pretty much rule out those small bikes. A 250cc road bike like the ninja 250 is about as small a bike that is practical for all roads in the US. A 50cc bike just doesn't have the power to run safely in typical US city traffic.

We are finally starting to see some more choices between 250cc and the 600cc supersport class. We are also seeing more standard type bikes in the 650cc to sub 1000cc class too.

Unlike the homo , euro countries Big Brother doesn't regulate the cc or horse power we are allowed to ride .

Very few people would buy a 125 " sport bike " here in America . If there were a market for them , they'd be sold here .

The lower horse powered engines don't push the motorcycle up to high enough speeds to justify all the expense of the aerodynamic plastic, the upper body receives no air loft to remove the weight from the shoulders and hands.

You would receive radical steering abilities with weight and control over the front of the bike but that would be a hard sell on a format that could only go 65 mph or so.

I always thought the small enduro market would be strong here for arround town , as opposed to scooters but they are too slow to keep up with fast accelerating traffic. so scooters by virtue of design keep a rider away from bussier avanues and highways.. I have a 650 single that in reality is too slow to ride the highway safley with traffic rolling at 80 mph the bike rides at a dangerous pace with little hope to accelerate out of trouble

I had a scooter once. I got rid of it after some hooligans in a car tried to see how close they could get to my tail without actually hitting me. They thought it was great fun. The same type of crap would annoy a 125 rider also.

because young people think you need a deathstar 9000 to have any fun . yes a small cc bike is not as fast .but still fun to ride hard on a twisty road. they are great to learn on and to return to when you get older and smarter about life .i have gone from scooter to goldwing back to scooter and for around town the scooter is way more fun

Because most of you 125cc sport bikes you see in the UK are 2 strokes and it would be hard to get them to pass emissions.

Market forces are what drives the stock that manufacturers send to various markets – import costs, regulation costs, parts and maintenance support, consumer interest.