The Honda MSX125 as 180cc Pocket Rocket

The Honda MSX125 is a very popular motorcycle in Thailand, one of our mechanics even bought one for home – work transport. The Honda MSX125 is equipped with the same engine you find in the Honda Wave 125i, and as you probably can imagine that engine is not known for high performance.

For Honda MSX125 owners you can buy a wide range of performance enhancing parts, which offer an even wider range of increased performance. Not so long ago we where contacted by Kitaco Japan, so we asked them what they had for solution to give the Honda MSX125 some extra grunt. The Japanese company responded with a 181cc big bore kit that included everything you need to upgrade the engine. The Kitaco 181cc big bore kit also included a oil cooler, Type 2 performance camshaft and a fueling modifier.

The Kitaco 181cc big bore cylinder is plain aluminum, and really stands out from the engine if fitted like that. We decided to spray-paint the cylinder with in the traditional black color. After we fitted all parts, we realized that the Kitaco 181cc big bore kit needed a much less restricted exhaust pipe. Luckily we where able to obtain a Ixil 615BB Full exhaust system from a local dealer for 4500 THB.

The sound of the Honda MSX125-181cc Big Bore was amazing, and with a twist of the throttle it was directly clear that this was not the same little bike we started with. While Kitaco advises to break-in a new cylinder gently we decided to try to see what it would offer in performance. While our Thai “52 kilo” test rider did not pushed the motorcycle to it's outer limited his said that the performance was very scary.

For anybody who wants to upgrade his or her Honda MSX125, we advice to also upgrade to better tires and brakes. On our MSX125 test bike the tires/wheels became unstable at higher speeds and therefore we where unable to record the maximum speed. The Kitaco 181cc Big Bore kit without exhaust system will costs in Thailand around 19,000 THB.