“Monkeys on a Railway, August 6 – 11, 2023, 125cc Mini Motos on a Rail Trail, That is a dumb idea! Want to join us?”

Arrrrg, again my friend Kevin (aka GPSKevin) is stirring up trouble. I received the above e-mail from him announcing a planned ride through British Columbia, Canada on small motorcycles. Yes Kevin! This IS a DUMB idea! Of course we signed up…….

Above was the general idea of a route, we ended up riding over 600 miles on our ridiculously small motorcycles purchased and outfitted specifically for this ride. Some might say that was also a dumb idea.

I feel the need to briefly describe the history of the Honda CT series motorcycle. Almost everyone I know that is near my age (old) either learned to ride on one of these or owned one as a kid. In 1964 the CT200 Trail 90 was introduced as an upgrade to the Trail 50. The CT200 evolved into the CT110 in 1981 and finally into the CT125.

Here is the current ad from Honda about the new and improved version. Fuel injection and ABS brakes! This is what we rode.

In 1969 Honda introduced the CT70 otherwise known as the Trail 70.

Eventually this evolved into the “Monkey” motorcycle that is sold today.

On the Canada ride there was a mix of Monkey’s and Trail125s, maybe half and half. For a solid week we bantered about the relative merits of the small Monkey that had a clutch or the taller 125 with a semi-automatic transmission. The conclusion? They were both ridicules motorcycles for grown men to ride 600 miles in the back country of remote British Columbia.

It took some time to locate two Honda CT125s but we eventually did and I immediately started getting the motorcycles ready for the big adventure. I came to find out that there are hundreds of modifications people make to these motorcycles. Things like improving the suspension, changing the gear ratios on final drive, upgrading the exhaust and there is even an option for a “big bore” kit. What??? Yes, you can gain something like two horsepower by adding a bigger piston. Ok, now that sounds like a dumb idea.

For me the most important modification was the addition of a milk crate to the back. It just seems like these motorcycles should have one. Deby’s green bike had the addition of a matching green ammo can for storage and I mounted a one gallon gas tank on mine. I also added mounts for our Garmin GPS units so we wouldn’t get lost. Ha, more on that later…..We loaded the bikes, threw in our folding Oru Kyaks and hooked up our camper trailer. We were ready for anything.

Day 1 was a 127 mile loop circling back to our starting point in Christina Lake. Our 1 gallon fuel tanks were probably good for the whole distance but we stopped halfway to top off just in case. At about 125 miles to the gallon we didn’t spend much money filling up. Here are some of the motorcycles at the pre-ride inspection. (inside joke)

Soon we were off blasting down the abandoned railway that was converted into a multiuse trail.

Deby and I had huge grins as we hit the trail through the mountain. I opted to leave on the stock street style tires which made the loose gravel track more challenging than expected. Still, with an average speed of about 25 mph there was minimal chance of serious harm in a tipover.

There were bridges, tunnels and great overlooks all along the trail. Here is Jeffery and his Monkey bike at an overlook.

We stopped at an overlook of Christina Lake and met some people on proper adventure motorcycles who volunteered to take our picture once they stopped laughing at our silly small bikes.

There were a number of old tunnels to ride through. We found out that the CT125 headlight is not really that useful for dark places.

Ok, how much fun is this!

Deby learned a very important lesson — Never put on Chapstick and follow a motorcycle (me) on a dusty road.

The dirty biker gang stopped at a fine dining establishment for lunch.

Back at the hotel we returned to find some Harley’s parked next to us. I wonder who was having more fun.

On day 2 my GPS logged exactly 100 miles from Lake Christina to Oliver, BC. There were some highway sections which were really sketchy on the little bikes. The speed limit on most of the roads was 90 or 100 Kilometers per hour which is around 55 miles per hour. My little 125 could hit almost 50 on a flat section with no wind but often we were riding uphill or against the wind or both putting me in the 35mph range. We spent most of the time riding the shoulders of the two lane highways as trucks, cars and campers zipped by. Finally it was back on the trail and a slower speed.

More trails, bridges and tunnels.

Dirtyface and I stopped at a little museum in Kettle River. It was interesting but we didn’t really have too much time to see everything and mostly wanted to use the restroom.

There were a couple of fun water crossings along the way.

I don’t know, there was just something about this crazy ride that instigated hooliganism. At the end of the day we walked to a local restaurant for dinner an Kevin was there with his support vehicle and trailer with backup motorcycles. He offered to give us a ride back to the hotel but the truck was full. Ummmm, no problem for Deby, Chris and Jeffery – they could ride on the back! We debated whether the helmet law applied but decided it didn’t and took off for the hotel.

We were settling into a ride, rinse, sleep routine and it was fun. On day three which was August 9th (one of my favorite days) I logged 136 miles from Oliver, BC to the larger town of Princeton, BC.

First thing before the day’s ride, the hardcore group of bad ass biker dudes descended upon the Country Kitchen for breakfast. The locals weren’t sure what to think of all these grown men (and Deby) roaming their town. 

Another great day of riding. The sky was threatening but it didn’t really let loose with any serious rain.

Lots of cool rock walls and fun roads.

Some of the gang pulled over for a break.

Here is our friend Tom who also rode with us in Mexico in full ADV mode, these guys are serious!

We arrived safely at our hotel in Princeton, BC where the gang was waiting as usual in the parking lot for someone to make a beer run.

I have to say that hanging around the parking lot sharing stories about adventures was one of my favorite parts of this trip.

We were hanging around when who walks in but our buddy John C. who drove to meet us from Vancouver.  We also rode with him in Mexico the previous year and he also led a small group of us on a personal Canada motorcycle tour in 2022. I’m not sure who took this wonky picture but it captures the moment.

Deby and I turned in and the parking lot party continued. I think someone from the hotel had to finally tell them to knock it off. Dang biker gangs…

Ok, hummm. I think I’m going to stop this post here. The reason is that the next day could possibly be the hardest day I’ve ever had riding a motorcycle. Because of some miscalculations, poor judgement and stubbornness Deby and I ended up in a situation that ended up ok but could of been way worse. Odd, that something dangerous could happen on such small motorcycles. I’ll tell the story in the next post and wrap up the ride.  Stay tuned.

Donn and Deby