As I established in my review of the 2020 Grom, it’s an excellent around-town bop if you want to have a lot of fun on your commute while saving gas and looking cool as heck. For 2021, it looks like Honda will be giving the little Grom a massive makeover with some pretty nifty updates. The new mini Honda and its stats were released for the European market via Honda.co.uk. Presumably the U.S. spec 2021 will be announced soon. The chassis and 125cc engine will remain basically the same, but its got new bodywork, a new seat, and most importantly a new 5-speed gearbox! The good small bike is coming back even better (and Euro 5 emissions compliant).
I already liked the Grom, but gave it a few negative marks for not having a gear indicator and a four-speed gearbox, but both of those are fixed with this new update! In addition, it’s got a much more urban naked bike look, which is all the rage these days. Gone is the micro-sport bike look, and that’s probably for the better.
The upgraded fuel injection system means the Grom makes a few fractions of a horsepower more, but probably will go unnoticed by most riders. It’s now rated at 9.8 horsepower instead of 9.5. The five-speed gearbox gives the Grom a little more room to stretch its legs, topping out around 95 km per hour now, instead of the old 87 km/h speed cap. The revised bodywork and new five-spoke wheel design reduce the overall weight of the bike slightly, now quoted two pounds lighter at 103 kg.
For not changing much about the bike, Honda has once again changed the game. The very cool Grom is getting even cooler.
RideApart posits that the exposed fasteners with bright coloured washers are intended for Grom owners to quickly and easily change the look of their bike with Honda offering further bodywork options and colours for enthusiasts to choose from. I’m actually kind of partial to the bright yellow and silver look shown here, but imagine completely changing the shape of your bike with six quick bolts. I can see the appeal of that.
