Mullardman
Moderately extreme...
You mean this fella..
I had a CB125j.
That was indeed the chap. Pre-restriction (16hp if I recall correctly, and a 12,000rpm red line) so was relatively fast compared to other 125's at the time. The cable operated front disk was awful though.
About the only "sports" 4 stroke 125 of the era... (the T not the j!) and now VERY rare. IIRC the redline was even higher than 12000rpm....
I had one in red and black. CB125T as I recall. I think it was 15bhp.. or maybe 15.5 just before the 12 bhp restriction was introduced early 80s. I'd had a couple of bikes in the 1960s (Enfield Crusader Sport etc) but never got around to passing a test. So, when I needed cheap transport to and from Manchester as a mature student.. that's wot I got. (The DBD 34 'Arse in the air' Goldie is still a distant dream...)
Cracking little bike. Handled well enough and would fly with a neutral or following wind. Up against a head wind though.. as I often was travelling west along the A580 in winter... it struggled and it would often be 45 mph flat out in 3rd, with a lean....
I recall the red line as somewhere between 13 and 15k rpm. It was like a sewing machine. Missing a gear and overrevving would see it go higher still with no apparent issue.
I couldn't afford posh leathers or anything at the time and had a cheap waterproof oversuit. One day I went through a horror of a hailstorm on the way home. I stopped at the lights in Lowton and wondered what the blokes in the van in the next lane found so amusing.. until I looked down..
I had a huge wedge shaped accumulation of hail stones stuck to the front of my waterproofs. Like the prow of a battleship.. I casually shook them off .. and of course my bike left the builder's van for dead...
Never lose your cool....
Wish I'd known they would become rare.. but then I could say that about a lot of things..
And yes. the cable operated front brake was crap. Mine had a habit of locking on..