So here is my new (used) scooter. It’s a one-owner, 28.000 km 2018 Honda Vario 150 (also known as Honda Click 150i), an upsized version of the very successful Vario 125. These bikes are sold primarily in South East Asia (and maybe some other Asian countries I’m not aware of).
For a fraction of the price of upclass scooters like the Honda PCX and Yamaha NMax, this Vario has features such as keyless ignition, digital MID, DRL and fully-LED lights, while also not being as wide as the two. It has an ample storage under the seat that can fit a small helmet too. All it needs now is a charger outlet to make it the perfect city vehicle.
And hot damn does it sip. I've ridden it back and forth between home and work for a week now and only today the fuel gauge is down by one bar. No wonder scooters like this rack up so much distance in a short year.
It doesn’t come without its own drawbacks, though. For example:
It’s CVT-driven, meaning delayed throttle and gauging how fast I’m going based on engine sound alone is hard.
It’s got a rattly body despite being only 4 years old (Honda bikes are infamous for using thin, crappy plastic on their body panels).
It only comes with one mirror, one key fob, and no barcode tag to duplicate the fob (the original owner lost them).
I have already ordered parts to remedy 2 and 3 so we’re gucci. They’re not cheap but I love this bike too much already.
Yes, the Honda Vario 125 is a very, very good scooter. If you can still ignore the cheap plastic, the rattling of the hull is really quite a significant drawback.
How would you fix it?
My first and cheapest option is applying foam tape under the loose panels, but if that is too much of a hassle then panel removal/replacement is my second option
Unlike the old one, this new switch has a pass beam switch.
And for an added bonus: The rattling’s gone! Apparently it’s all caused by loose screws and bolts vibrating inside the plastic body, so I fastened them all and voila! No more rattling.
The new light switch is better and prettier! That’s exactly what I thought so, you should have revised the corps, I think the screws won’t turn away during the ride because there are no drive shaft parts on them, in general, they is holding the static parts.
Congratulations! You have can able to improved and enhanced your scooter! I am glad.
It’s been over 11 months since I bought this scooter, and the one gripe I have of it has stood out prominently: The seat is so hard it’s hurting my tailbone after 30 minutes! For a bit of background, most motorbikes sold in Indonesia are equipped with crappy seat foam that hardens after 5 years of use. This Vario is no exception. So, to celebrate its (early) first anniversary, I took the scooter to a seat upholsterer to replace its seat cushion and reupholster it since the old cushion is nearing 5 years old anyway.
Originally I was aiming for a “touring-style” or “European-style” seats sold online, but the upholsterer advised against those kinds of seats because they are shaped more for the aesthetics than being actually functional. I decided to trust the guy. At least with him I can custom-shape the seat to fulfill my butt’s specifications.
The new seat is shaped like the stock seat, but layered with soft latex foam. The end result is a seat that is softer, bouncier, and most significantly, thicker by 5 centimeters. What this means is that I now sit taller than before and both my feet have to ballerina tip-toe when it stops. It’s worth the comfort trade-off though.
To field test the comfort of this new seat, I took the scooter on a 6-hour, 210 km round-trip to the paddy terraces up on a mountain to the northeast. The results? The seat is so wide and absorbs vibrations and potholes like a champ. My butt no longer complains too. It passed with flying colors! Yay!
But now that the tailbone problem has been resolved, other ergonomics issues with the scooter rise to prominence: handlebar position being too low and feet position being in an awkwardly uncomfortable position. I already ordered a solution for them though, so expect update in a couple weeks.
Handlebar, its mount, and weights are taken from Honda PCX 160
Steering hub is taken from Honda Beat Street, grinded off a few millimeters so I can lock the handlebar
The new top cover is custom-made from fiberglass, and houses the MID, a 12V lighter, and holes for the windshield and mirrors
12V lighter that is allegedly “plug and play” but in reality I still need to add cables to properly connect it to the battery
Myriads of length adjustments to the cables and hoses because the new handlebar is way taller than the stock handlebar
Windshield and its adjustable mount taken from Yamaha Lexi (originally wanted to go with Yamaha Nmax windshield but it was too wide)
Highway footstep so I can ride with legs extended forward
Rubber mat to cover the ugly metal bit and my shoddy screwholes
Almost everything in this build (aside from the custom top cover) is not plug and play
In total I spent nearly $200 for parts and installation
The throttle is super heavy due to the longer cables and the rear brake is so vague to the point that it’s nearly nonfunctional thanks to the Combi-brake System being disabled, but damn the riding comfort from a combination of the handlebar, front footsteps and softer seat far outweighs the drawbacks
UPDATE: I thought the windshield would block the wind rushing through my helmet, but in reality it only blocks the wind from the shoulder down… I still hear wind noise
In the meantime, have some nature pictures from my last motorcycling trip. Thanks for visiting my thread. and come visit Indonesia some time
I must say that seeing some genuine craftmanship done by people taking pride in their work is lovely to see. Such shops are almost gone in western Europe today.
Another week, another trip to nature. This time, however, the road was rocky and gravely for 20 kilometers straight. 0/10 should have brought a dirt bike here instead.
The last owner might have owned a cat, because look at these claw-sized holes on the old upholstery.
