If you're Honda, and you happen to sling some of the most popular and internationally beloved small-displacement models in the world, what do you do to keep things fresh? The answer depends on a few things. There are emissions considerations, of course; practical, if not necessarily the most fun or exciting to think about.
And then, there are the aesthetics. For the 2025 model year, Honda Motor Europe made moves to ensure that the Monkey, Dax, and Super Cub 125 are all compliant with Euro5+ emissions standards. Where necessary, it updated catalyzer, ECU settings, and even added an extra OBD2-2 sensor to the ST125 Dax to keep everything up-to-date. It's good to know, even if it isn't going to be the first piece of information that probably trips off your tongue when you tell anyone about the new Dax you just bought.
Instead, what you'll probably want to tell (or even show) people is the sweet new color that swayed you toward picking up one of these friendly little bikes for yourself. In Europe, the 2025 Honda Dax comes in not one, not two, but three distinct color choices: Pearl Shining Black, Pearl Cadet Grey, and Pearl Glittering Blue.
In European markets, the ST125 Dax has been available since 2023; meanwhile, in the US, it's only just touched down here for the first time as a 2024 MY bike. The US market gets Pearl Gray and Pearl Glittering Blue as our color options. So far, we don't yet get Pearl Shining Black, although that could always change in the future.
Over in Monkey-land, there's a wider gulf in the color choices available across the ocean. Here in the US, we get just one choice of Honda Monkey color: Red. It's a fine red, to be sure. But for 2025, Honda's European color palette includes three colorway choices: Sheen Silver Metallic and Pearl Shining Black; Millennium Red and Pearl Himalayas White; and Turmeric Yellow and Knight Silver Metallic.
What about the Super Cub? In Europe, the 2025 color option is Pearl Bosphorus Blue with Pearl Sugarcane Beige, complete with a red seat. The US version comes in two color options (Pearl Grey and Pearl Niltava Blue), and the blue one here also comes with a contrasting red seat. However, where the European and US versions vary is in the seat being a split version with space for a pillion in Europe, while the US one only gets a solo seat.
Gallery: 2025 Honda Monkey, Dax, and Super Cub 125 - Europe
From observing the migration patterns of Honda minimotos over the past several years, there's a chance that is distinctly greater than zero percent that one or more of the colorways seen in Europe might eventually head to the US in future model years. We can't say for sure, of course; but as just one example, remember that sweet tartan colorway the Honda Monkey got a few years ago? It showed up in Europe first, then appeared in the US for the next model year as that year's available stock colorway.
So, if you're in Europe and you like the new colors, you're in luck. And if you're in the US and you're wishing you got one of the European colors for 2025, don't give up hope!
