All-New 2022 Honda Grom: First Overview

Whether you’re a seasoned rider with tons of track and street experience, or you’re just thinking about getting your feet wet in the two-wheeled community, the Honda Grom has something to offer you, and that’s been a major factor in its market success. With its easy to approach power plant and forgiving controls, it offers new riders a fantastic starting point, while offering experienced riders an incredibly fun and affordable platform that can be suited for just about every type of riding. If you look around, you’ll see this little gem present in almost every two-wheeled sector. Everyone from elbow dragging racers, stunters, off-road enthusiasts, or commuters have grown to love Honda’s Grom, and we firmly believe that once you see the new 2022 Grom in person, you’ll understand why.

Honda’s first Grom was a smash hit and gained a cult-like following within months, and for good reason. The second-generation Grom was introduced to a split crowd that couldn’t agree if they liked the looks or not, but at the core of the second-generation Grom was the same bike as before. Now, with the introduction of the third generation Grom, the split crowd is still very present debating the styling, but the core of the bike has received upgrades that everyone can agree are massive steps in the right direction.

Love it or hate it, the refreshed looks of the Grom are here, and it’s hard to think it won’t be sticking around for at least a few years. That means, if the looks don’t grow on you…you’re at least going to need to come to terms with seeing these all over the place in the months to come and at all the Grom meets. Personally, we are really digging the new look of the Grom. Not only does it introduce some new design language, but it borrows some from the OG Grom, and we absolutely love that.

The new styling clearly has its priorities set on one thing – easy customization. We’ve seen other markets launch the 2021 Honda Grom (known as the 2022 Honda Grom in North America) with a massive collection of Genuine Honda accessories, including full fairing kits that enable you to transform your Grom into an adventure, scrambler, or even supermoto styled bike. They push the DIY experience and offer a huge collection of awesome accessories…but just like the updated 2021 Honda CBR600RR, the North American market isn’t getting it. Instead, we are offered 4 colorways: matte black, yellow, blue, and “SP”, which is essentially an HRC inspired colorway without the mention of HRC directly. Speaking of HRC, the Japan market get’s another tasty treat that we don’t, and that’s a full race-dedicated HRC (yes, this time it says HRC) edition of the Grom. It comes jam-packed with race-specific HRC components, and I’m sure it’s an absolute blast to rip around the track…not to mention that race body work looks pretty slick.

Back in the US, the new headlight, wheels, and body styling are subjective and you’ll likely get a different response depending on who you talk to…but let’s talk about the parts that everyone can agree are welcome upgrades.

To kick things off, Honda tossed in a new transmission that features a 5th gear and sprinkled in a little more power by upping the engine compression ratio to 10:1 from 9.3:1 and increasing the stroke. That bump in power is good for a few extra MPH at top speed, but whether or not that 5th gear is going to be very useful is still to be determined. It does help to cruise at high speeds without bouncing the engine off the rev limiter the whole time though. They also tossed a larger rear sprocket in to help with low-speed acceleration so you’ll be quicker off the line and ready to leave those Yamaha R1’s in the dust (if they stalled). When it comes time to change the oil in your Grom, there’s now a dedicated oil filter that replaces the oil spinner and screen, no more pulling the entire engine cover off just to get to the screen. All-in-all, these are welcomed upgrades to a stock Grom powerplant.

Honda didn’t stop there, they upped the fuel capacity so you can get more miles of smiles per fill up, and updated the dash with a fully digital display that features a gear indicator. We never thought we needed one on the Grom…but we also aren’t complaining that it’s there now, especially with the new 5-speed gearbox.

Next up is something more subtle that we found once we started to dig into the Grom for our own parts package development. The subframe is no longer welded to the frame, meaning that it can be replaced if it’s damaged without having to cut and weld…unless that’s something you’re into. This is sure to be a delightful upgrade by anybody that stunts their Grom and may have looped it a bit too far, damaging the subframe.

The one thing Honda didn’t change is the price, which is a massive sigh of relief. Watching new iterations of bikes we love across the spectrum come out with new tech, new features, and a higher price tag is always a bummer, and we sincerely believe that the affordability of the Grom is another key to its desirability. The fun-to-price tag ratio is undeniably skewed towards the side that will make your face muscles sore if you ride too long.

The Honda Grom is a fun-sized motorcycle that you can customize to fit your style, and now with the 2022 upgrades, Honda just made the platform even better. It goes without saying that we have our very own parts already in development and have so much more planned for the famous 125cc mini beast. If you want to stay up to date on all of the parts we have cooking, release dates, video content, and everything else we are working on, subscribe to our YouTube and follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

2022 Honda Grom Photo Credits: American Honda