Cagiva Mito 125

TREVOR SAT at the lights. His foot dancing on the accelerator, 2 Unlimited blurting one of their very interesting songs at 100 watts. Bass wound up, window wound down, fag on and looking good. Green light, foot down, go...

But something was wrong. Instead of "happenin' sounds" his ears rang with the manic shriek of 36 wild stallions stampeding the High Street. He saw a flash of red, but it was gone before he realised what it was, leaving only blue haze and the taste of finest two-stroke. Trev felt sick, and had he known this was only 125 cubic centimetres, he probably would have been.

The latest Cagiva Mito looks, sounds, smells and probably tastes more like a full blown grand prix racer than any other bike. Carbon fibre stickers may be a slightly tacky addition to what was already a great looking machine, but with them it makes its forebears, along with virtually every other bike on the road, look bland. It's a bike people can't help looking at and if you like to be noticed, this is an essential piece of hardware.

As far as equipment goes it's got the lot - from banana swing-arm (once more, adorned with top quality imitation carbon fibre) to Marzocchi upside-down forks, and so much rubber you'd feel at home riding in a barbed wire G-string.

I believe the Mito would have got away with a little less than a 110/70 front and the huge 150/60 rear Sportmax, but who am I to spoil the fun? Genuine carbon front mudguard and silencer can take the image even higher. As do the new-for-'93 belly pan and fake air intakes, but not the mirrors. No, these are reminiscent of sad rabbit ears  usable if you stick your neck out far enough but otherwise its all armpits. And those 'Eddie' stickers would be jet washed away at the earliest convenience.

After ten minutes of confusion in search of the oil reservoir I was advised to look under the petrol tank. Pull off a rubber catch, lift the hinged tank car bonnet style and then simply gaze in awe at the wonders that lie below. An oil reservoir that can be filled cleanly without a funnel and one of the most accessible spark plugs in history. All nestle between the twin spar, aluminium, pentagonal section frame which is a joy to behold. The hexentric chain adjusters are also good: neat and tidy and the simplest I've come across.

Riding the Mito is a near sexual experience. The no compromise arse up, chin down riding position is far more comfortable than you would imagine. True, your wrists get loaded, especially around town, but the seat is wide and well padded, so essential stops are probably only about every 40 miles.

The Mito pulls cleanly from six, flies from nine and redlines at 11 but party time doesn't stop until way after 12. Sometimes even in seventh (yes, it has seven gears) the tacho will indicate over 12,000rpm which gives a speedo reading of llOmph. But around 9000rpm a deafening howl resonates from the exhaust. Riding in a suburban area like this would entice a multitude of fist waving old folk into a chorus of "when I was your age.. ..etc, etc".

The Mito is in its element on bendy A roads. You can ride carefree for hours. Handling is good and the brakes are excellent. The single semi-floater on the front is armed with a four pot Brembo caliper and is powerful and progressive. Coupled with superb feedback from the front-end this is one of the best stoppers in the business.

Head butt

The back brake, on the other hand, is not. The twin caliper disc bites far too hard and locks up easily. But this is rarely used except when loaded down by a pillion. Generally, however, riding with a pillion is not really advisable. Touch the brakes and your passenger head-butts you. Squeeze harder and they lovingly push themselves into your back. Which inevitably means you slide forwards down the seat until you meet the tank. Definitely not funny.

Solo, the only time I felt unsafe was on bumpy roads. The Mito's suspension is so tight that the back-end kicks like a mule, while the front-end threatens to work itself into a lock to lock tank slapper. On the one occasion I found myself wrestling with the bars it was made worse by the brake lever (non-adjustable) bashing the fairing every time the bars swung to left lock. Also, be especially careful of overlay and road seams as the Mito tracks even on white lines.

Switchgear is well positioned, clocks are good and easily visible day or night and for '93 the Mito gets a new cylinder head, barrel and piston  according to Cagiva it now puts out 36bhp rather than last year's 34bhp. The gear selection mechanism is also improved and it will now run on unleaded. We ran ours on leaded and the fuel return was a creditable 50mpg.

Basically, this little beast is a top performer. But just imagine a Mito 250...D

Source Bike Magazine