Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125852
'" eXhibited a tendency to want to be at the rider to death in rough stuff if pushed along quickly. The forks just got so pumped up wh en running over little ripples in a hard packed sandy wash on one enduro tha t they j ust about went rigid. They might have been doing something , but you sure couldn ' t convin ce th e test rider 's sho ulder sockets th a t they were . They improved a little b y the en d of the first 25 mile loo p , but no t enough to ke ep the rider from insisting on riding h is own b ike (a DKW) on the second harder loop . In san dwa shes th e bik e exhib ited some unders teer , It com es with a 19 " whe el up fron t. It's easy to get the front wh eel up for ob stacle s. The power com es on stron g (what power a 12 5 produces) at ab out 6, 0 00 RPM. Th e engine never com p lains ab out running at high RPM, and is . famous for be ing b ulle tproof. T he side cases are stuck ou t in the The Speedo featured an resetable· by -tenths odometer. open. The small bash plate didn 't do anything to stop the cho rus of roc k s that zinged and zanged off the cases while negotiating rocky washes and can y on s. It was easy to shift, and the throws were positive. T he shift lever gets bent easily becau se it stick s ou t so far. A _. r oc k at e ours. The chai n st retche d badly after the first ven ture out into th e di rt. T he fro nt tum signal s are tucked in well en o ugh that y o u can leave th em on and not wo rry about them. With stock gearing, the engin e wo uld bog even on lo ose h ills ap proached at redline in firs t. Once it bo gged , that was it: tim e to push. Knobbies would . obviously help in off-road applications, but the positioning o f the muffler/spark arrestor inhibits knobby installation. The fro nt fender is plastic ; th e rear is no t. If you can ride it out somew here, yo u don't have to wo rry ab out getting b ack . Ridden co nservatively , it won't offend any on e at a d istan ce with the stock muffl ing, although com pa red to m ost road bikes it gets a littl e raspy after aw hile on the freeway (if yo u 're really daring) . For the serious enduro freak . it's going to take some sorting out to work really well for enduroing. For the ser iou s road ride r, it really isn't the right choice. For the person who doesn't like to wring out an engine until it screams, a 250 would be better. But for the per son in the middle th e b eginner , the low budgeted, the studen t, the yo ungs ter, the guy without an y th ing to prove - who wants to have an acc eptabl e bike for transportation and an accep tabl e bik e for half-ser ious d irt riding without spe nding a whole wad of loo t, it's just fine. _ ..... The "Torque Injected" engine just ran and ran. ..... Specifications Yamaha numbers Engine Displacement Bore/Stroke Compression Claimed torq ue Lub ricat ion Starting Tr an s _ Length Width __ Heighth Whee lbase Ground clearance _ Fuel t an k ca paci ty O il tank ca paci ty T ires, front/rear Recommended Fue l West Coast list pr ice ' _ 2-stroke reed valve single _. 123cc (7 .51 cu . in.] 2.205/ 1.9 69 " __ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 .1 :1 10 ft/lb . @ 6000 o il injectio n elec tric and kick up-for-up , 1·N ·2 -3 4 -5 __ _ _ 79 .3" _ 34.3 " : _. _ _ 4 2.5" 51 .6" 9 .1 in. _ 1.8 gals . _ 1.3 qts. _ 3 .00-19 /3 .23 5·18 Ru n what you can get $728.00 - 1: u It .J :> Z . 1: o , 27. .