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/125873
Texas Tester annyDoss talks aboutthe KX125 By Bob Dickey/Cycle News Central On July Kawasaki we would new KX 12, Joe McNeal from Central called to see zf be interested in testing a 125 motocrosser. Of course, we said s ure , when can we pick it up ? Th at was th e pro blem. Th ey only had t wo bikes serviced and th e only spare part s th ey had 24 were one p isto n and a couple of ring sets . J o e offered to meet me o n any chosen t rack on any given day but he uiould ha ve to be the r e since thev couldn 't let t he bike ou t of their sight , S ince CN G's residen t motocross tes t er was in Calif orn ia learning t he secrets of t he M yst ic West, J oe and I dis cussed the idea of having Dan ny Doss test th e bik e fo r us. Dan n y is one of th e to p 12S MXers aro un d, presently riding a well tricked o ut Ho nda Elsinore. His list of accomp lishments include a fifth at the recen t Mid-Ohio Inter -AMA . Sin ce Dann y is as good as he is and has no connection wit h Kaw asa k i, I fig ured it fo r a goo d idea. Dan n y can be as objective as possible w hile seeing if th e bi ke is truly of winning caliber. Th ere were only two mino r problems with the bike d uring a f o ur ho ur session on t he 9S degree-plus T exas afternoon. Th e fron t spo k es co nstantly loosened in all oy rim and after a hard I S 'minutes of fla t out riding, the bik e suf fer ed a partial seizure. Th e cylinder is made using a new pro cess called Electrofusion w he r e in th e aluminum b ore is im preg nate d with an alloy as a w ear surface. A lan J ack son from Kawasak i R & D dr opped th e pip e and saw that a minor scuf f ing of the p ist on around th e area of the ex haust bridge had occurred . . Th e cy linder itself was not damaged. Th e bike was left to cool down, th en Danny too k it back out fo r an o th er hard 20 minu tes wit h no hint of seizu re. Alan J acks o n t oo k t he engine apart back at th e shop th e nex t day an d with t he exception of some slight hea t marks on th e p isto n and a lig ht de posit of aluminum on the wall, nothing was amiss. A little sanding on the b ore rem o ved t he dep osit and th e bike was still up to specs for compression. Ther e was one o t he r si tua tion that arose that should be ment io ned fo r saf et y 's sak e. Dann y slapped a ru t prett y goo d in one corner and th e chain came adrift. We lat er determined t hat the sides tan d fo uled the chain in th e rut causing it to com e off Remove th e sidesta nd bef ore raci ng ! Here fo llow Jo e McNeal's co m ments on how th e '1 25 Wa.f dev eloped and an interoieui with Danny Doss. Joe McNeal Danny Doss CN: Go ahead with what you were saying, Two years ago , . , JM: When they first anticipated the I 25m otocross market and class be coming more nationally and internationally recognized, they decided to build a 12 5. Just like in the early sixt ies and late fifties the four stroke and mot ocross were synonymous. Then the two st roke came o n the scen e and since t ha t ti me the two st ro ke has dominated the Open and 250 class es so mu ch th at manufacturers, Eur opeans, CZs, Hus kys, an d l\laicos all went to 12 5s. So we sent directions to J apan th at we needed to develop a piston port 125 m ot ocross machi ne . Afte r vario us tele xing back and fo rth across th e Pacific Ocean dail y, the Japa nese reported fro m t he ir dyn o ci ty th at, ." So soll y, we have deci ded to produce a 125 rotary valve, So so lly, not as mu ch hors epo wer in a piston port as a rotary valve. So we will produce a 125 rotary disc valve. And it will have more ho rse po wer th an p ist on port. " We go t worried beca use pi sto n port is synony mous with the go fast ma ch ines in m otocross. It win ds up functionally, se e mi ngly so far to have mo re horsep ower more places on th e power band, as opposed to a two stroke piston port engin e. CN: How is the power compared to an Elsinore, which is the hot set up right now? DD: It's got more low-end. You can be in too high a gear, you can just come on and pull right o ut of it. Like on an Elsinore, if you 're not in the right gear and you op en up, you 'll just fall n at on your face. It winds farther than a sto ck Elsin or e. 1 d on 't think it's as fast, righ t now, as m in e. It might be; it 's real close. But a stock o ne, it's faster than a stoc k Elsino re. T he power range 's mo r e usable, I thi n k, because it's just real smooth. eN: Do you thin k it will be less ti rin g? DD: Yes, you don't have to shift as mu ch, as fa r as u p shi fting, yo u don ' t have to wor k the gea rs q uit e as much, CN : All right , yo u say it's not as fast outright as you r Elsinore ? DD : It's real cl ose, I'd sa y. CN: With it not being as tmng, and with the broader powerband, do yo u t hink it woul d be faster aro un d th e t rack? DD : I think it would be in the long run. CN: Say in a 30 minute mota ? DD: Yea , for sure . T ha t 's wh at 1 was telling h im (r eferring to Alan J ack son , of Kawasa ki R&D) . I think I co u ld go just as fast, o r maybe a little bit faster on th at. Because it's got the handling, it