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/126041
a: w ~ w ::l J: Z J: o -, >III en o tO J: e, All new hub hold strong rear brake. 56T sprocket looks like swiss cheese. Potent crinkle finned engine breathes through a 32mm Bing and twin air filter. Duplex frame features three cross braces for rigidity. e-Two-Five from under "the small piston. Otherwise, the engine remained unchanged with one intake, tw o transfer, and one exhaust port; igni tio n from an internal rotor transistorized Motoplat and carburetion from a 32mm Bing, which is a very healthy venturi size for a 123cc engine. . Last year's "old" seven-inch travel Betor fork was replaced with this year's "new" eight-inch travel Betor fork which is, in tum , modified by Montesa. Rear suspension is provided by an updated version of the Telesco "Cross" damper mounted cantilever to the frame , surrounded by 78 lb . springs and providing 6.5 inches of rear axle travel. Surprisingly, 6. 5 in ches is e no ugh . The rear end never bottomed or topped out wh ile th e Montesa 's attitu de an d braking and sta bili ty in severe acceleratio n rem ained more constant than bikes with a lo t more rear axle travel and the co n seq u en t l;eometry extension bring about. There is a critical rider weight determining the life of the shocks, though. Everybody under 150 lbs, thought the rear suspension was really fine and the Telescos, even with their relativel y small fluid capacity, ' -di dn 't fade under them. Riders around 170 Ibs. experienced shock fade after !5-20 minutes (depen din g on what they were doing) and loss of damping in the rear suspension. Then, the rear end would start to hop around and get pretty exciting. To get the most from any motocross 125, the rider is going to be moving around 'on it more than on a larger ' displacement machine. That situation has been paid attention to on the Montesa with everything either, slim or tu cked in. The seat-tank rel ationship is . as good as it has be en since th e incep t io n of the I. 7 gall on " be an tank" with co rrec t firmness to the seat. T he sidepanels are flat. You can get allover that bike without 'snagging or singeing yourself. ' The big question about the Montesa, of course, after we happily accepted the notoriously fine handling we expect from Spanish machines is .. . will it be fast enough? Which is a polite way of __asking if it can beat the Japanese bikes. The answer should be obvious: of course it isn't. No motorcycle, so far, in standard trim is fast enough for the U.S. 125 cc classes because every bike in that class seems to be tricked to tears. The newest Honda delivers a maximum of 22 brake HP on one given dyno with a powerband 1000 RPM wide. The new Mon tesa 12 5 VA deliver. 2 1 brake HP on the same dyno with a powerband 2500 RPM wide. The Honda (an d Suzuki and Yamaha) makes max power abo ve 10 ,000 RPM. The new Montesa m akes its pe ak . power around 9000 RPM. Which type of bike would you rather ride? Which would you rather maintain week after week? What if one of them had Betor eight-inch forks ? The lower end of this black, crinkle-finned engine is derived from the Montesa 123 Cota trials bike. The gears beefier for motocross with are appropriate racing ratios but there is much shared. After the engine was sorted out, the internal gear ratios fit the power very well except for a noticeable gap between first and second. The engine sidecases appear iden tical to the fota which brings out the two worst features of the 125 Montesa that we were able to discover. The countershaft sprocket is co mple tely buried under the left sidecase. This makes access difficult not only for changing gearing but to perform daily tasks like cleaning or changing the chain . The covered sidecase is also a mud pocket where the buildup of goo will rob power and wear out the chain even faster. Incidentally, the largest countershaft sprocket that will fit in there is the stan dard 12 tooth model. (As a matter of cultural note, all Spanish teams seem to change the rear sprocket more readily and more often to ach ieve desired gearing for a particular course.] Rear sprockets from the standard 56 tooth model down to 52 have been used with success on different courses. Breadth of power delivery allows this flexibility . As a positive design feature, the driving sprocket is very near the swingarm pivot point which helps main rain constant chain tension as the rear wheel bounces up and down. The plastic chain guard on the swingarm is designed to keep mud out of the chain, an important feature on real motocross courses and doesn't weigh all that much: That feature is probably offset by the sidecase mud-catcher, Another item from the 12 3 Cota is the right sidecase and kickstarter - which is a misnomer. The lever never once started the engine by kicking it over. The tri als bi ke lever is too long for the motocross configuration and hangs up on the rear brake cable actuating . An em t had been rna e back at Esplugas de Llobregat to solve that by adding washers under the retaining bolt. This only made the lever stick under the brake 'arm and gouge a larger piece out of it. We liked the solution we saw on a later production model Montesa VA125 be tter: a different, shorter kickstarter. Hopefully y o u won't ever see one like we had in your dealer's showroom. Bumping it to life really wasn't a problem - unless yo u were in a muddy trough between two hills. Missed details are insulting to the quality of such an excellently conceived piece of machinery. The front and rear brakes are enclosed in semi-eonical polished alloy hubs and are so good you take them for granted after the first lap. They possess a combination of strength and positive feel that may be unmatched on any other 125. The fine braking encourages you to go deeper than you previously thought comfortable into any type of comer, then usc' them to the maximum for straight, controlled deceleration right up Io the apex of your tum where a fistful of throttle takes over. The only other problem we encountered during the test was the tendency of the rear sprocket bolts to come out since 'they are threaded in the same direction as rear wheel rotation. Get under them with red Loc-tite" and/or check them between every moto and after practice. Also, the footpegs will pack up slick with mud. They need a little deeper serration. The position is excellen t, though, since you never feel like you're standing a foot off the ground, which you ac tu al ly are. The goodies and accessories on the VA125 are just that - good. White translucent plastic fenders came off last year 's works bikes along with the quick throttle. 'Spo kes stayed surprisingly tight in the new heavy-duty ridgeless Akronts. A Twiii Air oiled foam ruter stays out of the way behind a plastic sidepanel/numberplate. The cables are heavy enough but need to be routed carefully to avoid pinching. Best of all, the Montesa 125 was strikingly reliable during test. Nothing broke or fell off (We caught the rear sprocket bolts in time.] and we changed the plug only once, during the too-rich carburetion period. By the time we took the scooter back, it was ready for fresh fork oil, another change of transmission lubricant and that was just about it. Necessary maintenance, particularly for a 125 racer, is minimal. , The VA125 is a little jewel of a motocross machine. Like all jewels it has its price and its flaws but imparts this special feeling to the owner. Itenables a serious racer to deal with a motocross 'co urse in a very precise, quick, and correct manner. lts recommended retail price of $1415 is not at all out of line with the other European-built 125 motocrossers which all hover around $1400. It is the simple fact of European prosperity and consequent price inflation of their manufactured products in the U.S. that is still hard for buyers and racers of 125s to accept. Montesa's main problem with the VAl25 will lie in discovering sufficient numbers of racers who are dedicated to the concept that machine represents : no-eompromise excellence of handling in a 125cc class racing bike. • ; III • ~ E .-- s.. 0.. <: • > , Specifications El1lJine/urburetion Type Two-stroke piston port Displacement 123.7ee 54mm X 54mm Bore X Stroke Compression ratio 16:1 Carburetion 32mm Bing Air Filtration "Twin Air" Cluteh . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .•• . . .Wet 5-918,e Transmission . . .. . . . ...• .. Constant mesh Claimed horsepower .. •. 21 HP @l9500 RPM Fr1lmtI/.._III011 Type Front suspension Chrome molybdenum Betor fork wltra",,1 8" Rear suspension Telesco cit-travel 6.5" Seat height Ground clearance Handlebar width ' Wheelbase Weight WMelslrulVling goar _ F: 3.00 x 21 . , R: 4 .00 x 18 Fenders Brakes Recommended retail price , : .34" 10" , 34.5" 55.1-555" 209 Ibs. Pirelli Pirelli • Plastic Sem i-eonical $1415 37