-,
Test: 1988 Suzuki RM2S0J
A new champ?
By Kit Palme r
Nineteen eighty-eight is turning into the
year of the -250. Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha
and -Suzuki have introduced completely
n ew, radically ch an ged 250cc motocrossers
for th e new year, and one o f
the most revampe d of the new
.
.
m otorcycl es IS the S UZ U kI
RM250j.
Ever since mul ti-timeSupercross
and Motocros~ Natio nal Champio n
Bob Hannah joined team Suzuki in
1985 as overseer of the R M race and
development program, the R M250
has been creep ing closer and closer
to the top of the highly co mpe ti tive
250cc class, where it o nce was, a long
tim e ago. T he 1987 R M250 was
Suzuki's fin est 250cc mo tocrosser in
years. Its suspe ns ion was th e best in
class, . the motor was strong and
overall handlin g was good, bu t
neither stro ng nor good enough.
One of th e biggest gripes Suzuki
factory rid ers had about the RM 250
was its sma ll size. T he R M gave the
rider a cramped feeling, making it
difficult to man euver on th e R M, so
Suzuki trashed its old a nd well -used
frame design for one completely
different and large r in overall size.
The old frame was basically designed
and tail or-made for Suzuki factory
star Mark Barnett in th e late 1970s
and ear ly '80s, and, if you remember,
Barnett was fairly short and stalky
is size. Now we have a frame su ited
for H annah , which shou ld appeal to
a wider variety of riders.
Despi te th e la rger fram e, the
Suzuki still has a relatively sho rt
57.9 -inc h wheelb ase in orde r to
maintain its traditional qu ick turn ing charac teris tics. The chromemoly
steel tubin g frame also has been
designed to carry th e R M's weight
as close to the center of the whee lbase
as possibl e. The new fra me allo ws
th e twin ra diators to be mou nted
lo wer o n the front do wn tube; th e
motor to sit low er in th e fra me; and
the swinga rm pivot to be moved
farther forward, all o f which is
designed to lower the bik e's overall
. center of gravity to improve han dl ing. The new, 2. I-gallon gas ta nk
ha ngs lower o n th e left side, and a
lo nger seat is now used.
The fork and rear suspension
aren't rad icall y cha nged over last
year 's mo del, just refin ed. The 43m m
Kayaba fork is still th e cartridge type
and fork tubes are at tached to forged
a lu mi n um a ll o y tri p le cl amp s.
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