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/127128
comp leme nt these changes, a new exha ust pi pe has been designed with a shorter extruded alumi nu m bod y silence r and longer lasting, du alstage packin g. One of the biggest cha nges to the Suzuki' s powerpla nt is a n all -ne w carburetor. T he 35mm Mikuni carb, > ca lled th e TMX, has a new crescentshaped sli de. The slide is designed to en hance flow by reducing tu rbulence, thus improving t hrott le response, maki ng it q uicker a nd crisper. It has also been designed to be easier to work on, wh ich it is. Some effort went into reducing vibration. T he crank is reba lanced, and the exhaust pipe has a n additio na l mounting bracket. T he six-s peed tra nsm ission has been modified to fu lly ta ke adva n tage of the Suzuki's different powerband. It now has a wider primary dr ive a nd first and second gea r ra tios. T he clu tch has been beefed up by addi ng two more clutch p la tes to red uce slip page. : T he kickstarter lever and kickstar ter gea r rat io have been cha nge d to im prove start ing ease. Chassis altera tio ns are few. The most no tabl e cha nge is the swap from a rear drum brak e to a disc (8.7inch). T he fro nt 9.5-in ch twin-piston dis c brak e has new piston sea ls, differ ent d isc mat erial a n d pad material. The cable is made out of low-expansion co mposite, and th e rear ca liper is protect ed b y a n aluminum gu ard. Up ' front , th e Kayaba cart ridge fork received modera te ch anges, such as heavier fork spri ngs and different valving. The 43m m fork has 20 external co mpressio n a nd rebound damping settings, and 12.2 inches of wheel travel. The Full- Floater rea r suspension feat ures o nly shoc k cha nges. The p iggy back Kayaba shock has a new Remo te Control Un it co mpression damping adj us ter, which mean s tha t da mping adj us tme nt cha nges are more sens itive; plus, there're more mid- to hig h-range sh ock compression adj us tmen ts. Low- speed com pression dampi ng valvin g has been rewo rked for smoothe r act io n. The shock linkage ra tios are the sa me as last year's. Maintenan ce h a s been mu c h improved by cha ngi ng just one thing - the cha in adj usters. The chain 00 00 c:::n ...... The new RM125 has potential and is improved over last year's RM but could use more overall power. Test: 1988 Suzuki RM125J I Getting one step closer By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones Eyein g the 1988 Suzuki 'R M125] for th e first time you might say to yourself, " It's just the same 01' motorcycle, " especially when it's standing right next to its all-new and comple tely revised big brother RM2 50J on the showfl Y . h hi k room oor. . ou m ig t t I~ that Suzuki p ut a ll of ItS 28 attention into the 250 and totally forgot ab out the smaller-bore 125. Although it is true tha t Suzuki's top priority in 1988 was im p roving th e 250, th e 125 also got its fair sh are of changes. • _ , But were they enough? Wh en changes w~re mad e for '88, most of the a tten non went to the 125's blu e-pa inted, six-peda l reedvalve, AETC power-valve mo tor. T o be more specific, Suzuki wanted to dig u p more m idrange out of the motor, a nd to ac hieve this, th e power- va lve has been modified, porting specs have been changed and a new fla t-top p iston is used. To The RM's AETC power-valve motor is basically unchanged except for a few refinements to enhance midrange performance.