Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Putting more punch into the RM125 The FM F Gold Series Kit includes a nickel-plated FM FITS R pipe, silencer, RAM -valve reed cage and a Ceet Racing FMF seat cover. p icked up -the phone, and before I co uld say much an excited voice, going wide open on the other end, began talking. "Naaate, you're gonna love this," the voice began slowly at first before kicking into high gear. "I've got your RM set up so it roosts and I've just been up and down the alley a few times and it kicks butt and doesn 't get tired and wheelies like mad! I ca n' t wait for you to ride it so wh enareya go n na pick it up? " That vo ice wa s Don Emler, founder and o wne r of Don Eml er 's FMF (fo r me rly Fl ying Ma chin e Factory). " Yea righ t, I hope it's going to roost ," I th ought as I hung up the phone after making th e arrangements to pick up o ur scoot. " O f co urse he's goi ng to say it 's fast , he builL it!" It' s no secre t that th e 1989 Suzuki RMI 25 co uld use a little more topend p unc h. In stock form th e RM has a good lo w a nd midrange power, but whe n th e mo tor is sp in ni ng a t hi gh er rpms th ere j ust doesn 't seem to be much power being transm itted to th e rear whee l. After seeing severa l RM 125 rid ers roos ting th e co m pe titio n a boa rd modi fied machines in early-season races, we kn ew th at th e Suzuki had so me po tent ia l, so we co ntacted FMF to help us add som e top- end performan ce witho u t sacri fici ng too mu ch midran ge or low -end power. Em ler has been running FMF a nd mak ing bik es go faster for more than 16 years. It all sta rted in his garage in the '60s unt il busi ness took off wi th the 1973 H onda Elsi nores, which forced Em ler to expa nd toa re ul ar sho . Sin ce then he's co n- I centrated on building motors not only for privateers, but also for some of the factory stars as well. And Emler says that he'll only work on making engines go faster, leaving suspension up to the other guys. After talking with the man himself, it 's easy to understand why he likes to make things go faster. Emler goes wide open in his daily life, developing new performance ideas irrffis Harbor City, California, sho p while. running the business a t th e sa me tim e. It 's not unusu al to see Eml er ta lking wid e open on th e phone with o ne person a nd having a not he r line o r two on hold, plus a t th e sa me time tinkering with so meth ing in his free hand(s). Wh at m ak es a ll thi s work is Em ler's ent h us iasm for wha t he's doing. H e loves working o n engi nes, a lways has a big .srnile o n hi s face a nd excitement in hi s voice. We wanted to keep th e modifications to o ur RM simp le, so Eml er sugges ted we start with the FMF Gold Series Kit, whi ch in cluded a FMF/TSR Gold Seri es exha ust pipe a nd silence r a long with a n FMF RAM-valv e reed ca ge. A _tri ck looking FMF: seat co ver by Ceet Ra cing, which is blue with white strip ing and pink FMF logo, is also included in the $284.99 pri ce tag. H you' re o n a budget, eac h pi ece ca n a lso be purch ased sepa ra tely to build th e kit over tim e. We also in stall ed a Twin Air filLer from White Bros. to repl ace th e stock unit, which had begun to co me apart a t th e seams, to keep o ur RM breathing clea n a ir a t all ti mes. The FMFITSR Gold Series pi pe has a d istinc tive silver look th at is ac tua lly n ickel pl ating. According to Eml er , th e ni ckel-plated pi pes retain heat bett er , which helps to in crease perfo rm an ce. Plus th ey look good wit ho ut ru sting , a nd th e pipe is a lso designed to tu ck in o ut of harm 's wa y bett er. With th e kit install ed by simp ly bolting everyth ing in place o f th e stock units, we found that midrange a nd top-end power was substantially better than stoc k. There is a more definite midrange hit in the powerband, and the power keeps pulling through the top-end a little further than where the sto ck motor tends to sign off. . • One of th e best things about the kit is that whil e it increased top-end By Nate Rauba Photos by Ken Faught a nd midrange power, th ere is absolutely no loss of th e Suzuki's wonderful low -end power. T o ge t even more power we went a step furth er th an th e Gold Seri es Kit a n d inst all ed o ne o f FMF' s sho rte ned intak e manifolds, which is similar to wh at th e Suzuki factory .bik es are running irr th e 125cc FMF will sell a limited number of special intake manifolds. National s. Eml er says th at because of the dif ficulty in producing th e manifold, on ly a limited number will be mad e, a nd th ey're a little more ex pe ns ive . The man ifold a nd a match ed reed cage runs $2 15.99. Also in cluded is an a ir bell to co nnec t th e carbureto r a nd airbo x boot. The short intak e manifold rea lly mak es th e Suzu ki fly. Once aga in th e most notabl e improvem ent is in the midrange a nd to p-en d. There's a much stro nger midrange hit, o ne that eas ily ca rries th e front end over accelera tion bumps found exitin g rutted corners. Top-end power is greatl y improved, even over th e kitonly setu p. And there is still no loss of low-end pow er. Either setup gives th e '89 RM 125 much better power. Although it 's a little more expensive, the Gold Series Kit with the shorter intake manifold gives th e RM an incredible power spread and is well worth the extra ·mo ney. • The Gold Series Kit improves power, but the addition of the short intake manifold really makes the RM roost.

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