Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eRIDING IMPRESSIONS ~ 1992 Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Suzuki and Yamaha 125cc MXers ~ The Kawasaki featu res floati ng disc brak es, providi ng better pad/disc align men t. Kawasaki 's already p roven in verted Kayaba fork is unchanged. Kawasaki KX125J better oil flow con trol, and the rear ' s u sp en sio n l inkage h a s a larger cushion lever bearing. Both disc brake ro tors have been red esigned, with th e front made more resistant to bending and rear's thickness in creased. Rear wh eel strength has been in creased by addi ng a bearing to th e sp roc ket side of th e hub and u sin g larger -diam eter sp o kes a n d nipples. 8 Riding opinions O ka y, o kay. I' ll get strai g h t to th e point. No beating aro u nd th e bush . My fav o ri te bi ke o f the bu nch is the H onda . Yep , no doubt abou t it , the Honda 's my favori te. You know, the Kawasaki is p retty neat , too. Come to think ofit, some of m y best la p times were on the Ka wasa ki. T he mo tor 's ni ce and it ha nd les well, too . Yes, that's it, m y favor ite bike is reall y the Kaw asaki . T he n again, I had a blast on the Suzuki. It , too, has a strong mo tor a nd good suspens io n. It does everything well a nd 'doesn 't do anythi ng bad. Plus, it lo o ks wi ld. Actually, th e Suzuki's best. Come to th ink o f it , th e Yamaha's suspensio n is awesome , a nd it turns well a nd has great brakes, too . Okay, so it's a little down on power; you ca n ge t used to th at . But the suspension I That's more im port a nt than pure horsepower, an yway, right? Yamaha. That's it. The Yamaha rea lly is my favori te. It's the b st, hon est. But then again the KT M's trick, too . It's real fast, suspension is first -rat e and it's d ifferent in that it is not made in Japa n. T he KT M has wh a t it ta kes to win races and it's fun to be a li ttl e di fferent. T hat's it. KT M's the best. Period . By now you 've prob ab ly guessed tha t I lik e all o f these bikes. In fact, a t one ti me or a no the r I had ac tua lly co nvinced myself that each one was th e best. I guess what th is tells me is that a ll are more than capable of winning rac es. Bu t I can 't ignore the fact th a t one bik e took a lot less con vincing th an the othe rs. I ha te to admit it, but th at bi ke was th e Honda. Wh y do I ha te to ad m it thi s? I guess it 's beca use the H on da CR I25 has been Engine type Liquid-cooled, case-reed, two-stroke, single Bore x stroke 54x54.4mm Displacement . : 124cc Compression ratio 8-9:I Carburetor Keihin 36mm Starting system Prima ry kick Ignition COl Lubrication Prem ix Transmission Six-speed Primary drive 56/16 Final drive 49/ 12 Frame . ~ High -tensile steel peri meter, aluminum rear sub-fra me Front suspension Kayaba telescop ic inverted fork Front wheel travel 12.2 in. Rear suspension Uni T ra k, Kayaba single-shock, swingarm Rear wheel travel 13.0 in. Front brake 8.7 in. disc Rear brake 7.5 in . di sc Front tire Bridgestone 51M Rear tire Bridgeston e 57M Claimed dry weight 191 Ibs Overall length 85.0 in. Overall width 32.1 in. Overall height .. . • . . . . . . . . . 47.8 in. Wheelbase 57.9 in. Fuel capacity 2.2 gal. Ground clearance 15.6 in. Seat height. 37.4 in. Colors Lim e green Retail price : $3449 on the top of th e charts for so lo ng that it get s boring hea ring the same a I' nu mber-one so ng o ver a nd over again. But in rea li ty, boring o r no t, being th e best is what it's all abo u t. An d when it co mes to racing a nd wi n ni ng, it gets a lot more bo ring not win ni ng. All kidding as ide, in my opinion, the 1992 H on da CR I25R is th e best - again ! All it too k was one lap o n th e new Honda a nd I kn ew th e o ther bikes were in trouble, and th at it was go ing to be hard to top th e CR 125. Most of thi s has to do with th e CR's motor - it sim p ly cra nks . Not on ly is the CR fast on top, b u t the motor pu lls ha rd fro m id le to Mach I without a hint of hesit a tio n, and surprising as it ma y sound, th e power isn 't tha t hard to ma nage, alt hough a more-exper ienced rider wi ll defini tely benefit the most fro m the Honda's har d-hitt ing mo tor. The CR is easy to con tro l than ks to excellent th rottle response. Every tim e you twis t the th rot tle, th e CR's engi ne responds with a smooth, yet stro ng surge o f power th at ma kes the Honda very appeali ng. . Everything abo ut th e mot or is j ust plain ni ce. T here's lit tle vib rat ion , j ett i n g is spo t on , it ha s a wi d e p ow er band, revs forever, a n d the tra ns m ission works in perfect harmony wi th th e mot or. Whi le the CR 's claim to fame has always been its mo tor, the o p po site ca n be said about its suspen sion . CRs in general have' always lacked a lit tle bit in th is dep artment, but it's safe to say tha t the '92 CR I25 has very good su spensio n , significantly better than las t year 's mo de l. Although th e CR 's suspension isn 't the best of the grou p , it is good enough to su p po rt th e H o nda ' s aw esom e mot or. Yes, the CR swa ps a little bit here a nd there and the front end shakes its head once in a while, but as a who le, it's much more sta ble th an before. Plus, th e CR tu rn s effort lessly and j umps wi th precision. Another tradition that the CR has en joy ed over the years is quality o f cra ftsma nship. Once again , th e H on da isn' t to be o u tdone. Everything onthe CR is well made, wo rks sm oo th ly and has good feel, such as levers, gr ips, th rottle, handlebar s, brak es, seat, etc. Yup, it 's still my favorite. The Kawasa ki KX wa s a close ru nner-u p , though. It too has a strong motor bu t doesn 't quite have tha t strong p ull, especially o ff th e bottom, like the Honda . Cl ose but not quite. Also lik e th e CR, th ou gh , th e KX has sna p py throttle response and revs quickl y, although not as long as th e Honda. The KX's motor is very pre di ctabl e and shou ld a p peal to a wid e range of rid ers. I like th e KX's suspension over th e CR's, a nd the KX definitely feels th e lightest o f all th e bikes. Sometimes, tho ugh, the KX felt a little tw itch y to m e, bu t I always felt in con trol of th e bike. Perh ap s my favorite th ing abo u t th e KX was its ergo no m ics. It seems to m e th at most motocross bikes ar e getting too narrow. The KX felt th e wid est of th e five bikes, and I really liked that. I had th e secu rest feeling o n the KX over the roughest sectio n of track and th rough th e turns. I felt I co uld get a goo d grip o n th e bike with my kn ees. The Kaw asaki is also built well. You ca n tell a lot of a ttention went into detail ing. I sim ply ca n ' t mak e u p my m ind betw een the KTM and the Suzuki. T o me, the KT M was seco nd o nly to th e H onda in the motor department. T he KTM is very, very fast bu t has a hard ti me ou t-ru n ning th e H onda exiting th e tu rn s. Down th e str aigh ts, th ou gh , th e KTM definitely gi ves the Honda a run for its mon ey. T he Su zuki also b reat hs fire and, like the Hon da, pow ers o ut o f the ho le a li ttl e q uickertha n the KT M. After that, the KT M feels just a tad faster, unless yo u mi ss a gea r. T he KTM's transmi ssion felt very notch y as compared to its Japanese rivals a nd mi ssed shi fts were common. The KTM 's best tra it is ns motor. It 's sim p l y fast an d stro ng, t h o ug h th e transmission is a lit tle notchy. Bot h the KT M and Suzuki have goo d sus pe nsio ns, but for some reason , my ar ms pumped up on th e KT M. Whi le the KTM's back end tracks well , the fro n t end is a little busy, perha ps co nt rib u ting to my a rm pump. Pl u s, th e KTM is noticeab ly heavier th an th e o the r four bi kes. I guess I'd ha ve to ra te th e Ya maha YZ at th e bottom of m y list, and for o ne reason o nly - its mo tor. Alt hough stronger than last year 's po werp la n t, the '92 YZI25 g ives up one or two horsepower to its riva ls. The Yam aha has stro ng midra nge but lacks p unch o ff th e bottom and at high rpm. Actua lly, I don 't have any problem with th e YZ's lac k of gr u nt o ff th e bo ttom, because o ne fa n of th e cl utc h usuall y bails you o u t of trouble, but wh en you're in th e heat of battle when it' s so easy to over-rev th e engine, the YZ just falls on its face, so to speak. You have to concen trate a nd pl an yo u r shi fting to max im ize th e YZ's poten t midrange. While th e YZ's m ot or leaves something to be desired, its su spension is extremely good, in fact, the best o f the bunch in my opinion. The back end rar ely swa ps a nd absorbs the whoops like a pillow, as does the fron t end. T o me, th e YZ was th e most stabl e down th e whooped-out straig h ts. I felt that I cou ld hold th e throttle wide open a nd let the bik e do wh at ever it wanted to between my legs, without worrying KTM 125SX Engine type . . . Liquid-cooled, casereed, two-stroke, sing le Bore x stroke 54.3x54.0mm Displacement 124.8cc Compression ratio N/ A Carburetor Dell 'O rto 37mm Starting system Prima ry kick Ignition , CDI Lubrication Premix Primary drive 61/18 Final drive 52/ 13 Frame .. . Ch romemoly, semi double cradle, alumi num rear sub-frame Front suspension ... .. White Power telescopic inverted fork Front wheel travel 11.4 in. Rear suspension Whi te Power sing le shock, swingarm Rear wheel travel .'... . . . . . . 13.4 in. Front brake 10.2 in. disc Rear brake 9.5 in. disc Front tire Dunlop Rear tire : Dun lop Cla imed dry weigh t 200.9 Ibs. Overall leng th NI A Overall width N/ A Overall height N /A Wheelbase 56.3 in. Fuel capacity 2.4 gal. Groun d clearan ce ' 15.0 in. 37.2 in. Seat height. Colors Whit e w/grey Retail price $3475

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