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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127407
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about it spitting me off. On a tight,
rough and technical track. I think th e
Yamaha will shi ne brightly.
I al so reall y liked the way th e YZ
turns. It just goes where it 's pointed
and that's that. Just the way I like it.
All five bik es are winners. In a
nutshell, thoug h, I would have to say
that if you' re looking for sheer speed
and horsepower the Honda, KTM and
Suzuki should best fill you r needs. On
the other 'hand, if you' re lookin g for
reall y good handling and sus pension ,
then th e Yam ah a and Kawasak i are
your best ch oices.
If you're looking for th e best of both
worlds th en, " Play it aga in , Sam."
Kit Palmer
Choosing the best all-around 125cc
is like flipping a coin - it 's virtually
impossible to pi ck a winner until th e
coin comes to rest.
.
Ra p id technological a dvances
within the last few years have made
all of the 125cc motocrossers highly
compe titive, creating only few noticeable differences among brands. It's safe
to say that there are no lemons in this
bunch , and that all are capable of
winning races in the proper hands.
In order to. choo se my personal
favorite it came down to nit-picking
the machines apart. What I came up
with was Honda th e win ner, Suzuki
second , Kawasaki third, wit h KTM
and Yamaha tied for fourth. H ere's
why.
Ergonomically th e Kawasaki KX
feels really good and to me that is of
pr ime importance. The bars are in th e
right place, th e seat is soft and I lik e
the feel of the con trols. The suspension
is plush and does a better-than-average
job of soak ing up wh atever is thrown
in its path.
The engine is also up to par. It offers
a solid hit in both th e bottom and
midrange, and Kawasaki now seems to
have gotten a grip on die sp u ttering
problem that once pl agued its top-end.
It was real difficult finding fault
with the Kawasaki.
Power-wise th e Suzuki seems to hav e
picked up over last year 's model. It now
has a solid pull that ranks it among
the best of thi s season 's powerplants.
The suspension has also been
improved. It still soaks up the bumps
well and handles stadium-like jumps
with virtually no problem.
I don 't like the brakes on the Suzuki,
though. In my opinion , there is no
feedback through the lever, I couldn' t
incr ease th e pr essure approaching a
corner, it was ei the r off or on. I
co nst a n tly found myself errantly
running deeper and deeper into
comers.
The seat on th e RM also felt low
in the front to me. This made th e
handlebars feel too high and gave me
an uneasy feeling.
The su rp rise of th e bunch was the
KTM. Considering its super-healthy
motor and prime suspension, I was in
love and . ready to propose. Our rela tionship, .however, was broken up
because it didn 't respond kindly to
shifting. You have to chop the throttle
to click it into a higher gear. It's a
shame beca use this was my only major
complaint about the KTM , unfortuna tely it's a big complai nt.
I also didn't mi nd the left-handed
kicksta rter, although that wasn 't my
initial im pression. At first it annoyed
me bu t I soon got used to it.
The other white machine, Yamaha's
YZl25 also had a few things I wou ld
correct. The forks seem a little too soft
for my lBO-pound frame , but most 125s
have always had a tough time during
my suspension evaluations.
The motor al so needs a little improv-
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