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/127848
Sticki ng with the .41 kg / m m fo rk
springs (judged su fficient for mo st rid ers with a full revalving), we let TMR
have at it wi th our fork 's co mpression,
mid speed and rebound valve stacks.
Morgan then installed his own hardanodized bottoming cones with 95mm
of dua l-taper control. TMR recommends ru nning the forks 3- to 5mm above the
top cla mp for most co nditions , and in
the 0-to-3m m range above the top clamp
for high -speed or sandy tracks.
The shock mod ifications were numerous, sta rting wit h a com plete revalvin g
a nd the addition of TM R's m id s peed
va lvi ng (like the front ha s, stock) to
improve tr acti o n over sq uare-edged
obstacles, A larger-volume shock-rese rvoir cap was also added to redu ce heatind uced pump-up a nd improve shock
p er form an ce ov er bra king bump s. A
TMR oversized shock-bottoming bumper
and bill et-a lum inu m sp ring retain ers
were installed for a more cushioned feel
whe n bottoming on hard impacts, and a
4.9 kg/ mm spring was used (4.8 kg / mm
is stand ard) to imp rove front-to-rear balance and bottomin g resis tance. Mor ga n
recommends 95-100mm of race sag .
After riding the bike a few times, we
knew we had a grea t bike in our possession, but still needed to dress it up a little
and ad d a few person al touches . Th e
first item ins talled was a set of Answer
Pr o Ta per handl ebars, in conjunction
with one of the new univ ersal mou nting
kits. The universal kit bol ts in to the stock
handlebar clamps (no need for a new
triple clamp) and raises the bar-moun ting pos ition about three-quarter s of an
inch. Answer mak es bars tailored for this
kit that com e in low, medium and hig h
bends. We chose the medium bend.
We' ve tak en a liking to Wo rks Connection' s billet-aluminum clutch-percha nd -lever as sembly (a C R co py ) that
uses a plasti c sh im so the perch can be
fully torqued, yet still rotate on impact.
We installed one, but have one of Works
Con nectio n's latest u pdated versions of
the perch /lever in the mail tha t includes
a works-s ty le, on-the-fly cable adjus ter definitely the trick se tup.
Acerbis s u p p li ed its ne w g ri p s
(which we've com e to like, due to their
soft feel and good durability) and a set
of yellow YZ side panel s and rear fender. We a lso in sta lled a set of Acerbis'
new aluminum fram e guard s and stad iu m-style aluminum skid pla te.
The d ecision to go w ith the yellow
rear section on the YZ came at the insistence of Cory Bend er over a t Pro ' s
Cho ice, w ho said he had the ultimate
transition-from-blue-to-yell ow gra ph ics
kit and seat cover that would transform
ou r YZ into a looker. Th at they did. The
o n ly ca tc h w a s that this p arti cular
graphics kit was made for a retail store
team ou t of El Cajo n, Californ ia, called
Team Motoworld . We d id n't care. The
bike look ed cool. Black pre-cut numberplate backgrounds an d w hite numbers
from Pro's Choice were the final touches
to our project bike.
Enough about what was done to the
bik e. Does it rip ? You bet it d oes . Our
To m Morgan Racin g YZ125 picked up
po we r in every pa rt of the powerband ,
as well as provid in g more ove r rev.
Every test rid er to get off of the machine
said it was one of the fastes t 125s they
had ridden, but that the bike still maintained its broad and usable powerband
(if you ca n say a 125 has a broad and
usab le p owerband ). Mo rg an reco m m ends running 13/ 49 or 50 gearing for
outd oor tra ck s and 13 / 50 or 5 1 fo r