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/128076
Shootout SUIUKI RM115 MOTOR The bottom is oka y, the mid is okay, but the top is g ood and it pulls hard. I lik e it a lot. - D.L. It has excellent mid- to top-end power, the bes t of all the bikes. It hits really ha rd and e xplosively. A little weak on bo tt om th ough, so yo u must keep it on t~ pipe. - CS. No low-en d , but it has exce llen t mid and top. On ly the KTM is faster, bu t the Suzuki has be tter mid a nd top . - j.5. I like th e mo tor a lot. It's just lacking a little power overa ll. I wou ld say it's the fourth bes t m otor, close the KX mo tor . - CD. Grea t mo tor. One of the b est top-e nd motors . - T.5. The RM has the mo st expl osive motor of the.bunch . Even thou gh it is not the fas tes t, it sure feels like it when you're riding it. - M.F. Stro ng fro m bottom to top - kind of revvy . - K.P. FRO~T SUSPENSION The for k is a littIe harsh on sm all stuff. 11,e sp ring is a littl e soft. - j.5. It' s too so ft in super rough and in fast sections at Glen Helen. It bottomed out when I would jump into braking bumps. It was also a little d ivey co mi ng in to turns. - C.5 . I felt like I cou ld hit any thing with the fork . - D.L. Very plush wit h lots of control. - T.S. Excellent. - K.P. REAR SUSPENSION It was a little slow on rebound, but we qui ckly fixed it and it did everything I wanted it to. - D.L. It felt good for the most part. Because the forks were too soft it made the rear end bounce around and kick d little under braking or high-speed sections . Coming out of turns, wher e ther e are some acceleration bumps, it worked rea lly wel l. It tra cks we ll and holds a good line. - CS-. Th e bike tracks fast through acce lerating bumps well even th ough the rebound seems a little slow even after ad justment. - j .5, Tracks very good in rough condi tio ns . For me it could use a lit tle st iffer spring . - M .F. Even I feel like the RM could use a stiffer rear spring. - M.F. Plush and compliant; back end rarely kicks out. - K.P. HAN DUNG Great on jumps. - CD. lt's a good turner and great jumper. - j5. 11,e bike feels a little unbalanced beca use the forks are too soft , especially at Glen Helen. It still feels soli d a nd stable on smooth tracks (Elsinore>. - CS. The way it corners, jumps and tracks is awesome. I felt the best on th is bike . - 0 .1 .. One of the best. Plushn ess is an important thing for me and the RiM is defini tely plush. It' s the best-ha nd ling bike for me. - T.S. Quick handler but still stable. - K.P. Excellent. - j.5. The bike turns really well , probably the bes t. - C D. The best, very ligh t and th e front whe has lots of contro\. el T.S. O verall, the RM turns the best ou t of a ll th e bikes. - M.F. Probably the best of the bunch. - K.P. BRAKES The brakes ar e rea lly nice and strong. A lot smoother a nd less grabby than previous years. - CS. The front is awesome and the rear is really good too . I like the way both brakes a re se t up con trol-wise. - D.L. Very good brakes, with gr eat power. - T SDidn't think about them, so I g uess they work just fine. - K.l'. CONTROLSISHIFTING Clutch kind of gr abs weird so metim es. - CD. Clutch action is notchy ,111d I experienced a little clu tch -fade. D.L. The RM has a clutch as lig ht as a feather, but after a few hou rs on the bi ke it rat tles like an '87 YZ490. Sh ift ing is the smoothest Oil the RM. - M.F. Th e clutch-pull is smooth an d su pe r easy. All the lev er s and con tro ls are strong an d easy to use except for the clutch lever. It has a wei rd ben d a nd is tougher to reac h. Shifting is super smooth . You can shift the bike into neutral wh ile it is runn ing. - C.5 . The RM dutch is super smooth and the best-shifting bike of the bu nch . - j .S. Lightest clutch, shifts very smooth. - T.5. Easy to use, best transmission. - K.P. ERGOS I fel CORNERING THE VERDICT IS IN en en en ~ M ~ ~ Cll ..Q o U o 82 Well, in a perfect world you could take the 5X's speed, the RM's a hero on the or revved high this Dike. s fas~ an ibleir>;the lethe It likes to corner hard. it rails. - D. The bike turns awesome, real strong an d precu . at it weren't fo r the forks J.t would even t-um better. The bike ,flattracked realty well too . T;he rear wheel didn't want b.>give and it hooked up teal well. - €.S. There yo u have it. From reading the comments.. cou ld you tell which of the bikes is the clear-cu t win ner? Neit her could we, so we im plemented a simple point s system in to the equation . We asked all of ou r testers to list an ove rall rating of each bike. Consideri ng all as pects of each an d eve ry mo torcycle, they chose their favori te mounts. In do ing so, they ca refully estima ted what they could live with and what they cou ld live with ou t. and most of all, what bike they would bu y if mo ney , contingencies and an ythi ng else were not objects. Ne xt to their fa vorite choice, they wer e to put the number 1, their next favorite, the number, 2, and so on. Each tester was allowed to rate bikes in a tie, since all the candidate were so close. s . We know what you' re sayin g. "Wt want to brow how each bike rated in-!'Je aztegory of handling, or _ l!.ic w .Eone llf!s lht_best susPf:!tsio.n.." the new wide foot pegs. - CS. Shifting. cornering and jumping . - j.5 . The motor and the way the thing corners is my favorite aspect of the bike. - M.F. Plushness, motor a nd co ntrol. It' s a great package, - T5 . Power is always right there when yoo needit. - K.P. What do you li ke least about this b ike? The forks. The valving in th e middle of the stroke felt a little harsh, or it might be th e o il level. - j .5. Like I sa id befo re, the RM vibra tes li ke a lO-yea r-ol d a ir cooled motorcycle. - M.F. The for ks and the slight lack of bottom-end pull. - C5. No down s, it' s awesome. - D.L. Everything wor ks p re 'tty gOlld. - CD. Some vibration goi ng through the bike. - T.5. Little bit mor e engine no ise than the o thers. - K.P. What could make the bike-better? More power down low . - C D. A little better suspension se tup and maybe a little more lowto midrange torque. - C 5 . More lo w-end and bet ter susl'!.msion. - 1.5. For me, slig htly stiffer springs. - • .s. Less1dbration.and nl<)} . er shock spring. - M.F. Cut down on vibra tion noise. - K.P. tu rning ability, the KX's handling, the YZ's ea sy-to-use eng ine and the CR's sus pens io n a nd bu ild the ult ima te 125cc mot ocrosser, but as everybody knows, it's not a perfect world a nd there is on ly on e overall wi nner, and in our shootou t, a run ner-up. The other th ree bikes were rated so closely together we.didn' t see the , need to lis t e ven a second runner-up ~ jus t a winner a nd its fiercest competitor. The overa ll winner of the 2000 125cc Cycle News 5hootout is the Suzuki. The RM garnered four first-pla ce ratings out of seven test riders. It's not that the RM does everything better , it's just that our group of testers felt that it is the best all-around package. It came damn close to winning ou r shootout last yea r, so it was not a big surprise. The refined engi ne and suspens ion ad justments were just enough to move the RM ont o the thron e this yea r. Qnly: 011 rid er .ch ose the runn er-up bik e as b.is fa vgrite, which was the CRl25. That goes to show just how close the con- se, , , great ~mR!!!< and rumen, I test for sec ond place really wa s. The Honda came a long way ov er a year, and even tho ugh the Yamaha, KTM a nd Ka wasa ki are righ t behin d it (in no pa rticu la r orde r), the CR is p lain an d simp le the second- best package. Coinci de ntally , the YZ received two firs t-p lace votes, bu t didn' t rat e qu ite as well with the other five rid ers. If the though t of purchasing a Suzuki makes you ill, then you can always get the Honda. If for some reason riding red docs no t tickle yo ur fancy, then you r next choice is pretty mu ch up in the air. Some might call only choo sing the top two a cop-o ut, but we call it reality - the others are simpl y too close to call. The bottom line is tha t if you purchase one of the other three, overall you 'll be at no disad vanta ge to the YZ-, KX and 5X-mounted guys on the -, starting line with you. If they're in better shape or just faster, well, _ the CRpr.RM may not even.he lp, but they .sure. wc uldn 't Jest your chances. CII