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/128336
crankshaft inertia (by 3 percent). They also designed the combustion chamber with a tighte r squish area and a new shape, all of which, Suzuki claims , was to improve the motor's mid-to-tap-end performance and improve tractability. Most of the other changes seemed pretty safe, such as going from steel to aluminum handl ebars (with a crossbar pad, finally), moun ting up lighte r and stronger titanium footpegs, installing stiffer seat foam and a more grippy cover, and going to a smaller and more compact rear-brake assembly. Suzuki also made many smaller internal changes to improve the RM's reliability . As for performance, we'll cut right to the chase . the 'OS Suzuk i is good, real good. It's eas ilyas good as , if not a little better than , the '04 - and that Is saying a lot. The mo to r still barks like it did last year, if not a little louder. It hits extremely hard off the bottom, continues to pull hard through the middle, and it revs out well on top, never really flattening out much at all. It really is quite the motor. Somehow, Suzuki managed to achieve the seemingly impossible by making already the best motor In t he class even better, at least compared to the '04s . Our bike came jetted pretty much spot on , but we did drop the ma injet one step, mainly just to co incide w ith the hot temperatures that we rode the bike In. We 'll probably go back to the stock mainjet when temperatures cool off a bit. Either way, we didn't notice any kind of detonation o r pinging at all, unlike some of the pre · '04 RMs. We also really liked the feel of the Suzuki's dutch, which now has lighter springs. The lighter springs result in a less-resistant pull on the lever and better feel, which translates into more precise power management on the trac k and less arm pump . On e of the first th ings w e noticed about the Suzuki's chass is is the new, firmer seat. You do n't quite get that "sinking" feeling anymo re , and you know it won't break down as much as t he '04 's softer padding d id. However, we could do without the yellow trim . Suzuk i decided to st ick with Showa sus pension components, and we're glad they did . The 47mm twin-chamber cartridge fork is, at the very least, as good as last year's fo r k, as we found it to perform quite well on both the outdoor and Supercrosstype tracks that we've ridde n the RM on so far. Without having to make any clicker adjust me nts, the for k, and the shock (now w ith a larger-diameter inne r rod and different valving specs), for that matter, soaked up everything from the hard slap-downs to the smaller square-edges, holes and bumps with ap lomb . Once again , the RM shines bright ly in the suspension department. Another th ing that hasn't changed is the RM's qu ick-handling trait. The RM still carves through a tum like no other and is eager to respond to whatever is asked of it by its pilot in command. And the front end seemed to resist headshake a little better than usual , too. If there's any area that we're still not sure about yet, it is in the braking department. While the front brake is superstrong and compliant - no complaints here . the back bra ke , o n our bike at least, didn't inspire much confidence in us. It just didn't grab like we thought it should, as w e found ourselves coming into th e turns many times a littler hotter than we had planned. Perhaps a bit more break-in and/or adjustments will fix th ings, but we don 't believe it' s go ing to be a big problem. As always, the RM's ergos are about the best in the bus iness , and it only got a little better with the firmer seat and aluminum handlebars. We must say that our first couple of rides on the 'OS RM2s0 left us grinning from ear to ea r. Perhaps the best compli ment that we can give the bike so far is that it didn't go backward ; in fact , it took another big step forward because of its st ronger motor and improved suspension, not to mention the sp iffy t itanium footpegs and aluminum handlebars. So you might say that this is one sequel eN that's worth checking out. www.cyclenews.com SPECIFICATIONS 2005 SUZUKI RM2S0 MSRP ENGINE TYPE $5999 Two ·stro ke, liquid- cooted DISPLACEMENT 249cc CYLINDER Suzuki Com posite Electrochemical Mate rial (SCEM) BORE x STROKE ....66.4mm x 72.0mm COMPRESSION RATIO ......8.7/10.3:1 CARBURETOR Keihin PWK38S INTAKE SYSTEM Piston reed-valve LUBRICATION Premix CLUTCH Wet multi - plate type TRANSMISSION 5-speed constant mesh IGNITION Electro nic CO l PRIMARY REDUCTION RATIO . 3.000 (63/21) FINAL REDUCTION RATIO ......3.846 (501 13) CHASSIS FRAME ........single backbone, dual -crad le tubular chro me-moly RAKE 27.5 degrees TRAIL .4.53 in. HANDLEBARS .AIuminum alloy (w/pad) FOOTPEGS Totanium FRONT SUSPENSION .Showa , 47m m, invert ed , twin-chamber cart ridge fork, 22-way compr ession! 20·way rebound adj. REAR SUSPENSION Showa, link-type, high-speed (4-way)/ low-speed ( 16-way) adj., rebound ( 19-way) adj. FRONT-WHEEL TRAVEL 12.2 in. REAR·WHEEL TRAVEL 12.2 in. FRONT BRAKE Oisc REAR BRAKE Oisc FRONTTIRE 80/ IOO-2 1 5 IM REAR TIRE 110/90 -19 62M DIMENSIONS O/A LENGTH 85.6 in. 32.3 in. O/A WIDTH 50.4 in. O/A HEIGHT WHEELBASE 57.9 in. GROUND CLEARANCE 13.8 In. SEAT HEIGHT 37.4 in. CLAIMED DRY WEIGHT 212I bs. FUEL CAPACIY 2.1 gal. CYCLE NEWS • AUGUST 11 ,2004 31