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/140933
AHA~25 ." '" Q. N .... ell .: .g u, ~ w Z w -' U >- U The Yamaha AT-2 is as fine a playbike as has ever been built. With h eaps of low-end torque, a snappy gearbox, and snappier handling, this new-improved 125 will go a long wa y 10 keep its owner in a joyous m ood. The heart of the AT-2 is Yamaha's much-touted - and justifiably so - new r e e d-v a lv e- Lndu c t e d s e v e n-p ort two-stroke. With th e reed valve, Yamaha has gone farther than any o ther manufacturer in th e world in improvin g the two-stroke towards its hypothetical potential. Als o, th e 'reed isn't noth in g particularly new but the mass market in g of it is. The reed is nothing more th an tw o thin stai nless-steel flaps between the carburetor and the cylinder, arranged in a one-way-door configuration. The tension of the flaps meter th e; ch arge inducted by the vacuum more accurately than with plain inducti on methods. Furth er, when the intake (o r downwards) stroke is c omp lete d, th e flaps are forced closed b y the c omp ress io n st roke, preventin g any of the ch arge to back o u t. Additional p o rt s ar e mer ely refinemen ts which serve to inc rease lubrication of th e crank by imp ro vin g breath ing in th at area. Overall resu lt : Better gas m ileage , less o il consu mption , more low- and mid-range torq ue, c o o ler running, a nd lo nger engi ne life. Im agin e, all th a t with no bad side effects. A no ther o u tstandi ng feature on the AT ·2 , and o nly the AT -2, is the electric st art er. Th is thing is a babe. If y o u happen to stall, an u nlikely occ urence, ju st pull in th e clutch , give the b utton a touch , and things are back to no rm al be fore you h ad a chance to even put a foo t d o w n . Sit on it and you realize it's a small, unbusinesslike ma ch in e, and it 's kinda cu te. Slip the either-way key in t he ignition relay, c onvenien tl y located between th e sp ecdo and tach . Cas o n . check. Reach d own an d p ull ou t the plunger to ric h en the mixture. Remember yo u d on't h ave to star t it in neutral, wh ich is a good th ing because look over your shoulder to make sure no one is watching, and h it th e starter button. Fires up first time , every time. Now grin. Stomp down on the gea rshift lever several times until you ar e convinced it is in low - it's easy eno ugh to tell with th e st op a t ea ch end of the tranny - let go o f the clutch . With the low gear ing p ow er and a f o r e m e n t io n e d ch aracterist ics it is not go ing to die. In low gear this 125 will just plug a lo ng ~m o othly at a walking p ace, making it Jolly fun fo r p suedo-trials. Yamah a , alt ho ugh kind eno ugh to su p p ly us with th e machine , sto pp ed short o f supplying us with a license so we co uld legally use the byway s. We cleverly circumvented th eir oversigh t b y h auling the thing d own to Ensenada where suc h matters are o f little import . What's more, the sh ortest distan ce between Hussong's b ar and th e starting line o f the Mex ican 1000, which we were coverin g a t the time , included th e riverb ed th at disse cts th e town, p roviding us with a impromptu m otocr oss c ourse o n whic h to test th e mach ine. A dual-purp ose bi ke in a d ual -p urp ose town. F or the street, the gearing is sh ort-winded. It is fun but not too practical. You can uiap -uiap-tuap through the first three gears and never worry about getting ' any speeding tickets, home or elsewhere. Dumping the clutch off the line will provide a neat wheelie and will get you across the intersection first but you will run out of revs and gears soon, While o n th e o u ts kirts of Ensenada we chased an Ossa-mounted fri end who wa s cru ising past 70 . We watched th e speedo needle waggle between 65 and 75, com p u ted we must be going 70, an d watched our friend pull away . After co n firm ing w e were in fifth gear, we glanc ed at the tach to find the little motor buzzing away at 9500 rpm. The red -line is supposed to be 8000. But the mill never protested a bit and seemed cap ab le of sustaining the pace for an extended period. But the factory doesn't re commend it so neith er do we. Around-town handling is great. It is ligh t and agile, and can be threaded through traffic and p edestrians with precision. It goes aro und corners like it 's teth ered to a light pole . T he hi gh pipe , slender silho uette, a nd lac k of cent er you ca n 't find neutral. Y au fT C going to find Judge Cr ater b efore yo u fin d neutral on this b ike. So pull in th e clutch, look down at th e kickst arter, at th e business secti on. Th e special manifold houses th e all- Important reed valve. sta nd me ans the first th in g th at will ground when c orn ering will be the insid e handlebar. The brakes are more than adequate for st reet use . All -in -all, if the bike will see a good deal of city commuting the owner best tooth up a bit on the countershaft sprocket. As long as you don't try to road race , it is, as them young fellers say, a good trip. Touring through the tullies is a stone gas. Japanese handling is always improving and th e AT -2 is as fine as they c om e , co nsid eri ng th e overall small size and th e 18 -inch wheels o n both ends. Th e only fault her e was in the shocks and forks and th ey ar en't really a fau lt unless y ou feel th e Yamaha was built fo r th ose in a hurry . While bopping alo ng at sightseeing speed s th e bike is absolu tely predictable. Th e quiet mill just p ops alo ng merrily and responds like a Boy Scout to th e rid er's constant adj us tm en ts and co mma nds. But wh en y ou quicken the p ace co nsid erab ly the suspensio n comp o nen ts start b ottoming as if th ey were fill ed with water instead o f oil. Th e rem edy is to (a) see y our d ealer abou t st r onger sprin(:S and h eavi er o il for th e forks a nd (b) throw th e sh ocks in the laundry basket and replace th em with y our favorite n on -j apanese brand. Th ere is alway s th e ri ght gear, th anks to the ab u ndance of b ottom end torque as a result of th e afo re-men tioned reed doo-dad. Shi ft in g is fun . All it ta kes is a nudge to snic ke ty-snick th e trann y fro m one cog to the next, up or d ow n . Alt ho ugh you can ' t find th e proper neutral betw een first and seco nd , we occasionally found one b etw een third rr========= SPECIF I PERFORMANC E Max . speed range 65 mph plus Climbing abil ity 30 degrees M in . tum ing radi us 74 .8 in. M in . braking d istance ..•. . . 49 ft. @31 mph ENG I NE Type 2 stroke. 7 port. Torque . Induction, Single DISplacement 123cc (7.5 1 cu.in. ) Bore & Stroke . 56 xSOmm 12.205x1 .969 in .) Compression rat io 7 .1 :1 Max. horsepower 13 bhp @ 7,000 rpm Max . torque . . . . . . . • 10 .0 ft-Ib @ 6.000 rpm Lubricat ion system Autolube Starting syst em Electric & Primary kick starter and fourth if exceptionally light pressure was used. This problem seemed to go away as we put miles on it however. (We go t th e bike with the odometer on zer o , by the way.) The clutch is silk. When negotiating steep hills and ligh t poles, a bit of feathering kept the rev s up allo win g the AT-2 to co n q uer virtuaJly anyth ing that offered traction. T he styling o n the AT ·2 m ak e it one o f th e b est-lo okin g b ik es o n th e market. Everybody is puttin g compe t itio n stripes everywhere th ese days but the gas ta n k is p ain ted a lovel y orange with YAMAHA in white on the sid e. You can read it a mile away. Th e gray fen d ers set the thing of contras t w ell with the rest of th e mach ine makin g th e whole p ackag e a real o rb -soother . Nice work, Yamaha. While the bike suffered ab sol u tely n o mech anical fail ures for th e d uration of the test (in fac t , it ra n st ro nger as we b roke it in although we never changed th e plug, wh ich p rov es th e feasi b ilit y of th e au to ma tic oiling sys tem) the gen eral of q uali ty contro l was lack dis appoin ting. The paint weldin g, and all-ar ound finish was first ca bin but scads of m ino r flaw s in final prepara tion appeared . Firs t o f a ll, th e speedo m eter cab le came loose fro m th e lock , righ t off th e b at . We scr ew ed it back in p lac e and sh ortly th er ea ft er th e tach om eter cab le did th e same th ing, o nly th is time the threaded ca p fell off. We let the thing dangle fo r the remainder of the test. The scr ew s th at ho ld th e heat shield on to the ex ha ust pipe alway s kept com ing loose ; this has been a problem on many Yamahas we have seen. We onJy lost one out of four be cause we kept a screwdriver to them every chance we go t. The clutch ca b le cam e to us with a kink in it which made clutch action a bit stiffer than should have been. We were surprised the cable never broke a fter th e heavy use we gave it. By the time we were done with it all the slack had been ta ke n up a t the hand control adj ust men t and the clutch was starting to drag, so it was probably about to go .