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/141061
o -< o ,... m Z m :; CIl ;: " '" '" -< .. The TM 125 and the Honda Elsinore are probably th e two finest examples of t heir type from that side of that ocean. problem may be th at the ac tuati ng arm should be a little longer. If the re is any thing tha t will hold up y o ur lap times o n the Suzuki it will be th e brak es. The su sp en sion on the TM 125 co m plime n te d th e stab le handlin g. Rea ction t o small bumps and undulating whoops was qu ite' good . Bo th end s wer e tax ed a bit with a 170 pound rid er and , would bottom o ver large jumps. Corrective action is obvious and easy . Un til the su spe n sio n bo ttomed all was well and good. The rear sh ocks were not quite up to the front forks' quality in th at th ey added to con fusion over wash boards. On th e whole, they performed better than most and as well as any but th e best accessory shocks. You might end up replacing them anyway . Th e forks deliver almost six inches of tr avel and only those intense bumps co uld bring abo ut an ything but excellent performan ce. On e of the nic e th ings about ridi ng th e Suzuki is th at it is su ch a neat, ti ght little package. It feels very solid undernea th you. Nothing rattles or clanks upon landing o ver j umps or braking o ver ripples. The engine mak es a min imum of mechanic al noise, wh ich instills co n fidence. (T he exh aust pipe, however, is no noise co n test winner. th e sound is' also fairl y sh arp and pi ercing.) All th e co ntrols feel positive. Shift throws are short and precise, like any Japanese transmission . The th rot tl e mechanism had little free pl ay as it was adj us ted , which made throttle response even more e xac t. (It would, however, c ause a few problems braking o n th ose washboards .) The front end seemed to resp ond with th e mo st su b t le inputs. It seld om came up t oo far. While the handling might be te rmed fai rly slo w, th e 125 s tee rs precisely. It is very easy to adhere to a cho sen line, o r, for that matter, to ch ange upon desire. T he o nly me ch anical problem we had with th e Suzuki occu rre d during th e running of a two hour Grand Prix. Up on b ec oming tr apped in a narrow, ste ep gully bec ause of fallen riders, in discrimi na te use o f th e cl utch in a ttemp ts to overcom e the si tuation ca use th e clu tc h to ove rheat and fail t o disengage. It w as n ot a si tuation th at would e ver arise in m oto cro ss. However, it was n ot a situ at ion th at would h ave b ro ught mu ch co m plai n t from most tr ail bikes. It took nearl y a half an h our of cl u tc h less runnin g for th e cl u tc h t o c oo l sufficientl y to di sen gage. We wo uld class th e 125 Suzu ki MX as the best 125 mot ocrosser to co me o u t of J ap an, so far. You might have no tice d a fe w co mp ariso ns to the Honda Elsinore in thi: test an d ph o to s of t his test, and this mi gh t give you th e hin t tha t we wai t an xio us ly fo r th e Honda 125 motocr oss. It should be a right in te resting du o. We 'r e n ot sure whe ther we wish we h ad had them to compare or not. In any event, the 125 Suzuki is ce rtain ly in th e Ho nda's lea gue, You don'i h ave to buy a E uropean MX er. You can buy a couple o f com pe ti tive Japanese 125 s righ t now, and th e parts w on 't cos t yo u !in arm and a leg eithe r. In t he case of t he Su zuki, the retail pri ce w on 't cos t you anythi ng lik e an arm OT a leg. In fac t, yo u won 't beli eve how little it will co st y ou. The suggeste d retail is $605 (a good pri ce at any quality). All y ou and I h ave to do now is figure out wh ere to buy one .