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/141065
either replace the tank or eighty-six the wh ole system. We're willing to be t th at you won' t find a more reliable compe ti tio n e ngine . T he c hassis are n o t b ad eithe r , tho ug h we did ex perience a few problems with th e 125. The sile n ce r fell o ff as qucikly as you co uld put it back an d it b roke o ff ar ound th e m oun tin g flan ge . All manners o f wire. tape . sp rings , etc.• nev er see me d to solve the problem. Th e solution is a stron ger bod y. Anoth er problem was with th e rear wh eel o n the 125 . It d espoked it self co ns ta n tly. Our sus p icion is that th e problem was a mp lifie d b y th e shoc ks , wh ich supp lie d all the shoc k to machine and body. All th e spo ke proble ms finally cam e to e n d wh en we failed to tighten th em fo r about two hours of rid ing. Degen eratin g handling drew ou r atten tion to a rear wh eel with' six broken spoke s and seve re need of a relace , The clutch on th e 12 5 h as been imp ro ved ove r last ye a r's AT2 MX. On last ye ar' s th e cl u tc h would drag badly when it go t hot. It d o esn't do that an y more . T he brak es, wh ich co me fro m th e e nd u res , are strong e nough , b ut ge t be fuddl ed b y th e suspe ns io n . Any se rio us attem pt to slo w d own is challenged by wh eel h op in the rear. A gain, th e suspens ion gets th e finge r pointed at it. A floating rear brake arrange ment co uld n ' t h urt a ny thi ng . Is th ere a p lace fo r the li llie Yamah a race rs? Yes. But th ey ar e different pl aces. Th e 100 is prim aril y a racer. It is to o peaky to be used as a tr ail bike or a pl aybike. It asks that y ou keep it wicked up and go fast. In 'the moderately co mp e ti tive 100 class it can work for the right person [i.e.. a sm all one). Th e 125, o n th e o the r hand, qualifies m ore as a pl aybike th at can be raced. Its drawbacks as a p laybike are it s silencer and rear wheel. The rear wheel and spokes n eed to be stren gthen ed o r (he sh ocks c ould be im p ro ved. Or both . Improvin g th e sh oc ks would h elp it o ut wh e n it come s time to be a racer, to o . As a racer it faces one major o bs tacl e : the Suzuki 125. To be co m pe titive in a racing market, a machin e must be either faster or cheape r. The Yamaha is neither. Instead, . what it has go ing for it is grea te r flexibility . Every weekend and eve ry test day, th e Yamah a WaS sp oken fo r. It was sp oken for be cause it was no ha.ssle to use. It didn't foul plu gs, require timing, or n eed an y work exc ep t to have its spokes tigh te ned an d silence r re-affixed. T he stigma of th e problems we en co untered is offset to a ce rt ain exte n t b y the very fac t th at we used the bike enou gh to en counter th em. The 125 spit its chain off after its init ial stretch . After that , it was OK . . ,... " '" C>. '" N M ,... ~ Cl " ..., " C '" :;: w Z w oJ o >o " In an isolated canyon above Malibu, the 125 exercises its role There are two ways to handle a jump w ith the Yamaha . The lessbrave will find that it wants to do this ... 85 playbike under the early morning fog . Wh ile b raver and more e xperienced riders can do it like this . The bik e really needs a small rider . • T he 100 lacked th e power to break it loose com ing out of a corner . A ft er b ~ing ext ensively ridden, the 125 revealed two shortco ml.ngs. Th e silencer broke and fel l off. noth ing would persuade It to stay put . The rear wh eel was nor up to the task and was on the verge of collapse , Spo kes must be tightened frequentl y .