VOLUME ISSUE FEBRUARY , P121
the R's back down."
Once underway, the CZ deliv-
ered the goods in both power
and handling characteristics.
The crew said the little CZ had "a
severe case of good handling."
No test labs, flow benches or
CAD systems were needed,
as CZ had spent the previous
decade dominating Grand Prix
motocross with champions like
Joel Robert, Paul Friedrichs
and Viktor Arbekov, and they
had learned what worked and
what needed to be reworked.
The 125 had a low center of
gravity, a long wheelbase, and a
good rider could carve corners
all day long. Like the rest of the
CZ, the Barum tires were made
in Czechoslovakia, and they
worked just fine, helping the bike
stay on track, any track.
The staff liked most of what
they saw. The short list of dislikes
included the steel rims, which
were both heavy and soft, and
easy to dent. Fifty-four years
ago, some manufacturers were
puzzlingly ignoring some pretty
basic elements of the motorcycle,
so this CZ doesn't have a brake
return. No spring thing, so riders
were jury-rigging the system by
taking a piece of inner tube to get
the brake lever to pop back into
position. While this may be an
engineering oversight, it was eas
-
ily remedied. The days of riders
incorporating their own imagina-
tion into improving the functions
of their motorcycles have passed;
for some inexplicable reason, that
is a depressingly sad statement.
For $975, a 1972 racer scored
a pretty strong little motocross
bike, complete with a 30-day fac
-
tory warranty. It was competitive
when matched against DKWs,
Husqvarnas and Monarks of the
day. A rising sun, however, fore-
told a Japanese invasion, and
CZ 125 sightings became even
rarer. Sitting on center stage
in Las Vegas, the CZ 125 was
flanked proudly by the ghosts of
Robert, Friedrichs, Arbekov and
other CZ champions of the past.
Selling for just $2300, well below
its inflation-adjusted 1972 value
of $7500. Congratulations to the
buyer. Once again, the rest of us
sucked.
CN
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(Left) In 1972, Cycle News evaluated the CZ 125, which was basically a 250 with a smaller cylinder, head and
piston. (Right) Unfortunately, the CZ 125 was essentially as heavy as the CZ 250 but had less power.
