New TM125 Plastics
One thing that makes any resto look good is new plastics and polished aluminium forks. I had to put the plastics in place so it starts to look like a bike …
1974 125 Motocross Shootout
THERE’S NO doubt about it. The Japanese have been the most instrumental power in bringing the world of small-bore off-road racing to its present level in the United States. Even way back when Yamaha Trailmaster 80s and Honda S90s were bouncing their semi-modified selves around the boonies, things were beginning to take shape. The adage that there is strength in numbers held true once again when, due to the enormous number of these trail bikes showing up at a given race, it wasn’t rare to see both an 80cc class and one for the 90s.
Then along came the Hodakas. First a four-speed 90 and then a five-speed 100. It wasn’t long before the bigger Japanese manufacturers bored their bikes out to 100 and added another gear in the transmission. As these little screamers buzzed their over-stressed guts out week-end after weekend, the European distributors took notice of the tremendous market that was being created. The European machinery was better. It was not much more reliable than the Oriental stuff, but was faster and handled better. Continue reading
1974 KX125 Assembly Completed
The 1974 Kawasaki KX125 has been reassembled ready for testing. Ater adding some fuel it has fired up and has a crisp throttle response, very nice. Now just need some cooler weather and a track test.
1974 Kawasaki KX125 – Some Assembly Required
Some months back I made a general enquiry about some vmx parts by phone to a professional motorcycle mechanic in the USA and he happened to mention that an old 1974 Kawasaki KX125 just came his way and would I be interested? These are very rare and the few KX in use seem to be never offered for sale as people know they will not be able to replace them easily.
We made a deal and that included him pulling the bike down into components and completely refurbishing everything and making sure it was race tuned to hit the track as well.
The frame was stripped and repainted, all the bike parts cleaned, replated, painted or replaced as required, seals replaced, motor overhauled, new tyres etc, etc, the full monty….
The overhauled components would then be shipped to me to rebuild the bike, they have now arrived…. some assembly required.
KX125 parts coming back together
Very Nice Kawasaki KX125 Engine
Those Rotary Valve Carb Configurations Look Interesting
Beautiful Paint Job on This KX125 Tank
LESSON : Professionals do very good work and it saves a hell of a lot of time and errors.
1975 MX 125cc Shootout
See how the 1975 Honda CR125 compares to the other 1975 models in a test shootout, the Honda is pretty much the same as the 1974 bike with a bit of red colour added, the 1975 Kawasaki KX125 looks like the 1974 model, both these bikes still have the 4 inch rear suspension travel BUT the the radical new Suzuki RM125 comes along in 75 with long travel suspension!!! The Yamaha YZ125C introduced mono-shock suspension and a lot of horsepower into the 125 class.
This is a test that really highlights the pre 75 class with the new breed of mx bikes and a new era then follows. I rode my first real mx season on a 1975 RM125S and it was coool – big sand woops no longer held any fear, full throttle and just hit em hard!!! The RM125 tested here is the US version RM125M, the faster RM125S came to Australia.
SHOOTOUT……… As if you didn’t already know, motocross is one of the fastest growing sports in the country. It’s not hard to see why. Few sports combine action, color, speed, and finesse the way motocross does. And few sports equal motocross in ability to captivate young people, both as spectators and participants. Motocross is real for them. They don’t have to be content to just watch, they can actually do it themselves.
The favorite bikes of teenage riders are the 125s. In fact, most 125 motocross races are dominated by high school and junior high school students. And if any “seasoned veteran” of motorcycling still thinks 125s are nothing more than noisy toys and their riders dumb little kids, he should truck his 250 or 360 down to the local motocross practice track and get his doors blown off by 13-year-old Stevie Squid on his 125 Homazukasaki. As a further humiliation, he may very well learn that Stevie isn’t even one of the 125 hotshoes -he usually finishes somewhere in the middle of the pack. Continue reading
Kawasaki 1974 KX125 Test Report
Dirk Bike magazine did a review of the 1974 Kawasaki KX125 when it came out and the text of their article is here for interest as it is one of the bikes we are looking to restore.
GREEN MUSCLE Machine
Fastest unfinished package in the Klass
1974 KAWASAKI KX125 SPEED FREAK
Kawasaki really blew it. Seriously blew it. Last year, Kawasaki was impressive. They had Brad Lackey, Jimmy Weinert, Peter Lamppu and Jim Cooke riding for them. It was all paying off. Weinert drowned the Europeans in the mud at the Houston Trans-AMA. Lamppu had third place in the National motocross open class. Wyman Priddy had tenth place. Jimmy took fourth nationally with his 250.
With a little road show and some publicity, Kawasaki could have sold eight jillion motocrossers. But they didn’t, because they didn’t have any. And if they had brought out this bike, this little KX 125 we’ve been testing, back then .. well, they’d be more common than crushed beer cans at the track on Sundays. Because this is a really neat little bike. Continue reading
Yamaha YZ125 Models
See the development of the Yamaha YZ125 from 1973 over the years. Continue reading
1975 Honda CR125
1975 Honda CR125
I just love these little high revving go fast machines and came across a 1975 Honda CR125 for sale, it was much closer to home than the 74 CR125 I had just bought 2,000 miles away as it was only a little more than 1,000 miles away. I was sill learning my lessons on that bike.
It was described as a first class show bike and it looked great, the close up pics showed a fantastic restoration and the price was more than fair – I bought it, had to.
This beauty got delivered and it was good to look at.
I gave it a check, put fuel in and it fired 1st kick, u ripper, the sound was a great two stroke crackle, the engine was perfect.
Only issue quickly realised was the rear shocks were completely dead, they look beautiful but did not work and the fuel petcock leaked badly.
Well it was a show bike not a racer so not surprised about these in hindsight. Luckily I found on eBay a set of reconditioned shocks for this model and a new NOS petcock. As soon as I got them delivered this bike was 100% complete, it can show and race.
Its so good I am reluctant to race it too hard as I don’t want to scratch it.
LESSON# : there is a difference between a show bike and a race bike, make sure you ask if it can hit the track or not!
The Way It Was
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