"Their competition is in
big trouble”
“Well, to begin with, just the looks of the thing
are enough to scare the squids right off
the course.
“The seat’s chopped off. The rear
fender's a mile up in the air. And the
shocks are gas-filled, laid-down, and so
far forward they’re almost out of
sight.
“What it feels like is a spring,
all wound up tight, ready to explode if
you so much as jiggle it.
“So I jiggled it.
“WAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEE!
“Oh sure, Suzuki told me that their new port-
ing would give it a lot of snap. But this was
ridiculous. We came out of the hole so fast, I just
barely hung on.
“And then we hit the whoops.
“At least, they looked like
whoops. The only thing was, the
wheels didn’t seem to know it. They
clung to the little ones like a snake
going over rocks. No matter how
high the frame went, the wheels hung
right in there, spitting out power.
“And over the big ones, they
didn’t fishtail once. We went through
those whoops on a line so straight
you could hang clothes on it.
“Man, that’s handling!
"The transfer ports
are so big, they put
two bridges in ’em!’
"This is one bike you won't have to port.
Suzuki's already done it for you. In fact,
they're so big, they're bridged - twice -
so the rings won't get hung up.That
means you've got 6 holes sucking up
the gas/air mixture out of the crankcase
into the combustion chamber. This new
porting - plus a big, 28mm carb - gives
the RM its snap and power'.'
“Up came the first turn. A big hairy sweeper
with a super-high berm.
“I tapped the gears, and slammed into it hard.
Magic. Right away, it seemed to seek out and
lock into the right line all by itself.
“Coming out, I cranked it on, and
WAAAAAAEEEEEE, again. We shot out of
that thing like a sling shot, heading for
the first jump.
“Surprise.
“We didn’t stay in the air nearly
as long as I thought we would,
seeing how fast we were going.
“And all day long, I found the same thing. The
wheels on the RM like to stay in the dirt where
they can push ... not in the air where they
can spin.
“So if you’re after a bike for
show, this isn’t it. This one’s
for win.
“And my lap time proved it.
“What’s its secret?
“Handling. It handles like a
dream. You don’t have to fight it or
muscle it or make corrections all
the time for goofs.
“You just flow over that course
like syrup flows over pancakes.
“Competition, you’re in big
trouble.’’
SUZUKI’S RM-125 IS HERE.