No sporty 125cc in the USA???

[Golgot]

Hello everybody, I am a French guy recently arrived in the US. A few weeks ago I was starting to seriously think about buying my first motorcycle. My plan was to buy absolutely a sport 125cc, and nothing else than that. I am not interested in a 250cc, nor a non-sporty motorcyle. Thus I could have posted a question on this forum, like, "what is currently the best sport 125cc motorcycle; the Aprilia 125, the honda NSR 125, the Yamaha TZR 125, etc.. ?"

After a few research on the web, I figured out that all those 125 motorcycles I just mentionned above ARE NOT SOLD in the US!!!!!!
(according to their respective brands' US website)

I don't understand, I'm sure that would be a real success if those motorcycles were available in America!

Is my assumption right or wrong? I case I am unfortunately right, why they are not imported from Europe???

Thank you very much,

Gautier

[TorontoBoy]

I'm assuming that by sporty you mean a sport bike. The closest you'll get to a small sport bike is a Kawasaki Ninja 250. Few 125cc bikes are available here in North America. There's the Kawi Eliminator 125, a standard, and I don't recall any others.

I'm sure that sporty 125s would sell well here but they are not available. Even in the 250cc class there are few bikes available. Out of necessity I'd recommend you go up to the 250cc class to start, and if you don't see anything you like to go up to the 500cc class.

Welcome to North America.

[Golgot]

Thank you for your quick reply... sounds like I must forget my idea ! Or maybe I will buy one next time I return to Europe and I will put it in my suitcase !!!! thanks again, G.

[stinkwheel]

They don't make the TZR or NSR125 any more so you are unlikely to find them on the manufacturers websites, even assuming they did export them to the US at some point. Second hand would be the way to go.

You could check to see if there are any companies that specialise in importing second hand motorbikes from Japan, there are several in the UK.

Looking at ebay US, there is one rather shoddy looking NSR and not much else, even if you go back to older 2-smoke 125s like the RD125.

Other than that, your only real chance of getting a rapid 125cc 2-stroke is to go down the enduro bike route.

*Wonders out loud if CR125 engine would fit in CBR125 chassis 'twould be an expensive way of doing it though.*

[Kickstart]

Hi

US emissions laws are far stricter for bikes than European ones (Europe is rapidly catching up though), and as such 2 strokes have not been sold there for about 20 years.

If you are lucky you might find a grey import 125 2 stroke, but you will struggle (and could quite possibly have legal problems in the future). The only way to get those into the states is various fiddles about importing them as a track bike and then finding a particularly lax DMV office.

They have also greatly tightened up the rules on importing bikes for track use recently.

All the best

Keith
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[matt_uk]

i heard 125cc 2 strokes are illegal in some states of america..
____________________
- - - BIKE - - - Passed CBT : 21/07/06 - - - Currently : Riding a 2001 Aprilia rs125 (SOLD)
- - - CAR - - - Passed Theory 20/07/06 - - - Lessons, Test on 15th Jan 08... Passed 2 minors

[Essex_Mike]

why is that? (2 strokes being illegal)
____________________
CBT - Passed - 14/07/2006 Theory - Passed - 19/08/2006 A2 test - Passed -19/07/2007
Previous Bike - Suzuki EN125
Current Bike - Suzuki GS500F

[matt_uk]

no idea, i seen it on another forum, and reember someone telling me about it on MSN messenger
____________________
- - - BIKE - - - Passed CBT : 21/07/06 - - - Currently : Riding a 2001 Aprilia rs125 (SOLD)
- - - CAR - - - Passed Theory 20/07/06 - - - Lessons, Test on 15th Jan 08... Passed 2 minors

[syl]

[Kickstart]

[Essex_Mike]

i see, clean air laws. thats good of north america considering the pollution they cause anyway
____________________
CBT - Passed - 14/07/2006 Theory - Passed - 19/08/2006 A2 test - Passed -19/07/2007
Previous Bike - Suzuki EN125
Current Bike - Suzuki GS500F

[Kickstart]

[Essex_Mike]

o right. that shut me up
____________________
CBT - Passed - 14/07/2006 Theory - Passed - 19/08/2006 A2 test - Passed -19/07/2007
Previous Bike - Suzuki EN125
Current Bike - Suzuki GS500F

[colin1]

well they may be better in some ways, but their cars guzzle gas at a much higer rate, and they drive more, so actually they do put out more pollution per head than us
____________________
colin1 is officially faster than god

[Kickstart]

[veeeffarr]

[blamchez]

[NinjaBoy]

Was just reading this thread out of interest and it shocked me lol. I would have thought the USA would have a huge market for 125 bikes =/ Anyways mate I'd recommend good old eBay.

I just went to motors and typed in '125' and came up with this rather nice Aprilia 125 European import:
https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Rare-Import-2002-2-stroke-Aprilia-RS-125-GP-Replica_W0QQitemZ180017785209QQihZ008QQcategoryZ38627QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

Perhaps give that a look, Aprilia are a good make and in my opinion would meet your requirement for a 'sporty' 125.

If you type 125 in you tend to get a lot of motorcross bikes. I don't know the laws in America as I live in the UK, but I'm guessing there must be some way to make crossers road legal? Anyone American here to help with that thought?


Anyway mate best of luck finding your bike
____________________
.: NinjaBoy :.

[St0rmer66]

[Kickstart]

[MRX Steve]

[stevo as b4]

In that case it makes an RG500 look very economical to run!

[Kickstart]

[thinkingabout...]

The Kawasaki Eliminator does use a sporty, high revving 125, albeit four-stroke engine. It is not exactly a cruiser engine, and the dealer who sold my 250 Dragstar to me called it a 'horrible bike.' It is partial solution to the problem, possibly. They do sell motocross bikes, but they are not road legal. The Kawasaki Ninja 250R looks nice, and is probably the nearest thing to what he wants. I am no expert on this, though.

[blamchez]