CR125 V's YZ125

[stirlinggaz]

hi all,
friend of mine is going to be looking at both the honda cr125 & kwak yz125 this w/end.
opinions please, as i have only ever owned a cr125 & cr500 & both were umpteen years ago & were off road only.
he wants to either make the bike road legal (maybe just day-time) or get a set of road wheels????
opinions on viability of this?
both bikes are of similar age/condition, with the honda having slightly higher milage.
probably wont see any off road use, maybe odd bit of "green laning"
cheers,
GAZ

[P.]

Road legal... obviously check all the numbers are legit.
You'll need to factor in road legal tyres, which seems the most expensive part

Curious though, why the YZ and CR 125s? Could you not pay the £1000 for an already road reg'd 200/300 EXC and use that?

[_Iain_]

[P.]

I'd prefer a bit of usable power rather than some missile with hourly rebuilds

You and I both know 144 is a fair amount of poke, add 10hp and zero weight on, you've got a weapon.

Keep upping the figures, it just gets hairier and shit is gonna cost.

[nathan k]

I'm interested, how often does he plan to use the bike? The maintenance on that thing would be through the roof considering all use is going to be on road at constant high rpm's.

[G]

Mileage on these bikes .

Very rare to find one with an odo, even road legal ones.

If you do, it's unlikely to be correct - as they will have initially likely been bought and used on a motocross track.

And yes, the motocross bikes tend to have more of a hard hitting nature.

I would take listed HP with a massive pinch of salt, however.

Before offering an opion, I'd want to know what it was used for.
Even under 33hp rules they wouldn't be legal, quite possibly under 47hp rules too thanks to the power/weight ratio.

[_Iain_]

[G]

See, I always found the 144 (remember it is a re-tuned motocross bike) actually a bit lacklustre.
Like the 300, but not with quite so much pep.
However, as also mentioned; someone with a KX450f had a go and thought it was amazing.

I would still like to get another old KTM 350 2 stroke, as I've gone about before - it was certainly 'entertaining' .

[stirlinggaz]

hi,
why not a exc? he doesnt fancy a ktm, his previous bike was a superduke thing (125) & it kinda put him off, shame really.

as for bhp, tbh thats not the most important thing, he just fancies another 2t. (& i have a bit of influence here )
hes aware hes gonna have to re-build it quite often, thats where i come in.
he really wanted a a cr500 ( we both had one years ago, but not many around & those that are around go for silly money)

the 2 bikes i asked about, are within travelling distance & tbh, there not too many other bikes available within 50 miles of where we live. (Stirling, central jockland)
the plan is, use it a little in winter & come new year, stick road tyres/wheels & sm it for road use. (with probably just the bare minimum "for day-time use only")

cheers,
GAZ

[P.]

Well, I've literally just picked up a 200 EXC road reg'd with tax/test and some new gubbins for under £1k.

Apparently has some funky powervalve setup

Thing is, I've not really liked KTM road bikes, the SD990 I rode broke down and the 125 Duke is made in no mans land with inferior plastic welded by Stevie Wonder.

Iain and I are picking up his CR125 tomorrow... maybe so I'm sure he can describe the difference between the 144 and the CR, but I cannot fault the 144, the 200 I expect to be fairly similar with a harder hit when it comes on the PV, I'm yet to be impressed by 2t goodness though

TL;DR, might be easier to find a road reg'd proven bike, KTM know their offroad stuff, road stuff ain't their bag.

[G]

How about a Gas Gas enduro bike?

However, if you want that 2 stroke 'zing', a lot of the enduro bieks are often pretty flat, as they're going for usable power in very varied off road conditions.

However, I'd still consider going for a 250 rather than a 125.

Often the basic engines are the same between enduro and motocross and it's just a case of the enduro ones being setup for more bottom end and consequently less hit on on top.
With the recent KTMs, on the 300s/250s they actually came with different strength springs to adjust the powervalve settings from new.

As far as your original question, I would expect that condition of the bikes is by the most important differentiator.

[TrevSkee]

Bro.. I got a road legal supermoto spec CR125 and its a pain in the ass!

But sooo good as a town toy!


Also google.. "mx daytime mot" should be some help to ya
____________________
My 1991 CR125 Street Supermoto Spec'd Project Build

STOP clicking that link ^ and wait for me to do a UPDATED post..

[stirlinggaz]

hi,
should have said...has to be 125, he only has a cbt...yeah yeah i know the bikes i asked about arent exactly learner legal.. but its not up to me to tell him what he can & cant ride,
its just easier to ring up insurance co. & get any 125 bike covered on cbt, so alls well on the computer that plod use.
if it doesnt set off any alarms on anpr, very unlikely he will get stopped.
cheers,
GAZ

[P.]

It isn't something I would do on a CBT personally, but I've fucked with the law before

Buy chinese off road 125, keep VIN and plate, buy KTM450, put plate on and badge up as 125 ding chung, they won't know

[Kickstart]

Hi

Would expect a road 'legal' mx bike to attract a lot of police attention. And then it just takes one with a bit of knowledge and narked enough to use that to screw him over.

All the best

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

[G]

I'm not sure most police would know the difference, even your average-(claims to be)-biker types.
Well, maybe if they're on the back wheel at 70mph .

However, it's certainly an increased risk over a 'normal' 125 road bike that's been deristricted.

[Kickstart]

[G]

In my experience, for a good many it is a real lack of understanding of the models.

Most motorcyclists aren't as geeky as the average inhabitants of this forum I'd say and it's rare that I've found police with real knowledge.

Ie, with my little incident on the M4 many years ago one was trying to get me done because there was no/not enough tread right in the centre; and he explained how he rode bikes himself. The quieter 'good cop' eventually did explain to him that tyres did come like that. (He did however get pictures of the bit-shredded outside of the tyre from track use because he believed that to be dangerous.) He also told me my e-marked projector beam headlight was illegal because it was 'too small'. There might be other reasons it was questionable, but that was most definitely not one of them - this was before they were common.
And many more examples.

For the 4 strokes these days there's loads of road bikes which you can stick an exhaust on and it doesn't sound too from off a big mx bike. Personally doubt many bike riding cops would know the difference between a loud DT125 and a CR125 in sound or style.

[Kickstart]

Hi

Afraid on that we will have to disagree. Knowing something is wrong and wanting to do something about it which might be difficult to prove for little purpose might result in it being a lot easier to turn a blind eye. Yes plenty are technically incompetent but plenty are not.

All the best

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