Classic Steel

“Maxxis Tires” – Classic Steel “The 125cc class of 1987”

Comments (1)
  1. Wow thanks again for the wonderful trip down memory lane. I had raced the awesome 1986 CR 125 and loved that bike. However the suspension was horrible and back in the 1980’s So Cal racing scene, the tracks were rock hard, blue grooved clay dirt that was like riding a motocross bike on a chopped out concrete like motocross track. It was pretty much all about suspension for tracks that pulverized hands, knuckles, knees and legs. Therefore, as a fast novice, albeit slow intermediate, the 1987 Suzuki RM 125 made it the easiest to go pinned around a race track. So many guys had the Honda CR 125, but going down a whooped out, chopped out track with breaking bumps the size of boulders, many elected to gravitate to good suspension. And yes, the 1987 CR 125 had great forks, but a horrific rear shock that turned to jello by lap 5. Also the 1987 KX 125 was rock solid bike going down a back straight pinned to the gills. But even though the front end was solid, the fork and shock wanted to eject you. And lastly, the Yamaha YZ 125 was a decent bike overall, the main problem was trying to actually shift, because, my buddies bike that was
    In perfect condition, was only decent when you got it into third gear and left the the throttle pinned. If you fell off the pipe, well it was pretty much done because that bike was nearly impossible to shift up or down.

    Therefore, for So Cal racing in 1987 on sun baked and rock hard clay tracks which I mostly rode back then, the 1987 RM 125 suspension allowed me to go the fastest in stock trim. I had no race budget and barely scraped up enough money to go racing. I needed the most bang for my racing buck. Therefore, due to the flawless suspension, I chose the RM 125 to race. Now if I went up to the high desert of Adelanto and raced at Sunrise Cycle Park in those whooped out sand tracks, then I would choose the CR 125 and it’s massive power advantage.

    However, with all practicality aside, the bike I thought was absolutely gorgeous to look at was the 1987 Kawasaki KX 125, with that trick single sided radiator design used since 1982. For some reason, this bike was just on point. It was a cartridge fork / rear shock away from perfection!!!

    Thanks again for these incredible articles. I know it’s a lot of work, but you are preserving important history. You are doing a fabulous job chronicling our important motocross history. Thanks for doing what you do, because I can share with my boys the excitement that I felt, what they are feeling now reading about the latest bike shootouts.

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