0
Paul and I got to talking about 125GP bikes in Roland's thread, so I started this to keep from threadjacking him too badly. If I ever move from my EX, that's the route I'd probably be most likely to take. That or an SV, but frankly I find the 125's cooler. I also have a friend who wants to start riding with the intention of racing at some point in the future. At 4'5" or so her ONLY option is a 125, so this would be good info for her.
Reasons I think I'd like racing a 125:
- TWO STROKE!!!
- Light. Real light. They seem so flickable, and fun, because of that.
- Cool looking.
- I understand and can work on single cylinder 2 stroke engines.
- They're momentum over everything else bikes, like the EX. Gotta be smooth and carry speed, no powering yourself out of mistakes.
- They seem like they'd corner AWESOME.
Downsides I can think of to racing a 125:
- It may wear tires faster.
- They eat brake pads for breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Top ends will become somewhat regular rebuilds
- Small classes
- PITA starting, usually bump starting?
- Insert downsides you can think of here?
Questions:
- Tire costs. I can get a season on my EX, doing 2 races/weekend and a track day or two. I'm guessing the 125 would burn them up faster? OTOH, they'd be cheaper. Where does this balance out? How often are they replaced on a 125?
- An EX will go a season with nothing but a couple sets of brake pads a season, gas in the tank and air in the tires. The EX brake pads are $30. I understand 125’s eat pads. How often, and how much are replacements?
- From what I understand the 125 will need little clutch bits on a very regular basis (every 4 starts), and clutch rebuilds more often (how often?) What should I expect here for cost/frequency of replacements?
- How often should I expect to rebuild the top end? Is it usually just piston/ring, or are we talking about cylinders, etc?
- I’m guessing go-fast goodies? The EX is PTwins, so they’re more or less stock, less suspension (which I bought mine with) and tires, which last roughly forever. What needs to be done for goodies to have a competitive 125? Is the stuff wearable, or just maintenance stuff (i.e. suspension, send to PK on off season) like the EX?.
- WTF is the deal with getting these things running? Does it always require 2 people and 10 running starts? Can I at least get a kick starter or some shit? If the bump start is required, I assume that means any crash = end of your race & pushing it back to the pits?
More or less, what I’m trying to figure out is how much more expensive it would be to race a 125GP than an EX.
And the biggest surprise to me, apparently the 125’s crash well. The EX’s crash like dump trucks, I just got a “fragile” feeling from the 125’s. I guess I was wrong.