Yamaha - RD125 TWIN

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Descrizione

YAMAHA RD125

MANUFACTURED 1975

MOT'd UNTIL OCTOBER 2018

JUST A VERY LOW MILEAGE ORIGINAL MACHINE 1585 MILES , WE COVER THE WORLD BUYING RARE AND LOW MILEAGE CLASSICS AND THIS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE , I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANOTHER AS NICE AS THIS. IT RIDES LIKE A NEW BIKE SOUNDS GREAT AND REVS FREELY . THIS SHOULD BE EVERY SIXTEEN YEAR OLDS DREAM MACHINE WITH GREAT PERFORMANCE. YAMAHA WERE WORLD LEADERS WHEN THIS BIKE WAS INTRODUCED. HERE ARE A FEW COMMENTS MADE IN THE PRESS.
The RD125 is a delightful machine, easily the best of the 125cc bikes from the period and able to embarrass more than a few larger machines in a straight fight. Away from the lights and the RD will give a good showing of itself providing the needle is bouncing off the stop before the next gear is thrown in to the equation.

Styled in keeping with the larger twins in the Yam range, the RD125 does look every bit the part of street racer, a hat that the engine enjoys wearing too. Once again using construction techniques more akin to the previous decade, the 125’s bottom end is a well tried and tested vertically split unit that, although not as strong, or as easy to build as the later horizontally assembled engines of the RD250-400 series, was cheap to produce using castings and techniques that had been around for many a year. The parallel twin may only produce a shade under 14 horses, but it packs them in right at the top end of the engines rev scale at 9500rpm, adding in peak torque at this point too for the maximum amount of punch. The reed-valve induction does little to smooth the introduction into the power band and it actually feels to have a far sharper and stronger kick in the pants between 7 and 8000rpm than the piston port AS3 model that proceeded it. Surprisingly for a machine so closely based upon the racing thinking of the time, the gearbox fails to keep the engine spinning up in the range it needs to be in to keep pulling strongly. This is most noticeable in the gap between first and second, letting the engine rev way past the maximum power still sees the revs drop to 6000rpm once the next ratio is fully home. The engine note drops into that hollow honk that all strokers make when they have dropped off the pipe, and what feels like an eternity passes before the revs rise to the all important 7 digit on the tacho and it all starts again. The next two shifts are relatively close and the revs maintain a healthy position on the dial, but come the fourth to fifth shift and it’s the same old story again with the engine struggling to pull into its top gear with any kind of urgency. Again, once the revs are up into the zone of max torque and power the RD will burble along quite happily in top gear peaking out in the mid to high 70’s depending upon the engines condition and its surroundings.

RD125B YamahaThe slightest incline, or change of wind direction, soon sees the need to drop down a gear as, once the engine is on its back foot, there is little that can be done to save the day. Stamp the lever down a cog and get the engine buzzing again being the only cure, save for slipping the clutch madly which, although strong in normal use wouldn’t take such abuse for long without crying out and heading south. Once used to the engine and chassis characteristics, the ride is nothing less than great fun; it isn’t hard to see why this machine caused a bit of a stir when first introduced, with its mix of lightweight and performance, while getting it right is eminently satisfying. Small, but none the less positive, inputs being the strict order of the day to reduce any upsetting of the delicate ride. Treat it with respect when cornering, allow a bit of extra distance for stopping from speed and above all rev the engine for all its worth. WHAT A LIVELY CLASSIC BIKE


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