Damn, I ended up getting a Husky WR250 (stupid low eBay bid that I thought would get beaten), but I kind of wish I had held out and kept my eye out for a 125. A big part of that may be I started to have a look at the power valve adjustments, and then decided to rebuild the whole engine after looking at it's innards, and that was the only reason I was shying away from a 125, because I knew I would rebuild it as soon as I got it because they usually have a harder life than a 250 or 300. I might just keep my eye out for a WR125 to go with the 250 and 4T TE250 I also thought I would get out bid on.
I grew up on CR125's, RM125's, and a few KX125's. I currently have some 200 and 300 cc machines but still love 125's. I had an '01 CR125 a couple years ago, man it was a blast to ride! So light, so flickable, yeah you have to work the gears more, no big deal for me. I have more fun ripping it up on a small bike, than going slower on a big bike!
I had an 04 200KTM,it wasnt much lighter then a 300/250 believe it or not,same with the 01 200MXC I had. They feel lots lighter but arent. Bore and stroke are different then a 125. Its why KTM has built the current 150XCW,now those ARE light! Bore/Stroke 200EXC = 64X60mm. 125= 54X54.5mm . Dirt bike Mag pegged the 04/06/07 200EXC at 226lbs dry,or about the same as a 250EXC.
Yeah,sure enough. Some guys on ADV and elsewhere maintain that the 160HP their 1290's put out is great and really just enough for 2 up riding...............160HP. I wish I lived somewhere where 160HP would come in handy and all but that place doesnt exist outside of a track. I live next door to wide open Nevada and using 160HP means going 150+mph,to me. Am I insane thinking this?
Look up Tom Benolkin. He is being honored at Diamond Don’s this year. He won every moto in every class on a 125. Not sure about a 125 being a kid’s bike!
Sorry but the AMA did not allow 125cc bikes to be raced in the 250cc or 500cc classes. Perhaps in the local races, but not in National events. Years ago at Uncle Donny's Flying Machine Factory (FMF for you kids), a CR125 motor was put into a XR75 chassis. Yet to be world 500cc Champion, Danny LaPort, raced that bike (we called it the flying milk stool) at a local Indian Dunes race in the 500 class, he won the first moto but was excluded from the 2nd & 3rd motos.
Diamond Don's is a vintage motocross event and part of the AHRMA circuit and also a national event. Tom won everything in 2006. I found this write up by Teddy Lander's posted on the Penton Owners Group forum. Tom is the being honored this year as the 2018 Diamond Don Legend. Posted - 08/06/2007 : 2:09:56 PM Tom is a joy to watch race. His incredible performance at Diamond Don's a year ago I don't believe will be duplicated by anybody ever again. 6 classes, 12 wins on a Six Day against any size bike!!! When I saw him on the line at Mid Ohio with the legends, after the organizers had left him off the roster of legends, I was excited. I was hoping for 1-2 wins for Penton with Jack and Tom out there. With Jack still recovering from his bout with cancer, I thought Benolkin would win it. As we all witnessed, Tom's Penton broke down in the siting lap, then he hopped on another bike and it broke down and he didn't finish. However, he was the fastest guy out there. When his bikes were running, he was gunning down everybody. Tom told me he was going to hang up the Six Day and it was for sale after the race. He gave great credit to the POGGERs (especially Ron C.) for all the support we all have given him. We will miss you VERY much Tom. Teddy
In late '90s WERA roadracing ran two classes on track at same time: in-line 600cc sportbikes with 125cc GP bikes (mostly Hondas). Little lapping, no correlation with displacement.
Since this is Olds Cool, my answer to the original post, when did 125’s start to be considered kid’s bike? I would say sometime after 1968 when John Penton started the 125cc revolution. John’s bikes weighed 200# and every 12 to 15 year old wanted one and started riding for the first time. Older riders, meaning 25 and 30 year old guys and up, were riding larger huskys and triumphs in the dirt in the mid 60’s weighing 300-400#. Japan hit the stage early 70’s with 100’s and 125’s and every kid wanted one and could afford one. The fearless kids of that era is what we see at the supercross today
Sachs, Zundapp, Puch, DKW, NSU, & Jawa were well established as competitive 125cc bikes in the 50's & 60's, look at the ISDT results. https://speedtracktales.com/general-history-of-the-isdt-event-1913-1979/ Preston Petty raced the ISDT on a 125cc Sachs and also a 125cc Puch in the late 60s. Bud Ekins rode 125cc Zundapps in the ISDT & won the Greenhorn Enduro on one. The boom in MX came in Southern California with the ability to race 2 week nights and again on both Saturdays and Sundays in the early 70s. The famous Ascot MX included a High School MX series. Marty Smith came out of the High School MX series with a sponsorship my FMF which later led to FMF being the first aftermarket products being allowed on the "works" Hondas when Smith got picked up by them. It made FMF what it is today. American Eagle Zundapps, Rickman Zundapps, Monarch, Husqvarna, Sachs, and Bultaco were every bit as popular non-Japanese 125cc bikes as Pentons. Pentons were nice (I owned & raced a 1970 Penton with both 125 & 100cc top ends), but to give credit to John Penton for starting a 125cc revolution is giving him waaay too much credit. Sure, he's was a hell of an enduro rider and like I said his bikes were nice, but starting a revolution? Here is Donny Emler's "Pendapp" he built just before starting FMF, it is the late great Tim Hart racing it to a win at a typical Ascot night MX:
Looks like you just want to argue. The post was asking a question about when 125's were considered kid's bikes. Ekins was born in 1930 and Petty 1941. They weren't kids when they raced 125s. The point I was making was that Penton designed a lightweight 125 that the Japanese built upon and the 125 revolution was started....meaning kids 11- 16 year olds, started riding and racing 125s around the late 60's early 70s. Chill out.
I'm not the only one that gives him quite a bit of credit. Here's a description of Ed Youngblood's book "Consumed by a passion to build better motorcycles and a deep patriotic desire to lead America to victory at the International Six Days Trial, John Penton has spent his life redefining off-road motorcycling. Along the way he helped change the face of American motorcycle competition, the polities of racing, and what Americans expect from their off-road motorcycles. One of the most visionary, driven, complex, dynamic, and influential personalities in motorcycling, John Penton stands out in what may have been the most exciting revolutionary quarter-century in the history of the American motorcycle sport. Author Ed Youngblood draws upon his 30-year personal acquaintance with John Penton, and exhaustive review of the literature of the period, and more than 50 interviews with Penton, his family, friends, employees, dealers, customers, business associates, and competitors to tell this captivating tale of the creation of the high-performance, light-weight, purpose-built off-road motorcycle. Yet John Penton and The Off Road Motorcycle Revolution goes beyond the story of a man and his machine, it tides motorcycling in America into a large cultural movement, explaining how major political and economic events affected the creation of the off-road motorcycle in the 1960 s, the precipitous decline of the market during the 1970 s, and the rebound that found KTM motorcycles successors to the Penton competing successfully against the powerful Japanese in the 1990 s. This book was the inspiration for the current feature length documentary film out PENTON: The John Penton Story ." And Todd Huffman's movie the John Penton Story describes him.... "Full-length documentary about the story of John Penton. An American icon and motorcycle pioneer who along with his family and a band of loyal followers, changed off-road motorcycling forever. You might have other riders and motorcross people that you enjoyed watching more, but I happen to feel he changed a lot of things in the dirt bike market.