If you are looking for a cheap bike for next summer, buy this! It may not look as stylish as the Aprillia RS or Honda CBR, but in my oppinion it is a lot more fun!
I bought mine off ebay 6 months ago for £500. Yes, it is 14 years old, and it had 21k miles on the clock and there were a few fairing scrapes etc. But it was a bargin. YPVS servo kit fitted, Giannelli race exhaust. I rode it the 120 miles home, it was the most enjoyable ride of my life.
The bike is 2 stroke, meaning you MUST put high quality 2 stroke oil in the oil tank. The oil is mixed with the petrol before it enters the cylinder. 2 stroke has its own pros and cons. The engine will need to be reconditioned every so often. You really need to take care of it, let it warm of before pushing it, cleaning out any carbon build up. I recommend taking it to your Yamaha dealer every year just to check it over. It only gives me around 120 miles to a full tank of fuel, thats around 11 litres. And it doesn't have a fuel gauge, although this is not a problem if you reset the trip counter at every refill, gives you an idea of how many miles you have left.
But the power advantages far outweigh the cons. Get a powervalve servo fitted. This allows the engine to produce power at its fullest capacity. If you cant get a kit fitted, turn the powervalve by hand (google search wil help). The bike produces very little torque, but masses of horsepower. The engine feels a little weak until the revs hit 6k, then the bike comes to life. The bike starts accelerating, and before you know it you are doing 70/80 mph. Push it hard and with the right gear ratio, you can take it past 100mph.
The instruments are clear and easy to reda, with bright backlights. A rev counter and speedo, temperature gauge and lights for Oil, Neutral, Indicator and Full Beam.
I ride my TZR 35 miles a day, I have no had a problem of achey shoulders or back. In the rain I stay dry (dont know how). In the cold you can duck down behind the screen and tuck your legs into the fairing but the top of your legs freeze. High side winds are a problem, the light weight of the bike and long wheel base (compared to other 125 bikes) makes it easy to drift in the wind so be careful!
The brakes are good too, I ride the 3PC3 version (fully faired, front and rear single pot disc brakes) and have had no problem stopping the bike. The thin tyres may look like a problem but the hold the road amazingly. With some decent Bridgestone tyres the bike can do pretty much anything you want.
The light weight DELTABOX chassis (the fore-runner to the YZF bikes) can be thrown around with ease! Use it for commuting, its the thinnest bike I have ever seen. And with the six speed gearbox and powervalve system fitted, leaving traffic at the lights is childs play. The bike doesn't pull wheelies well at all, the low torque and long wheel base prevent this.
Just imagine overtaking BMW's, rudeboy novas and saxos on a bike that is over 14 years old. Good fun : )
The bike is sadly no longer in production, but you can pick one off ebay for a few hundred quid. The parts are easy to find and easy to replace, ebay, Yamaha dealer or a breakers yard will have what you want.
In all, the bike is a good fun ride, it just needs to be treated well.
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Advantages: Reliability, Relatively good acceleration, basic maintainance. Disadvantages: Bit smokey due to the 2 stroke engine, Parts a little on the expensive side.
Gimblebrox 23.10.2000 ·
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Review of Yamaha - TZR125
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