Two wheels with engines

Aprillia RS 125 is a better bet anyway ;-) Naturally, de-restrict it and whack a funky can on, and it'll do over 100mph...

TZ and RG 125's used to be a bit titchy and easily dropped, and wrapped in expensive plastic.

My specialist subject this one, at least if we're talking about the original TZR125, the 'L' model and not the poncy later one that cost over half as much again as the original, and was no quicker.

If you find one and it's referred to as an 'LF' model, the 'F' stands for 'Faired', as you could buy them new with or without a full fairing. A lot of unfaired bikes gained a fairing later on, and vice versa, a lot of faired bikes became unfaired a few years down the road... normally after they'd been down the road, funnily enough.

I had TZR125L(F)s on and off throughout the 1990s, right up until I finally took the plunge and got my full licence in late 2000.

Ok... a good TZR125 is indeed hard to find these days. For one thing, even a basket case fetches good money due to how sought after they are, and another, they tend to have passed through the hands of a succession of mechanically unsympathetic 17 year olds with a penchant for ditch surfing.

If you did manage to find a good one, you're probably looking at around the £900 to a grand mark.

However... like so many other sought after motors out there these days, it is indeed all relative - buy a nice one and look after it, and it won't depreciate in the time you have it. Buy a shitty one cheap enough and spend some time and money getting it into reasonable order, and its value should rise enough to have made it worth your while.

One of the reasons the TZR was such a good seller in its day, is due to the way Yamaha strangled it down to 12bhp in order to be 'learner legal'. Unlike most other 125s that were restricted by way of the carb, the exhaust, the induction 'reeds', maybe the CDI unit (the ignition equivalent of an ECU) and sometimes even exhaust ports, the TZR was different in as much as it had a 'power valve' in its exhaust port.

The power valve was a cylindrical piece of metal with a flat side that sat in the exhaust port - because two strokes don't have valves like a four stroke, they're more dependent on things like the size of the exhaust port to shape how and when the power is made - a bigger exhaust port on a two stroke will equate to very little low down torque, but will allow the exhaust gases to vacate the engine quicker, and you end up with very peaky power as a result, whereas a smaller exhaust port encourages the engine to be quite torquey (in two stroke terms at least), but restricts the engine at higher revs.

So what Yamaha did, was equip the TZR with the power valve - a servo operated valve which varied the size of the exhaust port. This enabled the TZR to give the best of both worlds in terms of power delivery - grunt down low *and* peaky power.

At least they did, if you bought the bike and show the supplying dealer your full licence - as standard, the bike came without the servo that operated the pulley on the power valve, and the black box that controlled said servo. The power valve was pegged into place at the factory.

If you had money, you just went out and paid the £400ish (from memory), that Yamaha wanted for the servo kit, and derestricted the bike that way... or if you were a pikey like me, you merely spent ten minutes lobbing away the peg holding the power valve in place, and repositioning the valve to the fully open position.

Net result was a power delivery that could be classed as a bit 'challenging' around town, but the fully 28bhp for use on the open road - one particularly good TZR I had went off the clock round to where 115mph looked like it should have been, one afternoon, as I took on a 1.6 Cortina down a local dual carriageway... and won.

Happy days, eh... :-)

What a healthy derestricted TZR125 will do in normal conditions, is around

100 on the clock.

Another big plus about a bike that was derestricted in this way was that it was all set up to run at that BHP - other bikes which you derestricted by way of a change of exhaust etc... two strokes are very particular about how they are set up, and if they're not 100% in terms of fuelling etc., you can end up holing pistons or seizing them - the TZR was set up to run as the factory intended, and thus was actually reliable when derestricted if well maintained and run on good quality two stroke oil.

If you do get one, I *may* have a Haynes manual kicking around for one somewhere here.

Anyway... you're a bastard.

You've got me considering getting another to restore to concourse condition... again.

-- JackH

Heathen!

...which takes 10 minutes using one allen key, and one spanner on the TZR.

I've seen 'over 100mph' on various TZR125s, with just the standard exhaust - Performance Bikes did a group exhaust test for them years ago, and included the Yamaha standard item... which turned out to be the best one there.

-- JackH

The RG, yes - you need to be under 5' to fit on one of those.

*All* 125s get lobbed up the road from time to time... and in ten years of owning and riding TZRs on and off, I only dropped the one the once, due to hamfisted throttle application as I attempted to turn right onto a busy main road, and when it had just started raining...

And yes, I most miffed it landed on the side with the exhaust I'd only fitted that week.

-- JackH

Quite exciting isn't it, 3 figures on a 125 :-) Still think the Aprillia is better mind you, but I can't write a really long post about them like yours.

->Another suggestion has been made regarding the bike thing.

My .02p, get something like a CG125 learn to ride it, pass the test and then get a bike that was designed to do the high speeds you crave.

->Geoff wrote:

->> ->>

->> ->Another suggestion has been made regarding the bike thing.

->>

->> My .02p, get something like a CG125 learn to ride it, pass the test

->> and then get a bike that was designed to do the high speeds you crave.

->

->

I was waiting for that ;-) there is a good reason for it as well.

I don't crave high speeds, I just want a bike licence and some experience on a motorbike. Given a free choice of bike, I'd probably have an FJ1200 or old 80s BMW ;)

Richard

->Geoff wrote:

->> ->>

->> ->Another suggestion has been made regarding the bike thing.

->>

->> My .02p, get something like a CG125 learn to ride it, pass the test and then get

->> a bike that was designed to do the high speeds you crave.

->

->I don't crave high speeds, I just want a bike licence and some

->experience on a motorbike. Given a free choice of bike, I'd probably

->have an FJ1200 or old 80s BMW ;)

Even more reason to get a CG125, some spotty yoof wont have knackered it, do your test and then get a bigger bike.

Something like a R80ST BMW will be a good place to start, not very fast, infact fookin slow, but a good place to start till you have the skills to scare your self silly with a sports bike.

FJs are great, GPZ900Rs are better.

BMW Ks are fine bikes, but have stupidly low gearing, meaning the engine feels as if it's doing 150mph when you're cruising at 90.

If I were you, I'd look at the Chinese 125 trail bikes - you can often pick up brand new ones for £600 or so. Learn to ride on it, pass your test and buy a proper road bike, keeping the 125 for some off-road kicks.

What he said

CGs are also it seems, UTTERLEY invincible...

What, and have all the other boys telling you that you should have bought a gasser?

->If I were you, I'd look at the Chinese 125 trail bikes - you can often

->pick up brand new ones for £600 or so. Learn to ride on it, pass your

->test and buy a proper road bike, keeping the 125 for some off-road

->kicks.

There is a reason why they are cheap.........

->CGs are also it seems, UTTERLEY invincible...

My CB wasn't, cam chain adjuster failed.

I'm awaiting the report on the 250cc version a bloke from UKRM bought a few weeks back.

They're slow as f*ck though. REALLY SLOW. I did my CBT in it and the guy was like "keep up". How could I? It didn't move.

I've had over 70 out of one with my fat lump sat upon it... so they're not that slow really for what they are.

Pick up reasonably well as well.

-- JackH