Yamaha 125ZR

This is a compact bike. The 17” wheels look huge on its short 1040 mm high frame. The wheelbase is low at 135 mm. The seat height is also short at 752 mm. There is minimal fairing to speak of on the front. The rear rides high with a huge grab bar on the end. There are some stylish gashes on the rear section and some above the engine but that’s all about it. Even the instrument display is an ordinary analog unit. The huge front fender and the cute headlight assembly will make you think that this is just another kapchai. But more careful inspection will reveal a long silencer with an expansion chamber, huge disc brakes both front and rear and thick 70/90 38P tires on the front and 80/90 4P tires on the rear. This is indeed no ordinary kapchai.

There is a telescopic suspension in the front and a conventional unit swing suspension in the rear using a single mid-mounted shock absorber. The seating is relaxed. The handlebars are low but do not force the rider to put all their weight on their wrists. Unless they want to. Handling is great as the handlebars are wide and the bike itself weighs nothing at 106 kg.

The price of a two strokes engine’s performance comes out in a few distinctly annoying ways. When Yamaha was making the engine for the 125ZR, it had a lot of these issues in mind. And thus was made one of the first two strokes to ever come with a catalytic converter. Emissions from the exhaust are reduced by as much as 50%. Toxins like carbon monoxide are replaced by water, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. This allows the bike to run on unleaded fuel – another first in its class. The catalytic converter is also almost free of maintenance making it as reliable as modern motorcycles. But let’s face it, no one who rides one of these bad boys is there to save the environment. All they want is to rev that engine and experience the acceleration that only a two-stroke can provide. The tiny 125 cc engine has a bore and stroke dimensions of 53.8 mm X 54.7 mm and a compression ratio of 6.5:1. This allows it to produce 12.8kW at 8000 rpm and a peak torque output of 16.1 Nm at 7500 rpm. Mated to a 6-speed transmission, this bike has a wide power band and accelerates like a bullet from any speed. It is not the fastest bike in the world. But it was never meant to be either. It is just wickedly fast.

For a bike with such quick acceleration, braking cannot be an afterthought. And thankfully it isn’t. There are disc brakes on both the front and the rear wheels that do a brilliant job of stopping when needed.