Is a RS125 still worth it?

I really enjoy riding little bikes at the track and lately I’ve become really interested in the Honda 125gp bikes. With all of the track capable little bikes we have now, ninja 300-400, r3 and rc390, is it still worth it to own and maintain a RS125?

 

Yes.

 

No comparison. The RS125 will give you 10X the smiles.

 

They are a total blast! The front end feel was sublime. I had a '93 RS125 that was super fun to ride and I'd have one now, but my 5"11" 56 yr. old body doesn't like to fold itself like human origami any more. I'm looking at 250 2 strokes or a building 250 chassis with a beast mode big single four stroke in it.

 

The most pure race bike I have ever owned. Ridden to its potential, it will annihilate all the other bikes you mentioned.

 

A 125gp will teach you so much about cornering and maintaining momentum, and what you learn there will carry over to a bigger bike. But the best thing is when you get a corner wrong it will slap you in the face, but get a corner perfect and wheelie out of it the smile on your face will be huge.

 

Are you gonna race it or do track days?

 

Mainly track days. I’d most likely race with AHRMA when they roll town though.

 

This. I had an RS125 for about ten minutes. I still remember accelerating out of the pits to turn 1, braking as usual, then having to accelerate again because the brakes were so good I was still miles from turn 1. I, too, want a light bike that's slightly bigger than a GP125. I thought about the Yamaha 450 GPTech supersingle here recently but wasn't fast enough. Currently prepping an xr100 for minimoto, but in the bike of my mind will have a lightweight someday, either a 450 dirtbike turned into a roadracer or the above mentioned 250 chassis with a big single in it. I don't really want to go fast, I just want to never slow down for the turns and be halfway comfy. If you don't mind folding up, you'll like it.

 

If AHRMA races in your area then you should DEFINITELY get a rs125! They allow the rs125 in a class with the rc390 and also have a 2-stroke only class too.

 

Far too maintenance intensive for track days, plus it gets old riding around the outside of squids on 1000s in every corner just for them to blast by on the straight just in time to ruin your line for the next corner. It's a race bike. Race it.

 

Frankly, you'll probably get every opinion here. I just have this feeling that if you got one, you wouldn't regret it. Ever.

 

They are almost too much fun. I could go the rest of my life never riding another bike except an RS125.

Too much maintenance is a myth. Check your jetting, fluids, mix some oil and gas, and go riding. Do a heat cycle before going out.

Keep an eye on track time and do top/bottom ends accordingly. Not hard to do and most parts are still readily available. The FB groups are great at finding the harder parts.

 

I’ve been tracking my little ninja 300 for a few years now. I used to dealing with corner campers. They don’t really bother me.
As far as maintenance from what I added up I would be replacing the piston every 2 track days and rod every season. I’ll have to build a jig to true the crank if I decide to do the rod myself though.

 

A myth? New top end at 300 miles and crank at under 1000 say otherwise. They are remarkably easy to work on, but neglect the maintenance and you will pay. Get lazy on the jetting, and you will pay. Fail to tape the radiator for optimum temperature control, and you will pay. Get your gearing wrong, and you'll just suck. All that said, ours is in contention for the best of the many race bikes I've owned. It was degrees of magnitude better than the godawful moriwaki that we replaced it with. Still, there is no way I would use it for trackdays. Maintenance aside, it doesn't mix well with the typical track day bike.

 

Not true. The piston is 300 race miles. So track day miles it can be a lot more. I shouldn't say this out loud but I had a top end that did 2 years of track time and never seized. And it was used A LOT. At least double what the manual said.

It's certainly more work than a inline4 but the manual is written for people racing it to the limit. As you can guess, not many who own them do.

 

Ours ran at 100%, always. It was stone cold reliable as long as we stuck to the maintenance intervals and routinely looked for vibration issues. Chains don't last particularly long at race pace, either. The only real disappointment was the one time I used a wossner piston. Talk about false economy!

 

Touch my air density gauge, I kill you!

 

I sure hope they’re still worth it! Likely picking one up for my kid this weekend