As I’ve mentioned before, it’s weird how some bikes seem to show up in waves, and this is the third Honda RS125R I’ve seen this week. The previous example I posted was in very good condition and came with a nice stash of spares, but was more functional than this particular bike, which also has…
Racing machines are a bit like living living things and, by they time they reach old age, there might be very little left of the original creature except the bones: high performance parts are consumed and replaced regularly, worn out by at-the-limit use, and other parts are upgraded as time goes on to keep pace…
Growing up, my only experience with two-strokes was in leaf blowers: I didn’t ride dirt bikes, and two-stroke sportbikes were long gone by the time I got into motorcycles. A thudding v-twin sounds like sex, and the technology that allows a four to scream to 16,000rpm boggles my mind while the noise makes my hair…
If you’re looking for a pristine, collectible example of Honda’s RS125, you should probably just move along. Nothing to see here. The original engine is long gone, lunched by a previous owner. That’s no real surprise: these were pure racebikes, and never built to last. The durability required for a roadbike means that everything is…
Most small displacement sportbikes look like small-displacement sportbikes, but Aprilia really knows how to make lust-worthy entry-level machines. While their RS250 is certainly no learner bike, this one definitely is: you won’t be going very fast on an RS125, but you will look good doing it… Manufactured between 1992 and 2012, the RS125 was a…
With Casey Stoner back in the news testing the HRC RC213V in Sepang yesterday, this seems like an opportune time to note this special edition Aprilia RS125. While clearly aimed at fans in his home market (the only place it was sold), it is sure to delight Stoner superfans and collectors. There are no performance…
While it’s a hard pill to swallow for newly-minted track-day heroes with visions of tire-spinning corner exits, the best way to learn to be fast is by building good habits in an environment where every single pony counts. Hitting the track on a GSX-R1000 will allow a newer rider to lap at some mind-bending speeds,…
We’re on a roll here this week, with quasi-, barely, or not-even-remotely road-legal machinery. This Aprilia RS125 might, depending on your finesse with DMV chicanery, be made roadable: it does feature all the requisite equipment, including lights, and mounts for mirrors and signals, since it was originally intended to be a street-legal motorcycle. The RS125…