ZARCO DERBI 125

A thing of true beauty

UPPING THE GAME – ENTER RS125

This happened about two weeks ago and I can’t get it off my mind. I dream of building and racing motorcycles (hopefully for a living one day) and this is just the first step forward in many that are required. It is partly why I’m selling of my Datsun gear. This is a NF4 Honda RS125, a GP bike of the days when 2 stroke 125cc bikes were raced on the world stage. I’m unsure about the exact year of this bike but it’ll be approx the mid 1990’s.

The Honda RS125 was a bike that could be purchased directly from Honda by any club racer or enthusiast, they’re the peoples racer of sorts. The later model variants have a revised rear suspension system and a thicker main frame (basically overall better), but that does not detract from how awesome these little bikes are.

The plan: take the engine from my Suzuki GP125 and with some guidance from Team ESE and Tim modify/tune it to produce a chubby power curve (approx 20hp would be fine) to tackle the F4 kart tracks. Then I will squeeze it into the tiny frame and learn to ride a real race bike. I am not planning to sell my Suzuki FXR150, rather build a new exhaust and keep it serviced as a backup if the unthinkable should happen and the ‘stink wheel’ (as they call them) fails. Last week I bought all new fasteners for the frame as the original ones were looking pretty shot. I also woke up to a fairly new set of Dunlop slicks at my door. There are many things I still need to get for this bike but I’m working through them all slowly. Here’s to the beginning of a life of 2 strokes!