98 Suzuki RM 125

seth505
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seth505
Edited Date/Time 7/21/2022 1:50pm
I have been looking for a 90s 125 to go through and actually ride. So many roached bikes for inflated prices but things are finally coming back to reality. Decided I really wanted a 96-98 RM and picked this up after work last night. Thing needs a lot of work but I’m impressed at how unmolested it seems to be. Like all stock other than Bills exhaust.

Trying to decide on where to go with it but I'm not going to go completely oem look. I think I am going to do the frame black (I hate the grey stock color) and maybe stock 97 graphics (I don't like the 98 graphics compared to 96/97).



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profeshenal125 6/24/2022 8:08am
6/24/2022 8:08am
Great bike stock. I bought 1 new I had Bill,s pipes porting bored carb, pipe, silencer. I smashed the pipe then ran the stock pipe . I ran the Apllied racing clamp to run pro tapers and Hinson basket a must. I bent the wheels a lot and the front disk. Eron Ezerins A Wi. Rider raced his 125 stock except for a Williams motowerks silencer. He won lake Geneva Fri night sx then win sun at the nuclear series. His best week was 4,800 Fri night races at red Bud 125,250a, +25 then race the natl. his bike was so quiet compared to the rest. His 2nd moto he had a stuck ring. Win ax races go to Florida win there. Eron built a track with a wheel borrow in a vacant lot in Milwaukee, super cool guy. Eron told me to round off the ends a little better on the clutch push rod.

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quadmx301
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quadmx301 6/24/2022 9:49am
6/24/2022 9:49am
Dammit. Was going to look at this same one last night from OfferUp.

Great find, looking forward to seeing your progress 👍🏻
seth505
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seth505 6/24/2022 8:19pm
6/24/2022 8:19pm
quadmx301 wrote:
Dammit. Was going to look at this same one last night from OfferUp.

Great find, looking forward to seeing your progress 👍🏻
Woh, I was trying to look everywhere but never noticed this one on offerup. I don’t think it searches as far as Facebook by default.
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Pgd09yz450 6/25/2022 2:48am
6/25/2022 2:48am
She's clean 98s had the best forks
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profeshenal125 6/25/2022 9:13am
6/25/2022 9:13am
Pgd09yz450 wrote:
She's clean 98s had the best forks
I ran a applied racing top clamp to run pro tapers it’s little beefier. My pals 98 250 in that pic had the lower applied clamp also it’s longer- beefier. Don’t forget carbon tech mid to top reeds . They work great that’s why team Suzuki ran them. Don’t get the low to mid it does improve the low to mid but sacrifices too much top end. Boyeseen sells them now.
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seth505
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seth505 6/25/2022 10:58am
6/25/2022 10:58am
Pgd09yz450 wrote:
She's clean 98s had the best forks
Are they actually different than the 97 forks? I know 96 had more underhang on the lowers.
Stumps
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Stumps 6/25/2022 2:21pm
6/25/2022 2:21pm
I’ll include a shameless plug of my own bike, this one has a ported cylinder, vforce reeds, fmf ignition and a stic block added, runs (revs) incredibly well, but with gearbox parts slowly drying up I don’t ride it as much. It seems Suzuki took the complaints of flexing forks personally, as the 49mm usd showas that replaced them on the 99,2000 models are pretty stiff..
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profeshenal125 6/26/2022 7:56am
6/26/2022 7:56am
Stumps wrote:
I’ll include a shameless plug of my own bike, this one has a ported cylinder, vforce reeds, fmf ignition and a stic block added, runs (revs)...
I’ll include a shameless plug of my own bike, this one has a ported cylinder, vforce reeds, fmf ignition and a stic block added, runs (revs) incredibly well, but with gearbox parts slowly drying up I don’t ride it as much. It seems Suzuki took the complaints of flexing forks personally, as the 49mm usd showas that replaced them on the 99,2000 models are pretty stiff..
Pic reminds
Me of the RM cup for some reason. Suzuki put up 100k the best Rm riders from each region where invited. Pastranas 1st pro race was the RM cup. Paul Currie won the 125 class.
1
seth505
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seth505 6/26/2022 8:31am
6/26/2022 8:31am
So far, worst issue is a cracked ignition cover. I’m pleasantly surprised with the bikes condition as far as it’s history goes. Virtually no sandblasting on front frame, engine cases etc, no f’d up bolts, sub frame is perfectly straight.










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seth505
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seth505 6/30/2022 10:36am
6/30/2022 10:36am Edited Date/Time 7/1/2022 12:22pm
This is the lower shock bolt after only rubbing it with a rag, looks almost brand new. Definitely some neglect but this thing had a really easy life after looking over major components.




Bike lunges when you put it in gear so I’m sure the clutch basket is trash and I’m hoping the motor doesn’t have anything major going on. Will rip that apart this weekend perhaps.



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RussB
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RussB 7/1/2022 2:44am
7/1/2022 2:44am
Looking like a fantastic base of a bike to build from so far!

Looking forward to seeing it progress. Always liked that era of RM's
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profeshenal125 7/1/2022 7:41am
7/1/2022 7:41am
seth505 wrote:
This is the lower shock bolt after only rubbing it with a rag, looks almost brand new. Definitely some neglect but this thing had a really...
This is the lower shock bolt after only rubbing it with a rag, looks almost brand new. Definitely some neglect but this thing had a really easy life after looking over major components.




Bike lunges when you put it in gear so I’m sure the clutch basket is trash and I’m hoping the motor doesn’t have anything major going on. Will rip that apart this weekend perhaps.



You might b missing the ball bearing on the push rod for the clutch also. MC,s mechanic forgot it that’s why MC was smoking his clutch in 97.
1
vet323
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vet323 7/1/2022 3:06pm
7/1/2022 3:06pm
I have this same bike, although mine is in much worse shape. It is in line behind a couple other projects, and I'm still gathering parts. I'm planning a retro-mod build with late 80s graphics and colors, fork gaiters, etc.
1
FWYT
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FWYT 7/4/2022 6:57am
7/4/2022 6:57am
Sweet, Seth!
1
Rickyisms 7/5/2022 4:24pm
7/5/2022 4:24pm
There’s nothing cooler than a two stroke silencer with a stinger tip. Should be a sweet project.
4
seth505
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seth505 7/5/2022 10:44pm
7/5/2022 10:44pm Edited Date/Time 7/6/2022 7:34am
Did a lot of scrubbing, sanding and inspecting over the weekend.









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seth505
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seth505 7/12/2022 12:21am
7/12/2022 12:21am
Engine looking pretty good other than the front dowel being super rusty so the cases didn’t want to split easily. Had to clean up a few threads and the clutch basket is notched to hell (as suspected).





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seth505
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seth505 7/12/2022 5:44pm
7/12/2022 5:44pm
Serves me right for opening my mouth in a positive manor… left case is trashed.



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Chance1216
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Chance1216 7/13/2022 6:47am
7/13/2022 6:47am
seth505 wrote:
Serves me right for opening my mouth in a positive manor… left case is trashed. [img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2022/07/12/559220/s1200_4B4FDC17_FDA1_40F0_8BCF_F5F1B891A394.jpg[/img]
Serves me right for opening my mouth in a positive manor… left case is trashed.



For the shape that bike is in, I’d say you still came out on top for sure.
seth505
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seth505 7/13/2022 8:24am
7/13/2022 8:24am
Chance1216 wrote:
For the shape that bike is in, I’d say you still came out on top for sure.
Ya, just hope I can find a replacement!
seth505
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seth505 7/14/2022 9:29am
7/14/2022 9:29am
Talk about anxiety, going through engine cases on ebay and trying to fish out one that is not trash. I scored one last night, looks to be all there in working order but of course it has spray paint on the exterior so it'll be some extra finishing work.
1
seth505
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seth505 7/14/2022 9:32am
7/14/2022 9:32am
I also have a few wheels, brakes, clamps, forks so time to pick out what will be used on the bike and what needs work.


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seth505
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seth505 7/16/2022 3:27pm
7/16/2022 3:27pm
Rickyisms wrote:
There’s nothing cooler than a two stroke silencer with a stinger tip. Should be a sweet project.
Yes! Silencer is a bit rough but trying to restore. Mount is cracked and just manually punched open every hole on the core, 80% were stuffed shut with original packing/2stroke spooge goodness.





6
seth505
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seth505 7/19/2022 1:32pm
7/19/2022 1:32pm
Got my left engine case today, looks like it’ll be good to go after lots of cleaning and new bearings/seals. Case was on ebay as wrong year but knew it was a 98 after eyeballing for a bit. Also, petcock ewww

Trying to decide on direction with wheels, most likely bronze the hubs with silver or black rims.



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seth505
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seth505 7/21/2022 1:50pm
7/21/2022 1:50pm
First order of 50-60 parts is in. Weee

Low bars for life over here.



8
seth505
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seth505 12/9/2022 3:39pm
12/9/2022 3:39pm

Well, life got in the way of living...and I lost motivation after engine case and transmission issues. Spent a few more hours on the case halves, cleaning them and filing/sanding burrs from broken parts that were previously floating around. OEM crank is all within spec which is a nice twist. Tore apart the beat to hell seat. Finally got the frame coated gloss black.   I like OEM look in general but I just can't live with the stock Suzuki gray frames. Dramatic restored brake pedal haha.

image-20221209153800-2

image-20221209153718-1

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profeshenal125 12/11/2022 6:23am
12/11/2022 6:23am

The black frame looks Great . I never understood the grey frame everyone wanted it black like the team bikes. Pic of my new 98 1 thing I always did was grind the paint off for the coil mount. See the applied clamp  and the red line bmx bike I Loved that thing. 

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profeshenal125 12/11/2022 6:39am
12/11/2022 6:39am

1 more pic can’t post 2 at a time.

2
spd47
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spd47 12/17/2022 7:35am
12/17/2022 7:35am
seth505 wrote:
So far, worst issue is a cracked ignition cover. I’m pleasantly surprised with the bikes condition as far as it’s history goes. Virtually no sandblasting on...
So far, worst issue is a cracked ignition cover. I’m pleasantly surprised with the bikes condition as far as it’s history goes. Virtually no sandblasting on front frame, engine cases etc, no f’d up bolts, sub frame is perfectly straight.










We have few parts for RM125 and 250’s, like carbon fiber clutch and stator cover, oem piston kits, gaskets, reed valve cages, hubs, radiators 

 

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