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Only $10 for all 2026 SX, MX, and SMX series.
They looked really nice too
The 81 CR 125, CR 250 and CR 450 were all terrible. First year single shock and water cooled for the 125 and 250. Over weight, and horrible handling.
That 450 has to be top 3.
I remember loving the look of those 81 CRs back then . Still do .
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
....but damn they were so cool looking in person.
I put an Athena 290 kit on my 2005 KXF 250, and that bike was absolutely awesome. Granted, the single chamber rubber bumper KYB's were terrible, but oh well. Just had to man up in the braking bumps.
We had an 89' yz 125. slow, and bad suspension.
I'll go with the incredibly high-tech, groundbreaking, leaky 1982 YZ125:
Such a big swing and such a big miss. It had awesome tech that is all now standard stuff: liquid cooling, the first ever electronically-controlled 2 stroke power valve, ergo seat that ran up the tank, all-new rising rate linkage rear end, large diameter works-style hydraulic forks. Pretty much everything we would come to expect in a modern motocross bike.
But the whole package was just so terribly put together, and the bike was super heavy, tall, unreliable, and the through-the-steering-head cooling system was predictably impossible to seal.
Even back then I thought that front mounted radiator was strange but now I think the 82 yzs are cool looking bikes . Nostalgia I guess .
I agree with those KTM's. My dad had a 2003 EXC 450 that I raced back then as well. Handling was garbage, heavy, it had no power and we lost 3rd gear from the transmission after like 20 hours on the bike.
Love it when ppl bring up the 2004 KawaZukis. I put well over 100 hours on mine, all stock, religious maintenance. Only two mods were a radiator cap and the PC water pump/oil filter cover. Bought in 04 and she finally let go in 2012.
I can't believe nobody has mention the "Blue Pig".
oh maybe because it wasn't that bad of a bike and everyone wanted to jump on Bubba's band wagon.
If you mean the 2010 YZ450, I don't really think you will find too many to come to that defense. 2014+ may prove a bit different.
Reminds me of my 2010, I had the same exact experience lol
1982 Maico 250 Alpha1. I know because I owned one.
I agree with Magoo earlier. I’ve really liked all the bikes I’ve owned.
1992 RM250 was a turd. Suspension was complete crap! Hard to judge the rest of the bike when you couldnt jump a 20' double without bottom out forks will all clickers turned in!! Bought a 125 and 250 brand new that year. The 92 RM125 was the total opposite . That bike was a dream to ride. Kept it until I bought a 1995 YZ125 new. The RM250 i sold as soon as I could. What a POS
Pit Row
Interesting. I had a ‘91 and loved that thing.
2009 Honda CRF450......Red Devil. Death Trap. I can still feel the crashes and pain in 2023
I got a good deal about five years ago on a 04 CR 125 for my son.
He loved it which is all that matters (to him).
Me, personally, I would push it off a cliff. I absolutely hate that thing. It revs like a damn sewing machine.
He lost interest in it a couple years ago so, I took it on as a project, thinking I could get it sorted out. Nope. It’s parked in the corner of the garage as a spare bike when family from out of state visits.
Install a new coil & get a ikat they really wake the bike up. Stock pipe is good but not the silencer. Leaner jetting I,m a little off yet but I ran the same plug the last 2 yrs. You need to carry momentum a lot more than any other bike. Then it’s just a quick stab of the clutch & it rips pretty good. I pulled new yz,s from a corner into a steep hill. Ikat gives it that gp sounding mid pull where the tire is chattering off the ground. I didn’t get passed by any 4-st on a hilly hard pack track. That’s a stock 04 with hrc method pv adjustment. Oh man these Lithuanian goof balls just banged on the trk. To hit the dock there not my guys there another co here. I supposed to next 3 trks ago. They keep putting there trks in front of me. I was in my underwear it’s freezing out , 3 with wind chill. The 1st hole the pv shaft goes in got a bur in it some how. I thought 1 pv half was binding on the bridge. So I used 2 screw drivers to stop that. It bent & cracked the bridge. Milenium said they get a bur inside some how. I used a dremel on the 1st hole where the shaft goes in. Much smoother pv operation. I always had to install the shaft twice because 1 half was against the bridge. Real light open the hole a tiny bit. Your pv is probably binding against the bridge.
Funny how experiences differ and bad memories stick. Would not rate either of those as the worst bikes ever.
Slow compared to the competition and while I never owned the 2010, have spent quite a bit of time on them and they were one of my favourites. Could ride them all day long as fast as I could go and never get tired.
What’s the go man? That’s stock porting!
1986 Suzuki RM250, the first year they changed from the original Full Floater to a new cam-type linkage. It was awful and spat me off with painful regularity. It was so bad Suzuki redesigned the suspension and brought in another all new system for 1987.
It was also made of cheese held together with old wet bus tickets. Race on Sunday, then spend all the following week fixing/replacing stuff which was hard on a 17 year old on apprentice money. I learned a lot about maintenance though.!
82 yz's, 84 cr 500, 88 cr 250, 97 cr 250, 98 cr 125. Honorable mention to some of the mid 80s Suzuki's that had no motor.
2010-2013 YZ450F is up there. The bike was a monster but in a bad way.
I once got to ride one with a full GYTR engine, GET electronics and Öhlins suspension and i thought i would die if i would try to push 100% on the thing.
But the investment in the backwards technology was worth it for Yamaha. The 2018-> 450 are all great bikes and the 19-> 250 has been class leading.
Haha! - Great to hear some confirmation! Our high school riding posse was flogging around decade + old bikes in the mid '90's, and a friend's '85 YZ125 was the worst dog of the bunch. Had to help push / drag his bike out of multiple ravines because it would bog out so bad. Took it apart several times to clean the power valve & carb, but nothing ever made much of a difference.
Hank
I ended up rather quickly putting a DG pipe and the Kehlin carb on it that they offered as " the cure "
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