2002 YZ125 Restoration

This was my sweet girl when I brought her home for the first time (inside the dodgy place I was living at in Coogee at the time). Leaking water pump seal (common with these 125s), frame hammered, and varoious dodgy bearings and failed parts. I rode it around the block and got the socket set out to begin.

Cheeky pic by the pool on a Friday evening. Why not.. I was in awe I finally had my sweet 2002 model (just 14/15 years too late to be a current bike anymore!)

Started to strip her down inside the house, getting the years of crust/oil off everything..



And got the frame ready for a bit of love after too much rust was showing through for my garage queen.



First stage of serious cleaning and bearing removal.. and paint stripper/primered the frame after work in the evenings.

After the new paint and water pump issue was fixed, it was time to start putting her back together with new bearings and a refreshed top end :D



Things seem to take forever when you're waiting for parts, but it sure feels good getting bikes back together..



Took the wire wheel, some different grades of paper and lot of elbow grease to the stock pipe, and I was stoked with the outcome! These bikes benefit from a pipe but it seems to move the power around, rather than get huge increases on a stock engine. Stock will do for now!

Bolted up the fresh rims, sprocket, chain, new brake pads, new wheel bearings, etc... All the usual goodies that we all do when doing these builds. Next up - New Plastic.



Although I love the 2002+ YZ shape (and was really split between updating and keeping the OG) I just loved the look of the 16 YZ125 when it came out with the black rims and new body work... I had to have it!



Then it was time for graphics - I always loved Reedy's 04 Yam, posters on my wall etc. So I got a set of his factory graphics made to suit the newer 15+ Plastics. Haven't seen any in Aus yet.. I love it!

Some pics of the little guy finished up. Lucky for me, John Basher over at MXA (when he was still there) has a soft spot for YZ125's and decided to feature it in one of his first "Two Stroke Spotlight" segments in the weekly writeup on the site. Awesome! John is such a great writer - its a real shame he left.

The stock silencer was looking very... 'stock'... and had to go. PC had the correct answer.



And here's the real reason we build 125s... to rev them to the moon on sandy tracks with sand going down your jersey.



Finally, a pic of the little 125's stablemate, my 300 that I did a similar restore project on. The 125 doesn't get out much (you can almost see the dust in the last pic) but it makes the shed look that much better.



Cheers!

Little updated pic, been quite a while since the little 125 has been out.

Threw some ebay radiators on her after having a big get-off at Mt Kembla, super surprised with the quality of them..