Newbie ride - RS125 vs SV650

[benprobst]

One big advantage of the SV is that if you have a problem with your bike and/or need a spare, there will be 20 people in the paddock you can hit up for advice/parts.  If you want something different, think about a Kawasaki Ninja 650R.  I raced one all year, and it's a better race bike than the SV, there just aren't as many people on them and not as many hop-up parts available.  Give it another year, and I believe you'll see a bunch of them on the grid, they honestly handle better than the SV.  I raced an SV all last year, and the Ninja this year, and the Ninja was the hands-down winner for best bike.  Everyone else who rode my Ninja, including Doug Polen, was very impressed with it.  Then I sold it so I can concentrate on racing my Ducati next year..... we'll see if that was THE stupidest thing I've ever done, or just ONE OF the stupidest things I've ever done..... 

A better bike in some peoples (few) opinion. most people who rode them said they were great handling bikes, the only problem was you could barely win a race on the damn thing. especially in SS trim, as a SS bike they are no competition for a well set up late model SV.

[Racingxtc7]

racing a 125, I do a complete rebuild over winter and get an entire season of racing on the same bottm end, go though a set of tires every 2-4 weekends, put a new ring and inspect piston every other weekend (45min at most)and a new piston every 4 weekends(4pistons/7rings). Jetting takes 3min, losin hose clamp, pull carb, remove float bowl plug, change main. I'll run a rich needle the first couple weekend cause is so cold, then run the same needle the rest of the season, most days you either never change the main jet or maybe chage it once, the 168 main jet was in my bike almost all year. 125s are the most fun however 125 ain't competitive with todays +100hp LW bikes, so the 125GP race is all you have to look forward to every weekend. If you sick fast you can place up front in a LW race at some tracks. At Blackhawk there's a couple 125er's running 1:17-16 (most 1:19-21) but fast LW are running 1:14s.

sv- more competitive, legal in more classes
125- more fun, less money

[vanillagorrilla]

Perfect.  This is exactly the info I was looking for.  That maintenence/jetting schedule is almost exactly the same as I follow on my CR.  I am about 99% sure I'm going with the RS.  The lack of other classes it can run in is actually kind of a benefit to me, as I just flat out can't afford to be entering 5-6 classes a weekend, after adding up entry fees, fuel, tires, etc. 

One of the only problems I'm seeing so far is that there sure dosen't seem to be a whole hell of a lot of them for sale.  No biggie tho, I can just keep running the CR a kart tracks till I find the right one.

[benprobst]

check out the two stroke section on the wera forum (bbs) wera.com. they have a decent two stroke following, if there isnt one for sale post up asking where you can find one and im sure they can shoot you in the right direction.

[Racingxtc7]

125s are hard to come by. Check the usgpru forum, wera forum, Fatbaq.com, GPCmoto.com, RScycles.com, HRCusa.com, accu-products.com(have to call, has lots doesn't post much on his site), mce-racing.com, I know of a couple for sale in the chicago area.

[CounterSteerer]

I believe Knedragon has a 125 for sale. Send a PM to Knedragon if you are interested or maybe he will chime in. Just so you know he is crazy fast on his 125 and 250 and this may be the bike he won a national championship on this year.