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- Captain Redbeard's review
Have a picture of Suzuki RG 125?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of Captain Redbeard.
| Build quality | 9/10  |
|---|---|
| Reliability | 8.3/10 |
| Value for Money | 9.3/10 |
| Reviewer Rating | 9.5/10 |
| Overall Rating | 8.4/10  |
By Captain Redbeard
on 22nd Apr 2008
| Year Manufactured | 1989 |
|---|---|
| Length of ownership | 7 years |
| Build quality | 10/10 |
| Reliability | 8/10 |
| Value for money | 10/10 |
| Overall value | 9/10 |
 Captain Redbeard's recommendation | |
A great little bike. Fairly easy to maintain. Light weight and corners very quickly.
Spares availability - they're 20 years old now so there aren't many left in breakers.
16" front wheel - right sized front tyre now only made by Dunlop or available from China.
It's small - best suits somebody between 5' and 5'9". Any bigger and it's rather cramped.
I've owned a 1989 RG125 Gamma for 7 years now. I should really sell her but she's too much fun to ride.
Mine came with an "Allspeed" exhaust pipe which is far better than the restrictive one Suzuki put on the bike originally to reduce 'em to 12Hp for learner use. She's done 90MPH 2-up for hours, laden with camping gear and pulls like bedamned in the power band. Folk think she's a 400 !
A very good engine (Suzuki learned a great deal from Walter Kaaden), easily tuned by carburration. Only real problems have been with oil seals (as you'd expect on a 20 year old bike) and electrics (she's a Suzuki). The plenum chamber "power-valve" exhaust system isn't fitted to mine so i've no idea if it works. Yamaha's "YPVS" system probably worked better, but they got the patents in first.
Frame - steel, welded box-section, good and stiff. Easy to get the engine out of.
Carburrettor - difficult to get at for tweaking, watch out for worn out ones 'cos they're rare.
Forks - thin but entirely adequate.
Brakes - front disc brilliant, rear drum adequate but be sure it's not got too wet and the friction surface has separated from the alloy wheel.
Tyres - Front tyre is a 16" (as was the fashion for all RG's) and the 80/100-16 is difficult to obtain nowadays 'cos most bikes use 17" front wheels. It is possible to fit a 90/90-16 as long as it doesn't rub on the inside of the front mudguard.
All in all a great little bike. Suzuki had it right when they made the RG125 Gamma. It's a great bike of it's time.
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