WHERE TO BUY
There could be quite a few YZs sitting in barns around the country, but short of going looking the
USA is your best place to start. There will also be quite a few examples in Europe too.
PARTS AVAILABILITY
There are plenty of aftermarket parts available for the YZ125 including plastics, footpegs, tanks
etc. If you want genuine bits then eBay will become one of your best friends.
POWER CHARACTERISTICS
The YZ125G is an air-cooled two-stroke and typical of the breed. There’s little low to mid-range
power but once it gets onto the pipe it really does sing, hitting hard and holding on well to its
26hp.
CLAIM TO FAME
The last, and best, of the air-cooled Yamaha YZ125s. In 1977 the YZ125 had a big makeover with
longer suspension travel, a plastic fuel tank, radial fins on the cylinder head, and offset front
wheel axle, a box-section swinging arm for the MonoX suspension. Despite having drum brakes,
the YZ’s brakes were among the best of the type, only being bested by the disc brake models
which came later. For 1980 the engine was mirrored/reversed compared to the earlier machines
with the clutch moving to the left hand side and the chain and sprockets moving to the right.
64 KIWI RIDER