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New Models
BIKES: 2012 Suzuki DR-Z 125L Comes To SPEED, Part 1
Neale Bayly's latest toy and training tool has arrived...
Riding the DR-Z 125L is not just about having fun, it’s about engaging in a real-time learning experience every time you get into the saddle. (Photo: Neale Bayly)
While I love and embrace the incredible performance and abilities of modern motorcycles, there is a glaring omission in the sales brochures. Machines are making close to 200 horsepower, weighing in excess of 800 pounds, or blessed with the sort of suspension and cycle parts to ride around the world. These new marvels of modern technology are improving faster than we are as riders. Granted, anti-lock brakes, traction-control, slipper clutches, and highly sophisticated chassis components are making motorcycles way safer, but you still have to control them. With machines like the new ZX 14R turning sub-10-second quarter-mile times and others hitting nearly 200 mph, we have been greatly in remiss as an industry in offering much in the way of advanced training to cope with these advances.
Just think about traction control for a moment. It gives the inexperienced rider the ability to exit a turn faster than before, as now instead of spinning the wheel if he is club-fisted, the electronics will let him safely exit the corner. All well and good ‘til he gets to the next turn twenty miles per hour faster than he has gone before and doesn’t have the skills to figure out what to do next. So what are we as motorcyclists supposed to do to stay on top of our game and learn the skills we need to survive?
The answer is simple. Buy yourself a small-capacity dirt bike like the Suzuki DR-Z 125L, find a small piece of land and get sliding, spinning, crashing, and having more fun than you can have on any other type of two-wheeled machine, on the lowest budget imaginable.
I have one quick admission to make here. I was completely in the dark about all of this ‘til I met Aaron Stevenson, who owns www.cornerspin.com. This is a training facility much like Rich Oliver’s Mystery Camp, Danny Walker’s Supercamp, or former World Superbike Champion Colin Edward’s new training facility. I went through a Cornerspin class a few years ago and came away hooked. As a complete mind, body, and spirit coach, Aaron is not only dedicated to motorcycle training, he is completely mad about fitness and how it helps with motorcycle riding, whether it’s on the road or on the track. Since our meeting, I’ve dropped 20 pounds, bashed out a couple of 100-mile bicycle rides, and, more importantly, gone faster on racetracks than at any time in my career by a fairly substantial margin. With job security for me being dependent on the ability to ride reasonably well, I’m now not only much fitter, but safer, and faster on two wheels in all disciplines. There appears to be no downside to this equation!
Over the last couple of years, my kids have become involved, as has my good friend Corey Morgan, and now we have our own small track in his back yard. We have been campaigning an early nineties Yamaha TTR125 and an XR80 and having an absolute blast. I’ve lost count of the number of people we have taught to ride, and how much fun we’ve had.
So for 2012, I decided to put a call in to our good friends at Suzuki and step things up a little with a brand-new DR-Z 125L. Over the next year, we will evolve this gutsy little dirt bike into a serious flat-track, spin-training machine, and we are going to bring you along for the ride.
You’re not going to impress your mates at the pub reciting the specification sheets, but then most of them have never entered a corner sideways, so they with the rear wheel spinning so are not going to get it anyway. Weighing in at 196 pounds, thumping out around 12 horsepower, and rolling on a nineteen-inch wheel up front and a sixteen-inch wheel out back, it’s not going to impress James Stewart either. But add these figures to a 32-inch seat height, that quickly compresses on the fairly soft suspension, and you’ve got the ideal motorcycle for most new riders from around the age of ten years old and up and of course the perfect training tool for us mature types who want to improve our riding skills and have fun on a budget.
The Suzuki arrived prepped and ready to go, so it was on with the fuel, lift up the choke, and kick the beast to life. Yes, it’s got a carburetor. Being very cold-blooded by nature, it takes a while to warm up, but once it does, it revs cleanly and has plenty of acceleration for our small track. It’s certainly more powerful than the XR100s Aaron uses, and I Iike the front disc brake for better braking and control. It still uses a drum brake in the rear, but it’s plenty powerful. It also rides really well as the suspension easily supports my 180 pounds. The riding position is all dirt bike, and for my eleven-year-old son, it’s actually perfect for playing in the trails Corey’s built behind the track. This is not so advisable for us big people, as we will overwhelm the suspension and brakes quite quickly, but stay on our smooth track and it does everything needed and more.
There are a couple of downsides to the Suzuki: We have to put a couple of dollars worth of gas in nearly every time we spend a day riding it, and we you have to check the oil once in a while and lube and adjust the chain. So demanding! Seriously though, it has to be the simplest form of two-wheeled fun you can get into and without a doubt the cheapest. It allows you to easily explore the limits of traction, throttle control, sliding, spinning, and even the consequences of shutting the throttle in panic situation if you want to experience a quick high side. So riding the DR-Z 125L is not just about having fun, it’s about engaging in a real-time learning experience every time you get into the saddle. Throw in the extra calories you burn from trying to out ride your kids, and there are few better-spent days on two wheels. Next job is to fit some different tires and look into a shock and spring kit to better suit the bigger people. And of course to help us lower our lap times. We’ll keep you posted.
See more 2012 Suzuki DR-Z 125L Photos
Just think about traction control for a moment. It gives the inexperienced rider the ability to exit a turn faster than before, as now instead of spinning the wheel if he is club-fisted, the electronics will let him safely exit the corner. All well and good ‘til he gets to the next turn twenty miles per hour faster than he has gone before and doesn’t have the skills to figure out what to do next. So what are we as motorcyclists supposed to do to stay on top of our game and learn the skills we need to survive?
The answer is simple. Buy yourself a small-capacity dirt bike like the Suzuki DR-Z 125L, find a small piece of land and get sliding, spinning, crashing, and having more fun than you can have on any other type of two-wheeled machine, on the lowest budget imaginable.
I have one quick admission to make here. I was completely in the dark about all of this ‘til I met Aaron Stevenson, who owns www.cornerspin.com. This is a training facility much like Rich Oliver’s Mystery Camp, Danny Walker’s Supercamp, or former World Superbike Champion Colin Edward’s new training facility. I went through a Cornerspin class a few years ago and came away hooked. As a complete mind, body, and spirit coach, Aaron is not only dedicated to motorcycle training, he is completely mad about fitness and how it helps with motorcycle riding, whether it’s on the road or on the track. Since our meeting, I’ve dropped 20 pounds, bashed out a couple of 100-mile bicycle rides, and, more importantly, gone faster on racetracks than at any time in my career by a fairly substantial margin. With job security for me being dependent on the ability to ride reasonably well, I’m now not only much fitter, but safer, and faster on two wheels in all disciplines. There appears to be no downside to this equation!
Over the last couple of years, my kids have become involved, as has my good friend Corey Morgan, and now we have our own small track in his back yard. We have been campaigning an early nineties Yamaha TTR125 and an XR80 and having an absolute blast. I’ve lost count of the number of people we have taught to ride, and how much fun we’ve had.
So for 2012, I decided to put a call in to our good friends at Suzuki and step things up a little with a brand-new DR-Z 125L. Over the next year, we will evolve this gutsy little dirt bike into a serious flat-track, spin-training machine, and we are going to bring you along for the ride.
You’re not going to impress your mates at the pub reciting the specification sheets, but then most of them have never entered a corner sideways, so they with the rear wheel spinning so are not going to get it anyway. Weighing in at 196 pounds, thumping out around 12 horsepower, and rolling on a nineteen-inch wheel up front and a sixteen-inch wheel out back, it’s not going to impress James Stewart either. But add these figures to a 32-inch seat height, that quickly compresses on the fairly soft suspension, and you’ve got the ideal motorcycle for most new riders from around the age of ten years old and up and of course the perfect training tool for us mature types who want to improve our riding skills and have fun on a budget.
The Suzuki arrived prepped and ready to go, so it was on with the fuel, lift up the choke, and kick the beast to life. Yes, it’s got a carburetor. Being very cold-blooded by nature, it takes a while to warm up, but once it does, it revs cleanly and has plenty of acceleration for our small track. It’s certainly more powerful than the XR100s Aaron uses, and I Iike the front disc brake for better braking and control. It still uses a drum brake in the rear, but it’s plenty powerful. It also rides really well as the suspension easily supports my 180 pounds. The riding position is all dirt bike, and for my eleven-year-old son, it’s actually perfect for playing in the trails Corey’s built behind the track. This is not so advisable for us big people, as we will overwhelm the suspension and brakes quite quickly, but stay on our smooth track and it does everything needed and more.
There are a couple of downsides to the Suzuki: We have to put a couple of dollars worth of gas in nearly every time we spend a day riding it, and we you have to check the oil once in a while and lube and adjust the chain. So demanding! Seriously though, it has to be the simplest form of two-wheeled fun you can get into and without a doubt the cheapest. It allows you to easily explore the limits of traction, throttle control, sliding, spinning, and even the consequences of shutting the throttle in panic situation if you want to experience a quick high side. So riding the DR-Z 125L is not just about having fun, it’s about engaging in a real-time learning experience every time you get into the saddle. Throw in the extra calories you burn from trying to out ride your kids, and there are few better-spent days on two wheels. Next job is to fit some different tires and look into a shock and spring kit to better suit the bigger people. And of course to help us lower our lap times. We’ll keep you posted.
See more 2012 Suzuki DR-Z 125L Photos
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