To say that the Yamaha YZ125 is an insanely, eternally popular motocross bike is a bit of an understatement. Instead, we’ll let time tell the story for us. Here in 2023, what other MX bikes do you know that have been rolling off the production line into the excited hands of new owners since 1974?
Clearly, it’s evolved over time—check out the fully adjustable KYB suspension and modern improved brakes on the 2023 YZ125 for a taste. Still, for the old-school fans, examples like this minty fresh 1992 Yamaha YZ125 that YouTuber 2Vintage managed to scoop up in Wisconsin don’t come around every day.
It’s not just any 1992 YZ125 though, it's one with some of the most amazing early-90s graphics you could ever hope to see. From the bright pink saddle to the white bodywork accentuated with pink and purple graphics, it’s kind of a sight for sore eyes for ‘90s kids. In our modern 2023 world, where so many stock colors on bikes are either muted or else stick solidly to each OEM’s brand color of choice, seeing bright ‘90s colors seems like a significant breath of fresh air.
In any case, 2Vintage once again worked his magic and found what seems to be an amazing bike in his home state of Wisconsin. Although it’s not clear exactly how many hours are on this engine, what’s very evident is that it’s in almost unbelievably good shape for its age. The plastics look good, almost everything is original, and the engine shows very little sign of wear and tear.
Since the bike’s history isn’t totally clear, that could of course mean that it hasn’t been ridden very much and was instead just tucked away in a climate-controlled environment for the past 30 years. It runs, and it runs well, which 2V gets to see and hear before agreeing to buy it and loading it up onto his truck to take home.
Once it’s in his workshop, it’s time to do some basic checks to make absolutely sure it’s good to go before taking it out for its first ride. The oil looks good, thankfully. The coolant needs a little top-up, but that’s nothing major and it looks good as well. Since it’s been sitting for who knows how long, a carburetor check is clearly in order. That mostly looks good, with just a little tiny clog that’s easy to clear in one jet. Once everything is back together and buttoned up, it’s time to take the little time capsule out for a test ride.
Yes, that’s right, we get test ride footage toward the end of the video, too. It looks and sounds fantastic, even if 2V says he’s feeling a little rusty on dirt since he hasn’t ridden all winter. As a bonus bit at the end, he also fixes up this tiny little bulldozer that he got in another video at the end of this one. Is it the dream of an awful lot of children to go from an excellent day playing in the dirt to an excellent day playing in the dirt on a tiny bulldozer? Probably.
