Yamaha XT125R

General Specs

The XT125R has a 124 cc single-cylinder, air-cooled, four-stroke engine. Paired with a 5-speed gearbox, the bike focuses on ease of use and low fuel consumption rather than top speed.

The 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels give the bike a classic enduro character. Thanks to its long suspension and ground clearance, it handles broken roads, gravel surfaces and light off-road conditions more comfortably than standard road bikes.

It was my first motorcycle with gears. Even though I'm 179 cm tall, it scared me when I first got on it. It made me think "I don't think I'll be able to ride this." Keeping my balance and maneuvering were hard. Just 1 week later I was already playing with it like a toy.

I used the XT125 for a year, and its carbureted engine (the same engine as the YBR 125) managed to get on my nerves from time to time. Especially in rainy weather, if the spark plug cap was old, it would get the plug wet and stall. The intake manifold chronically cracked and let air in. The air-fuel mixture would get out of balance and it would stall. Back then I was just a guy who rode motorcycles and didn't understand anything about them. The things I listed kept me busy like a real headache.

One day while riding on the road it suddenly stalled and never started again. Thanks to Utku, he didn't hesitate and came right over. Utku was someone I had just met and only seen once. Let me sum it up quickly. It was a holiday, everything was closed and my throttle cable had snapped. I met him thanks to some kids who came by the closed repair shop looking for another mechanic. They said "Bro, we have a friend, if nothing else we'll go to him, come along if you want." Anyway, back to the day I got stranded. Utku came, did some stuff, played with the wires and the bike started. We hopped on and went to sit by the seaside. Then we couldn't leave well enough alone and started tinkering to figure out why it stalled so it wouldn't happen again. We tinkered, plugged the connector in backwards and fried the gauge cluster and the ECU. And we never got it running again. It was way over our heads by then, so we headed off to another mechanic.

Why am I telling you this? It might come in handy for one of you. XT motorcycles work with the Mondial ZAT ECU. For the gauge repair I went to an electronics shop in Karaköy. A transistor on the mainboard circuit blows, a tiny part that cost 1TL back then. It's probably 1000TL now. I fixed it by replacing the part.

The XT is a nice motorcycle, but it has no kill switch, so you need to be careful. If you get the X version it can be fun as a baby supermoto, but only for beginners. 125cc only satisfies beginners. Take care of yourselves