What to Buy? - YZ125X vs YZ250X

if you've been following my channel for any amount of time you know that I have tons of experience on the yz250 X here and recently putting a lot of seat time on the 125 X I get asked all the time what's the better bike for me to choose in fact was writing the script for this video I had three separate people asked me within about four hours which bike they should get so that's actually a really really loaded question and there are just so many variables involved but I'm gonna try and break things down for you in this video and hopefully help you decide which bike may be right for you if you're new to this channel just a little bit of background this is my 2016 yz250 X and I have about 500 hours on it and this of course is my new 2020 yz125 yz250 for you guys just for your reference I'm 6 feet tall and 175 pounds I run the stock suspension setup on both bikes and it seems to suit me very well let's start with the obvious facts the 125 is about 20 pounds lighter this may not seem like a big difference but it's quite noticeable the 125 is far easier to flip round and turns and lift in certain situations however both bikes are fairly light and handle in a very playful manner the most common concern is whether or not the 125 has enough power this is where it gets challenging to answer simply put yes the 125 has great power and at least for any riding I do plenty to make it through whatever I've thrown at it however it's definitely a bit more difficult to unlock that power compared to the 250 also your weight will have an effect on how the 125 will feel if you're pushing well over 200 pounds I think maybe the 250 would be a better all-around bike height doesn't matter too much because the bikes are nearly geometrically the same although the 125 has very impressive bottom end torque you'll have to get familiar with slipping the clutch to keep the RPMs up in a lot of situations in order to prevent stalling and get the explosive power required to accelerate out of turns or up features this however is what you should be doing anyway controlling the power with the clutch not modulating the throttle to an extent but that's a whole nother video the 250 does a very good job plugging at low rpm in May be a better option for some newer riders as it will be easier to ride if you're not quite familiar with using the clutch aggressively this brings me to another point and probably the most important consider what your goal is with riding what kind of riding do you want to do and what are your plans for progressing your skill set if you're just out there to relax and put along through a trail the 250 may be a better option for you as it requires much less effort to ride fast and smooth you can stay down lower in the RPM and lug it all day you don't necessarily need to be slipping clutch through every turn or up every Hill of course it also has much greater potential to get out of control if you're not careful if you're new to riding or even quite experienced and really want to dial in your technique I think the 125 is a fantastic tool it requires you to be precise plan ahead and stay aggressive you have to be in the right gear you oftentimes have to keep the revs high and heavily use the clutch it will help you focus on writing aggressively and precisely as opposed to possibly promoting a certain laziness since getting the 125 my clutch skills and line choices have improved dramatically when getting on a bigger bike like the surco 300 everything seems much easier now with that said I don't think the 125 isn't capable of being ridden leisurely either it has plenty of power to get you flowing through some nice single track and even enough torque download to push through some gnarly creeks I've been very impressed with the bike if you want to dual sport the 250 is absolutely the way to go as the 125 doesn't have a very comfortable high cruising speed despite having six gears the fifth gear on the 250 even gear down a tooth in the front is substantially more usable for cruising roads now maintenance I was concerned about the 125 and having to rebuild it every 40 hours or less well here we are at 60 hours and it still runs like a top for the riding I do mainly technical hard enduro type stuff I'm able to lug it very low and work the clutch this of course helps preserve the engine longer I run electron H series carb in Boysen rad valve on both bikes these two things really help out the bottom end and I can confidently say that they are necessity items for my riding style in addition to this the electron will ensure that your engine is receiving proper fuelling which is critical to engine longevity if you're not sure what exactly the lecture on carb does and how it works there's a link in the description explaining it all please go to my website be rad - products calm and check these out email me if you have any questions I'll probably open the 125 up at about a hundred hours and throw a piston end my 250 I've put well over 200 hours on a piston and rings and has zero issues and minimal signs of wear on the cylinder this is of course greatly due to how I ride low rpm not revving it out not holding it wide open in the sand all day so these results will vary based on your riding style the 250 in most cases will be a lower maintenance bike but honestly I wouldn't even factor this into making your decision both bikes require very little maintenance and will run for a very long time provided you take care of them for me personally with where I live now and the stuff I ride I'd pick the 125 it's by far the most fun and playful and I also like going up some dumb stuff and confusing the hell out of people when they realize it's a small-bore bike it adds a challenging twist to climbs and obstacles and also makes you feel like a superhero when you're wringing its neck out in the single track if I had to choose one of the two bikes as the best do it all it would for certain be the 250 it's a great mix between bottom and power for technical Pepe top-end for that fast flowy sand and with that tall 5th gear you can even dual-sport it if you must since all of the writing that I do currently is purely for fun I choose the 125 just because it's light playful and it adds a little bit of a challenging twist to help my skills progress if you're a new rider and wanting to get into hard enduro type riding it may pose as a frustration trying to ride the 125 but as mentioned it will also be a great way for you to learn and improve you can always do that on the 250 as well of course to sum things up you've got to consider your current skill level and what you're using the bike for I'd honestly be happy with either one because I know I can have a good time on any bike I hope this video helps you decide if you found this video helpful please consider subscribing and giving it a like also if you'd like to see the videos that were featured in this one of course have more to stir up sound I've included the links to those in the description as well [Music]

Channel: BeRAD

Views: 433,967

Rating: 4.954371 out of 5

Keywords: BeRAD, Beradmoto, products, michigan, dirtbike, Yamaha, yz250, yz250x, crash, epic, wheelie, fail, shenanigans, fast, enduro, single, track, Gnar, lectron, yz125x, hard

Id: l4F_mq4oXQ0

Length: 6min 44sec (404 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 21 2020