Brought this home today

[pecrazy]

A diamond in the rough, 81 RM125, feels like it has reasonable compression but has no spark. Needs the full treatment, PE almost done so roll one out and the other straight in.

[SON]

1983 was a good year

[suzuki27]

I concur Son. !983 125D. Looks good to me

[pecrazy]

So it's an 83 model not an 81 like I was told? how can you tell?

[suzuki59]

So it's an 83 model not an 81 like I was told? how can you tell?

  Front forks a immediate giveaway plus the struts and reed valve engine.

[Tex]

So it's an 83 model not an 81 like I was told? how can you tell?

Yellow fork legs, blue seat and alloy struts on rear suspension. You'll find there are some other minor differences not visible to the naked eye, most importantly in the rear suspension area.

Tex

[pecrazy]

Is this how you slow done your compeditors or the kids?  Found this when I was making one good pipe out of two, yes it is a bearing wedged in tight, looks to have been in there for a while.

[80-85 husky]

so that's where that main bearing went......

[pecrazy]

Can you imagine trying to work out why your freshly rebuilt motor wouldn't pull the hat of your head.

[GMC]

Muffler bearing, I heard most models have them.

[alexbrown64]

I can see the problem.... the bearing is dry.  I would replace it with a Timken or similar quality muffler bearing.  I believe there is a mod on the internet somewhere that suggests using a bearing with a larger inner diameter to help flow. 
Cheers,
Alex

[Viper79]

It's a design to make the noise level a bit more bearable 

[matcho mick]

It's a design to make the noise level a bit more bearable 

shouldn't that be "bearingable", ,i was thinking how serious was the previous motors bigtime gone bang,whooweee shoved a main up the exhaust port  ,

[pecrazy]

Motor all built, new everything, mostly genuine Suzuki if available.

[frostype400]

That looks great well done.