Tackling two GP classes in the same year meant that Aspar was called on to undertake a total of eight qualifying sessions in two days, with two bikes in each class at his disposal, plus race day warm-ups and then races themselves, generally speaking one right after the other. For this reason he understandably deemed it vital that all the bikes should feel as similar as possible.
FRONT: With a trim 26º head angle, the bike has a 36mm White Power/wp inverted fork and twin front 220mm Brembo discs WHEELBASE: Because the bikes had to feel similar, the 125 was a slightly scaled-up version of the 80, and the 80’s wheelbase (1300mm from front to back) was 50mm shorter than the 125. WHEELS: The biggest change for 1988 was fitting a 17in Marvic rear wheel, still mated to a 16in front, to allow Michelin’s new mini-radial to be used as on the 125. Dörflinger’s Krauser was the only other bike in the 80cc class that year to have access to this rubber, the principal benefit of which was more constant performance throughout a Gp-length race POWER: A claimed 30.5bhp available at the rear wheel, at 14,500rpm, from the 80cc bike in the last year of its championship wins.