Two Stroke Motocross
Two Stroke Motocross Forum => Vintage Two Strokes => Topic started by: riffraff on June 20, 2010, 10:19:49 PM
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Here's a forum I belong to that's pretty much dedicated to preserving Yamaha 2 strokes
http://www.yamahait.com.au/forum/index.php (http://www.yamahait.com.au/forum/index.php)
(http://i625.photobucket.com/albums/tt334/1983it490k/IMG_3142.jpg)
(http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv327/vtss5000/IMG_2024.jpg)
(http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s74/leathermo/IMG_1848.jpg)
(http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab133/wiseman1965/1978%20Yamaha%20YZ%20125E/006.jpg)
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Nice bikes riffraff ;D
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Yeah those guys do some pretty good restorations, most of them are from down under your way :D
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I once owned an 82 YZ490 just like the top photo. A friend bought the Yami off me and he still has it.
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Is'nt the YZ-490 in the pic a 1985 or 86 ?......... :-\
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I'm pretty sure the YZ line had gone entirely to water cooling by that time. The front disk seems a little suspicious, though.
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Is'nt the YZ-490 in the pic a 1985 or 86 ?......... :-\
Pretty sure it's an 84, in 85 Yamaha went to a center port exhaust with the pipe going down the right side on the 490.
I'm pretty sure the YZ line had gone entirely to water cooling by that time. The front disk seems a little suspicious, though.
The big bore YZ's were never water cooled, even the WR500's were air cooled. Front disc and rear drum were standard on the 490's.
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Really, they stayed air-cooled all the way into the mid-80s? That's hard-core.
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Really, they stayed air-cooled all the way into the mid-80s? That's hard-core.
The YZ490 line ended in 1990 which then turned into the WR500 from '91-'93
(http://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab110/wr500/06.jpg)
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The YZ 490 is a "J" model 1982.
It was the first linkage rear suspension set up for Yamaha, not to mention the first production "safety seat" and power valve on the 250/125. I beleive it was on Super Hunky's list of top ten worst ever dirt bikes.
The disc front looks like it's from a later Yamaha front end.
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I had a 82 YZ490, I bought it from a guy named Mike Alexander, He was a Yamaha support rider, who got the overall win in a couple of District 37 races.
That bike was jetted perfect and always started easily. It was fast, stable and reliable.
It had mediocre brakes and turned in kinda slow, but i always smoked my buddies on it.
I never understood Hunky's hatred for that bike.
I think it had a few issues outta the box, but a few cheap mods and it was a great bike.
One time I was riding with my friend Gilbert on his YZ400 in a sand wash in the Mojave desert, I chucked a rock at him about the size of a baseball, it hit square on his throttle and broke the housing, He used to tell that story every time we would get drunk.
Good Times...
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Now, when you say it was the first production safety seat, do you mean it was Yamaha's first? Because my dad's '81 Maico 490 actually has a safety seat. It's the only one I've ever seen on that year of Maico, but apparently it was an option at some point. If it's an aftermarket part, it's the only one on the entire bike. Even the tires are stock from the factory, and have fresh treads. This has been a garage queen since day one.
As for bikes the 'Hunk doesn't like, number one on his list of worst bikes of all time is the infamous Suzuki TM400. However, my uncle happened to have one of those back when they were new, and doesn't recall any of the engine weirdness that Super Chunk claims. The spooky handling, yes, but not the mystical on/off powerband. I suspect that he (my uncle) had one of the TMs that had something done to the ignition, which was said to be the only way to resolve the problem. The only review he really had on the engine was that it was extremely fast when you wanted it to be.
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My 82 YZ490 was too heavy but otherwise it wasn't that bad of a bike. Once I was selling an 81 YZ250 to a friend and we took both bikes trailriding. We were climbing a rocky,sandy hill when the 490 spit out a rock the size of an apple, catching my friend square in the forehead. We kept on riding but he had quite the "goose egg" by the end of the day. He bought the YZ.
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Is'nt the YZ-490 in the pic a 1985 or 86 ?......... :-\
Pretty sure it's an 84, in 85 Yamaha went to a center port exhaust with the pipe going down the right side on the 490.
OK riffraff I beleive you when you say the YZ-490 in the pic is a 1984,but it's definetly NOT a 1982 because they still had the yellow/black plastic & graphics... 8)
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OK guys just checked on that bike and Evo is definitely right it's an '82 490J. The guy who owns it is from Australia. Maicoman, as far as I know the yellow and black YZ's weren't sold in Europe or down under.
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My Canadian 82 YZ490 was red and white.
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^US model YZ's were Yellow, I think most of the rest of the world were red/white for 82
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^US model YZ's were Yellow, I think most of the rest of the world were red/white for 82
Kinda thought that but wasn't sure, I think I still like the yellow and black more. My '89 490 is white and black, done by previous owner.
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Now, when you say it was the first production safety seat, do you mean it was Yamaha's first? Because my dad's '81 Maico 490 actually has a safety seat. It's the only one I've ever seen on that year of Maico, but apparently it was an option at some point. If it's an aftermarket part, it's the only one on the entire bike.
Your dads Maico one would be an aftermarket job, either ceet of Hy Flite (I think), Maico got a "Safety Seat" in '84
(http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o82/evo550/IMGP1355.jpg)
1982 YZ's were the first bikes to have them standard from the factory.
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^US model YZ's were Yellow, I think most of the rest of the world were red/white for 82
Kinda thought that but wasn't sure, I think I still like the yellow and black more. My '89 490 is white and black, done by previous owner.
Correct.
We got the red/white but i love the yellow ;D