Jeremy McGrath Replica 2000 YZ250 | Tyler Winstead's Bike Build - Why That Bike? 5

We recently talked to forum member, Tyler Winstead, about his Jeremy McGrath Replica 2000 YZ250 and what it took to get it done. From learning to rebuild a top end to finding rare parts, Tyler tells us the story of his first replica build.

To check out his build topic in the forum, head here: 2000 Jeremy McGrath - Broke to Built Entry

Would you like to talk about a build you're working on? We have a sub-forum just for that! Check out the Bike Build section.

Do you have a build you want to talk about and get featured? Email JGuida@VitalMX.com

For the full interview, check out the YouTube video right here. If you're interested in the condensed written version, scroll down just a bit further.

Jamie Guida - Vital MX: Why the 2000 YZ250? What was it about that bike that made you want to do a build?

Tyler Winstead: It just sort of fell into place. I always wanted to build a replica bike. As close to full spec as a mere mortal can do. A buddy of mine ended up having this bike and he said he wanted to sell it. I traded him a bunch of parts, a CRF450 with a bunch of parts, and another four or five hundred dollars. I couldn't pass it up. It was good to go. I got the bike, started it up, and it had some vibrations or whatever. It ended up having bad crank bearings. The whole purpose was for me to not really build it. It was just to have something I didn't care about. Obviously, that changed. So, yeah, it was supposed to be the bike that I would bring to a buddy’s house or go ride in the woods. That changed rather quickly as you can tell with the finished product.

Vital MX: Are you a big Jeremy McGrath fan or did it just make sense to do a MC replica once you decided to rebuild it?

Tyler:  I always liked dirt bikes. The very first Supercross I ever saw when I was ten, my dad turned on the TV one random time and literally it was on the last lap of a supercross. I think it was 1996. And I saw this Honda, I didn't know it was a Honda at the time. I see this guy do a Nac Nac, all of a sudden he does this trick off of like a triple and I was just in complete shock and awe! I didn't know at the time I was literally watching the best supercross rider of all time. That memory has been in my head forever.

Vital MX: How mechanically inclined were you? Have you rebuilt bikes before? 

Tyler:  It's funny you ask that. I've got a really nice ‘07 450. When I got this bike, I had never done a top end, never done anything, never been in a transmission. I've never done literally any of that stuff. I didn’t have any of the tools, but I had the passion, you know what I mean? I decided if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this completely right. I entered it into a bike build contest. And that's what kind of got me to want to finish the project because I needed a deadline. I got all the tools, did all my research, and I ended up just falling in love with building and wanting it to just be absolutely perfect.

Vital MX: The thing that stood out to me with all the trick parts you have on is the paint. It just looked magical. 

Tyler: I've heard that, too. I've had so many people ask me about it. I will tell you this, in a garage, in like fluorescent light or anything like that, it does not look how it looks out in the sun. It's not Yamaha Blue. It's legit candy blue with a chrome base and that's all it is. 

Vital MX: How long did this project take from start to finish?

Tyler:  I got the bike on February 28th of ‘21. That's when I started buying some graphics, some cheaper tires and I was just going to make it for the woods. Then all of a sudden, I started buying nicer things. This was my opportunity to finally build this bike the way I really wanted to and just go full bore, learn how to do everything, learn how to do the transmission, learn how to jet the carb, and learn how to just do everything possible. Around June, I finally took the whole thing apart. It sat in my garage for about four months, and I never touched it. Around June of last year, I just tore all the way down and I sent the frame out for powder coating. I think it took exactly six months. I wish I would have written down how many hours that it took to do this. The hardest part was the research and finding the parts. Anyone that's built a bike or gotten factory parts or just anything that's not off the shelf knows you can’t just go on like Motosport or Rocky Mountain ATV, just fill a cart up and hit buy. And then 5000 hours later, basically the whole bike is sitting in parts and in a box. 

Vital MX: What was the most difficult part in the beginning of the build?

Tyler:  Really it was finding the motivation to tear that motor down. I took every gear apart, I inspected everything, and I literally replaced everything  inside the motor. I mean, every single thing has been touched, whether I buffed it or had zinc plated or like getting the gears tumbled. It's just so much stuff and I didn't know anything about it when I started. 

Vital MX: Let's get into some of the details of this bike. The YouTube video shows all this bitchin stuff such as the PC pipe, a bunch of carbon fiber pieces, the paint, and the Pro Circuit pegs. I did laugh at the Emig triple clamps on a McGrath bike.

Tyler:  I got that from Clayton Miller with Trick Engineering. He was a sponsored rider back in the day and he wanted to help me out with the build. These are directly off his race bike. The bike has a 2019 CRF450 master cylinder and caliper matched to the 280 rotor. And the rear master cylinder is from a newer YZ250F which got rid of the external reservoir. It looks so much better and mounts perfect. The water pump is a Boyesen Super Cooler which I sanded off the logo and cerakoted tungsten. And no one notices the carbon power valve cover.

Vital MX: Even the tie wire on the fuel cap vent hose and the steering stem nut look so rad! How accurate would you say your bike is and what reference material did you use?

Tyler: Oh, you saw that. Haha! If you go on Google and type in, Jeremy McGrath YZ250, literally the first bike that shows up is an exact replica of that bike. I looked at every single photo. I went on eBay and I looked up the year 2000 supercross and I bought every single magazine that I could possibly find. If you zoom in on my cylinder, you'll see I shaved it down and engraved 5CU-C-01 and the date of the motor build, 10-2-98.

Vital MX: What was the most difficult part to get your hands on?

Tyler: I found the Shorty stinger on eBay. That thing's frickin rare. And the one that everyone freaks out about is the titanium sub-frame. The hardest thing to find is a stock, era specific bar pad. That is the rarest thing that I could find. Maybe the subframe was the most difficult thing to find.  I found that by chance. I was on Facebook Marketplace looking at other stuff. It had nothing to do with dirt bikes. And I just happened to look at this photo and I saw in the background of the photo in this guy's garage, seven or eight tube frame kind of things, just sitting on a shelf. I'm like, Man, that looks like dirt bike sub frames. I messaged the guy and he said, “I guess it's titanium from an early 2000 Yamaha”. He didn't know what it was for. I asked what he wanted for it? He said, “You can have it for 60 bucks, but you have to take all the other ones”. I got it for 60 bucks. He even shipped it to me. It cost him like $28 to ship it to me. I found the correct Afam sprocket out in the UK and that took like 60 days to get here. Finding a rotor was incredibly had. I wanted a non-waved factory style 280 floating rotor, which I did find.

Vital MX: It took a lot of help to get this built. Give me a list of the people who helped.

Tyler: Clayton Miller with Trick Engineering. He did a lot of vapor blasting on it. He also let me get the triple clamps, which I'm very grateful for. Ben Legere with BDP racing made me some solid titanium axel blocks. Nick's Vapor Honing Services. Dave Allen with ThrowbackMXGuy. Charles Lytle with MXrevival.com. Kyle Glassman with OnTheFritz MX, Wayne with Hunterseyephotography, Cam Niemela with PRYMEMX.COM, Frank Z with MXbonz.com, DSP Carbon, William with perfectbrakes.com, PrecisionPowderCoating.com, Tyler with LimitedDecal.com, Steve O with Factory Connection, Faster USA, Eric Gorr Racing, Kris Keefer, George Ackerman Moto Barn Museum, CustomBarPads.com, Jay with DirtbikeTV, Mike Tolle, Randall Everett with Ivy Hill Mx, Jon Kelly with South Fork MX, Jayden with JV Filmz, and everyone who reached out with awesome input.

Vital MX: Last question. All in, what’s the total cost?

Tyler:  I have no idea. Okay. That's probably better. I really don't. I wish I would had written down more about that. I can't even put a price on it. I really don't.  A lot of the really expensive parts were kind of gifted to me or heavily discounted.

*Editors note: There’s more details of this build in the audio podcast if you’re interested. From getting some that were used on Jeremy’s bike to literally every single bolt on the bike going missing. Give it a listen.