Posts
5586
Joined
10/1/2013
Location
Davis, CA
US
It's been about a year since I got my 15 yz250, and I figured I would give an update on how things have been. First and foremost, this bike is everything I wanted it to be. I can ride track one weekend, and throw on a skid plate the next for some serious trail riding and hillclimbing. The bike does everything well, and has been reliable as a rock. Here's a quick list of the main mods done:
1. Rekluse auto clutch. This is by far the best mod I have done, and it was worth all 40,000 pennies. I originally put it on to race endurocross, but as I've ridden with it for some time I've found there are benefits almost everywhere. I can attack technical trail sections without having to cover the clutch (think rocky, loose creek bed), and I can also use it to my advantage while hillclimbing to keep the motor from hopping and spinning the back wheel. It's hard to explain this technique through text, but I think it's a serious advantage for hillclimbing.
2. 11oz flywheel weight. Another great mod, bike revs smoother and longer, highly recommended.
3. FMF expansion chamber and spark arrestor silenser. I replaced the expansion chamber due to my stock one getting some good sized dents in it, and went with the FMF since it is closest to stock. For some of the places I ride I have to have a sparky on the back, but to be honest I like how it smooths out the power and rev of the bike, so it stays on even for track days.
4. SXS slide plate. For anyone into off-road, don't even consider another type of skid plate, it's that good! I love that my linkage is covered and to this day looks brand new, and believe me this bike has seen some rocks and logs. If you've never heard of them, do a quick google search and you will not be disappointed. The only thing I was hesitant about was drilling two very small mounting holes in the bottom of my frame, but I'm confident this will not effect it structurally in any way as long as they are drilled in the centerline of the cross spar.
5. Starcross tires front and rear. I have a few rides on these now and I like them a lot, highly recommended.
A few things I've learned about the bike:
-changing the sag has a big effect on handling. I've ran a little over 100mm and now I'm at around 97mm. If you try this be prepared though, the head shake can get very bad! But you will get better cornering out of the bike. I noticed in pictures that the bike was squatting a lot and it wanted to climb out of ruts, so I decided to give this a try. I'm haven't tried this on trails yet, but it seems to be alright on the track.
-moving forks around in the clamps is another easy way to change thing up. I tried taking out 20cc of oil out of each side but ended up adding 10cc back in, that seems to work well for me. Thanks for the tip Slipdog!
-ergonomically the bike feels long and low, somewhat like the RM. Taller bars helped me out, but it is still pretty low.
-I've found myself riding off the back of the bike a lot more lately, not sure if that is a product of the bike or my height, but it is something I've noticed.
The aftermath:
- 60+ hours
-one top end change
-1 suspension service (forks done by me, shock by a local tuner)
-slightly bent subframe
-one endurocross race, a few moto races, and a lot of practice days
-still on stock plastics!
-no major crashes luckily!
-some epic riding trips and memories I wouldn't trade for anything.
If you made it this far, thanks, hope you enjoyed and got some ideas. This has been my experience with the bike, if anyone has any input or questions feel free to comment, I'd love to hear from some fellow YZ owners about what they have done with their bikes. I've been so happy with this thing and how versatile it has been, pretty much shines no matter where you put it. It might be an older design, but the bottom line is it's proven and it flat out works.
Some memorable moments for me:
1. Rekluse auto clutch. This is by far the best mod I have done, and it was worth all 40,000 pennies. I originally put it on to race endurocross, but as I've ridden with it for some time I've found there are benefits almost everywhere. I can attack technical trail sections without having to cover the clutch (think rocky, loose creek bed), and I can also use it to my advantage while hillclimbing to keep the motor from hopping and spinning the back wheel. It's hard to explain this technique through text, but I think it's a serious advantage for hillclimbing.
2. 11oz flywheel weight. Another great mod, bike revs smoother and longer, highly recommended.
3. FMF expansion chamber and spark arrestor silenser. I replaced the expansion chamber due to my stock one getting some good sized dents in it, and went with the FMF since it is closest to stock. For some of the places I ride I have to have a sparky on the back, but to be honest I like how it smooths out the power and rev of the bike, so it stays on even for track days.
4. SXS slide plate. For anyone into off-road, don't even consider another type of skid plate, it's that good! I love that my linkage is covered and to this day looks brand new, and believe me this bike has seen some rocks and logs. If you've never heard of them, do a quick google search and you will not be disappointed. The only thing I was hesitant about was drilling two very small mounting holes in the bottom of my frame, but I'm confident this will not effect it structurally in any way as long as they are drilled in the centerline of the cross spar.
5. Starcross tires front and rear. I have a few rides on these now and I like them a lot, highly recommended.
A few things I've learned about the bike:
-changing the sag has a big effect on handling. I've ran a little over 100mm and now I'm at around 97mm. If you try this be prepared though, the head shake can get very bad! But you will get better cornering out of the bike. I noticed in pictures that the bike was squatting a lot and it wanted to climb out of ruts, so I decided to give this a try. I'm haven't tried this on trails yet, but it seems to be alright on the track.
-moving forks around in the clamps is another easy way to change thing up. I tried taking out 20cc of oil out of each side but ended up adding 10cc back in, that seems to work well for me. Thanks for the tip Slipdog!
-ergonomically the bike feels long and low, somewhat like the RM. Taller bars helped me out, but it is still pretty low.
-I've found myself riding off the back of the bike a lot more lately, not sure if that is a product of the bike or my height, but it is something I've noticed.
The aftermath:
- 60+ hours
-one top end change
-1 suspension service (forks done by me, shock by a local tuner)
-slightly bent subframe
-one endurocross race, a few moto races, and a lot of practice days
-still on stock plastics!
-no major crashes luckily!
-some epic riding trips and memories I wouldn't trade for anything.
If you made it this far, thanks, hope you enjoyed and got some ideas. This has been my experience with the bike, if anyone has any input or questions feel free to comment, I'd love to hear from some fellow YZ owners about what they have done with their bikes. I've been so happy with this thing and how versatile it has been, pretty much shines no matter where you put it. It might be an older design, but the bottom line is it's proven and it flat out works.
Some memorable moments for me:
Changing the sag with the stock offset triple clamps can definitely help cornering to an extent but I feel it takes away from other areas it's great at like high speed stability and a "balanced feel". 22mm offset triple clamps fixed all of the cornering gripes I had with my YZ250. Absolutely no issues with headshake, either. Feels great at high speeds and it's easy to hit any line I want. Just point and shoot. I actually find the bike "wanting" to take the inside line now whereas before it was pretty much a berm king.
Cheers
The Shop
Ruined Mammoth Motocross for me. Took it to 3 different mechanics in the weeks leading up to the race, nobody could get it right. Even had a new stator installed for $300! Still fucked up. Spent the entire practice day in Mammoth ~8hrs straight at Factory Yamaha support with 3 mechanics crawling all over the bike, cannibalizing a 2016 model to exchange every electrical part.
Still didn't end up running right, bogged on the wall and shattered my tibia destroying my ankle.
Yamaha could care less and says "Warranty is 1 month." However their guys can't even fix the damn thing when I pay for it.
Not stoked on their quality control. All this happened at 25hrs and 5 months after purchase. Not impressed, think their quality control is suffering in favor of keeping up with R&D for the fart machines.
One thing to note is that I don't ever pressure wash my bike. I have no idea if that is playing a role in Yamaha's electrical issues, but I always just use a hose, soap, and some brushes. Weird that this is happening now even though the bikes are such an old design, I wonder if the new plastic shape lets more water or dirt in somehow?
Are those free riding pics from Hollister Hills? Place looks amazing.
Burn1986- all fasteners have been good. Only bolt I've really had come loose is one side of the subframe, but mine is bent so that's not really a fair gripe. My only other issues have been the shifter having to be tightened every few rides, and the kickstarted pivot getting tough. Turns out the grease Yamaha uses in there turns to white louder after a while, so for anyone with a Yamaha I would recommend pulling it apart and greasing it. Same thing happened to Raining Yellows bike.
AS64 - You're absolutely right, the head shake from running less sag can be pretty scary. For faster tracks I would probably stick with the 100mm, but I can get away with it in slower, tighter tracks. I'll have to look into the 22mm clamps depending on price. That's really my only gripe with the bike, sometimes the front wants to push out, but I had that same issues with my RM.
rpoint116 - I haven't really felt the need to be honest. I don't doubt for a second that the new reeds would help, but I'm sticking to a tight budget here!
I'm very vocal about my views on tearing up a bike with power washing with my moto friends..
As you can imagine I'm really eating my words now!
Had a few comments on that when the entire Mammoth vet weekend my bike was getting blown apart at either Yamaha or ProCircuit. Quite a few punch lines and I wasn't laughing.
I think they specifically are using cheaper suppliers on their wire harness. This info came straight from ProCircuit mechanic who worked at Yamaha during the Stewart days.
MotoGuido, hmm that's really strange. I also make sure I get most of the water off the bike with an air compressor or leaf blower when I'm done, but I'm betting you do that as well. I didn't realize this problem extended to the two strokes, I was hoping it was a yzf only problem but if what you're saying about the wiring harness suppliers is true that could be a major issue. I'll have to keep an eye on mine, not really sure what I can do to help prevent it though.
Markopolo400, it's really just trying to get out there every weekend. I know that's not always realistic, but I go whenever I can.
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