Am thinking seriously about buying my mates old 'vintage' Yamaha WR200 ~99 model [[EDIT Jan 2014 - I bought the bike and it is a 1998 model, the last of them I believe]]. It has been through a few people in our circle of friends and had a history before they got to it also. It is original trim and ran on and off for the last few years. Apparently it has had the forks rebuilt, new piston and rings (some time ago I am thinking) new power valve and a few other bits. Recently it failed, my mate pulled the barrel to find a piston ring partly snapped off and caught in the port. He said this had happened before, what causes it and if I buy it how is it fixed? I want to buy this thing and have a good go at a proper restoration, will even buy a $700 new jug if required, but don't want to be stung by the ring problem again in the future.
i talk to a guy few years ago he was on a mint 92 think that was the last year for'em in the states he said it did everything better than his new KTM it was all stock except 4 an FMF exhaust was puttin the KTM on CL there was a 240 kit for the old IT 200 in the states bet that piston will work and make that sucker rip
I remember my buddy buying a new one of these around 93 or so. Seemed like a pretty good bike and the strange thing is he ended up getting it back. To my knowledge this sounds crazy but it is still running today on the original piston and rings and seriously little maintenance! It was never raced as far as I know. Slight problem could be parts as far as I know I do not think anyone makes aftermarket plastic for the bike and I wonder if you can even get plastic from Yamaha. Bike was pretty decent and I rode it a bit. Kind of heavy and I remember wanting one but I bought a 92 Kawasaki KDX 200 for $2,999.00 and the Yamaha was $500 more bucks which I used for riding gear and a FMF pipe!! Could the cylinder be worn out. Or ring gap excessive. I have seen the skirts break off on Husky 250 two strokes but only when they let the piston go way to long without changing it. Good luck in your quest!
My other mate has the same bike but in MUCH better condition. He bought it from the first owner who is a mechanic. On about 6000km, ~15 years old and still on the original piston and rings. I think the cylinder and piston/rings might have been well too worn and this could be the problem. Must have been lots of wear.
Kinda cool and solid bikes. Good friend had one for a while. It is not what I would call a high performance machine, more of a great trail bike. Was sort of an odd ball here int he US and did not sell real well and you never see them on the trail. Might be semi hard to get parts for.
Parts may be a slight problem. But I slightly disagree with Motosportz. In it's day I think it was a fine machine and most B or B riders I am sure would of rode that bike a bit faster then s motocross 250 machine. Was a tad heavy at I believe around 235 pounds, But riding my new KDX 200 1992 back to back with each other I felt pretty good on either bike and really didn't feel like one was better then the other. It could of been rebuilt before after a blowup and had a slightly gouged or worn cylinder. I have seen shaky top end jobs and the ring snag on either port. My buddy was the only guy I knew with one and I almost bought it this summer for a whopping $750.00! Had I not been worried about parts I would of grabbed it for a beater bike (for a few hillbilly friends I have!)
I want to restore it to a reliable mechanical condition only for the moment, not too worried about the cosmetics. The plan is for a full restore at some point, but initially I just want a rebuild so I can have a snappy but reliable trail bike. It doesn't need to be as quick as the 310 but I don't want to go back to something as basic as the ttr 250, as good of a platform as it is. Anyone with more specific information on the ring broken off in the port? If a deteriorated and worn area is causing play around the ports will a new barrel/cylinder fix the issue?
yes if its worn out that will fix it but there are a lot of ways to get out of buying a new cylinder [replate..bore & replate or switch to a borable liner] im thinkin wr 240 giant killer ooooh yeaa but thats just me
My mate the owner thinks the bore is scratched so badly it needs a rebore and replating. Problem is electroplating businesses are few and far between over here and the quality isn't what you get over there.
send it to powerflow in the states, be heaps cheaper than electrosil over here & better job too id reckon. theyll match the piston to cylinder for you & you choose ya brand. with postage & piston kit still only be around $450, think electrosil quoted me $520 just for replate & still had to pay postage to them & back!
Talking to one of the other previous owners today.. apparently ANOTHER previous owner might have put in a new piston and rings, as far as I know this bloke isn't a bike guy, thinking there's a chance it was a shaky job and has caused the ring snag condition.
Just thinking isnt the engine the same as the 200 blaster quad if it is, it may give you another option on motor parts.
Not the same engine. More like, shares a common ancestor. Some parts interchange, most don't. I rebuilt one of these recently that had one of the most comically abused clutch baskets I've ever seen. Didn't want to spring for a spendy aftermarket basket, Yamaha dropped it and i couldn't find anything decent on ebay so the project hit the back burner for a while. After a long hiatus I got to looking at a Blaster basket and found that while the drive gear is different due to the different transmission ratios the basket itself is the same. Snagged a used but serviceable Blaster basket and rivited the wr200 drive gear and it was good to go.
Here is a picture of my 92 WR200 with a Beta headlight. Great torque for a small 2 stroke. The bike came with soft springs and was 30lbs to chubby. Fun bike to ride fast in the trees.
The cylinder is on the way to the USA for a reweld, rebore and nikasil. Will be matched with a weiseco piston. It is getting new con rod, new piston and rings, new big and little end bearings and new gaskets etc. Carb will be inspected and cleaned. Is there anything else worth touching when I have the case split for the big end? Talked to my Yamaha dealer who did a bit of big boring in the past to them, he said it isn't worth the trouble and had problems with reliability.
Its amazing how little they changed between then and the late 90s, when I pick it up on the weekend Ill post some pictures.. Everyone is telling me I am overcapitalising, it's not really a modern bike as far as overall tech goes but it's also not quite old enough to be 'vintage', it's in a grey area that noone seems to want to touch. I figure though, if I bought a similar bike of similar age from a stranger for the same price I could get a complete lemon. Besides, once it's rebuilt it could last another 15 years. I'd say it will be vintage by then.
early 2000's YZs, RMs and many other great bikes are in that swath of bikes. I love it as they can be bought cheap, a few hundred dollars thrown at them and have a bike that is 90% as competent as a new one for 1/3 the cost. My 04 CR165 husky is a perfect example of this.
Looked at the specs today, 111 KG wet (fuel, gear and fork oil, rads full), Im pretty impressed. I have ridden them a few times before but only older worn out ones. A while ago a previous owner of the WR200 dragged me on a flat straight tar road while I was on the 310, the WR was nearly as flogged out as it is now but he pretty much kept by my side up until about 100 kph/60mph when the TE moved ahead a little. The premix ratios are a bit scary considering you have to use fully synthetic, 24:1 ..
