European vs. Japanese Dirt bikes?

[juicypips]

Thats mental i bought a 24 year old kmx 125 for £600 and it was a nail did full rebuild rode it for three years then sold it for £500 good times

 

[Jersey Woods]

That's funny.... I bought a used IT400 with 50 miles on it for $700

I had an IT 400 when I was about 19 What a great woods bike ! I also had a IT 175 that bike was fantastic to say the least. To me those bikes were from an era when Yamaha was very serious about making competitive woods bikes.

 

[troy deck]

LOVED MY OL 79 175

 

[lankydoug]

I had an IT 400 when I was about 19 What a great woods bike ! I also had a IT 175 that bike was fantastic to say the least. To me those bikes were from an era when Yamaha was very serious about making competitive woods bikes.

With fewer people riding motocross and more GNCC, Desert and hare scrambles you would think Yamaha would get back to making woods bikes again... Maybe the new backward Yamaha WR250 is the beginning of a new era.

I bet you never smashed a radiator on your IT 175, I never did on my 1980 yz125.

 

[troy deck]

nope never had a waterpump seal leak or a hose get ripper off either pumps n hoses or not i'd take that new YZ300E guess its not gona make it to the US if it happens at all

 

[reveille]

LOVED MY OL 79 175

Had a 1981 DT175(new). Very capable bike.

Random google pic, but that's the one.

 

[troy deck]

wow last year for that bad boy i had a 72 maybe 73[ what year was maroon] 74 and a 78 then the IT then 3 huskys

 

[Rob578]

Had a 1981 DT175(new). Very capable bike.

Random google pic, but that's the one.

One of my most favorite bikes of all time......if I could find one....

 

[ray_ray]

Like this one? It's like being a time traveler living here in many ways ... No space-time warp needed.

 

[R-J van Hulst]

Yeah forgot about the adv bikes. Haven't seen to many dukes on the road though...fine then, first bike to really tap into the sportbike market

this might be the case in the US but in cambodia they are cleaning up.

the duke 200 and duke 390 are roaming in packs (big packs).

they have now the race oriented model (not the naked style like the dukes) and that is a direct attack on Japanese bikes in that segment.

yes the KTM are on average 30% more expensive yet seeing the NR's on the street they do outsell the Japanese models (unless somebody store all these Japanese bikes in a ware house )

Robert-Jan

 

[Motosportz]

I had an IT 400 when I was about 19 What a great woods bike ! I also had a IT 175 that bike was fantastic to say the least. To me those bikes were from an era when Yamaha was very serious about making competitive woods bikes.

Was loving my old air cool beast yesterday. Rode it with a pack of 5 other guys who were all a good bit younger than me and on new bikes, zero issues hanging with them and leading a good part of the day. Fun old iron for sure.

 

[Jersey Woods]

These are great old beasts. I'm so happy to hear that they are still around and some are still riding them !

 

[Jersey Woods]

With fewer people riding motocross and more GNCC, Desert and hare scrambles you would think Yamaha would get back to making woods bikes again... Maybe the new backward Yamaha WR250 is the beginning of a new era.

I bet you never smashed a radiator on your IT 175, I never did on my 1980 yz125.

I hope it is the beginning of a new era for them so people will have a decent choice on what they can purchase.

You bet I never smashed my radiator on my IT 175...

 

[reveille]

There's some truth to that statement Jersey. I think bikes that are built for riding and not all out racing need to make a comeback. I love my 501 but it's not built to ride it everyday IMHO. If I did, I'd be rebuilding constantly. A simple less powerful durable rider could sell tons. Kinda like the AJP's Kelly is testing for example.

 

[juicypips]

Or an ajp or my everyday commuter 360 cus my van ate a small end lol

 

[Bigbill]

Point taken. Seems cyclical. Husky used to dominate and was everywhere way back in the day. Then the japs took over. XR400's were everywhere and on the cover of everything, Kawasaki did well with the KDX Yami with the IT. Then KTM pushed its way in. Some day it will be someone else. But overall it seems the industry is shrinking and off road is not focused on as much as it used to be other than KTM which has almost taken the entire segment.

Before the sea of orange it was a sea of kawasaki green. The trend is probably set by the AA hardscrabble riders. It was the KDX200 tricked out for years. Then the KTM 200.
Now it's the KTM200, 250, 300 the sea of orange. But the next race nearby we will see how many husqvarnas.

Trends change. Not much orange in superx or motox yet?

Just like the recluse clutch. What if a new husqvarna was an auto again?
But this time a standard tranny with a centrifical clutch.

 

[lankydoug]

huh, not been my experience with the Yami's. Many guys around here have ridiculous miles on them. Jake on this site has a older WR250F he has hammed endlessly for some ridiculous miles and it is still alive. What I find with these newer 250F's is if you MX them and bounce off the rev limiter a lot they die early if you ride them off road they last a long time.

I asked a friend who has 2 sons that are pro motocross/arenacross riders about the new Yamaha 250f and this is what he said;

"The rod hits the case and shatters. The cranks are out of balance from the factory. Shift detention arm has a needle bearing not a solid bearing. When the needle bearing comes apart the whole motor detonates to include flywheel and stator."

He went on to say that it's an easy fix; "I change all my cranks knife edge and shot peen rods" He said the 15 has something else wrong with it, a quality of part problem but not sure what it is.

Yamaha has an upgraded bearing for the needle bearing. The needle bearing is smooth shifting but can't stand the shifter being stomped on.

He goes on to say they are fast for sure, the heads and valves are durable. One of his sons is 140 lbs and they had to do extra to the suspension for him because of his light weight.

Keep in mind these guys are fast pro riders and they are modifying the engines over stock with porting, remapping and turning higher rpm then the average rider. I've known him to run Kawasaki and Suzuki in the past and every new bike he gets comes apart after break in and parts get shipped all over for mods and then back together. He had a backward Yamaha 250f apart and being ported and having crankshaft work done before they were at any dealership.

 

[Motosportz]

Good info, thanks.

 

[Bigbill]

I think there is plenty of room yet for innovation. They haven't peaked yet in there designs. I would like to see more fuel injection and oil injection in the 2t race bikes.
Take the human error completely out of the bike.
Do you think the suspension can be a better design with less over tuning?
A simple knob adjustment for light, medium, heavy riders. Are the fork adjustments creating problems. Do we need to send out every fork to be set correctly?
What wrong with this picture. A fork adjustment should adjust oil flow that's it. Easy.

 

[Motosportz]

Do we need to send out every fork to be set correctly? What wrong with this picture. A fork adjustment should adjust oil flow that's it. Easy.

Its not easy when you consider vast differences in rider ability, rider weight, terrain, purpose. A 165 pound pro guy riding endurocross needs a vastly different setup than a 225 pound trail rider chasing his kids around, which is vastly different than a 190 pound guy doing SX etc. Its not simple at all IMHO. Heck a lot of bikes feel way different when the tank is full verses empty.