Posts
319
Joined
3/5/2013
Location
East Greenville, PA
US
Edited Date/Time
12/9/2015 10:59pm
The Old School Moto section has me motivated to grab an early 90's late 80's bike and do a little restoration over the winter.
Anyone have any personal experience with the 89 or 90 YZ125's? Things to look out for? I came across this one on Craigslist for a decent price. It looks dirty, but I was intrigued to see original graphics... and what looks like a complete probably poorly "washed/taken careof" 89 yz125. The seller says it "starts hard when cold, but runs great when warm" haha
Is there a better bike I should be on the lookout for? I was looking for 90-93 KX250's as I wanted a 250, but these 125's are cool. Doesn't hurt that Damon Bradshaw had a good year on the 89 YZ125...
Anyone have any personal experience with the 89 or 90 YZ125's? Things to look out for? I came across this one on Craigslist for a decent price. It looks dirty, but I was intrigued to see original graphics... and what looks like a complete probably poorly "washed/taken careof" 89 yz125. The seller says it "starts hard when cold, but runs great when warm" haha
Is there a better bike I should be on the lookout for? I was looking for 90-93 KX250's as I wanted a 250, but these 125's are cool. Doesn't hurt that Damon Bradshaw had a good year on the 89 YZ125...
i learned that the hard way and have done four or five since no one believes its the cover, i didnt either
The Shop
Slow as death kinda makes me nervous. They can't be that bad right? hahaha
https://youtu.be/npbhOP8nkYY
From what I see, I would be interested enough to look. But I would be looking to refurbish as many parts currently on the bike. If I see melted plastic or cracks that can't be fixed, I would soon change my thoughts to maybe just making it mechanically sound and having a fun older "survivor" to kick around on.
Fun little bike that did not require a lot of work. I could see myself dropping about 2 grand in a restore rather quickly.
I want it to look nice, and rip it!
Like another vital member did on here, this would be the goal.
These days I try to buy bikes as bad and as cheap as possible, but complete! They can be bombed out and dipped into a bucket of paint, as long as i have most of the fasteners and little bits.
Here is one I'm currently doing:
He may have a build here on Vital or elsewhere. I tend to notice people post on multiple sites.
The 90 actually won Dirt Bike's shootout, FWIW.
The early 41mm inverted forks are not so hot. It would be interesting to see if the 1991 forks would fit.
That Bradshaw tribute bike in this thread is sick. It's so clean.
Not sure what though, as I never split the cases on it. Polished gearbox parts I'd imagine.
Never suffered the worn case problem at the clutch arm either.
It's the bike I still really wish I had.
My CR125 would knock it into a cocked hat, but I'd still rather the YZ - it was my first MX bike.
Here is what I can tell you about '89 YZ125's. I had one back in '89, and then the tribute I recently did:
The shifting is bad but I got used to it. You can fit an entire '91 front end, and that's what I did on mine. These bikes eat clutches and stators. Many of the clutch and power valve parts are NLA so that makes repairs difficult. The 2 most problematic clutch parts, the inner hub and cover, are NLA and finding good used ones is difficult.
Back in 1989 I called the bike a piece of junk and put it away mid-year and started riding my dad's 250. After riding and racing my restored Bradshaw tribute several times, it started to develop the same problems I had back in '89 (clutch and electrical) and I said to myself, "Why did I ever restore this thing? It was a piece of junk back in 1989 and it's a piece of junk today." I parted it out for pretty good money though.
I think I posted something in the Thumpertalk thread where I compared lap times back to back with my modern CRF250. The 125 was not running well on that day, though.
I still really have my heart set on a early 90's KX250. I'll find one.
Here's the craigslist ad - https://poconos.craigslist.org/mcy/5306369074.html It's still available and I'm pretty sure he'd take $550 as he said so, or likely $500. Someone go check it out!
Pit Row
Let me know if you wanna get rid of that thing. I'm in PA.
I've been using a good mates bike for the last 2 years to do Farleigh Castle vmxdn on, its a 88 yz125, it goes realy well, the engines been rebuilt & it runs spot on.
The power is still good on this bike, the suspension is obviously not a patch on modern, but you get used to it,
when you watch the faster riders on these older 80's bikes it makes you fully realise it's not the bike.
I have a modern Yz125 and the suspension is unreal in comparison to the 88 but the engine while being more powerfull is only stronger, the 88 engine is still very useable.
http://www.evo-mx.com/mall/productpage.cfm/EvoMx/_YZFULL009/419860/89%2…
Go for it! These projects are so cool. Put your time and heart in to it. Don't build it for sale. Those YZ:s are for me the only 'right' models.
The clutch got weird towards the end (as others had mentioned). My stator went out one time. Given all of the hours I put on mine, I thought reliability was pretty good. I rode the hell out of that bike!
It's not that slow- I pulled plenty of holeshots on that bike against its contemporaries. Punchy mid-range hit. It isn't as fast at a 2015 YZ 125 of course, but it wasn't a dog by 1989 standards (KX and RM were slower that year, Honda was king). A pipe and reeds will help broaden the power.
Ergos still feel decent (I just sold a 1990 last month and the layout is the same). Suspension was usable and it was the first year of the USD fork.
You can still have a lot of fun on that bike, it will still get around a track just fine, and of course that was Bradshaw's year, so that makes it an awesome restore.
Post a reply to: 1989 YZ125 - Should I?