Posts
402
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Uppsala, SE
Edited Date/Time
12/8/2014 1:06pm
'Project' Retro GP look is on...
Picked up the white (UFO) plastic-kit yesterday and started doing some graphic mounting of the FLU Retro-kit last night. I just prefitted the tank decal, as I will cut of the part that goes on the upper part of the tank.
Look's pretty cool in my eyes (even though I would have prefered the Speedblocks alone with the tuning fork/Yamaha logo above them and GYTR or Öhlins beneath). But hey, I guess that's why you have custom decal companys, uh....
The inspiration? Well, the YZM ofcourse, mind it being a 500cc (pic courtesy of www.motomagazine.co.uk)...
The trick Rotary Valve, which Jim Gibson rode to a 3rd place finish during the 83' World Championships...
And my only thru youth Euro hero, Håkan 'Carla' Carlqvist (pic courtesy of www.robandrewmx.com).
Instead of posting a pic here and there, I thought I start a thread (for those who may find this stuff interesting). When thinking about it, maybe I should have posted this in the 'Race Shop' categorie?
Anyway, it may not been the best title name, as the bike is an 2005 YZ125, but I'm trying to get an 'old-school' GP look on it. And it's not a 'from zero built-up' either (even though the engine got completely rebuildt 6hrs ago). And it's not a trailer queen, so there are marks, schratches and so on.
I'm also taking it step by step, trying to find good parts to a decent price. Therefore it takes a while, compared to just buying everything new and fix the bike over a short period of time. Sure, I would love to have a 144cc-kit on it, but as of now it's to much $$$ (even if I had to re-build the whole engine). I still have to get a VForce 3 or RadValve, might even try those 'powerwings'.
I've posted a couple of pics before of the bike in US yellow and seen comments about needing to dye the tank or buy a black one etc. But if you care to look closely, you'll see that it is actually an aluminium tank I've got. Not the best looking, as the upper part of it are quite ugly done (the welds and metal work). But I got it for little $$$ and I've only seen two (including this one) for sale during the last couple of years.
And I would never ever even think about using the original blue tank with yellow or white...
Picked up the white (UFO) plastic-kit yesterday and started doing some graphic mounting of the FLU Retro-kit last night. I just prefitted the tank decal, as I will cut of the part that goes on the upper part of the tank.
Look's pretty cool in my eyes (even though I would have prefered the Speedblocks alone with the tuning fork/Yamaha logo above them and GYTR or Öhlins beneath). But hey, I guess that's why you have custom decal companys, uh....
The inspiration? Well, the YZM ofcourse, mind it being a 500cc (pic courtesy of www.motomagazine.co.uk)...
The trick Rotary Valve, which Jim Gibson rode to a 3rd place finish during the 83' World Championships...
And my only thru youth Euro hero, Håkan 'Carla' Carlqvist (pic courtesy of www.robandrewmx.com).
Instead of posting a pic here and there, I thought I start a thread (for those who may find this stuff interesting). When thinking about it, maybe I should have posted this in the 'Race Shop' categorie?
Anyway, it may not been the best title name, as the bike is an 2005 YZ125, but I'm trying to get an 'old-school' GP look on it. And it's not a 'from zero built-up' either (even though the engine got completely rebuildt 6hrs ago). And it's not a trailer queen, so there are marks, schratches and so on.
I'm also taking it step by step, trying to find good parts to a decent price. Therefore it takes a while, compared to just buying everything new and fix the bike over a short period of time. Sure, I would love to have a 144cc-kit on it, but as of now it's to much $$$ (even if I had to re-build the whole engine). I still have to get a VForce 3 or RadValve, might even try those 'powerwings'.
I've posted a couple of pics before of the bike in US yellow and seen comments about needing to dye the tank or buy a black one etc. But if you care to look closely, you'll see that it is actually an aluminium tank I've got. Not the best looking, as the upper part of it are quite ugly done (the welds and metal work). But I got it for little $$$ and I've only seen two (including this one) for sale during the last couple of years.
And I would never ever even think about using the original blue tank with yellow or white...
I guess you don't need to dye that tank then!!!
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Doc: I guess it's this bike you're talking about...
And the 'funny' thing is that the suspension on this puppy, is the same one I posted a pic of in the 'What's up with Jimmy Albertson'-tread I started. The owner and builder of that bike is a local Arlanda-guy, he flew down to Italy to get the FUN-alu tank, bought the Showa A-kit directly from J.A (and then had it re-valved) and it was a 144-kit on it (not 167cc).
He later sold the bike with stock suspension and I almost got my hands on the alu.tank when the new owner sold it on EnduroMX. He still has the suspension laying around.
I also did a thread on Mototalk about that bike and his brothers trick YZ250 (who used to be co-owner of Powerbike): 2-stroke bling-bling
Pretty cool you saw that one too!
FTE: As Stillwelding said, the tank on the #871 is from X-Fun in Italy. From what I learned, the only one producing this kind of stuff in Europe (atleast these days).
Thanks for the compliments, guys!
Link is 125 League racing in Gimont France. A cool track right next to the village.I visited a few years ago, The 125 is not dead.
http://gallery.atpic.com/28767
Looks sweet though!
Hank Thrill: Since me neither couldn't find any "left over's", I put up a 'Want to Buy'-ad on a Sale/Buy/ Forum-site over here. I was lucky enough that a guy - that had an extra one still unpacked - called me and sold it to me - for less than on-the-shelf price.
Gotta have some luck sometimes I guess. Have you checked E-bay (both in US and UK)?
Check out this link, even though it seems to be some kind off misshap since they have included both YZ and YZ-F's in the same article: http://www.onestopmotorcycles.com/....php?productid=16554
Who doesn't like your "girlfriend" naked?
My brother was nice enough to paint the top steering clamp black for me (it had an ugly orange-yellow tone before). I use the stock silencer, since the shorty is unnecessary loud (even though it would have looked cooler in these photos).
I still have some fitting to do with the tank (needs a bit more rubber on the frame to get the right mounting hight). And the seatcover isn’t done either, just pre-mounted to get a feeling for the final result.
Yellow backgrounds used to mean 500cc, over here it's the +35 class in both MX and Enduro's these days.
To be continued...
Pit Row
And people will expect you to be blazing fast on it too...
(Pics aren't to good thanks to my crappy mobilephone and bad lightning)
The cockpit's almost finished (I would liked Renthal Twinwall's just for the looks of it). The seatcover isn't finished yet, hence the wrinkles.
Here you can see how ugly and crooked the upper part of the alu-tank is. Looks like some old and badly done knighter armor... Not much to say, it is what it is.
I was childish enough to sit and do these speedblocks on my own... My wife just shaked her head at me. Why does it have to be so hard to find black Yamaha stickers? A guy I know has his own printing company, so he's doing a couple for me, including the tuning fork-logo (that will sit mid-center on the front fender). It's all about details, I guess...
I was about to do matching forkguards, but I get the feeling it will look a bit to much. I even got a hold of - what looks to be - old 465/490 tank decals, that would work. But I'll go with plain white and Yamaha on them.
At first I wasn't even going to use the rearfender decal (since I like the bike to be as plains as possible when it comes to stickers), but I guess they protects pretty good. Since I'm not willing to pour money into the bike, I've even made my own backgrounds and alot of the bling-bling stuff are bought on re-sales and such.
Great bike Swede
In other words, oldschool training mentality, fast as hell, carismatic and outspoken, liked by his competitors and still a bad ass motherphucker on the track.
That's what Carla stood for/was in my puppy eyes!
He probably had one of the scariest moments i've ever seen without a crash... the thing stalled out in the air, and they had a ton of engine breaking anyways, pitched in, went way way way forward... lucky it was a step down and he was a good jumped but it still all made us squawk!!!!
A 125 is by far the bike with the highest funfactor. If i win the lottery I'll by one 125, one 250 2stroke and one openclass twostroke.
I think the style you're in search for proves you have a good taste, or maybe it's just because we are pretty much the same age and thinks this was a golden era somehow.
Good classic colours, the tank in aluminium, Öhlins suspension...Pure art
I am planning on doing a project YZ 125 when I get a bike again, I hope it turns out as nice as yours!
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