There I was, on Facebook marketplace, scrolling along looking for a needle in the haystack when suddenly I stumbled upon the younger sister of my long lost 2001 YZ250. As I gazed upon my screen in wonderful delight I couldn’t help but hear my misses sure responses of “you don’t even ride the other two you have” you know winter is coming and you’re gonna be off work for about a month” “I will never see you again”
BULLOCKS I say! I must make this beautiful 2000 YZ250 GREAT AGAIN!!! As I sprung into negotiations it became apparent to me that the seller just wanted his once beautiful mistress gone when my initial offer of $550 dollars was accepted I all but squealed in delight “SHE SHALL BE MINE!!”
When I arrived at home with my new found love i wasted no time in getting to know her, other than the monster energy edition subframe and the 1/2 inch of play in the main bearing I could tell the bike at one point was pretty well cared for. The applied triple clamps, extra cylinder and fresh clutch plates paired with its non grooved clutch basket and un scathed clutch cover were all almost euphoric discoveries. And then I saw it……the cherry on top…..the period correctness about knocked me over from sheer excitment A PRO CIRCUIT R304 SHORTY WITH STINGER 😍😍😍😍😍 somebody pinch me



First on the list of to dos was try out the 30 dollar gravity feed sand blaster that my wife surprised me with about a year ago. I spent about a half hour cleaning up the cases with some degreaser and elbow grease then started my assault breathing some life back into these puppies, the blaster it self didn’t work great but it works good enough!
After about a hour of blasting with glass bead media and shaking the blaster like I was head maracan in the mariachi band I had the final product which were some I’d say 8/10 cases I will likely work them over a little more at a later date
It's sad you are feeling so blue, it may have been an opportunity to add some color to your life.
But it is a nice find, good luck with the build!
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
Da ba dee da ba di
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
On to the forks… after 7 years of these cartridge seals sitting in my shop in a dark corner I finally have the opportunity to use them! It’s come to my understanding though that some revamping is required for them to function properly and I’m hoping one of you fine people can shed some light on that? These are made by Terry Hay of Shock Treamtent in the AU so maybe it will be best if I call him for info but thought I might as well ask here too. The forks then selves look to be in pretty good shape though but I will definetly need a re spring and probably a revalve….im almost thinking about Sub tanks as well (edit: photo of disassembled fork not uploading)
I’m kind of partial to this mind meltingly beautiful kit (with white backgrounds of course)
Those old KYB had a few years of a cylinder valve in the cartridge that was suppose to back fill the MV during compression to help with rebound. Tough to tune so a lot of folks ditched them for a normal sealed setup like what Terry made. I have a set of 99s with the PC works kit in them which was similar and included a hydraulic bottoming system. Personally I'd ditch the stock BV setup for a RT gold valve as they can help provide tuning stacks. You'll have a lot more tuning options than that style of Base valve. Cool project and someday I hope to get to my 98 YZ250 that I bought brand new.
Thanks for the info! I already was kind of considering a gold valve kit especially since I enjoy the hands on aspect.
Now’s the time to get that 98 going! It’s going to be cold soon lol
I spend hours on FB marketplace looking for these type of projects…picked one up in July. Found so many random missing parts as I went back together…😂
Ha. Need to refresh the race bikes for 2025 first. The 86 YZ250 vintage bike needs a crank refresh and fresh plastic after 3 seasons of racing. My 21 YZ250X is going to get a 86 retro themed refreshed also for next years hare scramble season. There is also a couple of other projects to finish before that like my 88 Cagiva WMX 250 and a 94 GasGas EC125. Those are about 60-70% done. Never enough time to get it all in.
Make sure you get the head squish right before putting it back together, it comes on the generous side and it really livens up the bike through the whole RPM range. I switched from a cut head to Apex head with XC dome and really like how linear the powerband is (did the PV mod also on the X). It lugs nice and low for the technical stuff but yet revs higher than stock did. Some of that might come from the Boyesen Pro Series reeds also. I went with a SRT replacement pipe as they get smashed all the time. Ran a FMF shorty with it but the snap off idle at times would get me in trouble so I went back to stock. Nice score on the stinger exhaust!
Inspiration is everywhere all you have to do is look 🥹
Since I plan on keeping and riding this bike I’d like to find some Enzo Subtanks and a PC works pipe if anyone has either item for sale please do let me know.
The plan for this weekend is to start stripping the “monster energy edition” sub frame and lay a few thick coats of clear over the raw metal and go from there. This build will probably be a bit of a slow burn so bare with me 👍🏼
@Bobby Barracuda - a set of sub tanks just hit the bazaar, scoop them up!
https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/salebazaar/enzo-fork-sub-tanks
Are those the sub tanks you want?
Buy those before I do...
Hey, I'm waiting updates on that Gasgas 125!
and also on that new look for the YZ250, 'Im thinking of refreshing my YZ with an old style look.
Bobby, that steel framed YZ project looks really good!🤟
I'm close to assembling the 94 GasGas and believe I have everything to get it running.
I had Evo Mx do up a set of graphics with seat cover to match what they offer on my 86 for my 21. Seat cover is red with white stencil. I'm running white UFO plastic and the wheels are black hubs with gold Excel rims. The motor is getting black engine guards to make it look closer to the black painted engine in the 86. Should look sweet when done!
Love this kit, man!! Evo MX always makes sweet sets, all my classics have their kits.
Pit Row
Evo does really good work
Thanks a ton man! Hopefully he still has them
Been pretty busy lately but here’s a picture of the subframe I was able to start blasting, need to get some more media to finish it up and also should be taking delivery of a set of subtanks very soon.
Thanks Kimmer!!
Score! Super excited about these!! I will be sending the suspension off to Enzo soon for a revalve, respring and installation of these sub tanks. Usually I would wait on a revalve until after a few rides but since I have experience on the same exact bike from a few years back I know exactly what I want and need out of this suspension.
Also have elected to ditch the Terry Hay cartridge seals per Enzo’s reccomendation so if anyone is interested in them shoot me a message and I will get them out to you if you just pay shipping 👍🏼
Not much to report lately as work has been really kicking my butt lately. I was able to strip the cylinder down to be sent off and replated. Also went out tonight to organize a bit and get ready to finish blasting the subframe and silencer this weekend.


Hoping after the holidays I will have more time to devote to this build
Looks like we’re now one in the same…
Enjoy!!
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