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I miss how bikes looked in the 80s and early 90s

81 YZ250 is a great bike. Biggest improvement would be either a vintage fox twin clicker shock or Racetech will make you a brand new modern like shock for it. I built my own version of the fox shock but the rebound circuit on the shock is just an orifice setup and not as nice as what Fox and Racetech can provided. If you are really going to make a bracket for a disk brake fork might as well find a cartridge fork to use. There are a few places that make brackets for the Honda 43mm forks that come...

These are from the first track day class I did at a local speedway.

When i made the switch from dirt to asphalt I started with a mini SM. That bike was a blast Ran a race in the spring on my 400 with Canadian Supermoto, down a bit on power but had fun! My young lad loves it, doesn't want to ride dirt at all anymore really

Thanks for the compliments! Yeah, I might design a thicker bracket later and have it CNC-machined from billet aluminum. Cutting 5 mm aluminum plate with an angle grinder wasn't exactly ideal. 😄

I took the bike outside to get some better photos. Before taking the pictures, I had also installed a new UFO front number plate into place. The bike looked really good in the Finnish midnight sun

The next project was fitting the exhaust pipe into place. The mid-pipe was from some other bike model, so I had to shorten it a bit to get the silencer installed (which was a leftover spare from my '86 Honda after I upgraded it with a new DEP silencer). I didn't have a bracket for the silencer, so I fabricated one myself out of aluminum sheet metal. The first start of the bike!

Once I got the chain installed on the bike, it was time for the first test ride. The DDJ needle that was originally in the carburetor was way too rich, so I replaced it with a DGL needle, and the bike's performance improved significantly. I rode a few laps around the house and confirmed that the engine and gears seem to work just like they should. My 1984 Honda CR125, which I built previously, also made it into the photos.The bike is still missing the front brake and a few other small parts before my project is completely finished.

Next up was refreshing the gas tank and the radiator shrouds. At first, I tried to sand and polish the gas tank, but it turned out to be too tedious of a task, so I bought a graphics kit that completely covered both the tank and the shrouds. I think the final result looked pretty good. At the same time, I also installed a new petcock on the gas tank

I also wanted to keep a functional ATAC valve on my bike, since I had all the necessary parts to install it and the stock exhaust pipe works best with it. At the same time, I installed clear tubing for the radiator overflow hose

I did a leak test on the magnesium clutch cover I had repaired, but to my disappointment, I noticed that coolant was still seeping through a small hole in the water pump area. By chance, I was offered the opportunity to buy a lot of '86 engine parts, which included an aluminum clutch cover that solved the problem. However, I still plan to go back to that magnesium cover one day and try to patch the leak, because I’ve already put so much work into it.

Next, I installed aftermarket GPI radiators along with a set of new aftermarket coolant hoses

After sourcing the '86 subframe, the biggest issues with the project were solved. Through M46parts, I got a CDI bracket, swingarm chain guides, the plastic air filter cage and shock resorvoir mounting piece for my bike. Additionally, I installed a UFO rear shock mudguard and '86-style 'Pro-Link' decals

The next problem I noticed was that the 1985 subframe didn't fit with the 1986 main frame. When using the '85 subframe, there was a gap of several centimeters between the carburetor and the airbox boot. Luckily, the motorcycle salvage yard where I got the '86 main frame also had the subframe from the same bike available. At the same time, I bought an '86 exhaust pipe for my bike because I realized the mounting tabs on the pipe I had in storage didn't line up with the '86 frame

Next, I mounted the engine and the swingarm into the frame. For the footpegs, I fitted a pair of slightly modified OEM Yamaha pegs that I got from a friend.