MotoworldRacing.com 2001 YZ125 Restoration FINISHED!!!!

1/12/2018 10:42am Edited Date/Time 9/21/2018 11:18am

So my boss picked up a 2001 YZ125, Sight unseen, from a friend of his in Colorado. Imagine our surprise when this shows up! turns out it's an ex-Motoworldracing.com team bike, that was sold to someone who obviously only rode in the woods. The previous owner added a big fender tool bag, skid plate, and spark arrestor. other than that, it's the real deal, We pulled off the clutch cover and found a full Hinson basket, inner and pressure plate. This project just went from "make it run and flip it" to restore it back to perfect condition.
she's in pretty rough shape, the countershaft had sheared off behind the sprocket, so the cases had to be split and that was replaced. At some point this bike had been blown up bad, because the cylinder had been replaced with an Athena. We could see where the cases had been ported, but the cylinder was untouched, so we sent it off to Terry Varner, who did the MW team stuff back in the day, and he ported the cylinder to match the cases. the frame was sent out to be powder coated, and we had ZLT reproduce the Motoworld graphics.
Re-assembly starts now! Stay tuned!




















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Spagina767
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Fredericksburg, VA US
1/12/2018 11:26am
This looks like an awesome start to a build! I had a 2001 so I am partial... that 6 speed was awesome.

But, and I'm sorry if this comes across the wrong way, if you are going to try and make it back to its glory, why would you use the primary drive sprockets? Surely they used Sunstar, as indicated on the rear fender, so why not use era correct parts?
1
yz133rider
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Location
Avondale, PA US
1/12/2018 12:23pm
Because its a sprocket. It's not gonna be correct down to the amount of twists in the safety wire.
1/12/2018 5:03pm
Spagina767 wrote:
This looks like an awesome start to a build! I had a 2001 so I am partial... that 6 speed was awesome. But, and I'm sorry...
This looks like an awesome start to a build! I had a 2001 so I am partial... that 6 speed was awesome.

But, and I'm sorry if this comes across the wrong way, if you are going to try and make it back to its glory, why would you use the primary drive sprockets? Surely they used Sunstar, as indicated on the rear fender, so why not use era correct parts?
Actually what happened was some stuff got ordered before we knew what we were dealing with, so we’ll probably end up with the correct bits, as much as we can anyway. I’ve had a hell of a time finding pics of a motoworld bike in its prime, so I’m guessing at some of it.

The Shop

jk367
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756
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3/17/2015
Location
NV US
1/12/2018 5:55pm
I have some motocross journal mags coming from that era. If there are any good pics or write ups I’ll definitely post. Looking forward to this build. Very cool
.kyle
Posts
469
Joined
6/5/2011
Location
GB
1/13/2018 6:05am
mxracer618 wrote:
Actually what happened was some stuff got ordered before we knew what we were dealing with, so we’ll probably end up with the correct bits, as...
Actually what happened was some stuff got ordered before we knew what we were dealing with, so we’ll probably end up with the correct bits, as much as we can anyway. I’ve had a hell of a time finding pics of a motoworld bike in its prime, so I’m guessing at some of it.
Hondas4Life3
Posts
853
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7/30/2013
Location
Louisburg, KS US
1/13/2018 7:49pm
Why not use the triple clamps that came on it? Not team used? They look aftermarket.
DrSweden
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6767
Joined
8/30/2008
Location
Stockholm SE
1/14/2018 1:21am Edited Date/Time 1/14/2018 1:22am
Spagina767 wrote:
This looks like an awesome start to a build! I had a 2001 so I am partial... that 6 speed was awesome. But, and I'm sorry...
This looks like an awesome start to a build! I had a 2001 so I am partial... that 6 speed was awesome.

But, and I'm sorry if this comes across the wrong way, if you are going to try and make it back to its glory, why would you use the primary drive sprockets? Surely they used Sunstar, as indicated on the rear fender, so why not use era correct parts?
They are still 6-speed. But good bike (had one as well) and this build will most likely deliver!
Spagina767
Posts
912
Joined
8/27/2013
Location
Fredericksburg, VA US
1/14/2018 7:37am
Spagina767 wrote:
This looks like an awesome start to a build! I had a 2001 so I am partial... that 6 speed was awesome. But, and I'm sorry...
This looks like an awesome start to a build! I had a 2001 so I am partial... that 6 speed was awesome.

But, and I'm sorry if this comes across the wrong way, if you are going to try and make it back to its glory, why would you use the primary drive sprockets? Surely they used Sunstar, as indicated on the rear fender, so why not use era correct parts?
DrSweden wrote:
They are still 6-speed. But good bike (had one as well) and this build will most likely deliver!
Yeah, but they weren't from 02-04
1/15/2018 11:44am
Why not use the triple clamps that came on it? Not team used? They look aftermarket.
the clamps that were on it when we got it are the Topar Racing ones, they would be fine if they were in good shape but they're pretty rough, half the bolts were frozen up and they're all faded.
FiendzCC
Posts
316
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9/12/2017
Location
Murrieta, CA US
1/16/2018 8:26am
Who did the frame and subframe? Looks sharp
mxBryan
Posts
253
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11/3/2013
Location
BE
4/6/2018 3:42am
Thing is looking good so far. But what a rare find !
6/1/2018 1:50pm






Finally a bit of an update, the bike is coming together really well now, and I have just about everything I need to finish it. up to this point it's been a lot of cleaning and scrubbing, but she's almost a roller. just about every part with any major wear has been replaced, and everything else has been cleaned. I'm currently trying to locate some decent shape FMF Factory 909 levers and clutch perch, but have the stock stuff ready to go if i can't find the 909 parts. (yes i'll replace that twisted front brake lever, I just had to put that back on to bleed it because it was the only lever I had) the worst part so far has been stripping the paint off the swingarm. I had to do this because it had some pretty bad spots, but i'm almost sorry I did because it's going so slowly. The end result will be worth it though!
6/17/2018 5:17pm



Getting closer now! just need to get the swingarm and the seat back and she's just about done.
6/17/2018 5:27pm





Took the swngarm to a buddy that has a vapor blaster, now i'm kicking myself for not taking better "before" photos, it looks amazing!
6/17/2018 5:33pm



I had a couple cool Cycra vented number plates in my secret squirrel stash, but will stick with the stock one for this build in the interest of keeping it the way it looked back in the day. I guess these will have to wait for another build... I had one leftover AMA Tech sticker that isn't exactly period accurate, but the EA Sports sticker is the real deal from 2001.
6/17/2018 5:41pm




the seat will be the most dramatic before and after photo ever. there was no saving the cover, and the chances of finding another new Motoworld one are slim to zero, so i was able to have ZLT reproduce the vinyl panel, and am in the process of having them built into the new cover. I pick it up tomorrow, can't wait to see how it looks!
6/17/2018 5:52pm



Scored a handful of NOS FMF Factory 909 stuff on eBay, and was able to refurbish the clutch perch. still looking for a 909 front brake lever...
1
Camp332
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8352
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8/16/2006
Location
Zoo Jersey US
6/18/2018 5:44pm
Very cool build!
wm741
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298
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12/10/2010
Location
Magnolia, TX US
6/18/2018 8:58pm
Looking awesome!
EZZA 95B
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9095
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AU
Fantasy
1062nd
6/18/2018 10:50pm Edited Date/Time 6/18/2018 10:54pm
So sick! I was riding YZ125's at the time and always thought they looked cool as frig, their whole setup looked trick.

Reminds me of Greg Schnell.
6/19/2018 5:35pm
EZZA 95B wrote:
So sick! I was riding YZ125's at the time and always thought they looked cool as frig, their whole setup looked trick. Reminds me of Greg...
So sick! I was riding YZ125's at the time and always thought they looked cool as frig, their whole setup looked trick.

Reminds me of Greg Schnell.
Actually there’s about a 30% chance that this was Greg Schnell’s racebike. We know for sure that it was a Motoworld team bike. I was able to get in contact with Paul Lindsay, who was the team manager then. He was super helpful, and said that in 01, rather than having a huge parts account, yamaha just kept giving them new complete bikes, so they went through close to 30 125’s that year, between Greg Schnell, Kevin Johnson, and Isiah Johnson. Based on the AMA tech sticker, this bike was for sure raced by one of those guys. Unless the AMA keeps these numbers on record, I doubt we’ll ever find out any more detail than that.
BenG
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229
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12/20/2017
Location
Denton, TX US
6/19/2018 6:16pm
Good looking bike.

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