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Edited Date/Time
3/2/2019 9:06am
YZ retro bike story from racerxill.com - BLOGANDT
Jason,
About a year ago, I started tossing around the idea of building a modernized, air-cooled MX all-purpose bike. The bike would be a smaller bore, nimble, easy to start, and fun to ride.
It started with the Yamaha Blaster motor, which went unchanged from 1988 until 2006, when the EPA rules put the knife in the Blaster's heart. Yamaha sold a ton of these machines, though, and I began searching eBAY for a complete motor to begin my project, which I had named "The YZ Retro." I secured one for about $375 and it was on to step two: securing a YZ125 rolling chassis.
This is a simple machine with 30 to 35 hp, with all the modern components, and a stone age simple motor.
That is pretty much a run down of my YZ Retro bike, which has a running weight of 220 pounds.
Jason,
About a year ago, I started tossing around the idea of building a modernized, air-cooled MX all-purpose bike. The bike would be a smaller bore, nimble, easy to start, and fun to ride.
It started with the Yamaha Blaster motor, which went unchanged from 1988 until 2006, when the EPA rules put the knife in the Blaster's heart. Yamaha sold a ton of these machines, though, and I began searching eBAY for a complete motor to begin my project, which I had named "The YZ Retro." I secured one for about $375 and it was on to step two: securing a YZ125 rolling chassis.
This is a simple machine with 30 to 35 hp, with all the modern components, and a stone age simple motor.
That is pretty much a run down of my YZ Retro bike, which has a running weight of 220 pounds.
Poll
The Shop
We need something like that for beginners, younger guys with kids who can't drop $8000 on a new bike, and even for vets who are as cheap as Weege.
$4000 with SSS suspension would be an awesome bike to get people into/back into the sport.
https://gpxmoto.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=73
Many of us have, especially Suzukis. The GPX is over priced by at least $2000. That's why no one cared when it was released.
My $830 TAO 125 pit bike is light years ahead of a CRF125 or KLX110 trail bike. The engine might only last 2 years instead of 10 years, but for the price and performance I'll take the chingaling pitbike.
It can be done, and the Chinese are catching up.
I'm not arguing that this is not a nice bike concept that fills a significant hole in the market that has been vacant since the KDX200 dropped out in 2006. It's just that you guys who think it could be easily designed, built, promoted, and supported for $4k with room leftover for the dealer are probably a good deal off the mark on what it costs.
The fact that you think a KLX110 is not a good value, when it is one of the lowest-margin machines in the industry tells me a lot about the mindset you are coming at this with.
This crappy turd, hell no.
My point is it's only a matter of time before a full sized helping of Chinese Takeout is worth buying.
If the manufacturers made something like in Weege's blog with a stock blaster engine or one pumped up to 20-25 easy to use hp it would sell below a $4500 price point. The lower the price, the more they would sell.
In one to two years a lot of those riders would probably upgrade to a real stock race bike.
Pit Row
If electric makes this possible, that works too.
The other piece of this puzzle is places to ride that are close to home. As a kid, in the valley east of Los Angeles, there was vacant lots and hills where we could go ride without much hassle from anyone. I think this is where electricity can make things better.
Electric.. that’s our future..
But seriously, I agree with Mikec265, the Chinese are catching up, copying the Japs old bikes and freshening them up, and selling them cheap. The Japs have been selling the ttr, klx and small crs forever and yes they are indestructible, but they also have the crappiest suspension. You could buy 4 Chingalings, one for everyone in the house or the block for the price of a single nice klx and use them up for 2 years of thrashing. Yeah, an adult thrashing a Chinese Pitbike is going to require a lot of tweaking and repair, but a kid riding around on trails or farmland may fair very well.
These old Japanese 2 strokes and entry bikes that have not had any development need to drop way down in price.
It is because they are built for the Asian domestic street bike market, in quantities several times over the entire global motocross market. That is what they are leveraging to get you an $830 pitbike. You can't do that with a new platform. It HAS to be the old air-cooled Honda knockoff (or whatever they choose to use for those bikes).
Cool idea though!
I'd LOVE an air cooled, steel framed YZ 200, but I fear it would not be a $4,000 motorcycle with a motocross-worthy chassis.
There is a need for an entry level race bike, like earlier posters said about Hodaka.
If smog weren’t an issue I’d say one of the big six could take a chance as an entry level bike. I’d love to have a 1982 air cooled KTM250 in a modern chassis.
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