82 yz250 brakes

No front disc until '85 on Yamaha YZ's . It was three more years ('88) before a rear disc appeared on them.

Without a major undertaking, the swingarm on the 82 with have to do because of the one year only linkage design.

You could probably get an '85 and up front end on it without too much fuss.

If the 82 has the DLS front brake, those are decent stoppers for the day. It's all in the arcing of the shoes and adjustment of the linkage.

Yamaha also had some of the easiest to lock up rear brakes also, so much that care had to be taken not to stall the bike under hard braking.

The stock stuff can be made to work pretty good with careful set up.

Arcing the shoes to the drum surface to allow full contact of the shoes to the drum. This is not an adjustment you make with wrenches. More of a finessing of the shoes by careful filing / sanding.

There is also a proper way to adjust the double leading shoe brake linkage to get the most out of the system. I have an old article that goes into great detail on DLS adjustment. Just have to dig it up.

I had the front drum relined and arc'd on my '84 RM250 and it stops better than some disc brakes. Unbelievable what a difference it made. Not cheap though that's for sure.