Just a blip of the throttle and he pulls up to or passes several riders . Know i know this is not a full on race but you can hear an see the old school 80's 2 stroke power !! Love it ! Beautiful bike BTW ... looks so nice
last of the big singie cylinderscreaming 2 strokes ,i owned one for 6 years and these bikes just flat ass haul butt!.none of the other bikes of this vintage could keep up with me although my friend tried hard on his CR 485 .HE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO EVEN CAME CLOSE. YOU drive these with the throttle and hold on when you hit the power band.Top speed stock out of the box was 85 90 mph EASY. Damn i miss that bike,i will start looking for another one right now should a never sold mine
Its a crying shame that Yamaha didn't release a production version of the YZM500, saw them race at Hawkstone Park in '87, fantastic bike, looked so trick with the aluminium box frame.
I had one that was yellow and black 500cc and at 60 miles per hour on the street you cracked the throttle it would get away from you stand right up mean bike
You’re a great rider man, looked like you were passing everyone not even on it at all! Any tips on how to restore this bike would be great! I just picked one up with bad rings.
Thanks. The track wasn't really suitable for all that power but it's a lot of fun to ride. It took me a while to get the bike running right. I ended up fitting a 39.5mm pwk kehin carb which made a big difference. Restoration wise, I would say vapour blasting made things look real nice, but watch those magnesium cases if you do this. Some people will tell you they are hard to start, but they are easy when jetted right (this takes some trial and error) and you use the correct technique. Just make sure you keep your foot on the kicker so it doesn't shoot forward on return as it can break the internal tab on the kick start gear, or the casing if you're really unlucky. You can get plastics from Maier or DC - Maier have a nicer finish. I reccomend joining the Yamaha YZ490s Facebook page for lots of tips and knowledge- I got a lot of help from there with my build. Best of luck!
My 1984 went four seasons of desert racing with only re ringing it once a year. Turns out that was false economy on my part. I neglected to consider metal fatigue. In 1989 the skirts broke off of the piston and it didn’t happen just sitting in the garage. Completely destroyed the old air hammer. You ain’t seen two stroke damage until you’ve had a piston skirt get caught in a transfer port at 90mph.😢
They're really not that bad once set up correctly. Suspension is revalved and running cartridge emulators in the forks which works well. Drum brakes will never be as good as modern discs but you get used to it.
I believe the worst 2 stroke Yamaha made was the 1974 SC 500. I had two of them, twin shock like 4 inch suspension at the rear. Very bouncy and very belligerent at mid throttle. That's why they were only made for two years. Oh yeah no stopping power. Just a white knuckle ride. The 490 sits up higher and is equally scary and more pipey on the low end.
Everybody calm down about it being a ''Beast'' and all that. Sure it has power. But so does literally 80% of all bikes aswell. 83 Yamaha yz490 - 46,7 rwhp. No more, No less so stfu. 2000 Yamaha Yz426f - 47,2 rwhp. 1994 - Honda cr250r - 44,5 rwhp. 2006 Suzuki rm250 - 46,4 rwhp. 2022 KTM 350sxf - 50 rwhp. Yepp suck it up 2 stroke fanboys. 2021 Honda crf450r - 55,3 rwhp. That's 1hp more then a cr500 2 stroke. Sure for that time the yz490 was a beast. But as every old vehicle on this planet I would say ''Nice to look at, Terrible to ride''.
Just a blip of the throttle and he pulls up to or passes several riders . Know i know this is not a full on race but you can hear an see the old school 80's 2 stroke power !! Love it ! Beautiful bike BTW ... looks so nice
More than enough torque for this little track!
Having owned/raced similar bike, I felt that short-shifting was the key. Better traction, smoother suspension response.
Thanks for the good ride DM! im about to finish my 89 490, cant wait to test it out! thanks for sharing
Awesome 👍 YZ490 like a pair of knuckle dusters inside a velvet glove 😂
Best bike I ever had. It would scare the shit out of me now 34 years later...
The Amount of power that bike has
Fantastic!❤
My pop took 7th at LA national hillclimbs back in the 90s on that bike.. the bike still keeps up with almost anything on the dirt,
last of the big singie cylinderscreaming 2 strokes ,i owned one for 6 years and these bikes just flat ass haul butt!.none of the other bikes of this vintage could keep up with me although my friend tried hard on his CR 485 .HE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO EVEN CAME CLOSE. YOU drive these with the throttle and hold on when you hit the power band.Top speed stock out of the box was 85 90 mph EASY. Damn i miss that bike,i will start looking for another one right now should a never sold mine
Just got one of these. cant wait to restore it
TNT MOTO , Seen the vid 👌👌👌
LOL, just watching this for the first time tonight & was shocked to see you were here!
Hahaha I watched your videos as well, I think we’re in a niche part of CZcams where people who just bought a clapped out 490 end up.
Me too.
gnarly dude..... when that thing come on the pipe lookout lol.
This beast is not even trying. Wish we would have kept driving two stroke tech to modern dirt bikes.
The old rototiller Best bike ever owned 490 YZ bored 10 over amazing
Its a crying shame that Yamaha didn't release a production version of the YZM500, saw them race at Hawkstone Park in '87, fantastic bike, looked so trick with the aluminium box frame.
It would have been a total game changer, thats for sure!!
Agree with you there. Yamaha have always been ahead of their time. Some innovations catching on (monoshock) some not so much (B.A.S.S.) 😄
Beautiful bike
Excellent riding. Good job
I had one that was yellow and black 500cc and at 60 miles per hour on the street you cracked the throttle it would get away from you stand right up mean bike
seems like monsterous power at the twitch of the wrist
Oooooh....it was...
1 down 3 up.. fast, fun, and enough power to get you outta some deep BS, just cracks that throttle a lil more..antelope valley/Gorman exit bitd..
490s are monsters but you make it look easy 👍
Hell yea my dad use to have 1
imagen how freaked out the other riders would be if you opened that beutiful bike up
Is that a European model? They were white and red. I bought a new one in 1994 and all of the yz’s were still yellow here in the states.
Did this beast even get out of first? 😂
cant you just put those monsters in 3rd and ride them anywhere... hahha
Holy crap that‘s loud
You’re a great rider man, looked like you were passing everyone not even on it at all! Any tips on how to restore this bike would be great! I just picked one up with bad rings.
Thanks. The track wasn't really suitable for all that power but it's a lot of fun to ride.
It took me a while to get the bike running right. I ended up fitting a 39.5mm pwk kehin carb which made a big difference. Restoration wise, I would say vapour blasting made things look real nice, but watch those magnesium cases if you do this. Some people will tell you they are hard to start, but they are easy when jetted right (this takes some trial and error) and you use the correct technique. Just make sure you keep your foot on the kicker so it doesn't shoot forward on return as it can break the internal tab on the kick start gear, or the casing if you're really unlucky. You can get plastics from Maier or DC - Maier have a nicer finish. I reccomend joining the Yamaha YZ490s Facebook page for lots of tips and knowledge- I got a lot of help from there with my build. Best of luck!
👍🏻
Man at that rate of RPM your top end rebuilds will be at every 300,000 miles, barely used the top of the band.
Small and tight track. First ride after restoration so was taking it easy
My 1984 went four seasons of desert racing with only re ringing it once a year. Turns out that was false economy on my part. I neglected to consider metal fatigue. In 1989 the skirts broke off of the piston and it didn’t happen just sitting in the garage. Completely destroyed the old air hammer. You ain’t seen two stroke damage until you’ve had a piston skirt get caught in a transfer port at 90mph.😢
Crazy question - is that an aftermarket tank? I'm looking for one and that tanks looks great if it's a reproduction ... Thx
not a very crazy question 😂
It's a Clarke tank. It's oversize and sits slightly taller than the stock tank. I've since restored and refitted the original.
It would seem unless you're in the w i d e open expanses of the desert,,a well tuned 250 smoker is all you'll need..
My 250 is certainly more suited to this track, but nothing can compare to the fun of a 500 big bore on an old school track IMO.
Do you know what year they switched to the red n white scheme?
1983. My 1982 was black and yellow.
85 was first year for the red&white or as they called it the European colors,bought my first new YZ 250 in 85 when colors were switched.
They were always white and red in Europe since producton started in 82. In the US they changed from yellow and black to white and red in 85
1st kick
The Milk Run
The only question i have is why they have such small expansion chambers?
I believe the expansion chambers were slightly bigger on the later models. PFR make a pipe with bigger expansion chamber.
Fear
Those bikes don't like lugging around they are made to rev out
What track is that? it looks bitchin'.
Didn't even rev it high enough to clear it out..
It was a tight track and just running it in after restoration.
3rd gear
Damn, all that,,and an escort,,as well as petcock and choke assistance..
LOL passes everyone in 2nd gear
That’s an 85, not 83
fucking unnecessary for full throttle 🤣😂😇
Oh I got you joke num nut but you didnt see how dosey it was at least try and make it funny
Terrible bike to ride,brakes are crap,terrible suspension
Still an iconic bike
They're really not that bad once set up correctly. Suspension is revalved and running cartridge emulators in the forks which works well. Drum brakes will never be as good as modern discs but you get used to it.
If you have the $$$ an easy fix.
I believe the worst 2 stroke Yamaha made was the 1974 SC 500. I had two of them, twin shock like 4 inch suspension at the rear. Very bouncy and very belligerent at mid throttle. That's why they were only made for two years. Oh yeah no stopping power. Just a white knuckle ride. The 490 sits up higher and is equally scary and more pipey on the low end.
Everybody calm down about it being a ''Beast'' and all that. Sure it has power. But so does literally 80% of all bikes aswell.
83 Yamaha yz490 - 46,7 rwhp. No more, No less so stfu.
2000 Yamaha Yz426f - 47,2 rwhp.
1994 - Honda cr250r - 44,5 rwhp.
2006 Suzuki rm250 - 46,4 rwhp.
2022 KTM 350sxf - 50 rwhp. Yepp suck it up 2 stroke fanboys.
2021 Honda crf450r - 55,3 rwhp. That's 1hp more then a cr500 2 stroke.
Sure for that time the yz490 was a beast. But as every old vehicle on this planet I would say ''Nice to look at, Terrible to ride''.