Proven YZ250 Offroad Racing Setup Explained In 7 Minutes
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- A quick video to detail my off road racing set up. I've been using this bike for twelve years, competing in hare scrambles, grand prix, desert, and enduro events. After 3 championships and dozens of races wins, I'd like to share this successful configuration with you.
Thanks for watching.
This dude reminds me of Ken Kaplan of the New England motorcycle museum (more like dirtbike museum lol) not the way he looks but like his attitude towards bikes, you can feel the passion !
Right on! Kaplan America 🇺🇸
I never liked the steering damper on my YZ.
It's like I can never really dial it all the way off in super technical stuff. The times I've removed it though, I felt that I'd made a mistake. It's about personal preference I guess. It really helps me hang on to the machine in fast chop.
@@CrustyCycle9317 it probably does help in the high-speed I just find myself messing with it too much.
In my experience the flywheel really helps with traction, but I've since bought an Apex Head, which turns into into a true woods weapon. You get low end, and a super crisp mid and top.
Great imput, thanks.
@@CrustyCycle9317 I'm running their mx done, but your welcome to look up their other heads.
A little more on the engine...
The previous owner (the dealership owners son) sent at least the top end to Pro Circuit. I'm unsure of the exact work done, but the transfer ports have been massaged and there is an anodized aluminum spacer between the spark plug and head. The bike is noticeably faster than others I've ridden. While the machine works good in the woods, the faster conditions get the better this configuration is. This suits my needs as the events I run are split about 30/70 woods versus open terrain-desert.
Lectron carburetor is another killer mod new pro billetron is insane
@Bigbodysquid250x I've heard good things. I know the KTM guys really like them.
Affordable and competitive Awesome real world setup 👍
Thank you for saying so. Yeah, there's really not much to it, pretty basic stuff. I found that machine on Craigslist for $1800 in 2011 and I've just really enjoyed it.
I love the YZ 250 but with the heaviest flywheel weight I can get , FMF gnarly and power core 2 , vforce reeds , brraaapp !
Yeah, I've got the Vforce too, right on.
I am getting back into riding at the age of 60 after almost 20 years off a bike (raced MX for 10 and rode for over 2 decades, mostly 80's and 90's.), and I found that bike needed so much set up to get it as good as a 1990ish bike. I fixed it all from suspension/seat lowering, (.75" suspension, 1" off the seat), to motor mods.
The only problem I have now is the aluminum frame transmitting more vibration to my hands and my hand go numb. A rubber mounted bar/top triple clamp helped a little. My only ohter choices is sending my crank to TMR to get balanced, and fill the frame cavities with Ultra-Black in hopes it will soak up vibration. I might have to get a old bike with a steel frame, if I want to ride much. Pssst, it would probably have been less work.
2019 YZ250 here
Sweet Yz. Born and bred race bike there. I agree with everything youve said and I've put over 700 combined hours on 3 yz250's. Can't say enough about the reliability and suspension tuneability. These bikes need NOTHING to be competitive. Bone stock they are winners. I will ask you, I too run the ZipTy tank and have always been bothered by the bends/mild kinking in the line. Have you had any fuel line issue with the tank to petcock pinching? Rock and roll man! Keep premixing. We are a dying breed out there now days amongst the injection bikes.
Thanks man, yeah we are a bit of a dying breed. I'm a hold out. As far as the fuel line... I don't think you can see it in the video, but I do a loop coming off the fuel tap, then over to the carb. The loop rests next to the clutch cable. I lightly secure it to the cable in two places, upper loop, and lower, using small zip ties. Never had a problem.
@@CrustyCycle9317 interesting about the loop, next time i replace the fuel line ill see if i can lengthen it enough to do that. clever.
Yeah, you can see the fuel line at 4:50 in the video.
I took almost 20 years off a bike, (Raced MX 250's for 10 years and rode them for about 20 before the time off.), and picked up a 2019 YZ250. I had gained some weight, and the spring rates needed to be changed, but the bike for me was not even ride-able in stock form.
#1) The bike is too tall, (5'9" tall I am), so I lowered the seat 1" and the suspension .75" in addition to the stiffer springs. Now it is just a tad lower than my lowest 250 (1986 YZ250), but i can reverse that a bit if i don't like the better cornering. :)
2) The engine is a high rpm engine, the factories futile attempt of it being competitive against 450 4-strokes on the modern fast tracks. Not going to happen. So the engine is not really "great" for anything accept for high rpm applications. Not what we really want for off road riding.
3) My engine mods for much more low end power, all reversible for fine tuning.
a) FMF Gnarley pipe and FMF spark arrested silencer, for lower rpm power.
b) V-vorce3 reeds, with out the stock aluminum spacer, (could add the spacer to mellow the power a bit). Also goo for more low end power. The stock reed "stop plate" does block off the 5th transfer port about 50%. There is power lost there, and easier to detonate on the intake side if octane is too low, (90 is too low for the stock bike).
c) Lower the cyli9ndr by not using a cylinder gasket, (sealed to the cases with a good gasket sealer. If I like it, I will machine .024" off the base of the cylinder and use the gasket again). Squish clearance is a good .048"-050" with the lowered cylinder, and compression is raised. Will need 100 octane fuel for the lowered cylinder. The lower exhaust port should match the lower RPM target of the FMF pipe, and that is where the real magic happens, when porting and pipe are matched up.
d) Jet the carb well. There is no sense testing for any engine performance, if the jetting is rich, and it is rich stock. There is at least 2hp there.
e) Weisco piston kit. It is goo to get rid of that YZ stock piston pretty quickly, and for goodness sake, let the water warm us well (takes longer with rich jetting too), before you take off. I bought my bike with about 3-4 hours on it, and i can tell the previous owner did not warm up the water well. I am surprised the piston lasted me another 10 hours and did not come apart.
I won't be able to ride it until spring, but I do build 2-stroke engines for a living (little ones), and I know the mods I can do to shift the power where I want. I expect those mods to greatly help low and mid range power, (and I do expect a loss of at least 500 top rpm, but my trails are not 5th gear trails.), and become a strong"short shifter".
If it is too much, I will add a flywheel weight first, before I reverse a mod or two.
I had to do more to this bike to set it up well than any other 250MX bike I had ever owned,---but you are right, the suspension is fantastic, especially the SSS forks.
Doug in Michigan
Wow, that's a lot of mods and great information, I'll keep it in my toolbox. I hope your project works out how you like. It's time to ride!
Had an '04 and '06 YZ 250s with the same setup, had a 9 oz flywheel weight and flex bars on them, really miss how good they were.
Yeah, they're just great machines, and I let a pair of flex bars get away on a sale, dang it!
On an other note, there's a lot of positive comments on the flywheel weights. Maybe I'm just being stubborn.
No, I won't do it...
That thing is clapped 😂, lets hear it run.
I never said it ran 😆
I love the last statement , that’s exactly why I bought my YZ250 in 17
I think you bring up a point, I bought mine for desert riding in nv and that bike has significantly improved my abilities
I think because it’s a slightly harder bike to ride the skill level grows vs someone with a rekluse and e start (not that theres anything wrong with that)
I agree, and I'm trying not to cave in to orange or white bike trend.
Is a day coming, where a dirt bike is as easy to ride as sitting in a Lazy-Boy recliner chair, and we will "all" be bragging about how much riding skill we have?
I will stick with the 2-stroke, because I enjoy actually gaining skill that is worth bragging about. :)
@@CrustyCycle9317 the most special part is when a long time 2 stroke guy gets on a new easy to ride bike with refined shifting, throttle, and braking skills
I ended up winning the Masters Class enduro championship in Washington, with that good old YZ last year. Bested a lot of white and orange machines. I've been using that same bike for 13 years. A euro bike costs about $10000 more than my bikes worth, but I don't think I'd get $10000 worth of performance gains. I paid $1800 for the bike in 2011.
How did you get the graphics to stay on the desert tank.. mine always blister off after about a month cause the fumes leach through plastic. Even with preferrated graphics
You can't see it in the video, but the decals on just the fuel cell have tiny slits to allow those fumes to escape. Don't yours have some type of perforations for the tank? Those have been on there for more than 10 years 🤔
Ya just like that. But after about a month they get blisters just like ims said they would. I do live in California so heat may play a issue. I put them on a brand new tank as well last time.
Yeah, I just don't like that stuff. You've got 1 shot at success, and it fails, then it's really difficult to make a proper welded repair, but not impossible.
Great advice. Thanks for making the vid. 👍
Thanks for watching, I'm glad you found it helpful.
I had a 91 model it was 2 fast, I flipped the bastard an fractured my elbow on road in ice, my fault I was spinning back wheel though gear box an tyre hooked up an flipped up fast before I could hit the brake
Dang, that sounds painful.
You do that, and say the bike was too fast? lol
@@EarthSurferUSA for my area yes , I had no access to a dirt track , had bikes all my life , I think it had a big bore kit on it , and they was no power valve it was just wide open, 250 YZ 2 strokes are fast , not like a 4 stroke
@@kingkong81icloud I hear you on limited places to ride today. Rural Michigan was so much more free to ride in the 70's and 80's. Many people rode. All dried up now. But i have ridden and raced dirt bikes for a bit too, and my 2019 YZ250 was probably the slowest 250cc MX bike I ever had in stock condition--with jetting so rich, oil droplets from my stinger ruined 2 of my jerseys. I have been modifying 2-stroke engines for a living for the last 2 decades, so I fixed the power (shifted it to lower RPM power), and I am still working on the jetting slowly but surly. I am 60 now, (and fighting cancer), but I hope to do some good Michigan CCC trail riding in the near future. I gotta be in better shape for those whooped out trails. I would have no idea how your bike ran with the power valve gone. It may have made it a "light switch" power curve. Who the heck did that work? Doug in Michigan
@@EarthSurferUSA it was hard to keep the front wheel down, I bought it like that in England, god know why it was deleted, I have had 4 Yamaha DT125R, that I just used to open the power valve fully, it made it faster like a YZ but it was controllable, probably because it was a enduro and the down pipe had a bend in it like a 200 , but that YZ 250 was a death trap , god know why it was like that, I wish I would have kept it an found a better engine with a working power valve system, the YZ was JB Welded on the engine block were the Power valve goes next to the cylinder, was a 1991 or 92 model
Neat bike.
I took my flywheel weight off. East coast mostly single track. It just gave me a lag feeling.
Thank you. I've never even ran one. I just don't want anything to slow down my revs.
It goes to show how versatile the YZ 250 has always been. It can do woods, moto, desert, and all in between. It just works.
@@borehole8631 Always competitive, even on a bad day.
Maxima 927 no good
Thanks for your input. That's what I've always used. What's your recommendation?
@@CrustyCycle9317 i say its great if your gonna be wide open other wise powervalve seems to gumm up much faster then other oils , i had a great experience with reverend motors holy smoke 30to 1 mix almost no smoke or smudge, amsoil dominator has always been solid too if your a maxima fan i hear the maxima super m is a better all around oil , 927 is great for people who r on the pipe alot , i tend to ride alot of technical low rpm stuff so i stay away from castor oil
That's good advice, thanks. The 927 does drool a bit, that's for sure. I try to be on the pipe at all times 🤓
@@CrustyCycle9317 yamalube 2r for the win!
I'm all about the win🏆