This weeks collection comes to us from Bryan Jones in Arizona.
Took this bike from a beat up “basket case” to what you see here. One of my riding buddies who is sporting “Salt and Pepper” hair like me said this bike made him wish he was 11 or 12 years old again…..I have to admit, it did me too. I sand blasted the frame and swingarm then recoated them with jet black ceramic paint and took the forks and shocks apart and totally refurbished them (ceramic coated shock spring, new seals, oil and shock body coating). The tough part was tracking down all the OEM NOS parts over the course of two years (Cables, fenders, etc). I have to say it was well worth it, I have a soft spot for these little YZs. Serious little machines back in their time.
Enjoy!
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Impulse Studios
I always loved these old YZ's myself, That before picture looks like it has a 81 tank or at least the grafic is 81.... Great job, that bike is very cool.
I'd love to look at the whole bike, but the stupid ads cover up part of the picture- every time.
@MattFisher-No shit! I've complained about that before too. RacerX...get it together. Not sure if that's some kind of advertisement trick or what, but I won't buy anything from those adds. In fact, I'll go out of my way to avoid anything advertised in this section simply because it's so annoying. I understand that you guys need to make $$ from adds, but fix it already. It's totally lame that you can not see the enlarged photos.
I thought it was just me. I'm having the same problem.
Really nice restoration! Really nice.
Nice job. Looks very good. We built many of those for the race of champions and for Ponca City. That bike brings back some good memories and it owned the races back then.
It does bring back fond memories! Fabguy is right, in the 80 & 100 classes (now I'm really dating myself) , the "Yellow plague" was in full effect. My first broken bone (wrist) was on this little gem. I used contact cleaner on the (aftermarket) plastic Sun "Dehandlers" clutch and (more importantly) brake levers. Ahh, the wonders of chemical reactions......
right click on pic and choose "view background image". this got rid of the add for me.
Very nice. I use to rip around Canyon Raceway on one. Great memories!!
The first picture of the without the motor is of a YZ of 1980 it was the 1st year they came with plastic tank,, but the one restored is a 1978 or 79 YZ80....metal tank and the motor had been complety change from the 79 to 80 model...
with that said, did they restore a YZ of 1980 or a 1978 , 1979?
I was riding 125 Suzuki's around that time [so I'm not certain] but I believe those years [78-80] had graphic changes only... I'm sure someone out there can verify..., regardless - Top shelf restoration, Bryan! Helmets off to you. Well done.
that is one sweet little bike. had a '77 RM80 myself. i also REALLY, REALLY hate an ad that covers the picture of the sweet little bike. thats just dumb.
that first pic is a 81 tank/graphic. the first bike i raced...still have the brochure. i hated those #1s yamaha used that year. the restored look is a 80 (which i also had). the bike looks like it's actually a 80...it sat lower than the 81 and the 80 had a black swingarm. google it.
Why Yamaha ever abandoned the yellow- with the intermittent black and white stripe 'ala Hannah' will forever escape me. The magenta was pungent- the white was hideous- and the blue is.... blue. Yamaha's are supposed to be fricken YELLOW!!!!
@jethrox I remember kicking your a$$ all over the track on my 1980YZ, even though it was your hand-me-down bike.
http://tinyurl.com/czr5qku
Great work. Thanks for bringing back good memories.
WOW I raced that exact bike what a great job.Even raced it in the New Orleans Superdome back when you could race amatuar day. Nice to see one in such great condition.
Hey thanks to everyone for all your comments and thanks to Racer X for putting it up! To answer some questions the before is the same bike as the after and it is a 1980 YZ80G. It came to me like you see it with a 1981 YZ80 tank (nearly sun rotted through) and its engine in a milk basket (cliche, I know). The 1980 was the first year of the plastic tank & parts wise was kind of by itself next to the 79 and 81. I wanted to get the showroom look to it. I'm glad I could send some of you back in time! :) Thanks again and WFO_UFO I could not agree with you more on the color thing! Everybody keep twisting that right grip.
Total moto-porn. I remember a friend that had one when I had a mini-trail. In my mind, it was the ultimate expression of freedom and rebellion. Exquisite job on the restore - clearly this is not just a hobby with you! Maybe you should start your rehab since the bike is finished now.
Nice work. My first love was a Yamaha 80.
A good friend of mine bought a new one of these just to ride slow wheelies around the neighborhood.
Great job Bryan it look great , I was in " your collection" a few month ago with my Yamaha gt80 & I was just given a 1979 yz80f also a basket case that i will resto mines white because i live in Australia & we get the Euro spec bikes . Hey i would like to get in touch with you my names Brian Mc Guire i live in Sydney you can find me on face book or my email address is [email protected] . Anyway its good to see someone with really good taste in motor cycle