Your Collection: 1982 YZ100J

This weeks collection comes to us from Frank Totton.

The 1982 YZ100J was one of my favorite motorcycles. It was the perfect size for a 16 year old who was smaller in stature. It was also very light (179 lbs) and pretty fast. I believe it was named "bike of the year" by one of the moto magazines of the time.

I won my first race on this bike;  rode the amateur Pontiac Supercross against some very fast Michigan riders (including some kid named Jeff Stanton);  and even won a moto against 125s at Byron, IL where the 100B class was combined with the 125B class. This is when the 100 class was dying off and it was typical to combine them with some other class.

I attach a picture of my original bike in 1982 (with the dreaded Yamaha number one plates). The other photos are of my current model that was found in 2011 on Craigslist, posted as a 1983 YZ 125. The guy couldn't believe I wanted the thing. We both walked away happy and I never felt the need to correct his thinking that this was an '83 125. It was in decent shape and ran, but I spent this summer freshening up the top end and suspension, while listening to Asia and Sammy Hagar. I am looking forward to putting it in some vintage races. As is typically the case,  when I rode it again for the first time in 30 years, my first impression was "How did I ever ride this thing?" and "This is not anything as fun as I remember".   We have it so good with the current bikes.    

- Frank