Where Were You in '82?

The 1982 Yamaha IT-465J, an off-road dirt bike meant for riding trails, racing enduros, and just about any kind of dirt riding other than motocross, where the YZ-490J was meant to be ridden.
Or trials.
Who likes trials, anyway, other than snobs?
The IT-465J was based on the previous year's YZ-465H motocross bike, and was basically meant to be the off-road version of that YZ.

I once owned one of the bikes in the above pic.
I had a lot of fun riding it, too.
Back then, all of the serious dirt bikes were powered by 2-stroke engines, and all of the 4-stroke dirt bikes were regarded as overweight playbikes ridden by nerds who just wanted to goof-off for fun.
The 4-stroke engines were big, heavy, and, in the quest for long-term reliability in the hands of the typical dimwit who rode these things and (supposedly) took care of them, under-stressed in the amount of power they put out, had heavy flywheel mass, revved slowly and not too high, and, compared to a modern 4-stroke, held a lot of engine oil.
They might have seemed pretty trick back in the day (because we had nothing else to compare them to except older garbage scows from the 1970s), but today, they're lead sled dinosaurs that weighed a ton with squishy-soft suspension.

The manufacturers like Honda and Yamaha were, for decades, very conservative with their 4-stroke dirt bikes because they basically did not want to change what they were doing at that point.
The 4-strokes like the 1983 TT-600K and 1983 XR-500RD were for playing around, and the light-weight and powerful 2-stroke YZ-250K and CR-250RD from the same year were for serious usage.
It seemed like this was how it would be forever.
Why?
Because that was all we'd ever known.

In 1997, the Yamaha factory suddenly announced that it would run a works (meaning a special, one-off bike for a couple of selected paid riders) 4-stroke in AMA motocross and Supercross.
It was trick, light, and fast.
The very next year, the first modern 4-stroke motocross bike went on sale, the 1998 YZ-400FK.
This bike made the old 4-stroke dirt bikes of the past instantly obsolete for anything other than doing wheelies up and down the street in front of your house, and it was fast and light in weight.

They also came out with the then-modern day equivalent to the IT-456J - the WR-400FK, which was the off-road version.
Like the IT-465J being based on the motocross YZ-465H, the WR-400FK was based on the YZ-400FK.
It, too, was fast, trick, compact in engine design, and light in weight compared to the old bikes.
It was even lighter than the IT-456J in the above pic, and back then, that IT-456J was the best thing they had to offer for off-road use.

One-by-one, the 2-stroke dirt bikes stopped being produced, and now, there are just a few on sale for the 2010 model year.
My own motorcycles that I ride regularly are 4-strokes.
Trick, modern 4-strokes.

I think my point is that a lot of times, things you have access to won't be changed until those in the driver's seat decide it's time for a change.
Those trick YZ-400FKs and WR-400FKs probably could have been produced years earlier, but it wasn't until 1998 when we could buy one.
For years and years, it was believed that the 4-stroke motocross bike from Honda or Yamaha was a daydream.
They simply would not build one for you to buy.
Then, POOF!, there it is, all of a sudden.

Off to jerk,
-John