The 1987 Yamaha YZ-490T.
Open class air-cooled 2-stroke motocross bikes can be fun.
Just ask me.
I can't remember whether or not I've mentioned my YZ-490T in one of these blog posts or not, so, here it goes:
Yamaha's YZ-490 motocross bikes have somewhat of a dodgy reputation within the dirt bike community.
The people who say bad things about them seem to recite what an ex-editor of Dirt Bike magazine wrote about them when this model first came out in 1982.
He basically included the YZ-490 on his now-infamous list of the top 10 worst dirt bikes ever made, and since this guy was a humorous character (complete with a wide, twirly, handlebar-shaped mustache), stuff he writes can stick in dirt bike riders' minds (the ones that read, anyway).
What was supposedly wrong with the YZ-490?
When it first came out as the YZ-490J in 1982, it was replacing the 1981 YZ-465H.
Compared to the 465, the 490 had an engine with more cc, but also had more weight, the rear suspension was not all that great, and the engine would either run too rich and blubber on excess fuel, or run lean and ping, depending on the weather conditions and air temperature.
Now, this is what I read - I've never owned or even ridden a 1982 YZ-490J.
The people who test rode these bikes back in 1982, though, say those were the basic problems with the bike.
The bike was basically overweight with crummy rear suspension and had an engine with carburation problems is what I gather.
Because of the 1982 YZ-490J and it's problems, most people who will post an opinion of a YZ-490 - any model year - will basically read back from their memory these same issues that were told about in the dirt bike and motocross magazines back then.
I wouldn't be surprised if over half of these people never swung a leg over one, let alone actually having owned one.
This, people, is rampant in real life.
It's called chit-chat.
Ever participate in chit-chat?
The 1983 YZ-490K was supposedly mucho better than the 1982 model, and the 1984 YZ-490L was even better, still, and actually good enough for Motocross Action magazine - a magazine which, at the time, seemed to me to be very pro-Honda CR - to print that the 1984 YZ-490L was, "...probably the best Open bike of the year..."
Probably?
What, were they not sure about whether or not it was?
Maybe they needed to wait for the 1985 models to come out before they made their final decision.
Motocross Action magazine was, and still is to this day, the sister publication (owned by the same guy) of Dirt Bike magazine, too.
Small world.
The 1986 YZ-490S was the last redesign of the YZ-490 before it was discontinued altogether.
From 1986 to 1990, which was the last model year it was offered, there were useful changes to the bike, but none big enough to change the way it looked to the eye, and those bikes looked just like the 1987 YZ-490T I owned.
I bought mine from the mom and dad of a guy that I never actually met.
I saw the bike advertised for sale, drove out to see it, and basically dealt with the guy's parents because the guy was supposedly off at college somewhere.
Maybe he went to F U. :)
This was around 1992, so the bike about 5 years old at the time.
It looked like it had been ridden about 6 month's worth of casual use, and had the rear fender bent upwards like a backrest, a tell-tale sign that somebody looped the bike over backwards when doing a wheelie.
I basically got the impression that the bike was a bit too much for somebody's casual dirt bike riding, and that mom and dad were happy to see the bike go.
I could tell just from looking at it that the bike was in great condition, so I paid zee money and took it home to make it in excellent condition and ride the heck out of it.
It didn't take much to put the bike into excellent condition, just typical things like new tires, new air filter (with Maxima FFT filter oil, you bet), new grips (of course!), new drive chain for peace of mind, new handlebars, and, a new rear fender to get rid of the backrest look.
The chassis bearings were all greased, the control cables lubed, and every detail was tended to.
After some basic TLC to ensure a ship-shape YZ-490T, I took 'er out for the maiden voyage.
It turned out to be a great dirt bike to have fun on.
It behaved nothing like the wicked old 1982 YZ-490J I'd read about in all of the magazine articles, but was, instead, a typical Yamaha motocross bike - fast, fun, good-handling, and reliable.
Being the largest-displacing motocross bike made by Yamaha, there was more than enough power on tap, and sending dirt flying off the rear Bridgestone M22 (of course!) was child's play.
Riding a bike like this is not about showing everybody how much of a macho man you are with throttle cable-stretching antics, but more about knowing how to use the throttle and control all of the power available.
The bike was fast and powerful, but I felt it was easy to control if you had a brain in your head.
I liked it, had fun on it, and rode it quite a bit that summer.
It always started very easily for me (even though you can read on message boards to this very second that YZ-490s are supposedly hard-starting piles of shit), worked like a dirt bike is supposed to, and, basically, was very un-YZ-490J-ish.
It was a great dirt bike - period.
If I lived somewhere today that offered a close-by riding spot that was big enough to make owning a big dirt bike a good choice, I'd love to have one, today.
So much for the Top Ten Worst Dirt Bikes. :)
Off to freebee half-day Saturday at jerk,
-John
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