Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ .• ; ~ t 0') - r--- Cj) C'J >- I-< ~ ::3 I-< ..c Q) ~ Stage V porting•.010" off the heac:land the DG pipe gives power a superboost. KYB forks. though expensive, are plush w ith air/oi l action and 11 inches. DG's YZ2S0E Impression: A~ attractive aftermarket accessory -assembled alternative By Larry Little Photos by Jim Ryan Ya say you just got your first lesson in international finance? Namely, how the yen translates into dollars, or more accurately, how many ye~ exchange into how many dollars? W ith 1979 motocrossers from across the Pacific costing several hundred dollars more than the '78 models, more racers than ever before will be feel ing the pinch of bu ying and outfitting their new MXer . Keeping th is fact in m ind , many racers may end up spending thei r hardearned doll ars o n their year-o ld race bik e. bringing it up to 1979 stand a rds with aftermarket accessories . One of the premier e m ot ocross a ftermarket m anufacture rs and di stributors is DG Performance in An aheim . CA . They've been in busin ess for 'm o re than five yea rs and hav e consistently produced qual it y aftermarket parts a nd accessories as wel l as to p qualit y rnot oc rossers o ver that sp an . We had an o p po rt u ni ty to test a 1978 Yam ah a YZ250E with th e fu ll-on DG treatmen t. To b ri ng it up , as well as possib le , to 197 9 standa rds. FI M side number pl a tes were a dded . as was a cable gua rd front number plate . ' D.LD. gold anodized rims with he a vyduty eight -gauge spokes. also gold. anodized , were laced tothe Yamaha hubs. Mounted on t he new rims we re new tires . too : a Dunlop Sports Senio r OO~.e~ ~Du.M(J K~,ii« ·Wh They a re co nsidera bly better tha n th e . stock IRC tires that come stan da rd o n th e E model. The suspe nsio n com ponents o n a stock YZ are p robably the best stock components on today's current crop of J a pa nese MXers . The stock monoshock is extremely adjustable. the only real problem occurring in the over·20· minu te- mota a rea . The shock tends to fade a fte r 20 minutes of ha rd ra cing as the oi l becomes too hot. DG a dde d a Luft rese rvo ir to increase oil ca pacity a nd pro vid e more cooling for the monoshock. It wo rks. The real change in su spe nsio n occurred in the front end . KYB air/oil forks were bolted on in pl ace of th e sto ck forks and th e difference can o nl y be described as pl ush . W ith a bo ut an in ch more travel a t II inc hes , th e KYB for ks felt m ore co m fo rta b le a nd plush er th an th e sto cke rs. Mat ch ed wit h th e Dunlop fro nt tire , t he YZ hooked u p n :m a rkab ly better t ha n the stoc k combina tio n . Specifica lly, the YZ seemed to tu rn in side be tter t han in previous a ttempts . Yamaha has also ta ken this on e co nsidera tion into 1979 engineering , and ,as a resu lt your more ex pe nsive · 19 79 Y will v in to allo w turning inside wit h a greater degree of ease. T he KYB forks a re still a very pretty piece , however . But the $299 price m ay take some tim e to find itself within yo ur r acing budget. They are definitely nicer than th e stock forks, but we're not su re they're $299 nicer. If yo ur racing demands one of the best , t ho ug h , yo u've come to th e right place. Th'e 250E model YZwas a ve ry high RPM m o tocrosser: the pow er was al ive a nd well in the upper band of pow er, only. This was all fine and good if yo u j ust ste pped 'off a 125 and depended o nly o n to p end power. But to help all of us laz y m ot ocrosser s, DG has th e answe r to the screa rnin' m eerni es , T hey took a stock YZ250E a nd ga ve it their St age V po rt ing . th eir to p of t he line porting jo b. As such , one mi ght think it also would be h igh RPM o n ly. designated for Experts o nly. This may be so , but no t when hooked up to th e biggest b argain on th e whole bike. the DG p ip e . You r $8 5 co u ld h a rdly be spent in a more efficient manner. T he p ipe gives t he bike m ore low end th an sto ck. a nd when m at ch ed with th e Stage V po rti ng a nd .0 10" milled o ff th e head , the engine prod uces no ticeably m ore power and low en d . You en d u p wit h m o re pow er everywhere. To kee p a ll tha t expens ive interna l engin e work safe. a J T Phase II air filter was install ed . They set the st andard for today's ai r filters. DG stocks and distrib utes the fu ll line of JT product s shou ld the need a rise to get in to uch with one of th ese lill ie blue devils . T o complete the touches selves, DG added a crossbar pad and MTD u n brea ka ble lever assemblies. To p rotect the bike's tank from us, DG vinyl tank sti ckers were applied. How does the whole package work? After getting the jetting dialed in and suspensio n set u p properly. overall ' perfo rma n ces in creased considerably. T he YZ unquest ionably has more power and m ore useable pow er. T he suspens io n was more co m fo rta ble a nd willing to make a ny rider of a ny skill go faster , for longer periods of t ime. The to tal cost for all DG added co m po nents ' was 847 . You may already have som e of these com po nen ts o n you r bike , so you' ll proba bly spe nd less than th e $847 figure quoted here . You 'll probably get around $1000 - $1100 on yo u r YZ in t rade toward a new o ne costi ng in the neighborhood of $1900 - $2000. lea ving you in the ho le for around 900 ha rd -ear ned d ollars to acquire a new stock YZ. Start setting it up to your abili ty a nd , you co u ld be looking at anot her $3 00 , easy. You 're looki ng at up to $12 00 ex pendit ure overall when t rading. In defense of th e 1979 YZS, th ey do com e with FIM number pl a tes, a fro nt ca ble guard , m ore power in m id an d low ra nges , a bo u t a n inch m ore suspensio n th an 1978 , a p ulled in front en d fo r tighter tu rn ing , p lus a full floa ti ng rea r bra ke , not o n o ur DG bike . A new bik e . of co urse . is adva nt a - / geous for the obvious reason of bei ng new, not o ne worn year ol d . But, if fina nces are no t as will in g as you a re , co nsider the aftermarket a lt ernative. It just. . might kee p you rac i n ~

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