Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

and speed. If Oscar Open A puts cu6ic centimeters ahead of cubic bucks (in this case the buck displacement is $2099) and happens to be in a Yamaha shop, Mr. Small·Deposit·Easy-Terms beelines him to the IT465. If sales of Yamaha's biggest time keeping device continue at their current pace, the warehouses will be picked clean by April. A lot of buyers weren't fooled by last year's IT425. They knew that the existence of the VZ465 pointed towards an IT465 next season. It arrived officially in September when Jim Fishback fired up his white Yamaha and began Day One at the ISDT. Of the entire Yamaha contingent Fishback and Top American fmisher Larry Roeseler had the most trouble free rides. Both were mounted on IT465s. After six days of pounding, riders and bikes still looked fresh while other guys were busy reeling in their tongues. We've got at least the equivalent'of a Six Day ride on our test IT465, if not in brutality, at least in miles. It's been entered in six enduros (two woods, four desert) and has been ridden at least 100 miles on every non-race week· end since January. As of the end of March we've racked up lS42 miles on our IT. These impressions" and opinions come after five sets of tires, two chains, three sets of bars and a small mountain of grips. First the "how fast" question. As far as top speed, it's somewhere in the 90 mph bracket (our chase van speedo dies at 80). Acceleration is a little harder to pinpoint. If given a situation where it can get a good bite with its 5.10 x 17 rear hoof, the IT465 will give you a serious rush. The bike squats down, digs in and pulls like a large electric motor £rom the basement to the beIfrey. Thr ground between "here" and "there" becomes a blur. You quickly learn to focus on "there" since everything in between is going to disappear so rapidly you won't see much of it. Your arms and upper back get a workout, as do your reflexes. That tum way down the trail is just below your visor sooner than you thought imaginable. The IT465 motor is different than the YZ465 powerplant. It has a large flywheel, more restrictive exhaust and slightly different porting. It works better. The YZ465 is a little pipey where its IT counterpart is smooth. In a flatout drag race the IT hooked up better, sooner and longer. The IT's powerband starts when your right wrist turns the slack out of the cable and the slide starts to quiver - at most a few hundred RPM above idle. The biggest muscle in the 465 is found in the lower two thirds of the powerband. Wide o~n throttle is reserved for 42 mph desert sections and the "nab the OA or eat a tree" crowd. Those detennined to see the end of the season will fmd that the middle of the powerband is best for all around riding. It provides the opportunity to whack it wide open to clear something nasty, or if you find your heels banging off the side panels because of something you never saw, there's enough grunt to pull it off without havinjt to shift. In converted terms, you can just about cover a whole 10 mile section of 24 mph woods in third gear without shifting. It can grunt over logs and gobble tight two-trackers in the same gear. In desert 30 mph sections, you settle down with the middle of fourth and an occasion"l speed warp up to fifth where the whoops and dust are gone. The hot tip according to Yamaha's John Fero for IT465-ing in the really tight stuff: "Just before the comer, get hard on the brakes, pull in the clutch and lock the rear brake just before the apex. The bike will slide sideways through the tum, rather than having to be leaned over and turned. When lAbove left! The IT. motor .heree the ..me centercaea and clutch with the VZ4I6. but he. Ita own electrlca and g. .r retlo•. lAbove right) Double leedlng.hoe front bnlke wli never""" you wanting nopplng power. Odometer Ie a little .Iow cetehlng on from a reaet. but I. otherwIM c:onaIatent and Hay to rud. lAbovel QuIck ct.1g8 reer wheel needa a IItde fldAlII to get It perfect. but It'. a good atBrting point. (Belowl Meehlne hea the ..me whHI...... a KDX176 to mekelt ...y to control. 13

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