Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127585
BDUAt SPORT YamahaTT350 conversion If you live in sou thern California, you might want to consider taking yo ur IT to Four Strokes Only to have the kit installed. For $150 mo re, Horton will install the kit on your IT350, and for another $150, he will even personally take your bike to the Department o f Motor Veh icles (OM V) and license it tha t is if you live in Ca liforn ia, which A 12 volt, 1.2 amp. gel cell battery is used and is hou sed in a sana aluminum battery/rectifier holder. The now street legal TI350 - right down to the DOT-approved Bridgestone tires. By Larry Langley he Yamaha lT350 was perhaps one of the mo s t u nd er -ra ted o ff-r oad motorcy cles ever built. From the debut uni ts of 1986 to the final production mod els of 1988, the TT350 dirt bike lived in the shadows of the more-popular Honda XR350and 600 off-road bikes, and whil e it never neared the popularity of the XRs, it did earn a certain d egree of cult-like respectability from its relativel y sm all numbers of owners. The bike was reliabl e, comfortable , easy to ma in ta in, had decen t sus pensi on, a nd the motor developed ample horsep ower in an almos t lazy fashion. All this transla ted in to a n easy-to -ride, no frills motorcycle that was simply a fun di rt bike. It is fo r th es e reasons tha t many TT350 owners are reluctant to part wi th their "ba bies," and hav e instead held on to their trusty steeds. Unfortunately, in these days of land closures, it's becoming harder and harder to fi nd good, legal off-road rid ing areas to use the IT - or any d irt bike for tha t matter - wit hout having to travel some distance wi th bikes in tow . This gets old, not to mention expens ive after a w hil e. And the end result is that yo ur IT racks up more "garage time" and "trail er time" than trail time. But there is a way to beat that - make your TT350 s treet legal. By d oing so, you can join the legions of riders who are reliving the trail riding boom days of the late '60s and earl y '70s when, thanks large ly to the best-selling Yamaha DT-l, trail riding mean t heading your bike out of the garage and down the streets and roads and highways to the w ide open spaces and/or woods. That's called dual sport r id ing now and it's becoming more and more popular with each passing day. The lT350 has all the makings of an excellent dual sport b ike, but unfortunately, in stock condition, it's far from being street legal T 18 There are two avenues you can take to make you r TT350 s treet legal. You can buy all the pa rts and d o it yourself, or take your bike to a shop and let them d o all the work for yo u . Both routes have their advantages a nd d isad vantages. Perhap s the b ig ge st d iffe rence be tween the two opti on s is th a t b y doing it on your own, you don' t have to pay for labor, which could save yo u a lot of cash, but ask anyone who's done it the mselves and they'll no d oubt .tell you that it's a major pain in the you-knoww ha t to make the TT350, or an y d irt bike, street legal. Doing so requires buying 11lQny accessories, but that 's no t' the hard pa rt. What really throws a monkey wrench into the works is all the wiring that is need ed . Rigging up all the electrical componen ts you must install on the IT to make it street legal isn' t some thing the a verage rider can usua lly accomplish o n his/her o w n . If yo u ' re not exactly sure what you're doing. you can be in fo r a monumen tal headache. It tak es all but a n electronics w iza rd to ma ke everything work. Unfort u na te ly you can't jus t go ou t and buy a streetlegal wi ring harness for the IT, instead, it takes a hodge-podge of wires and connectors and lots of know-h ow to do the trick. Ugh ! Here's where And y Horton of Four Strokes Only in N orth Holly wood, California, com es to the rescue. For one lump sum - $485 to be exac t - Horton off ers a unique package, or kit , that comes with every thing yo u need to make your IT350 street legal, including a custom-built (by Horton) w iring harness. The kit also includes an Acerbis headlight and rear fender that comes complete with a tailligh t and brake light, tum signals, brake light switch, a Powersonics 12 volt, 1.2 amp. gel cell battery, an aluminum battery box with a built-in rectifier, horn, sw itches, instructions, and all the bolts and brackets to get the job done. Horton has th e tou ghest mo tor veh icle licen sing la ws o f all 50 s ta tes . If it pa sses in California , it s ho uld pass a ny w here el se, but - again - check yo u r local law s, etc., etc, etc. Fo r th ose of y o u w ho d on't liv e nea r North Hollywood , you ca n ord er th e co m p le te pack ag e over th e phone, but yo u' ll s til l have to se n d yo u r exis ti ng s ta to r to Horton so he can rew ir e it fo r you. Four Strokes On ly also has kits for other bikes. In fact, the ir s peci al ty is s t ree t legal kit s for Honda XRs. They've had kits for mos t XRs for many years now, unlik e the TT k it , wh ich is basically brand new , than ks to Horton ' s custom In cluded in the kit is an Acerbis-made headlight assembly, wiring harness. We recen tly had with on/off and highllow beam switches. Ho rto n in s ta ll h is n e w k it o n a 1986 Yamaha TT350, a nd a lthough it took will also tak e you r existing stator and consider abl y longer for him to in st all rewire it fo r more o u tp u t, wh ich is the kit on ou r pr oject bike than the two required to cha rg e th e new battery weeks he says he requests cu stomers to keep the stronger head ligh t burning. In leave a bike with him (a lot of this had ma ny s ta tes (check your local laws), to do with th e fact that our bike was yo u r bike isn ' t required to have a bat used to develop the kit), he re tu rn ed tery, so a "minimum" kit is also ava ilthe bike to us complete with a ab le for conside rably less. The complete California license plate. kit ad ds ap p rox im a tely 10 pounds to Since then, we've racked up quite a the IT. number of miles on the now street legal Sure, you can go out and purchase all TT350 without experiencing a single these parts se parately, but why bother problem. Simply put, we're impressed. w hen Horton has already done all the For more information, contact leg work for you? The simple fact that Andrew Horton, Four Strokes Only, he ha n d le s a ll the electric al wiring 11650 Hart si., N. Hollywood, CA makes the entire package well worth its 91605,818/765-5616. tN we ight in gold.