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/128150
The Shock Therapy suspension handles anything thrown its way with aplomb. The Flow Exhaust pipe flat barks (and looks good!. and the One Industries graphics round out the look quite well. the high-speed compression on the rear end off about a quarter-turn, just to settle it down. Besides that, I haven't touched a thing since. The bike plants itself way better in the corners now, it handles any landing I've dished out, and it even tracks straight through stadium whoops without a problem. Ask any pro motocrosser and they'll all tell you that suspension is the key to a competitive motorcycle, and with this suspension, the 2002 YZ250 is very, very competitive. To help fix the classic "low frontend" feel that is typical of modern YZs, the easiest fix (and a very effective one at that) was just to install a set of 909 handlebars with the Team bend. This bend puts the controls just a few millimeters higher than the stock YZ bend but remains very flat as well, which opens up the cockpit quite a bit. These bars are also extremely durable. I've taken two trips over them in a span of about a month and the bars are still perfectly straight (although all the front-end bolts had to be loosened on both occasions in order to straighten the front wheel). The first of those trips over the bars resulted in a bent pipe. That's right, I actua lIy bent the stock exhaust. Like any motocrosser would do when faced with this situation, I opted for an aftermarket pipe to replace the stocker, as aftermarket units are usually better than the stockers and are almost always cheaper to boot. Just because I didn't want to jump on the FMF/Pro Circuit pipe bandwagon (not that there's anything wrong with either of them, because there's not), I turned to Flow Exhaust (formerly known as Noleen). This was a good move. Steve Russell of Flow personally delivered one of Flow's new 2002 YZ250 pipes and shorty silencers the night that I was planning to shoot the still photos of the machine, and the set installed quickly and easily - and looked trick! Both the pipe and the silencer are coated in a chrome/nickel mixture that has kept the pipe looking brilliant (and it's low-maintenance, as well). After the Cycle News 250cc Shootout this year, I was positive that the Yamaha had the best motor of the bunch, so I didn't think it really needed a pipe - until I bent the stock unit. But Flow managed to make a great thing better. The bike now hits harder and revs longer, and the new pipe managed to fill in the drop-off the bike seemed to have between mid and high-end engine speeds. The YZ250 used to rev out pretty good as well, but now I can avoid shifting up on some of the iffy straightaways (where you're going too fast really for the gear you're in, but a shift up would only last a second), and the bike will continue to pull up through the revs. This pipe actually managed to improve on every part of the powerband. It plain rips. The last few things I did to the bike that had anything to do with performance were to add a GYT-R billet clutch lever that has roller bearings in the pivot, along with the matching billet star clutch adjuster; change out the softish stock sprockets and chain (once they began to scare me by shOWing a little too much wear) with a chain-and-sprocket kit from AFAM change to Serfas Spider motorcycle grips; and add a skid plate. The GYT-R clutch lever immediately helped my arm-pump problems because it pulls like it's hardly there. I'm normally a two-fmger clutch guy, but with the GYT-R lever, I could use only one - even though I still use two out of habit. My arm fatigues less rapidly, which means I can ride faster for longer with just this one added part. AFAM puts together chain-andsprocket kits with chains that are cut to the correct length to start with, and I opted to go up one tooth from stock on the rear sprocket because most tracks in Southern California - including Perris Raceway, where I did the bulk of my testing - are rather tight, indoor-style tracks. The 51-tooth sprocket helped free up a bit more low-end snap to get over doubles and such right out of a corner, and the sprockets still have no noticeable wear, even after a few rides. The most inexpensive product put on the bike was the Serfas Spider grips - and they're one of the best investments of the bunch. Serfas has, for a long time, made bicycle grips and related products, but they recently developed the Spider grips, which are probably the most innovative grips seen or used in a long, long time - maybe ever. I don't want to go into the technology involved in the grip too much, so let's just say that the tackiness and feel of these grips allow me to sort of just place my hands on the bars, instead of holding on with a death grip. Since I'm putting less energy into holding on, arm pump is improved a ton. Also, they seem to isolate vibration much better than any grip I've ever used. Definitely check out these grips. Fiber 4 provided the carbon-fiber skid plate (which saved my butt at least once) and frame guards (which are mostly cosmetic). The Fiber 4 skid plate did a good job (as all skid plates are supposed to) of keeping the frame rails from digging into the dirt when I cased a triple one lap out at Saddleback. Instead of getting thrown over the bars in the miscue, I just suffered an aching manhood, and I left a nice, long, white mark in the dirt where the frame and plate hit. Last, but not least, I added a One Industries Alpha Series graphics kit and seat cover. Cosmetically, Yamahas typically don't do so well after just a few rides, but the One Industries graphics kit looks good, has been quite durable so far, and, most importantly, it went on really easily. I just put on the seat cover, placed the seat on the bike, and then lined up the graphics and stuck them on. It was that easy. With a little Silkolene Pro-Prep, the bike still shines like a star after every ride. For a really minimal amount of money, the Cycle News 2002 YZ250 is now race-ready. Some people tend to do maybe too much to their stock machines, and sometimes they tune themselves right out of being able to ride the thing. If the bike is too fast, it's intimidating, and unless you're also quite fast, they can become hard to handle. With the platform that Yamaha provides with this machine, there isn't much of a reason to get into porting, polishing, or any other internal modifications for most riders. Just with pure bolt-on magic, this bike gets stares almost every time I take it out to the track, and it's plenty good enough to compete (with the right rider, of course) on the local pro level. I think it's also much better than any of the stock machines in our 2002 250cc Shootout. As they say, just "Keep It Simple, Stupid." CN PtArts DsptArtHtSltt Performance: Flow Exhaust Pipe Flow Exhaust Silencer Fastline CR-Routing Front-Brake Cable DSP Front-Brake Cable Clamp Shock Therapy Shock Revalve Replacement Shock Spring Heavy-Duty Shock Boltom-Out Bumper Shock Therapy Fork Revalve Replacement Fork Springs $189.95 $87.95 $59.95 $19.95 $150 $89.95 $15 $150 $79.95 Function: AFAM Sprocket and Chain Kit GYT·R Billet XT Clutch Lever w/Roller Bearings GYT-R Billet Star Clutch Adjuster Fiber 4 Skid Plate Serfas Dual-Density Spider Motorcycle Grips 909 Team Bend Handlebars $143.95 $49.95 $29.95 $89.99 $14.95 $74.95 " Appearance: Fiber 4 Frame Guards One Industries Alpha Series Graphics Kit w/Seat Cover $89.95 $129.95 Flow Exhaust (formerly Noleen) 232 N. Sherman, Unit F Corona, CA 92882 909/340-2555 Serfas Spider Motorsports Grips 27818 Gleneagles Mission Viejo, CA 92692 949/395-4747 AFAMQSA 5953 Engineer Drive Huntington Beach, CA 92649 714/379-9040 White Brothers (Fastline, DSP) 24845 Corbit Place Yorba Linda, CA 92887 714/692-3404 Fiber 4 Creative Perspectives Inc. 25064 Anza Drive Valencia, CA 91355 800/831-9043 Shock Therapy 801 Lambert Road Brea, CA 92821 714/255-9485 GYT-R See your local Yamaha dealership cue' II! n II! _... • APRIL 17. 2002 53