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
2002 Yamaha YZ250 brake and adding fluid, and one relieving the pressure. Once it was finished, though, the difference was amazing. I estimate that the YZ gained an easy 20 percent more stopping power from just this modification. It also seems to resist fading much better now as well. The next problem I was having with the Yamaha was that it seemed undersprung. Now, I'm a big guy and I'm not a slow rider - making things even harder on the suspension is that I'm also a bit of a jumper - and I was having problems getting the front end sorted out, even though the rear seemed fine after just setting the sag. I had gone up two clicks from stock on the compression up front, but it was still too soft, and if I upped the compression any more than that, I found that it got really harsh (rather than stiff) and really nervous. The first thing I did to attempt to remedy the problem was talk to Yamaha's Doug Dubach out at Saddleback Park, and he helped me a ton. What he had me do was come out two clicks on the rebound, which helped settle the front wheel down and also allowed me to go up a couple more clicks on compression without getting the "harsh" feel. This was a huge improvement, but I still felt the bike couldn't handle G- By STEVE COX PHOTOS BY LEONARD MARIN IJ7 he 2002 YZ250 is a really solid U motocross machine. Yamaha went through the bike from the ground up for this year, and it finished just a hair behind the also all-new CR250 in our 2002 250cc Motocross Shootout. It could very well have won had just a few minor things worked as well as they did on the Honda. So, with that in mind, I set out to make a good thing great for as little cash as possible. I believe I've succeeded. The first thing that we decided needed a little help was the front brake. The way the stock Yamaha front-brake cable is routed, it goes down and around the front end of the fork before returning to the rear of the caliper. This adds 6 to 8 inches of unnecessary cable length to the unit and, in theory, makes the unit weak in comparison to the direct-routing Honda line. Our solution to this problem was a Fastline Honda-routing front-brake cable, which at just $60 is a cheap and easy solution. White Brothers provided us with the cable and the cable clamp, which rivets right to the stock fork guard, and it installed in just a few minutes, although the bleeding took two people a good 20 minutes to finish - one pumping the 52 APRIL 17, 2002' cue I e neVV$ lAbove) Our 2002 VZ250 projec:t bike Is a pro-level machine with very minimal modifications. Which means very minimal out-of-pocket expenses for a true race bike. outs or flat landings very well, and it tended to wallow in faster comers, so my next idea was to give up the ghost on making the suspension perfect for free (an unrealistic goal at best) and send it in to Steve Piattoni, who owns and operates Shock Therapy. Piattoni is no spring (pun intended) chicken when it comes to suspension work; after all, he's been running Shock Therapy since 1990. He also isn't one of these guys who claims to know all this stuff about suspension without actually riding. He races the Over 38 Expert class and could probably run near the front against some of the younger fast guys as well. I gave the suspenders to Shock Therapy and told Piattoni to "just do what's necessary." In other words, keep it cheap. He was able to oblige me. He revalved both the shock and the forks, and went up two sizes (from a 48 to 52) on the rear spring, and two sizes (from 43s to 45s) on the front springs. The first time I rode the bike postsuspension modification, it took me a couple of times out on the track to adjust to it. It seemed really, really stiff. Because of the limitations of the stock units for a guy with my particular combination of speed and stature, I had been riding the machine for more than three months and unknowingly babying it - slowing down more than usual for corners and avoiding hard landings almost subconsciously. Once I slowly picked up the pace again and started riding the machine hard, the suspension worked absolutely flawlessly. The only adjustment I made was that I backed 1t.lOoks real good, too. This bike Is a .....-tumer wherever we take it. People are constantly making comments such as, "Whoa, this thing's fast, huh?" before they even see It in ac:tlon.