Total Hours: 12.2
Mods this month: Motoz Hybrid tyre, GYTR pipe and flywheel, Pro-Bolt engine fastener kit, Yamalube gearbox oil
Mods next month: A good pounding from Braico
The ADB Yamaha YZ240X long term test bike has run off to Sydney with some ex-enduro star called Geoff Braico. I should have known, the warning signs were there. I might be taut and terrific but I’m not a young fella anymore.
When she came idling home after running off with that Frog I showered the YZ-X with gifts from around the world. A sexy GYTR 12.1 litre tank from California to enhance her upper body, a shiny B&B bashplate from Vicco to protect her chastity, nickel-plated GYTR Torque Exhaust from FMF so she wouldn’t scream her head off and blue-anodised jewellery from Pro-Bolt in Britain.
I even had the YZ fitted with a GYTR Off-Road Flywheel to try to calm her down a bit, stop her trying to rip herself out of my hot little hands. Maybe it was all just too much. Apparently Braico has promised her a run in the Australian Off-Road Championships and even a crack at the Hattah Desert Race. Personally, I think she’s too old.
He’ll probably do a bit of work on her [fork] legs and that overly-firm arse but I can’t wait to see how much slower she goes with that heavier flywheel hanging off the end of her crank. Look, I really am sorry to see her go but I’m not going to make life easier for them. I made that bike what she is today and she’s done a runner with some young, unshaven bloke.
The YZ-X and I did have some fun rides in the last month of our time together. After I threw on the Torque Exhaust and got her new Japanese flywheel fitted by Chris at First Class Motorcycles in Lilydale we headed straight off to the Marginal Road trailbike area in Toolangi State Forest.
This was the same spot where we went with Editor Mitch Lees and the Suzuki RM-X450Z long-termer, but now we were alone. It was so romantic. I wanted to see how the Yamaha would go climbing the same hill featured in last month’s Long Termers report. It just chugged up that mother as if the gradient wasn’t even there. I was amazed at how low the YZ could now go in the rev range without stalling.
It would have been nice to run the GYTR pipe before fitting the flywheel but we ran out of time to try them separately. As you all know, the modern super model is an amalgam of many wonderful qualities that make her special in the eyes of the judges and we’d like to think that the pipe, the flywheel and the jetting changes have done that for the YZ-X.
The mods certainly took the aggressiveness out of her power delivery, which was already less abrupt than a stock YZ motocrosser, thanks to the lower and wider exhaust port.
They also gave us the chance to get rid of the poxy Phillips-head screws in the magneto and countershaft sprocket covers, which really made the YZ show her age.
The Pro-Bolt fasteners are made from aerospace grade 7075 T6 aluminium and really brought the YZ engine into the 21st century. We’ll be doing a full Product Evaluation on this kit when we recover from our loss. We even tried to get her plastic surgery with a Lightning Gold Powerflow body kit from Cycra. What a waste of money that would have been.
We fitted a Motoz Hybrid rear tyre and promised to take her dirt tracking at Broadford but that didn’t happen either. Instead she had to settle for a blaston “Flat Track” in the state forest and wasn’t fooled by that in the slightest. Really, she turned out to be an awesome trailbike, easy to kick over, easy to throw over logs, light as a feather on singletrack, a great climber. Pity she didn’t feel the same way about us.
So I’m left here in Melbourne to clean up the mess in the man cave and write up all the bloody Prod Evals, with not a word of thanks from her. Don’t suppose I’ll get much help out of Braico with maintenance payments, either.
Wolter Kuiper
