Yamaha YZ400F
 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...yz400f_600.jpg

I bought it and thought I'd start a new thread :P .

It looks and runs like new. Not a scratch on it. $1,400. How could I NOT buy it? I AM the undisputed King Of Craig's List, am I not?

It's a monster. It'll pull your arms off. I'd call it a widowmaker but I'm not married 8) .

I pick it up tonight and I'm taking it out to the desert Sunday.

OK you facilitators.... Encourage me before I get buyers remorse....

Anyone need a nice 3 rail motorcycle trailer? :wink:

Had about 30 minutes daylight to ride it.

My first impressions:

WOW!!!

I can get into this :P .

Wonderful suspension, chassis, and a motor to just fall in love with. This thing rips but...

It's not scarey :D . Controllable, does not want to turn around and bite.

Problems I will need to address :? :

Waterpump seals. It drips out the weep hole.

Needs a chain and sprockets badly.

Needs a kick stand.

I can get used to this thing! :D

Beautiful bike Doc! And a smoking deal as well, like I've said a thousand times before, North of the border that bike would be double the money. The trailer is really nice as well, you should be able to sell it and recoup some of your purchase price. Our Craigslist here is blah, nothing too exciting in it :D

TurboT has the 250 version, and it tried to kill me. I can't imagine a 400!

Are you gonna dual sport it?

Maybe. I don't know yet. I'll see how hard it is for Roger to get his inspected first. Linda is the executive assistant to the Chief Of Police here so I don't think it will be too hard :wink: .

This bike may be easier to ride than the 250. Although it will have more power it will also have more torque and down lower. The short ride I had on it yesterday showed that it had stupid power but was very controlable and seemed easy enough to ride.

I rode a CR500 before. I found it easier to ride than the YZ125 and CR250' I had ridden prior to that. Again the torque makes a better trail bike, IMHO.

Check out the Ride Report section. I love this bike! :P

Congratulations, Doc! Indeed, you are the undisputed King of Craigslist. :)

Spud :)

Very nice. My cousin had a YZF426 and I thought it was a monster, very snappy, incredibly torquey. The price seems very good!

Oh, and make sure you keep up on the maintenance. These high-strung competition engines take a bit more love than the normal breeds. My CRF250 recommends oil changes every 5 hours, but it doesn't hold very much. And if you don't keep the air filter clean the Ti valves go quick. I've replaced my Ti valves with stainless, which sap a little of the top end power, but are much more reliable and durable.

Good advice.

The prior owner says he changed the oil every ride and I believe him. I think that's overkill for trail riding but I can certainly change it every 5-10 hours or so.

It's going into my friend's shop soon to have the valve clearances checked (shim under bucket, I don't want to get into that :roll: ), new waterpump seals and get the coolant changed. The spark plug is new as is the airfilter cleaning and oiling so after that the bike should be good to go :D .

I have a kickstand, chain, and sprockets on the way. I'll do those myself.

I changed my mind about doing the fork seals. After a cleaning the one does not appear to be leaking any more.

Very cool. The CRF and my SV both have shim under bucket valves. They are pretty easy to check, but a pain to adjust. You have to remove the cam and calculate the new size shim you need, then hope that your cycle shop has the right size in stock or else wait a week to get them in. Then you have to hope that you get the timing right when reassembling.

I adjusted the SV at 20k miles, and they have been good since. That is an 8-valve V-twin. When I bought the CRF, the valves were on their way out. The Ti valves like to stretch, and if they go too far they break and really cause some damage to the head and piston. I replaced with stainless so I wouldn't have to be doing that job again anytime soon.

Have fun with the YZF. I would love to have areas like that to ride. I will continue to live vicariously through your ride reports!

I'm blessed with many good local places to ride. Spud I think lives in the BEST palce to ride but I can at least do it year round.

I was incorrect about a few things. Further research shows this bike has stainless steel valves. Yamaha did not go to titanium until 2000 in the YZ426. Considering I can live without the increased expense of Ti valves and loose all of 2 HP I consider that good news.

Also the rear wheel HP is 46 not 55 as I had thought. Maybe the 55 HP was at the crankshaft?

I worry about the expense and complexity of these very high performance 4 strokes as compared to a mellow tried and true XR but the power is so nice.

I hope since my bike was well maintained, never saw a race track, was still in the hands of it's original owner, and was not used since 2000 (That was the last year ORV tag on it) and I will ride it 'gently' and take care of it I should enjoy it for many years to come.

What? Only 46hp? :lol:

I doubt that you'd lose 9hp at the rear wheel.

I sold The Dirt Rat 2 :(

The good news is I sold it to a guy who collects Honda dirt bikes, and he has quite a few XR's. He loved The Rat and gave me my full asking price no problem.

I'll miss it but I honestly don't think I'd use it much now that I have the YZ, and I still have the KLX :wink: .

The other good news is I sold it for more than twice what I had in to it. Granted there was a lot of time spent fixing it but that's a labor of love and I did get to ride it alot :D .

The period articles I've read say the FMF muffler and appropiate jetting add 4 HP though. 50 ain't bad. :wink:

I can understand selling the Dirt Rat 2; it's a great bike, but it's 30 years old. The YZ is another level of riding altogether.