Story

How did I get here?

The idea for restoring this motocross bike started with my friend Ken Napolitano. I have known Ken for many years. He is an awesome motocross racer and a great mechanic. Ken is one of those wonderfully talented racers who can go fast on anything with two wheels.

One day Ken calls me up and tells me about a great “new” way of racing motocross. He says it’s called vintage racing, you know like what you used to do a long time ago. Ken is always trying to point out that I am old!

I went to a few events and enjoyed being a spectator. But he kept pushing and said that I needed to get a bike and join in on the fun. Well I was trying to drag my feet so I kept on putting him off. He finally convinced me to start looking for a bike.

First real race bike 1974 Honda CR125M1

He advised me to look for a bike in running condition and then get it ready for racing. Well at that time my wife and I were expecting a child and I did not have that much to spend on a bike. I thought that I would look for stuff and try to build my bike one piece at a time.

My racing “career” started in 1975 with a ‘74 Honda CR125 Elsinore. During the course of 6 years I competed in District 34 events in upstate New York. I “retired” (for the first time) in 1981 while racing a 1981 Yamaha YZ125H. I managed to turn expert but I was a much better in the amateur class! This is just a creative way of saying that I didn’t do so well when I turned expert!

Many vintage enthusiasts choose a bike to restore because they owned one many years ago or they dreamed of owning one. In my case I did not own a 1980 YZ125G but I did own both a 1979 YZ125F and a 1981 YZ125H.

1979 YZ125F with Simons Forx and Fox Airshock.

My YZ125F was set up with Simon Forks and a Fox Mono shock. Even with the extra height of the long travel suspension the bike felt small to me. Those special suspension components were rare and expensive in 1979, my guess is they would be next to impossible to find today. If you could find them, they would cost big bucks.

So I decided that I was going to restore a 1980 YZ125G because it was in the middle of my two favorite bikes. To race the class I had chosen I needed to have an air-cooled bike and this one fit the bill.

Here are a few photos of the first bike when I started my project. I traded some local motocross DVD’s I made for this vintage piece of machinery. As you can see there were no front forks or front wheel. I figured, “Hey, no big deal. I’ll just gather a few parts, bolt them on and I’ll be riding my vintage bike.” Well I was in for a rude awakening. I began my search for parts and information.

I spoke to a great guy named Brian Rivers. He gave some excellent advice about the YZ125G. Then he offered a great deal on two parts bikes and most of the parts that would be needed to restore one good one. All this for a price of $1,000.

I thought that I could build a bike much cheaper plus at that time I didn’t have the money. That was probably the biggest mistake I made. Brian shared good advice and I didn’t listen. Because of that I spent way more money on my project than I ever could have imagined.

A few days later Ken called to tell me he found a 1980 YZ125 sitting under a tree in a friend’s yard. The only cost was that we had to pick it up. Awesome! When we got there it was a 1980 YZ250! Not what I was looking for so back to the search.

Then I spoke to Brian a few days later. He said that he was looking for a YZ250G so he offered a trade. We traded the 250 for one of his 125 parts bikes. So I took him up on the deal! You can see this wonderful YZ250G in the “Roach” section of the Vintage Swap meet. (http://www.vintagemx.us/roach.htm) I think I got the better deal… Thanks Brian!

I caught the “vintage fever” and became addicted to buying stuff on E-bay. I began to gather everything I could find for the YZ125G. My criteria dictated that the parts had to be a good deal and that I had to have the cash to buy them at the time. It was during this time that I changed my mind every week or so about how I was going to restore my bike. To be honest I did not really settle on what I wanted until I started to assemble the bike a year and a half year later!

Finding parts was like hunting for buried treasure. Every week I would find more parts that I just had to have. My garage began to fill up with vintage Yamaha parts found on E-bay, at Yamaha dealers, the Swap meet and from friends.

I kept a log of how much I spend on parts and services. I would suggest you do the same if you restore a bike, just don’t show the list to your wife!

I spent enough money on parts that I could have bought a restored bike from a reputable restorer. It would not have been the same, but I would have spent less time in the garage and more time riding or racing my bike.

Of course I chose a bike that Yamaha made for only one model year. There are very few parts that are interchangeable from other year YZ125s. This made restoring the bike more complicated, because some parts are rare and almost impossible to find.

Before you start a restoration make sure you are willing to commit the time, money and effort required to restore a vintage bike before you start. Make sure that you want to spend the weeks, months and/or years needed to restore a bike. It takes much more time and money than you think.