My first bike: Yamaha '92 XT225

sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
Here's my '92 Yamaha XT 225 w/5k on it. It's actually in pretty good shape for a 19 year old bike. It's a little dual-sport. It's pretty much a street-legal ttr-225. Air cooled, 4 stroke, low seat height, 80 mpg bike.

This is my first bike and I look forward to learning to ride better, and exploring this great state on it. Here she is the day after I bought her:

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I wanted something that'd be great on trails and singletrack, yet still have a lowish weight and low seat height, and still be street legal to run some errands on. I'm such a short guy that I can only get the balls of my feet down on this bike at a standstill, but even that feels better than almost any other bike I've sat on.
 
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It came with the z1 mods, and a few others. It's got a one-tooth smaller front sprocket, it came with tons of jets and pilots, and the oversize foot pegs. I was stoked to see all those mods when I showed up to ride it. I got it with a dead battery, but the PO included a replacement battery for it (the kind where you have to add the acid).

This isn't a rebuild thread, or a build thread, but more of a refresh thread. I can already feel the temptation to keep throwing money at this rig, but I'm going to try to modernize it and clean up the look and functionality of it for as little money as possible.

So first order of business was to replace the battery. That was really straightforward.

Next order of business was to remove all those stupid registration stickers on the front headlight plastic. The more of those I removed, the more I wanted to peel off all the decals/stickers. The PO would probably hate to know that I yanked the stickers, but oh well, it's not his bike anymore :D
 
One thing I don't love about the dual-sports is how they look like an ugly street bikes and an ugly dirt bike had an ugly baby. I realize you've got to compromise a bit if you want a street legal dirt bike, but I wanted it to look decent as well. I realize it'll never look amazing, but I can at least improve it.

After reading a ton on the XT225 forum, I got some ideas when I saw some supermotard conversions. I don't plan on turning this into a motard, but I do like the looks of the smaller front fenders and smaller front tires.

So first up was the front fender. I decided to trim 4" off because I liked the look of one someone else did.

I marked 4" up from the lip.
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I ended up cutting off the front tip and tracing it to get smiliar lines for my newly reshaped fender.

Here it is 4" shorter:
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Then I mocked it up and I realized it was still bigger looking than I wanted. I can't stand the look of the front fender that hangs down super low in front. So I took off another 2".

While I was at it, I decided to experiment with cleaning the front fender. Tyler recommended some parts cleaner, so I gave the brake parts cleaner a try, and it works really well. I'm excited to try the arm and hammer magic eraser if there's anything that the brake cleaner can't handle. Then I plan on sanding it with varying grits of sandpaper.

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There is a lot of fender on it for a reason. That reason is for the wet muddy trails. It helps keep the mud off of you.

If you do decide to paint it, make sure you prep it good and use good paint that is flexible. Change out your rubber fork covers and put some blue ones on there. That will make a big difference, also change your grips and clean it real good. New tires would help it look better as well.
 
Thanks Russ. I like those LEDs a lot. I saw them on Caleb's bike and fell in love with 'em (among a few other trick parts he's got on it).

Do I want to run the neopreme fork covers, or the same style boots that I have on it now?

I figured there was a purpose for the fenders to be so big. Live and learn. I figured that the rear of the fender was what was going to keep me clean, but that just shows how little I know about this stuff. If it causes problems with my short fender, then I'll order a bigger one.

I'd also like to find a way to trim the rear fender and get some of that bulk out of there. I have an idea of how to inboard the turn signals a bit more, but no clue on how to clean up the rear tail light area and make the rear fender a bit sleeker.
 
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Caleb has the best looking Honda out there, period. The new gray plastic he has on it is damn goodlooking. I came really close to buying a CRFx but I got a better deal on the WR and it was the at the same dealer. The two bikes are so similar. I have ridden Calebs 450 and liked it a lot. On one of our rides, he rode my WR and he liked the Rev Lok so much that he went home and ordered one for him. I was a bad influence on him.

An option you can look into for a rear fender is see if you can get one off of a YZ and then fit this on it. These will fit under the rear fender.

http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p...atId=24&keyword=tail+light&prodFamilyId=25859

or

http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p...atId=29&keyword=tail+light&prodFamilyId=26756

Caleb can get you any of this stuff. Just PM him before you buy.
 
I found these LED blinkers at MadBros here in Moab. Didn't have a brand listed but they really changed the way the bike looks (Suzuki B-King) and if I lay it down again they should be protected under the rear cowling.
Anyway I know its apples to oranges but there are some real nice options out there to streamline your ride
 

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I got my motorcycle driving permit today, so now I can officially take it on the road. It's going to be hard wrenching on my truck all saturday while my bike is sitting there teasing me.
 
While you got your motorcycle permit, I went riding up Bountiful to see if I could get close to the sliding area. Nope, too much snow to get to it without going past the No Trespassing Sign. I got about 100 yard from Buckland Flat and then I came around a corner to 2 feet of snow. I am afraid we are in for a long wait before we can ride Tuttle Loop.
 
I took it out for the first time today with Tyler and my little brother. I went 45 MPH on the road and it felt fine, then we did about 5 miles on the dirt. It was a lot of fun, and I feel very comfortable on this bike. I love that I can start out in first in the middle of a hill. It's so low and it just putts along. I can't wait to get out some more.
 
yeah, but i still think I could buy every part of my bike from the dealer, piece by piece, and still be able to build 3 bikes before it reached the cost of my Toyota. That's refreshing.
 
Should be a good bike to learn on.

Comment for legal riding....

It looks like the exhaust cap / end pipe has simply been removed. That part (Yamaha PN 1RH-14752-01-00) includes the spark arrester. So if you got it with the bike, you'll need to re-install it before riding on any public lands, or anywhere else that a spark arrester is required. If you didn't get it, the seller might be able to find it, or you could order the Yamaha part. From looking at the Z-whatever mods, the exhaust cap / end pipe is reinstalled after cutting a hole in the muffler baffle that's directly upstream from the spark arrester.
 
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