OzVMX Forum
Marque Remarks => Yamaha => Topic started by: lms6201 on October 05, 2008, 09:16:07 pm
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just this evening i picked up another 490 k , the bloke told me he bought it over from adelaide with him when they moved , a number of years ago , he,s had the bike since 1991 , he also told it would be of interest as he believes it was owned by a daryl willoughby when it was new , i,m not familiar with the name , perhaps can someone tell me what the connection may be ? thanks
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daryl willoughby was a top A grade national rider back then, he rode for trevor flood amongst others.
if that bike is indeed one of his and is unmolested it would be a well sorted YZ490.
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Definitely top 10, maybe even top 5. I loved his style of riding, especially the way he jumped. Cool find if it is true.
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i don,t know how it could be verified , but anyway bike is the best origional 490 i,ve seen , had been road reg.d for enduro, has a lighting coil,big muffler , big big gearing he did some organising or something like that for fink, has it 490 forks and wheel is the only thing non orig. , about $50 will get it racing
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Willoughby was a hard charging front runner in the early 80's. Rode for Pitmans Yamaha on YZ465 & 490's. Had some great battles with Gally on 465's and could beat the best on his day.
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lets see some pic's of the bike if you can post them up.
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I've got a couple of photos of him on a 490 at the '83 Nationals over here................ somewhere.............. :-\
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This is from the right meeting but it's not Willoughby.
Rob Twyerould maybe?????
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thanks for that photo ,that big round ally silencer looks very much the same as the unit on this one ,looks like a custom job , very professional, bike had an it tank on it at one stage and a matching blue seat (still on it )can now catgorise my 490,s by seat color ,i gave it a quick run today , has been jetted rich and is geared to run 100mph 44 tooth rear , no ping , possibly due to jetting but may have been de pinged , as far as photo,s go just looks like an old 490 (with a blue seat)
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I don't remember any YZ's running blue seats in '83. Maybe it's a WR500 seat??
And the gearing suggests it was set up for desert or enduro at some stage...............maybe?
I've probably got more questions than answers, sorry......... ;D
Does anyone know where Darryl Willoughby is now?
I'm sure I could find him if nobody else knows.
pm me if you want me to chase this up. :)
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what was the last model 490? i know the 89 YZ250WR had a blue seat. maybe yours is a 89 model???
i also have an article in T & T on a YZ 490 with red seat set up for enduro use with lights etc.
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Tony i think Willoughby is still in SA. It's a wonder no one has tried to contact him about appearing at a Classic Dirt event.
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I reckon the last 490 might have been '87??
With all due respect to someone who was faster than most of us dream about............ Darryl never quite "made it".
Maybe being from S.A. had something to do with it................. :-\
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the seat has been recovered , (of coarse!) the last 490 was the 1990 "a" i think was the model # with the wr500,s following in 92 ,93 possibly 91 in the states but i,m unsure , the only change from the "new style cased" yz465 bottom end through out the (13 year ?) run , appart from gear numbers and ratios, is they shifted the clutch cover dowls on the later ones , my wr cover won,t go on my 465 g , the wr was detuned significantly and is fitted with a smaller carby than a yz and had the same pinging problems, some say a good 250 would eat a wr500 , mine is fitted with a yz cylinder and is lots of fun , the bike i mentioned above also has the same fork seal covers as the one in the photo , but that silencer looks very sameish
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Tony i think Darryl had a lot of shoulder trouble which affected his performance also. I remember at the Aussie titles at Dargle in 1980 he was battling for the lead with Gall and his shoulder 'popped out' forcing him to retire.
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Oh yeah, I was never suggesting he didn't have the talent. Just that the planets never quite aligned for him. :)
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i knew of a guy who put a outfit on a WR 500 for the 92 reliabilty trials season. It was the flashest looking bike out there and really quick but they hardly finished a trial as they could'nt keep high powered reliable lights to run on it which were required for the night laps.
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photo
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other side
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Darrly willy is still here in SA only saw him the other day, but he comes and goes with travel.
His YZ 490 bike was sponsored by pitmans and was last seen in Mt barker. if you can tell me who you bought it from i can tell you if its the guy that had it, for what its worth the one im thinking of was immaculate and very tidy, from what i can see in the picture thats not it , but thats not to say it may still have some connection or been something they were screwing about with for someone else, i can ask Doug pitman if its anything he remembers.
I can contact darryl if you like or pass on his email if you like and you can introduce yourself and see if he can help you.
i think thats the 490 at menglers #2
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the po was one of several ,he,d had it since 1991 the bike had been set up for enduro (after it,s racing days i guess)and was at one time road reg,d ,the po was also involved in the fink rally in some way , possibly helping out, i could safely say the bike came from sa , and that when he bought it , that po told him it was assosiated with daryl willoughby , their,s no way it can be for sure unless daryl himself has a record of engine #,s , remember it looks just like every other 490 k that has had bits on/off , just like the 250 side cover , po bought some stuff at a garage sale and the sale host produced the cover and gave it to him to stick the bits and pieces in , mabey the big round silencer might be recognisable , po,s name is dave , and has spent some time at the isa before getting here , not much else , once had an it tank , hence the blue seat , has been cared for in it,s past , even the shock is still ok
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where abouts did you get bike from what state
reason i ask i know where there is a willoughby 490
just wonder if it is same one ;D
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Jeez he's aged a bit since the last time i saw him.. funny that. Would that be Greg Toyama sitting on the CR beside him?
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BAsed on your coments im sure its not it, however its always possible it crossed his path at some time, or he may have worked on it for someone who needed help set one up years later, bit like Mick trevena and greg pretty, those guys fixed a crack head on my 85 Xr 250, but that dont mean my bikes got any history with them.
ill speak to dougy but best thing you can do is find out how low the serial number is if its not within 6 months of release, prity sure it wasnt raced in the day by him. they wil still have the serial # number written down somewhere, even at yamaha i suspect, because sponsored bikes came back to the shop usually.
yes Maico31, thats greg on the Cr, foto was taken only last month, more phot where in my post re : evo stars at Andy C memorial race
Im thinking darryl now runs a lucritive natural Gas tank fitting company.
Lms6201 - check ya MP details enclosed ;)
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freaky , i,m pretty sure your right ,i was more interested in knowing a 490 was being raced competitively back in the day, holeshot, bike is in bundy , po bought it over from sa
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i got a trail and track magazine with an article on a daryl willoughby 490. its about his modified 490 and they said that yamaha pitmans were more into road racing so they handed it over to Trevor Flood to do the development on the engine etc. it had lots of trick parts/modifications etc. i might aim to scan in on the week end and forward it to any one who wants a read.
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i,d like a scan of that please , would be of use email [email protected]
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Me too please Leith.
[email protected]
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Robbie I think ended up with the enduro bike, raced it in WA. I raced WR500 with similar engine mods, pinged like an SOB and nearly buried me....but that could have been down to the rider. ;D
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Love a scan of that please..
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no problems guys will have it ready to email tomorrow.
one of the items he had on his 490 was this shock absorber
ebay - 120334682230
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got this scanned now