1988 YZ125

[Dono113]

88 YZ125 $850ono
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/lalor-park/motorcycles/yz-125-big-wheel/1016245581

[Simo63]

Hmm .. did 88's have the USD front end?  I thought that first appeared in 89 or am I mistaken there?

[Dono113]

Hybred Simo

[Simo63]

Hybred Simo

   Just checked google and yep 88 had conventional forks.  It never ceases to amaze me how many people advertise older MX bikes as the wrong year 

[vandy010]

looks more like a "90"

[Dono113]

Just checked google and yep 88 had conventional forks.  It never ceases to amaze me how many people advertise older MX bikes as the wrong year   

Because they are halfwits Simo

[AJ]

Price now $1,000 due to all the interest.

[firko]

DUE TO HIGH INTEREST , PRICE BUMPED UP!  

That's an interesting sales tool, telling everyone you've raised the price because you got a few enquiries.

I once found the remains of one of these YZ's chained to the clothesline in an abandoned and trashed housing commission house not far from here. The bike was pretty toasted but we grabbed the forks/triples, wheels and Renthal bars, hoping they'd be OK for a mates pre 90 IT/YZ project but it got sold with the conventional forks before he could try them. My questions to you pre 90 Yamaha hounds are...are these forks worth persevering with? can they be modified/upgraded? Do they differ from the 250 USD forks? Would they be an improvement over the 43mm forks on my IT250J?

These may be dumb questions to some but I'm an old man stuck in a seventies time warp.....any knowledge garnered from parallel universes is good knowledge .

[Simo63]

Price now $1,000 due to all the interest.

What a tool.  Should ring him up and tell him I've got a couple and they are worth $2500 easily. 

[whitey 43]

I put a set of USD forks on my '88 YZ250. I spent a lot of tome prepping them (pulled the shim stack out & resurfaced the pistons as they looked looked like they had worked properly since new. I put genuine KYB rebuild kit through them & they were so much better than stock conventionals it wasnt funny. I do admit that I like to jump the thing, so USD resist flex better, but they were still quite plush on the VMX natural terrain.
I guess different people have different needs, but I was stoked with my result.
Hope this helps.

[whitey 43]

Im with you Vandy, The fork is off a 90 anyway...Red anodising gives it away...

[Nathan S]

USD forks of less than 43mm are rubbish. They all end up with a "mid stroke spike" which cannot be tuned out because it is actually bush bind.

If you look back at old tests, they were polite about the first gen of USDs, and only started being genuinely complimentary once the third generation (45/46mm) forks started arriving in the mid-90s.

Apart from the legality/authenticity stuff, a set of 43mm RWU cartridge forks (or damper rod forks with cartridge emulators) will always be superior.

[Nathan S]

Oh, and the bike is a 1990 model - or an 89 with a '90 front end on it, at the very least.
It's not an 88 - seat, tank, rad shroud are obvious giveaways, but the clincher is that frame is also wrong for an '88.

[firko]

Apart from the legality/authenticity stuff, a set of 43mm RWU cartridge forks (or damper rod forks with cartridge emulators) will always be superior. 

Thanks Nathan you've verified what I suspected. I'll leave the IT490 forks on the IT and fit emulators.....I've got them in all of my other firks so why not this one.

[bishboy]

Here's an 88 YZ250 that appears to be in a bit better condition, with a price to match

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Yamaha-YZ250-1988-like-new-/200907687413?pt=AU_Motorcycles&hash=item2ec70805f5&_uhb=1#ht_500wt_1288