With all of the talk of big dolllar bikes becoming more and more common, I thought it'd be a good time to return to my favourite subject, budget vintage racers. Rather than going the expensive route of buying an already set up American aftermarket frame, my mate Peter is putting together an interesting little dirt track project using a basket case IT250 roller as the basis. So far the bike has cost Peter $630 which includes the $400 for the IT and the YZ465H engine. Apart from buying a new set of Magura levers he's found nearly everything in his and other peoples junk stashes. He was lucky that the engine was in good nick and needed little to get it in race trim.
The IT frame was stripped of all un needed brackets and gizmos and was deraked to 26 degrees to get it into a more dirt track attitude. A new rear subframe was made to mount the twin shocks. The stock IT swingarm lost it's cantilever brace and shock mount and twin shock mounts were also fitted. The monoshock was ditched in favour of the twin shock set up to enable Peter to set up the ride height more easily.An MX250 tank was used and Peter is currently building the seat/tail section and pipe and is lacing up a 19" front wheel. The forks will naturally also be shortened. Once finished the bike will be stripped and painted, polished and blinged up, in a similar manner to his previous el cheapo racer, the infamous 'Yamaico', Yamaha MX250 powered Maico.
Peters plan is to debut the bike at the Australian Classic Dirt Track Championships at Barleigh Ranch in September.
