Awesome! Loved hearing that sound when you started it up. 1980 I was 12 and riding my '79 YZ80 all around the dirt roads of central Minnesota. Never forget the day I was side by side with a 750 Yamaha Special that my neighbor owned. We wanted to see how fast the YZ would go. To this day I tell everybody that at top speed my neighbor yelled '65 mph'. My mom would have screamed if she knew I was going that fast on a gravel road next to a bike that big. How I would love to go back to those days for a few minutes....thanks for sharing.
I was like 13 years old when I got one of these brand new in late 1979 early 1980. I used to toast enduro 125's all over the place all the time, they were shocked like what is that ! ! ! ! this little bike was a bad ass bike back then and I pushed it to its limits. Sure brings back memories.
I remember my 79 was so quick it could hang with 125’s until you got into 4th gear! It was straight up quicker through 3rd gear than my 1980 RM125. The 78 was fairly tame by comparison though….I don’t know, maybe the shop I bought it from ported the cylinder or something? I just recall that 79 was a ferocious little beast!
This was my first bike.... in Australia the YZ80E were White (YZ80D was still Yellow).... I remember every time the chain came off.... it would bend the clutch pin (above) inside the cover. It was plenty fast enough for a 12 year old, open the throttle, hang on tight.... and wait for the powerband...... Just looking at it brings back the excitement I felt as a kid riding this.... and the smell of Castrol R30..... Mmmmm.
I bought a brand new 1976 YZ-80 off the showroom floor when I was 12 with all my saved up allowance and lawn mowing money! The sales guy had never sold a bike before to a kid with so many $1 and $5 bills (very crumpled, but straightened out and in order! lol). We lived in your typical 'new' neighborhood with large tracts of undeveloped land for future homes and these areas were our trails and we owned them! I think every kid my age (that was cool and never did homework - HA!) had a bike and long hair! O the memories!
Love these little bikes. I spotted a roached '78 YZ80E in a field in Ramona, Ca., while driving back grounds, pulled over, found the owner, and paid $50.00 to haul it away. Bike still had compression and a wiseco sticker on the forks. Have had a ton of fun doing a ground up restoration on it. This is the bike I taught my letting my girls learn to ride on it. Just waiting on a hone to arrive to do a fresh top end rebuild and get it ready for at least it's third generation of rider.
Great job you take me black to June of 1979 my buddy had YZ 80 and a month later my parents brought me the KX 80 the first year we would drag race all the time I would get the hole shot every time because the KX hard a 5 speed transmission and a ton of low end and mid range the YZ had 6 speed transmission all power was top end if the straight was long he would get me wow wow the best 2 summers for the both of us 41 years ago thanks again for the memories
Pizza Hut was right beside the KAW. Shop. I wanted the 79KX80 badly. My grandparents bought me& my brother 79GT80MXyamaha’s. I’d like2 restore a 79 KAW. With all the gold DG racing bits installed
I got one when I was 8. I broke the frame, on the swing arm, and took it a part and took it to a weld shop! Rode it for a while again and broke the frame again. Brings back great memories of learning to ride and wrench!
Super nice you did this bike over, I was 10 years old when I bought this bike with help from my parents, it was a leftover so cheaper than the 1980 ... but a huge upgrade from the GT 80 I was riding
Alot of motocross legends got their start on this bike.this and the rm80 put an end to Honda's xr75 dominance of the mini class. More the RM but when this bike came along the entire starting line at every mx track across the country went from red(xr75) to yellow and there was no way that an xr75 in 1979 could even hold a candle to this 79 yz80!! This and the RM 80 changed the landscape of mx in my opinion.the Kawasaki KX80 came out in this year also..79 but it was Kawasaki's first endeavor into the highly competitive mini class it was an excellent bike but was made in limited numbers and there were very few parts to modify it. By 1979 you could just about replace every part of either the rm80 or yz80 with a hop up part. The stars of pro motocross in the 1980s got their start on this bike.
79 was a Beast, funny to watch a newby try and learn how to ride it! 1980 it was refined with mucho better low end and much easier to ride. I bought a brand new 1981 YZ80 for $850.00 OTD, and it was an increadable ride. As most of the 1981 models. Cheap, no water cooling to deal with just pure BRAPPPP!!!! Good luck, nice ride!!!
I had the exact yz got stolen I did get it back then sold it it was mint when I got it paid 200 for it wish I kept her memory lane I used ride nice wheelies on that little yz
My freind in 5th grade got one of these new for Christmas one year. I tried racing my Hodaka 100 Dirt Squirt against him and he left me in the dust. It was frustrating!
I had the identical YZ80 in Jr high school 8th grade... 13 yr old in 1979 Damn killed myself on it.. The damn bike was crazy fast.. nothing in my neighborhood could touch it except my friends SUZUKI RM80.. That bike was sick... I wound up giving it away..🙄
Wow. That is nice top notch built man. That’s awesome. I really hope you see this and write back. I have. 79 and I’m rebuilding but not going go back original but a different color scheme but had some questions!! The rear wheel is the sprocket oem? Or what is it for? I need to order stuff and not sure where to order!! Any help would be awesome
Thanks! It is OEM sprocket. Searched forever to find it. Ebay, Google and patience. I searched for many hours. Sometimes the cost is unbelievable but, no choice sometimes. Good luck! I'm going to try and build another with all the beat up parts I had left over. Something I'm not afraid to ride and let my grandsons tear up.
I spent every morning surfing the web looking for parts. I bought 3 bikes to make this one. Currently trying to get together all of the parts I have left to build another. It wont be near as nice as this one but, something I can ride and beat up.
I have wanted to buy a '78 or '79 YZ80 for the last year or so, but missed out on a couple of them because the timing wasn't right. If you would ever be seriously interested in selling, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE to contact me. I had a brand new left over '78 that my dad bought me in 1979. I've wanted to get another one the last 2 years to go along with my 2016 Yamaha YZ250 and 2016 Yamaha XSR900 60th Anniversary bikes. BOTH are yellow and blank like my '78 YZ80E. LET ME KNOW!
