Best sound ever, next to the CR500. I owned a YZ80G in 1980 and began racing a YZ100J in 1982 and loved them both. The YZ's were white and red here in Australia in those days, but they were yellow in America. While I was racing the 100J, I recall a mate sold his Suzuki RM125 and came home with a new YZ250K (1983) and it was beautiful and sounded like a beast. Then I saw Stephen Gall on a 490 winning everything. I can still see the 490 rattling away at idle and having to re-tighten most of the bolts between races 😉. Wish I could get my hands on a white YZ100J. Considering their were millions of the things in the early to mid 80's, they have disappeared entirely and can't be found for some reason. This YZ490 is beautiful and brings back so many good memories.
Love it with the Gold Rims! Actually, my 1st 125 to ever Ride was A 1985 YZ125 when I was 14 and my feet could barely touch the ground on Greenwood Rd out in the Country in Weatherford, Tx. Still Great Emotions and Memories!
My first bike my a 1980 KX 80. I was 10 years old. I moved up . But when i saw those big 490's and 500's. They seemed like dragons to me. I could not wait to grow into one. Loved the 80's big boys.
The blue shock spring looks like a Race Tech mod. My favorite race bike back in the day was a modified 1988 YZ490. The 88 YZ was the best of all the 490's, but they all had issues. There is no one out there who knows how to fix those issues better than Paul Thede at Race Tech. He did most of the mods on my 490 and I did a few other things. It was as fast on the track as any CR 500 or KX 500 after the mods. The YZ 490 will always be my favorite big bore, every time I see one it brings back a lot of memories.
I acquired one of these when I was 15 had a Suzuki ts 50 before it normally took 3 of us to get it started on off power was a death trap to the unskilled I didn’t have it long
Absolute beasts the torque out of these 490s is nutz wild wild machines buddy had one when we were 18 on road would stand front end in 5th even at low rpm things are insane
Thank's a lot !!! Too many souvenirs in the 80's when I used to see the great Hakan on this bike during the world MX championship !! Big vibes bike!!😱 (At this time I rode a 250YZ 1984) Richard 👍😎🇫🇷🏁
Wow 1980 YZ 490 my buddy had a stock one it was a beast you're yz490 is an absolutely gorgeous thanks for the info Ken great video Ronnie Kaplan Cycles number one God Bless🇺🇲 America New England Motorcycle Museum
I believe they only had the YZ465 in 1980. Might be wrong. Love the 465s aswell, less problems from factory with no need for head mod to fix jetting issues
YZ's went water cooled in 1982 with the radiator high behind the front number plate. The 490 was never water cooled. But after the FIM 1986 production rule for the USA only, to stop factory bike development in the USA, with Yamaha saying they could not afford to make works bikes, they did make a works YZM 500 aluminum frame water cooled monster that was only raced in Europe,---and they all still make works bikes in Europe to this day, but not the USA.
i like the red n white its differnt i had a 84 black n yellow 490 at the age of 13 i was a big kid i mowed alot of yards to feed that thing lol to me the air cooled pings are just differnt as in i think they feel like they have more torque then watercooled bikes but water cooled biokes seem like they have more top end maybe its just me
Gotta do some head work first. Once that is sorted they're close. Awesome bikes, probably the next bike i wanna buy to get into big bores affordably lol
Less low end power, but it has a harder hit in the midrange. Stock they need some work to run properly with a head mod that lowers compression a smidge. My '83 IT490 (wearing slimmer YZ plastic) has the head mod, some clean-up porting and a meticulously microbalanced and lazer-trued crank. Runs smooth as silk. The drum brake is terrible.
Yeah they raced the big bore pro class back in he 80s Broc Glover won the 1985 championship on a 1985 yz490 and before 1985 Marty moates won the USGP on a privateer bike he had just bought the bike that day and went on to beat the pros on that yz465 in 1980. So yeah you can run them together I now they run them together in the vintage class in glen helen but that’s been a good couple years since I raced there but I remember seeing them sitting there waiting to race and I saw 70s era to 90s era vintage big bores getting ready to run
Wow that is some TORQUE. You're not even riding on the pipe and that thing is still hauling ass! There's a RU-vidr in England who dropped one of these engines in a Blaster chassis.
@@KaplanCyclesI have a 1969 Royal Enfield Interceptor that I want to bring with me when me and my brother visit this year. My dads all original including the tires with under 4,000 miles on it. Said he never went full throttle on it because it had a long break in period. It seized after he let it sit for thirty years. I got it running ten years ago but it still needs some TLC, hoping you might be interested in tuning her up while my dad can still ride it.
I am very interested in buying it as is this is Ken Senior the guy in the video please text me or call me 860-916-9784 I'll make your bike brand new and you can come and ride it
