YAMAHA YZ 465

In a rare departure from my usual manner of operation, I actually bought a bike that was not in several boxes, or full of rust and rotten rubber. An opportunity arose that I could not turn down. A dear friend of mine had built a bike to race in AHRMA, and then he decided to get out of the hobby. The bike sat for over a year, and he started talking about selling it. I made an off hand comment about buying it and he gave me a price. It was a great price. He could have easily gotten 2 or 3 times what he sold it to me for. That's the only way I could have afforded it, and I am grateful for that.

I am still working on the jets. I started out with a 370 main, and a 50 pilot, and a 3.5 slide that I had ground out a bit. With the needle in the middle, it had an awful mid range, and it never cleared out. Dropping the needle one notch led to a bit of a crappy mid range but the top came around good. Dropping the needle two notches produced an excellent mid range, but the top went away all together. I was doing all of this at the race track and I didn't have any spare jets with me so i went with the one notch down position. Even though the mid range was a bit bubbly, the motor had so much power, it just didn't seem to matter.

Its a different world riding it, that's for sure. The suspension is years ahead of what I am used to. The rear was rebuilt by Pro Action and the forks were also redone. The clutch is loose, it chatters a bit but I knew that when i bought it. That's number one on my list, a new clutch. Gonna play with the jetting some more. Its a beast to start as they apparently all are. I finally developed my own procedure which includes spraying some carb cleaner into the T vent. That usually gets me that backfire, then it starts two kicks later.

The power is GREAT. It’s a tractor on steroids that turns into a runaway freight train when you want it to. The first race I had on it was at Budds Creek, which is a pretty daunting track by any measure, not to mention a tough place for a first ride on a new bike. I had only run it up and down a parking lot before the race.

I fell instantly in love with the bike because it did everything I asked it to and I felt immediately comfortable on it. I am looking forward to tuning it in and racing it some more this year!

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