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When I was young, a neighbor and a friend both had these old-school dirt bikes. Not just yellow — yellow and black. I always thought they were the coolest-looking motorcycles ever.
Sonic and a YZ80
When I was 11 or so, my neighbor had a YZ80. He'd sometimes pick me up and take me back to his house so we could play Sega Genesis — mostly Sonic the Hedgehog.
He lived with his grandparents, and they had a few trails we'd sometimes ride around on. That was my first experience on a motorcycle.
The first one I rode myself
As I got older, a few more of the kids had motorcycles. One friend I'd play basketball with got a dirt bike for a little while, and it was the first one I rode by myself. It was unremarkable, but I remember it was fun.
The YZ250 I never rode
When I was a freshman in high school, I'd sometimes hang out with one of the older kids who rode the bus in my neighborhood. He had a YZ250. He'd built a dirt BMX track in his yard, and mostly we rode bicycles on it.
But I remember that motorcycle. To me it was the coolest motorcycle I had ever seen — that black and yellow YZ look. My guess is it was early '80s, though I don't remember for sure.
I never rode it. The 250 was pretty scary, and he didn't have a trail system like my other neighbor — just this crazy dirt track, with jumps and berms, in his yard. He was a little wild, as you might expect, and I never got around to trying the YZ.
To me it was the coolest motorcycle I had ever seen — that black and yellow YZ look.
The long search
I never forgot about the yellow and black motorcycle. Even after I moved to the big city, I always wanted one of those dirt bikes.
Eventually I moved out of the city, to an area where I had access to dirt bike riding. I got other dirt bikes, but I kept looking for one of those yellow and black YZs.
One day I went into the local motorcycle shop looking for parts for my blue IT175, and they had a yellow and black YZ400 in the shop. It was so awesome. I asked a bunch of questions about it. It wasn't for sale — it was someone's bike they were working on — but it got me searching for a YZ of my own again.
$1,000, delivered for $975
Maybe a year later, one came up for sale on my local marketplace app. I watched it for a few weeks; no one wanted it, I guess. The ad said it ran but needed a throttle cable, and it was listed at $1,000.
For me, at the time, that was the most I would ever have paid for a bike. But I took the risk and messaged the seller. He said he'd deliver it to my house for $975. I took him up on the offer, and he came right over.
Not the classic look, and it didn't matter
It wasn't a classic-looking YZ — it had the desert tank. But it did have the yellow and black look, and the YZ400 is a really cool-looking bike, with a massive engine and a good reputation. I was never upset about it.
It didn't need much to get going:
- Replaced the throttle cable.
- Fixed a leak from the petcock.
- Fixed another leak from the fuel line.
- Cleaned out the carb.
- Changed the exhaust hanger.
After that, it fired right up. It was then, and still is, my favorite motorcycle.
It was then, and still is, my favorite motorcycle.
I'd still like a slightly more modern YZ — maybe an '83 or '84 250. But I'll be keeping my YZ400 as long as I can.