How to tame 97 Yz80

[gerker]

A while back there was a thread on this subject but I'm not sure
if I remembered everything correctly. My eleven year olds first
bike is a 97 YZ80. (To good a deal to pass up) I doubt it will ever
be raced, just hard play/trail riding. The Eric Gorr mod sounds great, and
the sprockets need to be replaced so a change is easy.
How about flywheel weight? Also, the front brake is hypersensitive,
is there a way to safely desensitize the brake before he goes over
the bars. Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[gn83tm]

I had Eric Gore do the cylinder work on my 9 yr old's YZ80 and it made a huge difference. The bike still has a pretty good hit but it's not as scary. It also has more down low. Money well spent!

We also changed the gearing and it made it easier to get going but overall it wasn't a big difference. The down side is that it increases torque to the rear tire when the hit happens.

He's doing pretty well riding the small MX tracks but it's a handful and not fun for him on any type of woods trails. I may just get another bike for those situations. I too was sold on a used YZ due to the technology and performance you can get for the dollar compared to the 30 year old technology of the little play bikes. Depending on where he wants to ride, the little rippers seem to be a decent choice.

 

[gn83tm]

Sorry I forgot to address a couple of your questions. In regards to the flywheel weight; I haven't tried it but my thoughts are that if the motor doesn't have much torque to store up, the weight won't help too much. Hopefully someone who's had experience with the weights will provide their input.

I don't notice the front brake being overly sensative on our '96 although my boy doesn't really like to use it that much. I just have it adjusted so it has to be pulled a long way to hit hard. The brand of pads may have something to do with the sensitivity also.