Doug's Ongoing YZ 290FX Story

Yamaha 2015 YZ250FX Part 9

Thought I would bring you up to date on the 250/290.

 

At 81 hrs Thumper Racing installed the 290cc kit and since then I’ve put 24.5 hrs on the new kit without any problems. The only thing I’ve done is richened up the very top of the RPM range just a little. I talked to Thumper about when they thought I should check the top end, they advised “At whatever interval Yamaha recommends” At this juncture I’m going to tear it down when it reaches 50 hrs on the 290 kit.

So at 105.5 hrs I decided to have the suspension serviced and basically go through the whole bike. Did things like greasing the steering head bearings and the swing arm and suspension linkage to my surprise everything was in excellent condition and it didn’t really need it?

The Rekluse clutch has been in the bike from the very first and I hadn’t even checked it. I decided to tear it apart and check it out, the last time I rode it and for the first since I installed the Rekluse the end play gain was not in spec. 105.5 hours is a lot without checking it and 24.5 hrs of that was with the new 290 power.

I talked with Rekluse and they asked if I would send pictures of everything they were interested at looking at certain wear parts. They responded with the “clutch looked great” even the Teflon blocks. (See pictures) They recommended I put in three stiffer clutch springs, for greater clamping force (Because of the 290 kit) readjust the settings and reinstall the clutch. That says a lot for their product and my changing the oil and checking the end play gain all the time.  I ordered the parts and decided to replace all the friction plates, Yamaha OEM plates aren’t that expensive.

I had to replace a bearing in the Scotts steering Damper but other than that the bike was in amazing condition.

Eric #33 has a 2013 KTM 500EXC and has 560 hrs on it without touching the motor other than checking the valve clearances (three times) Now Eric does not rev the motor to the moon, he doesn’t need to with all that torque. My point is my bike has never seen the rev limiter and with the new low mid range never will. There’s no need. So I see no reason why the bottom end in my bike won’t last maybe not as long as Eric’s but a long, long time.

This bike is so much fun to ride, it was before but since the 290 kit was installed the fun factor has been raised a lot.

I’ve got all the parts now so it’s time to put it back together and go ride.

Doug 21J