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That didn’t take long.  Thursday night I added a 2006 YZ450F to the stable.  I also sold my YZ250 to a local friend and fellow Aprilia owner.  hat just leaves the YZ426f to sell.  That might be a little bit of a challenge given its age, but I have the time.  The funny thing is that all three are currently in my garage at the moment and its a great sight.  Of course, the two for sale are clean and the 450 is nice and dirty from this morning’s maiden voyage.

Actually, this morning’s ride was a little disappointing.  I knew he tire’s condition sucked from the previous owner, but it pretty much ruined the ride.  I had no front grip.  None.  I fell over twice from losing the front end in a non-technical are that simply required a little carving of the front tire. 

Second, the fueling was all wrong.  It stumbled badly at low rpms and seemed to be running a little lean.  The rpm was not consistent as if it was starved for fuel.

Finally the suspension was all wrong for my application.  My guess is that the dampin, rebound, and compression are ‘turned off’.  Al least that what it felt like.

So now on to the personalization of the 450.  Its time to tune and spend a litle of the household fun tickets to make this thing mine.  I have on order a skid plate,  frame guards, and a full exhaust system.  I’ll also be sending my carb to the folks at ZipTyRacing.com to have them set it up.

I’m not going the aftermarket suspension route yet as I have read that the current capability is very high.  I want to spend some time tuning them myself.  In additon, the bike came with a whole sub-mount Scott’s damper setup.  I didn’t notice much today, and its coming off the bike for the time being.  I have never ridden with a dmper and want to go without for several rides.  After that, I’ll add the damper back on and see if I notice a dfference.  If not a big difference, off to ebay give the $600+ price.  That’ll fund some other cool-guy add ons.

Given that I don’t really trust the seller…well…any seller, I’m also going to give the bike a full lube and service including checking the valves.  I want to draw a new line in the sand as a starting point from which there will be knowns.  Oddly enough, the ned for a desert tank has been downgraded.  I have the stock tank on now and we rode for just under 40 miles.  I had plenty of reserves.  Not to say that I won’t get one, but its been kicked down the list of priorities.

The list of priorities:

1. rubber - absolutley need it NOW
2. ‘gripper’ seat cover - trying to lug a bike up a technical single track with a seat as slippery as ice was a total PITA (a must have) 
3. armor everywhere - skid plate & frame guards (already have radiator braces / guards and brush guards)
4. fueling - got to get that right, and ziptyracing.com seems to be the folks to do it
5. exhaust - mrd-racing.com has a highly regarded full system for $400 with a park arrestor and will fix damage for free
6. gearing - hard to tell if  need taller gearing for the single track trails when the fueling was that wrong, but possible.
7. desert tank - just a nice thing to have

I adapted to my YZ250 in minutes.  This will take a little more time, tuning, and cash, but I’m cool with that.  For all the bitching I did, the bike makes tons of power and is very light.  I’m overall very happy with the purchase, but like every motorcycle I buy, I need to put some stuff on it. 

The bike will be down for a couple of weeks as I amass my parts and services.  Its always fun transforming just another bike into “my bike”.  I can’t wait.