A friend who thinks he's getting too old to ride MC's (he's only 68) called me up a few weeks ago and told me to come and get his 1998 WR400 Yamaha. Like most things he owns, he put a ton of money in it and hardly rode it. I bet it's only got 400 miles on it. This engine is one cylinder of the famous first generation R1 with 5 valves and revs to the moon! He put a Baja Designs dual sport kit on it, Bark Busters, a Recluse clutch, an oversize front rotor, MT21 dual sport tires, had the add-on battery replaced with a lithium one, and a larger gas tank. For a dual sport bike, the Bark Busters were over-kill, so I had David Beaman (never do anything yourself if you can afford to have someone do it for you) put flag style hand guards on it. The over-size gas tank was ugly, so he put the stock tank back on it, which is fine for my local purposes for it. When I got it back it felt like it needed to shift one more time to reach the 6th gear that it didn't have, so I bought a one tooth larger, 15 tooth counter sprocket for it. I haven't put it on yet, but I don't think it will make first gear too high for my intended purpose for it of just getting me to and from where we maintain local trails.
If I like the bike as much as I think I will I'll probably send him a grand or so to keep me from feeling guilty, even though he said he just wanted it to go to a good home. If I don't like it I'll sell it and send him the money. Stay tuned.
