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Fun trip! I understand there are lots of interesting bikes in Japan, unseen anywhere but there. Did you hit any bone yards? I can only imagine what might be in the rows way in the back:


I love that race-bike, but wonder of it was for mixed surface tracks or raced 2-up? The handlebars do not seem to go with the rest of it. Hard to crouch on the white seat and the rear-sets with the bars that far up.

Thanks for the pics - the first one is what I see in my minds-eye instead of the challenged pile in the garage. 

Try this link Warren. Its a site I follow on FB. Their latest ad for YA-1 parts was only posted 5 days ago

https://www.facebook.com/YamahaCommunicationPlaza

Good luck 

Hey Brian,
You are a star! I submitted the application to be entered in the Lottery for 1 of 5 sets they are going to sell. That would really set off the YA-1 Nicely!

I am not lucky in love or lotteries - the only lottery I ever won was the Draft, and the wife said yes to saying "I Do." 

Thank you again and again, made my day to even try!
Warren

Hey Brian,
Thanks for the pic and heads-up! I heard about 8 years ago that Yamaha was going to do a limited run of the soft-parts kit for the YA-1 (all in white), but I have never been able to find a source except for one dead-end. I searched the several hundred Yamaha groups for the 'Yamaha Communication Plaza' page, and goose-egged. Then I tried a few generic searches with no results. Where did you see the post? ALL the soft parts on my bike are shot or missing. 

The kit was 'supposed' to be knee grips, seat-cover, handlebar grips, and foot pegs. I even tried contacting Yamaha Japan to no avail, and have been checking the Yahoo Japan auction site with no luck. If you could help me find that posting I would be forever in your debt! Well at least a few years.

I do have a copy of the parts book, but it's in Japanese too; the exploded diagrams help a lot.

Warren

Edit: I did find mention of the soft-parts kit on LinkedIn, but it was not optimistic...

"We've recently been getting a lot of requests for YA-1 parts from overseas. We went to a lot of effort to ensure that the colors remain authentic while making the parts with modern materials so they're more durable. We paid a lot of attention to the details and are proud of the results, so we hope they've been put to good use in YA-1s around the world.

*Sales have concluded, but interested parties may contact the Communication Plaza for more information."

Thanks for the link - sadly there many similar sites that never come up thanks to the commercialization and monetization of Google; I have a Forum website myself, and it has yet to show in direct searches on Google using the name of the site - I've recently moved to using DuckDuckGo or Bing; they list my site and it does come up on page 1 in searches.

I may try a wanted ad for YA-1 stuff, but suspect that what I need is a little old and too far out there. Mainly what I need is Yamaha specific like a lever perch, ignition switch and key, rubber bits like knee-grips and peg rubbers etc.

That site gave me an idea though, I might have something right up their alley to post: my wall-size Mark Brelsford 3D poster from 1973:


Thanks again for the info and link - much appreciated!


Warren

I understand that the DKW was the motor everyone in the 50's copied - the Yamaha motor looks virtually identical on the outside right down to where the screw holes are located. Ironically all the engine bearings are German SKF's in weird fractional sizes that are obsolete. SKF used alpha characters instead of numeric and they (X-N's) did not supersede to anything either.

I found a video a while back of someone taking a DKW125 apart and inside the Yamaha looks exactly the same. I bet a lot of the parts do interchange, but they are rare too. I was lucky the YA-1 motor had very few miles and I think all the internals except seals are reusable. Crank and rod bearings are smooth and tight too. Whew.

Warren 

The 1955 YA1 Yamaha 125 (2T) restoration has finally started after lurking in the corner for many years. These bikes were also known as the Akatombo, or Red Dragonfly. Some say blasphemy against the Yamagods: "Leave it original." I think not:


Let the project begin! First order of business is get the motor out and apart - it took a week to nurse the cases apart since a couple pullers had to be engineered, and surprisingly most of the internals are serviceable; a good thing since NO parts are available, not even from Japan. Here are the cases after being stripped and the first pass through the parts cleaner:


This is going to take some time. The bike spent 40 years in Hawaii at the first Yamaha Dealership in the United States, so the original finish has much surface-rust; the metal beneath is 100% sound and solid and amazingly straight.

The chrome will be a challenge as it didn't fare as well as the painted parts - the handlebars, rims, and exhaust system will take some heroic (read 'expensive') plating work.

Interesting history: the YA-1 was not only the first Yamaha, but it was also the first Yamaha race bike, having won the first race they ever entered, the 1955 Mount Fuji Ascent in Japan ... they finished minutes ahead of the pack. The YA-1 was produced from 1955 to 1957, and one had to be quite wealthy to buy one ... "the average starting salary of a college graduate (in Japan) was around 10,000 Yen, the YA-1's 138,000 Yen price put it well beyond the reach of most users." 

There are less than 10 YA-1's in the U.S., and this is one of two 1955's - the actual count is unknown, but the other dated bikes are 1957's. The Yamaha Corporation was formed in July of 1955, and the date tag on this frame shows Aug-1955, so this is likely one of the oldest in existence.

Updates will be slow in coming - I estimate at least 1-year to finish (it is a very simple and basic bike), which probably means it will take at least 2!

Warren

Seems like there was quite an interest, with all the different bidders.
Wondering why this went for that much.
Time to get mine out
M

That's the nature of the auction - the actual worth does not matter near so much as having at least 2 bidders that want it bad enough... 

Is a deal a deal if it's thousands of miles away and impossible to score? Or just irritating...
That would be an excellent bike/pile to part out, then buy a nice one with the profit!
I just happen to have an R5 want list.
Warren

The 260mm DTLS was Yamaha's answer (at the time) to the TD2/TD3/TZ250 performance; what they had on production racers back in the late was OK for the TD1 series, but inadequate for the improved handling and speed of the 1970ish racers.

Yamaha had been playing with disk brakes back in the early 1960's, but they were inadequate. I had 2 sets of TD1 forks that were modified by Yamaha for Tony Murphy (I think the caliper was mechanical, the fork legs are all I had), and saw several photos of these early attempts on the track, but they needed something that worked on the newer racers, so they made the 260/DTLS.

No thanks to Japanese manufacturing, the OEM 260 brakes were prone to fade, spongy feel, and a lot of lever pressure due to very poor domestic shoe material back then. They were undoubtably superior to the TD1 DLS, but disk brake development and evolving technology prompted the move to putting disks on their race bikes by the mid 1970's.

Turn the clock up 30 years into the reproduction era, and with modern manufacturing techniques and vastly superior brake shoe compounds, the 260/DTLS works great! Yamaha had a sound design since reproductions match the original inside and out, and the 260 works great on the track - better than the Suzuki GT750 drum that ends up on many drum-brake class racers because of availability and being more affordable.

The brake I have is a 'Pender' Mfg. from the Philippines - Pender was the first and IMO the best, and he made and sold hundreds of these brakes over the 10 or so years he made them. The first one I bought worked so well on the track that I bought a 2nd knowing eventually it would go on another of my bikes. I don't race anymore, so a street bike it is!

Here is the Pender on a WERA raced TD3 - it worked great:


I swear by them, not at them!     
Warren

That 250mm Fontana DTLS (repro or original) is a He!! of a brake with great feel, and is 'stoppy' ready, so not all for looks. A little more un-sprung weight than a disk but not much; they are magnesium. I dissent; I like it - not so much for the lines, but for the time and effort spent making that bike just the way HE wanted it, and make it all play together!

I ought to have many of you turning in your M/C graveyards with what I'm planning on - I'm swapping that very stock '84 NS250R I painted for a '73 RD350 instead of a cash sale (I really wanted an R5 - they're faster), but any RD with a drum rear would have sufficed. The bike will be getting this front brake, and shouldered a matching rim for the rear.


The wheel stuff is already here (Avon RR tires too), and I figure I should have it ready to ride in a month. Iconic Motorbike Auctions is running a special in May (no listing fee), so hopefully I can re-open the stall for the next project ... they have a way of finding my house.

I've always had the philosophy that if you are going for a concourse restoration, make it parts-book correct right down to the tire air, but if building a custom/art/concept bike, do it exactly the way YoU want it. Please yourself first and last - it is your bike!   

Warren

Don't know what kind of bike - but do be careful with heroics; a seized crank bearing can destroy a case in short order. I would be hesitant to apply any 'soft' fixes that involved heat or chemicals. Many 2T cranks can have the outer flywheels replaced easily; a lot cheaper than fixing something like this:


Warren

Sadly the pictures (and fond memories) is all I have left =(
Warren

Weird Stuff - ever see one of these? It is a Honda 2T:

It turned out nicely - extra pics:

https://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/cto/d/surprise-1984-honda-ns250r-stroke-twin/7737286540.html

Warren

No Leak-down test. Easy to tell if there is a problem by the way it runs - if there is no telltale issue(s) and it runs great (no plug fowling, no excessive smoking on one side or the other, smooth idle, good linear throttle response through the RPM gauge with no bogging) I don't go hunting.

A bad center seal (which is the most likely to suspect on the NS) usually manifests in overall performance problems and is obvious. This is a low mileage motor '19K km / 12K miles' that has only seen street use and runs as expected.

If a potential buyer wants to run any checks on the motor before buying, or have it inspected by a shop, I would be glad to help and welcome any prechecks. If the crank seal(s) are bad and fail immediately (withing a few days or a few miles) due to age or sitting, and can be verified, I'd just give the buyer their money back; only if returned in the same physical condition as sold.

Warren