125 New to me 06 YZ125 lowered?

[BigredGrizzly]

Hi all.. I'm new to this forum. My name is Daryl. My 8 year old son and I are motorcycle enthusiasts. My most recent bikes were a 1996 YZ250 (bought brand new) and the longed for 1993 CR250. Sold that. Kicking myself BIG TIME! But it went to a good home and I have become friends with owner. Anyway, I'm 41 now and ended up breaking my foot on the CR250. Whiskey throttled a table top. It wasn't pretty...Lol.. Anyway I brought my son to the track the other day and watched everyone ride but me. It killed me. So I figured maybe I can down size to a 125 and still participate in the fun. That leads me to this question.

So today I got a fair deal on a 06 YZ125. Needs a carb cleaning, chain and sprockets, flywheel cover, the seal behind the front sprocket, and rear wheel bearings. Other than that it seems pretty good. One thing that stood out to me though is that the rear looked low. I inquired about it to the seller and he said it WAS LOWERED for a smaller rider. I'm not familiar with this process or how to return it to its original height. Do I need a taller spring in the back? I must mention that the rear shock has been rebuilt for a 150 lb rider. I'm 180-190lbs. I plan to get the suspension rebuilt for my weight at some point but probably won't be until the end of the summer.

So any input on adjusting height without sacrificing stiffness would be great. Thanks in advance.

 

[2strokesteve89]

Hi all.. I'm new to this forum. My name is Daryl. My 8 year old son and I are motorcycle enthusiasts. My most recent bikes were a 1996 YZ250 (bought brand new) and the longed for 1993 CR250. Sold that. Kicking myself BIG TIME! But it went to a good home and I have become friends with owner. Anyway, I'm 41 now and ended up breaking my foot on the CR250. Whiskey throttled a table top. It wasn't pretty...Lol.. Anyway I brought my son to the track the other day and watched everyone ride but me. It killed me. So I figured maybe I can down size to a 125 and still participate in the fun. That leads me to this question.

So today I got a fair deal on a 06 YZ125. Needs a carb cleaning, chain and sprockets, flywheel cover, the seal behind the front sprocket, and rear wheel bearings. Other than that it seems pretty good. One thing that stood out to me though is that the rear looked low. I inquired about it to the seller and he said it WAS LOWERED for a smaller rider. I'm not familiar with this process or how to return it to its original height. Do I need a taller spring in the back? I must mention that the rear shock has been rebuilt for a 150 lb rider. I'm 180-190lbs. I plan to get the suspension rebuilt for my weight at some point but probably won't be until the end of the summer.

So any input on adjusting height without sacrificing stiffness would be great. Thanks in advance.

Bikes can be lowered a couple ways, most likely what the seller meant was installing a lowering link in the rear and dropping the forks in the triple clamps. It's also possible he just lowered the seat height by decreasing preload on the rear spring along with lowering the forks thru the triples. This method is not preferable especially for more aggressive riders as this makes the bike prone to easily bottoming out.Shaving the seat foam is another method some use. But my bet is on the first method, you should be able to find out the length of the link and compare it to the length of an OEM link.

 

[BigredGrizzly]

Ok, thanks, Steve. In the pic I posted above one can see the spring is compressed down with the spanner nuts. I'm going to loosen them a bit to increase spring length. I think that will make the suspension softer though. I really need to get a better grasp on specifics and details on types of adj's and mods that can be done to suspension. I'm wondering if anything has been inside the shock itself to lower it. I will measure the length of the existing link and compare it to the OEM one.

 

[PALMER84ONE]

If it has a yamalink on the rear it will be longer than OEM. This will drop the rear on bike. The other way is internal washer stacking. That could be done on both ends to make bike sit lower. I would have the suspenders redone, to your specs. It will make the bike feel way better than not doing it. So: 1st get it running good, 2nd get the suspension right. Otherwise, it will not be an enjoyable experience.

 

[BigredGrizzly]

If it has a yamalink on the rear it will be longer than OEM. This will drop the rear on bike. The other way is internal washer stacking. That could be done on both ends to make bike sit lower. I would have the suspenders redone, to your specs. It will make the bike feel way better than not doing it. So: 1st get it running good, 2nd get the suspension right. Otherwise, it will not be an enjoyable experience.

Got it. Thanks, Palmer. I just spoke with Jay at Get Real Racing (GRR). He remembers doing this shock and fork b/c it was a weird set up. He told me it was internally lowered front forks and rear shock. I'm dropping them off Friday afternoon for the full treatment. Getting a stiffer spring for my weight.

 

[BigredGrizzly]

Hi Fellas... I'm starting the tear down tomorrow. I did a decent job power washing it this afternoon after work. I live in NJ and the weather warmed to 39 degrees so I had to take advantage of it. We are supposed to be getting a huge snow storm tomorrow so I plan to work on the bike in between plowing sessions. I'll the heater and the tunes cranking in the garage. The most difficult part of tonight was getting the bike on top of my welding table. I ended up screwing hooks into the collar ties of my garage and the hooked tie downs to the hooks and the bike. I was able lift the bike high enough and let it down on the stand. My goal is to drain the oil, remove the forks and shock from the bike, remove the rear wheel and the rear wheel bearings. I'll also remove the chain and sprockets. I'll also do a lot of cleaning in between. Hopefully the parts from Rocky Mountain ATV/MC won't be delayed by the weather but they probably will.
I keep trying to post pics but a popup shows up saying my content is too "spam-like". What the hell is that. I posted pics before without any issues.

 

[BigredGrizzly]

 

[BigredGrizzly]

 

[BigredGrizzly]

 

[PALMER84ONE]

It's because this site blows for easy photo adding with large files. Yah, I said that.


Tear down that YZ!

 

[BigredGrizzly]

Alright fellas... This snow blows... Figuratively and literally... It's the heavy wet crap. I did my first round of plowing at 8AM with a 1970 Wheel Horse GT14 that I did a complete restoration on. It's a beast.

I fired up the heater and gave it about an hour to warm up in there and then I got to work. No major hurdles everything seems to be going smooth... I'm sure I just jinxed myself with that comment. What I thought was a beat rear bearing was actually a lot of loose spokes. Clearly this bike did not receive good maintenance. The poor thing... I got the forks and shock out. Wheels off obviously and the chain off. Heading back out there to remove the carb and then get into it. Here are some pics of the work.

 

[BigredGrizzly]

Alright... I did a bit more this afternoon. I got into the carb and it really wasn't too bad. Cleaned it out good with carb cleaner and compressed air. It didn't look like it needed my ritualistic carb cleaning process which involves Berrymans Chem Dip. That stuff is amazing. Just gotta remove all the rubber gaskets. Otherwise they expand and will not go back on properly. I know from experience... Lol. The sprockets and chain are whooped. New ones are on the way..

Here's what the carb looked like...

This is after I cleaned it.

I also removed the rear brake pads and lubed up the shims and the pin. I still need to clean up some of that excess brake pad lube.

The last thing I did before I came inside was tighten the loose spokes. Mind numbing job..
I looked like this when I was doing it

But I actually really felt like this.

I could never have those fancy spoke skins because I couldn't even imagine having to deal with all those spokes. No way... Anyway, I got the forks and the shock boxed up and they are heading over to Jay at Get Real Racing (GRR) for the full treatment. I don't know if any of you used him before but he was very helpful over the phone. Returned calls quickly and made suggestions. I understand he is a staple in the Motocross scene here in Jersey. Oh well, it's back to work for me tomorrow. I'm glad I was able to take advantage of the snow day.. Now I need a shower and a bed.. LOL... I'll keep you all posted when the new parts come in.

 

[Mihylo33]

Alright... I did a bit more this afternoon. I got into the carb and it really wasn't too bad. Cleaned it out good with carb cleaner and compressed air. It didn't look like it needed my ritualistic carb cleaning process which involves Berrymans Chem Dip. That stuff is amazing. Just gotta remove all the rubber gaskets. Otherwise they expand and will not go back on properly. I know from experience... Lol. The sprockets and chain are whooped. New ones are on the way..

Here's what the carb looked like...

This is after I cleaned it.

I also removed the rear brake pads and lubed up the shims and the pin. I still need to clean up some of that excess brake pad lube.

The last thing I did before I came inside was tighten the loose spokes. Mind numbing job..
I looked like this when I was doing it

But I actually really felt like this.

I could never have those fancy spoke skins because I couldn't even imagine having to deal with all those spokes. No way... Anyway, I got the forks and the shock boxed up and they are heading over to Jay at Get Real Racing (GRR) for the full treatment. I don't know if any of you used him before but he was very helpful over the phone. Returned calls quickly and made suggestions. I understand he is a staple in the Motocross scene here in Jersey. Oh well, it's back to work for me tomorrow. I'm glad I was able to take advantage of the snow day.. Now I need a shower and a bed.. LOL... I'll keep you all posted when the new parts come in.

What part of Jersey are you from?
I'm near Somerville/bridgewater. Sweet looking scooter.

 

[BigredGrizzly]

What part of Jersey are you from?
I'm near Somerville/bridgewater. Sweet looking scooter.

Not far at all.. I'm in New Providence, between Berkeley Heights and Summit. My sister is a teacher in Bridgewater. Eisenhower school I think..

 

[Mihylo33]

Not far at all.. I'm in New Providence, between Berkeley Heights and Summit. My sister is a teacher in Bridgewater. Eisenhower school I think..

Hahaha my stepdaughter goes to Eisenhower. Cool and my stepdad built half of New Providence. Bittman was the name to have in that town from1900 to 1980.... my stepdad is long gone but his 95yr old brother is still smoking 2 packs a day. I forget what road they live on. It's by the swim club.