My dad bought this bike for £90 back in 1998 with a blown top end

It sat at the back of his garage for about 8 years until he passed it onto me after a few beers together in a bar, since then it has been sat in my garage for about 4 years. It has been on my mind alot recently and ive decided im going to keep this bike for as long as i can, so eventually it will be getting restored to it's former glory. Cosmetically the bike is in rough shape, but thats easily sorted. Mechanically the bike is a good starting point for an easy resto, i think at least.


The wheels and hubs are in fairly good condition, these will be getting rebuilt, repainted and re-anodised

This will not be an original restoration, so im not bothered about having aftermarket plastics/handlebars etc. but i want to keep it looking as close to factory as possible.

It does have a fresh top end, however i will be splitting the cases and replacing every bearing and seal

Unfortunately some of the powervalve appears to be missing, lost in the moving around its done over the years.

Does anyone know if this old YZ had 'Z' spokes? i've heard they can be tricky/expensive to get hold of. Also what year YZ's had the early rotating drum powervalve? Right now this is just a daydream project, sourcing parts and information before i tear into it. I know i will be putting more money into it than it will be worth but i'm doing it for the love, me being 26 years old this old bike is the start of the first true MX bikes in my opinion, i'd love to sit and stare at it when its finished, not just ride it!

are you positive this is the 1984 yz125l ? the gas tank loks like it belong to the 1983 yz125k , the 1984 gas tank is different.

you can look at your frame number , if it start with 24X it is 1983 yz125k and if it start with 39W is is the 1984 yz125l.

sweat. those bikes had lots of power and an awesome sound, and i love the red and white. keep us posted

nimiz1, on 02 August 2012 - 12:24 PM, said:

you know i think you're right, looking at pictures of the 83 the shock reservoir is mounted on the left of the bike, ill check the frame number. I've always just assumed it was an 84. if i remember right the engine and frame numbers match which is good. what other differences were there between these 2 years?

i think the engine is almost the same but the seat and gas tank are different and the rear shock as wall.
this is my 1983 yz125k

it looks as if the 84 had an extra bit for the airbox on the left side panel too. finding black radiator shrouds is going to be hard, i can only find the odd left or right red one.

Nimiz: is that a DG pipe?

Edited by ikis86, 04 August 2012 - 04:52 AM.

no this is the yamaha OEM pipe , i like the oem look more then the DG one.
plastic you can get from DC plastic or in ebay.

As far as "z" spokes go, no, your bike doesnt have them.  They go from one side of the rim all the way to the opposite side, zig-zagging thru the hub.

Nice bike

There's loads of parts for it out there. for the ypvs cover i would watch ebay.

theres a seller on ebay right now with loads of NOS parts for these bikes, in the UK too. It just happens i'm not after spending loads of money just yet. Oh well, i'll just have to be lucky when i am ready i guess