Time fly so fast.. My adult life was about to begin and I was trying to catch on with a old 250 bike and my friend was on this beast (YZ). It was such a new powerfull impossible for me to buy bike.. And then I see someone trying to revive one on KZfaq and I look at the date.. its been 26 years already.. the memories are so vivid but its a lifetime ago.

The YZ490 was prone to detonate / ping and run lean, we always jetted slightly richer and ran 30:1 premix to stop the rings galling. The best technique with them is to short-shift like a 4-stroke and let the torque do the rest. Running them on the top of the power-band is tiring and potentially VERY risky.

Also if this helps after you turn on the gas tank. If you lay the bike over the float will open on the carb and it will leak a little gas out of the carb. But some will go into the intake manifold. This primes the engine. This will make for much less kicking to draw fuel into the engine. If you lay it over for just 20 seconds or until you do a little drip from the carb over flow that all you need for a prime. I hope this is helpful! I’ve had several large displacement two strokes are and if you don’t have it primed. You can spend a lot of time trying to get enough vacuum to draw fuel in. And then you’re all worn out? Thank you for your videos. I’m only trying to help. So many are so critical of everything you do. And that’s not fair. I just want to be helpful.

Good job Joe ! I had an 87' 490 mine used to raise up in almost every gear. Short shifting a big bore is a good way to keep the front end on the ground and to keep it cool. Ride it like a diesel and use the torque.

These yz490 are getting very rare man. This is a keeper. They will never make a bike like this again

This video made me laugh a lot. In 1990 my friends all had quads and I had nothing to ride. My friend said I could use his 1985 YZ 490 if I was desperate to go with. So this is the same dirt bike I ever rode and learned on. Very scary at 1st but then you get used of it. Great video! Thanks

I went from a YZ250 to the YZ490 then to the TT500 and finally the TT600. I'm 62 now but I wore out plenty of these bikes in the 80s. Nice to see you bring one back to life. I do agree when the YZ490 hit the pipe it was crazy scary. Love the channel.

Had a neighbor/friend that used to race those 490’s for Yamaha back in the day and you’re right those bikes have tremendous power. Watched him practice his hole shots at his house…..Crazy powerful!! And quick for a beast of a bike.

I was smiling the whole time you were riding it and laughed every time you said you were scared of it. It brings back great memories of my KX500 in the dunes. LOVE the big 2 strokes!!!

I remember hearing one of these and watching it vibrating while ticking over when I was about 11 or 12 . It looked and sounded terrifying ! I loved it , Been a lifelong rider .

My 1st experience on a yz490- i looped out in the parking area going to the track!!! I was adjusting my left boot, hit a lil bump which made me blip the throttle and land on my ass ! 😃👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Hello mate ive been watching your videos since you started and like the way you dont try to hide anything and keep it honest dont change the way you film your repairs love your new house and property and the wildlife in it cheers mate keep it up from jamie in east london uk

That Yz490 is a brute by the sounds of things plenty of torque it will stand up straight in every gear for sure deserves a frame off restoration and full tune up hope to see more big bore 2 stroke action on the channel. Would love to see a CR500 at some point!!! Lovely wildlife pics at the end, looking forward to more land updates.

I have owned an 87 and a 91. Wicked in these WV Mountains. They were infamous for Yamahop. Back draggers, I raced YZ 250s And loved them. But the memories of my 490s will always be etched in my scars. GEAT VIDEO!

I used to have one of these, what a wild ride. It's great to hear one running again!

What a beast of a machine, back in the early 80’s I got the opportunity to ride an RM 400. Same thing, she would flip you in all five gears if you weren’t ready. The hardest thing was going into a turn trying to slow it down, it’s like the compression just keeps pushing you. The 250s are more than enough lol. Sure don’t like the looks of that concrete circle can only mean subdivision 🤢

Great video. In the future when painting a pipe, hang it with 2 strings. It will be in the air and you can turn it any way you need to make painting easy.

I used soft scrub w/ bleach to keep all my white yz’s white. It’ll make that tank look so much better. You said 1984. 84 were yellow that looks 87 ish.

What a beast, I really wanted to be there to take a rip on it too! Great find, I hope you do detail it and keep it.

Full restoration would be good bike like this deserved to be saved pure iconic bike with great power great job as always Joe have a good week mate 👍

If you find the throttle is not sticking then it’s a crank seal. I had one do that. Every so often it would suck the gas back in and take off. Had a pretty good crash in a race when it happened at just the wrong place. Nice pics from your property.

A ride down memory lane. Fantastic. Remember riding crazy on these when I was 15, many moons ago 👍👍

My buddy had a YZ465 back in the 80's. Will never forget that thing. The power was insane, you could feel the bike lurch forward each time the piston fired. It did scare me a bit and I chuckled when you rode this one. We had nicknames for it like "the leg breaker", "mud slinger" and "rock thrower". The rear tire was huge and meaty, you didn't want to be behind that thing on the track! LOL

I've been watching for a while man especially like the add-on while you're looking for deer at the end.. I don't know that ride was pretty awesome too keep up the good work brother

Love that old beast 490. Right choice to bring back original look 😎👍

"Super Freak" back in action man it looks so much better nice job on this one!

Love the sound of those air cooled big bore bikes.. simple motors with huge power they knew how to build them back in the day.. nice find Joe would be a decent bike to restore..

I have a 1988YZ 490 just like yours.. it's definitely a beast but I'm used to riding bikes with lots of power..I had a 1979YZ 400 & it was a lighter bike..it raised up in every gear even faster than the 490..if you can find one definitely need to experience it.

Best channel out there brother! I always look forward to everyone of them

What a thing of beauty,lovely and powerful beast ,Joe!What a bike brother!👊🔥👍💪💪💪

My older brother used to race open class on a YZ490 in the early 80s. He let me ride it when I was 12yo and it was by far the fastest thing I had ever been on. Just brutal power in every gear. Of course, I weighed about 100lbs soakin' wet holding a brick at the time :) I had to stand on a stool to mount it, and would ride up next to the stool to stop. Otherwise, I had to do the big lean to touch the ground. His was yellow and black and I believe water cooled if memory serves...

This is a good yz its got to be a keeper one for the old collection, keep up the great work Joe love watching your channel and cant wait to see what bike will be next 😎

Love big bores !!! Back in the 80s I raced a KX 500 in gncc for years. Loved the power to climb, get threw the mud, and the speed to over take or pass. Had a 4 gallon desert tank. PSI pip and slincer. Bosun reeds even put a 1 gallon number plate tank on it and never had to stop for gas. Had a blast on it and did pretty well in open A. That Yamaha is an on or off switch it's a beast. The only bad is it's air cooled and when hot drops a few HP. I would still love to have it !!!! Love the power 👍👍👍👍

Lots of working out to ride those, no compression release. Great bike skinny! Love the 490s so much fun.

Absolutely sick bike man. Totally worth a restoration! I’m trying to pick up a 85 cr500 right now and cant wait to get on it. I’m terrified lol

Congratulations on the new land...awesome brother....I'm happy for you....keep the videos coming buddy....

Those are really good pictures my friend. Be safe :) P.S. Really cool you were able to get the land behind you as well!

Had one of these when I was a 14 year old kid. It was the most powerful bike I have ever ridden. I learnt to ride it like I stole it wish I still had that bike.

My mom's ex BF picked one these up from his brother for my friend to have a bike to ride with me. This was 20 something years ago. I had a new yz 250. That thing was scary as hell. I got on it behind my buddy on some single track and it got going so fast I had to shoot around him in the weeds. I got the throttle stuck like that too except it was stuck WIDE OPEN!! It overrode the kill switch. I turned the gas off and ran away!!😂😂 was soo damm loud! The handle bars vibrate so much you get hand and arm pump super fast. What a beast!! Clean the needle valve. That is what was stuck on ours.

Feed er the onions and hold on for dear life! My KX 500 did that once, almost soiled myself, any bike that can come up in all the first 4 gears is fanatically dangerous.Love it!!!

Huge bike but freaking awesome to ride, wants to wheelie in every gear! Be careful have fun! Great vid. Got a 92 490 in back of shop a guy gave me, he crashed it and tore up some stuff, I ordered parts for it the other day, my shop hel and I are gonna rebuild her from ground up as project.he wants to ride in a desert race under vintage class in AZ. I'm gonna let him, after I take it out to Eli's and ride his MX track on it.

glad you got it started, probably a cable routing problem. sounds a bit lean but people run them like that . maybe drop the needle a notch . thats a clark dessert tank , see if you can get a stock one and correct decals

I liked you talking on this one had me cracking up Can't wait to see if you capture a picture of Bigfoot👍🏼👍🏼

Your channel is sick Bro! Insane ride! Gotta get on one of those one day. All about vintage bikes myself. Ride a 86 XT350 with suspension swapped from a yz250.

Powder coat frame is a must Fantastic bikes Those plastics came up a treat 💯👍

That bike has a grooved seat in the gas tank so you can scoot all the way forward up on the gas tank and do whole shots and do throttle wheelies practice doing there a bunch of times and you will not be scared no more just remember always have respect for it don’t ever get cocky

Very nice bike ,great job you did on it ! I had a KX 500 back in the day I know they’re pretty fast my buddy had the YZ 490 rode it a few times it was quick it will throw you if you let it lol ! and your property is gorgeous looks like you’ll have some good hunting ! great video keep up the great work and be safe!👍🏼🤩💪🏼

I’m told those YZ 490s were very hard to jet accurately! They had that they had made them either run really rich and if you leave them out then sees right away. Yamaha had some service tunes on that where they used to base gaskets to lower the compression and that seem to help with the preignition in the head. You might be able to look up these findings on a YZ 490 forum

Joe...you and your wife are becoming major land owners. Good for you. As a side note....I have teased you a little about your use of WD-40. Well I needed to clean up my spindles on my mower the other day. What was within arms length...WD-40. Worked like a champ. You have made a believer out of me. No more teasing :)

Excellent video, as usual. I rode a 460cc version (UK) on the road in the mid 80s and as you say a lot of care needed with the throttle and very high riding position but managed it ok(I'm 5'6"), more care was required on kick starting than with a 500 Thruxton Velocette(4 stroke), but love these big strokers. I'd be very wary now, as just yesterday I fettled and synced the carbs on my 750GT Ducati('74) for 1st ride of the year and the clean, crisp pickup almost caught me out..☠. But not quite. PS like the wildlife shots.🦃

I think you're missing the engine scoop on your bike. These bikes had a plastic scoop on one side to ram air through the cylinder fins and help keep it a bit cooler. Also - keep riding, the fear goes away. Or maybe I'm just crazy - I kind of enjoy having a bike that tries to murder me every time I rev it up!

My buddy had one of these and we rode it everywhere, SO FAST. I do wish I had one!!

My neighbor had one back in 88 i was around 10 he rode me on the back and i watched him ride it!! It was. A best. When i was around 13 or 14 he let me ride it!! I had 2 cr 500s in my early 20s. They are crazy fast plus the the torque is insane!!

Definitely would keep that one in my collection Not many left anymore

Your braver than me getting back on a big bore after the throttle stuck wide open lol.

The sound of a two Stroke in the 'out doors' reminds me of early Saturday mornings circa late 80s eating my morning cereal, watching cartoons, waiting for my friends to arrive, whereby I'd hop on my CR 125 and tear up the day.

I hope this helps you. There is lots of people who have encountered this keying issue. The shape of the combustion chamber was designed in such a way that the bike stock either blubbered or if you leaned out the needle jet or put in a smaller main jet it would seize. The service bulletins recommended 2 base gaskets to lower compression. I am told that helps.

Watching you kick start that beast makes my leg hurt. ☠ Nice work!

Yamaha wrench report head mod and proper jetting will clean up running characteristics of this engine. I was reading comments about installing xtra base gaskets, this will alter port timing making it more difficult to jet , and start , 2 head gaskets works well and allows pump fuel to be used , set timing 1 degree btdc , I personally like hpi ignition systems, they are the same group from pvl so they know ignitions, getting this 490 engine's running smooth is key , stk is very rich , extremely durable and well built engine just needs a little more love !! Great 👍 video again joe , love seeing Vinnie as I have a golden retriever " Bourbon " 2 yorkies Bentley and Jake as well as a mini pig 🐖 BIG AL 😀

Don’t usually find many things to laugh about in the videos but that intro was pretty funny

I was waiting to see the put come of this beast 👍🏾

You know it’s gonna be a great video when it opens with Vinnie throwing down some paint stripper.😂

Nice bike, sounds lovely. Those pictures of the deer were lovely. 👍

LOL@ 13:08... the vibrations of awesomeness throwing off the focus of the camera! What a great machine. I've read they have head/compression/detonation issues if not setup just right.

They are scary at first, I went from an RM250 to an RM465 and it was a massive difference in power. Took me about a month to get used to the front wheel coming up every time I touched the throttle, but once I did, my God was it fun to ride. Beware though, if you ride it a lot you will get some crazy arm pump, from trying to hang on to all that power. And I know what you mean about how fast it is in just 2nd gear, I usually rode mine in two gears most places, 2nd and 3rd, it was hard to find a straighaway long enough to get out of 3rd gear. One place I rode at called Farmdale creek was so small I could not even get to 4th gear, the other place had a couple long dirt roads, and it was the only place I could even get out of 3rd gear. My front wheel lasted forever, because it was hardly ever on the ground, never changed it one time in 8 years. But I went through 5 or 6 rear tires, it would destroy them. I also rode with a guy who raced the state circuit in the 250 class, and he said I hit him with a rock one time in the chest that knocked the wind out of him, that rear tire will throw some rocks a long distance.

If you want the paint stripper to work amazing you should cover the parts with painters plastic while the parts are still wet from the stripper. It works amazing.

I had a YZ 490. It was a beast. Couldn't keep a set of tires on it. Loved the bike. Didn't love starting it.

Like your videos. You might try using Comet cleanser on the Yamaha white fuel tank. You can make a paste with water, let it sit on the stains a while, they should scrub off. Congrats on the new house, land, and cool puppy.

you and that reving to the moon !!!

also if you have alot of vibration in the handlebars check your engine mount bolts to make sure there tight.. even if they look tight they may be just snug and not tight.. my 490 with tight engine mount bolts i have barely any vibration in my bars..

Hey Joe a little tip for riding big bore bikes forget about first and second gear you only need 3rd 4th and 5th

Sou amante dos motores 2T esse som é maravilhoso pra mim,muito obrigado por postar um vídeo tão bacana

Joe you can wet sand those plastics. They are entirely white as in they used white plastic in the molds. Wet sand start with around 1500 depending on how bad it is you may need a 750 or 800

I use the same stripper. I use a plastic scraper and then a rag soaked in acetone. Love that stuff

Looking good! Put that front master in the sonic cleaner, works good, just blow dry it good when it's done. Add fluid and bleed.

You did super good....plastic's cleaned up real nice....and you had a decent 👢 boot on, to start the beast....not bad for a real old bus 🚌. Massive respect 🙏 😊😊😊

so no ones gonna say anything about venny painting the tank in the begging? that made my night thanks man.

Wow thats great bike so fast.Your garden is fantastic for wild life.All the best to you all.

I bought a 1987 YZ490 new in 1990. They had YZ490’s or XR650 for $2790. My buddy got a 650, the 490 would run circles around it. I could even buy leaded 92 octane gas, and it would rev to the moon. I miss it. Rode my daughters BF ‘17 KX450 a month ago and scared me, 4 strokes have come a long way!

Another tip i wanna share with all you dirt bike guys. I've been running automatic transmission fluid in my dirt bike cases for two decades and was amazed at the reliability and easy shifting smooth quick and rarely missing a gear at all. No it's not harmful to the gearbox running transmission fluid.

Great video as always. That bike is insane! Need a big boot and big balls😂

I had a 1984 yz490 and I've always been a big guy. When I had this bike I was like 16 and was like 6'1"" 210 lb and that thing would just rip loose with me on it so I could imagine a little guy like you, that things got to be screaming !

Love that era Yamahas, white on red. I have an '86 TT350. It's not as much of a beast as the 490, but it's still fun and less finicky on tuning.

I used to race a YZ 465, it was an 81, a lot like the 490, you get used to the power, I had a blast!

I love my CR500 it’s absolutely mental. The adrenaline rush is insane especially with the uk wet weather 😂

Great channel love it I look forward to seeing your videos

I reckon you should do a full refurbishment on this.. He great for the channel and great for you to keep for your collection! I don't think we've seen full strip down, paint, the whole works & this would be a perfect opportunity. 💪 🙏

They are definitely bikes worth keeping and adding to your collection because they are becoming far and few between. I kept the 1990 I picked up and did a full resto mod threw on a 2004 yz250 front end got the rear shock built by mxtech etc etc and it's an absolute ripper now and a total blast to ride I'll never sell it I've been offered 6500 bucks for it but just can't part with it lol

Love that bike and you really did an expert job cleaning her up,ace work,oh ,just wondering,have you ever had a tnt can-am?

Most people don't ride open class bikes. The bikes ride them. You hang on and hope you can keep control.

I had a mid 80s yz490 also. My bike would run on like that when it got hot. Kill switch wouldn't even work at that point. I would try and go a little richer to get the temp down a little. Would highly recomend wearing your boot when starting, I got kicked back on and thought I broke my leg. That being said... what a bike.

Great bike! It sounds like the pilot is lean, rich on the needle and maybe lean on the main. Sounds like the clutch may be slipping too?

In the UK we called it the widow maker also the maico 500 had the same name !

So nice to see, I have a 1983 YZ490 that got total engine rebuild in 1992 and then I drove it for maybe top 20 hours and put it in storage at our cabin.. Its been waiting for me there for 30 years but after seeing this I think I have to drive there and take her for a spin :) I guess I need to empty the tank, is there something else I need to do after such long storage time before I dare to start? I remember that as soon as I hadn't used it for a few of months it felt like an absolute beast for a couple of hours :)

That 490 is truly a bad ass bike. It takes off and the back tire eats like a plow. Throttle stick makes it super scary too. Its a monster. This was an exciting video to watch. LOL Oh there is going to be some deer they just love soybean fields. There will be some trophy bucks for sure to see this will be interesting to see.

I watched this episode again! Good job on this one bro ..

I have this exact bike sitting in my shed right now. It is definitely an adrenaline junkies machine. I am not an adrenaline junkie at all but dang it was a heck of a ride before it and my buddy got messed up. Gonna drag it out and fix it one of these days. It is a monster for sure.

You should get a big shed at 30:00 spot or a big shed with upstairs that would be cool

One of the best bikes I've ever owned wish I didn't have to leave it behind when I relocated back home. Very powerful

The 490 is a handful for shore. I've got to ride my buddy's a good bit cus he was afraid of it and liked my blaster better. So him being over 6foot on the blaster and me at 5'7 on the 490 was funny to see. Man that bike would try to rip my arms off. It hook up and the bike would launch so fast I could bearly hold on. And yes the bike makes u sit real tall and uncomfortable to ride with the amount of power it has. Be safe man 🙏