Bike #5 1983 Yamaha IT175K

[Sirius]

Yeah, CA is...how should I say it?...unique with their vehicle laws. I think they are trying to legislate all vehicles to be electric by 20-something-or-other. Which sounds good until you realize their electric grid is already overstressed and they already hate hydroelectric sources, coal sources, and (I hope I don't get fined for even saying it) nuclear sources. I wonder what will happen when 7 million cars get plugged into chargers on a hot summer night...

I'm not sure how they would look on your 2-stroke on the road. And, depending on where you are, you may have a bit of a ride just to get to a place you can go off road without going to prison. Whatever you do a garage of some sort is a must. Is the move to CA long term or relatively short term?

[95naSTA]

I guess all those SDGE commercials about making an effort to not use electricity during peak hours has to do with that stress you're talking about. I feel like all the people that think EVs are an absolute solution are the folks that live in single family homes with at least a driveway and don't think anyone else lives differently.. It'll be a while before there's a solution for the people that live in high rises, apartments, row homes, town homes etc.

I met a guy that lives in Cali that said he has a 2-stroke that he was able to get registered as a non-running bike and therefore didn't have to prove the horn, blinkers and brake light work. He did mention that there was some sort of emission sticker or something on the bike though. Basically I need to do more research. The other thing is I can ride around with my Vermont plate until I get pulled over. Giving the look of the bike though, I feel like that would be pretty quick. One of the biggest things I'll miss about Philly is that as long as you're not inflicting harm on other people, you can kind of do whatever you want.

I couldn't really ride this bike to anywhere fun (and legal) from where I'll be living. But.. I like being able to test the bike out on the street when I work on it and it's hilarious to rip around on in general.

I'll be out there for 1-4 years with the intention of heading back to Philly at the end.

[Sirius]

You might be able to get away with your out-of-state plate, especially if you keep an out-of-state driver license. You can claim you're just visiting and hope the fuzz doesn't stake you out daily for a year. I know they have something I think they call a green sticker that you're supposed to have. I don't know how hard (requirements) they are to get, but there are still a lot of 2 strokes running around off-road out there. And I would guess if you're not puking out a huge blue cloud you might be able to fly under the radar. I didn't see a cloud in your video but I suspect if you do make a cloud it's not the cops you have to worry about, it's the "environmental citizen" that will be happy to call in the SWAT Team.

In the Salt Lake valley you have to be a little careful where you ride, and you certainly can't ride on the "bench" (base of the mountains). It would be awesome if you could, and that was possible decades ago but not anymore. Thus the rock garden in my backyard! In the more rural areas, though, it might be a lot more like Philly. I've been passed by kids on ATVs and full-on MX bikes in some small towns. Oddly enough I don't see a lot of tagging or other obvious mischief in those places...is there a correlation to be made? LOL!

If you drag the IT out there with you, you may need to pick up a trailer or rack of some sort to get it out to the fun places.

[95naSTA]

For the out of state plate thing, the massive Navy presence does work to my advantage. Hel, I've seen Guam plates in San Diego.

Lol on the correlation. I wish I could say the same about Philly but it's more like a rap video with dirtbikes and quads going right through downtown areas and even the highways.

Yeah the bike does smoke a bit.. If I wasn't so cheap with my oil, I could probably clean most of that up with something better.

A good buddy of mine in San Diego has a new Colorado I can borrow. Now I just need to convince him to get an off road capable bike and come with me.

[Sirius]

Is the IT oil injected or premix? Using a good "smokeless" synthetic oil can help with the blue cloud. Most injected bikes mix the oil on the rich side as well, which adds to the cloud. That's one of the reasons I prefer a premix 2-stroke...you trade off convenience for having control over the oil mix and you know if you have gas, you have oil (i.e. no checking the reservoir). If your bike has that typical black spooge oozing out of exhaust joints or the end pipe, it's probably too rich with oil.

You need a riding buddy. Do some sweet-talking to convince your Colorado-driving friend to get a bike.

[95naSTA]

It's a premix bike. I actually like the Yammie auto lube setups since they're pretty reliable and easier then using a mix-rite measuring cup. But premix isn't that much of a hassle.

Yeah, Colorado buddy needs a dirtbikey bike, he just doesn't know it yet.

I did some research last night on getting the IT CA legal and it doesn't seem like there's even a chance it'll work. They don't care if it's got a road legal title from another state. All bikes need a CARB sticker and a vin verification by CHP. I've read cases where people didn't have a CARB sticker and their vin automatically gets flagged. Basically ducked from go. 2003 seems to be the cut-off year where if it wasn't already registered by then, good luck.

But.. If you have an out of state mailing address (I own and am keeping my Philly house) you should be able to talk your way out of having an out of state plate.

[Sirius]

Yep, out of State address, out of State DL, out of State registration...they should think you're just visiting. May need to check their requirements for visitors. I've been to CA with my bike for National events and haven't had to do anything like a temporary registration. But I may have been lucky or things may have changed since then.

Premix does make it inconvenient in that you can't just swing into the Sev and top off the tank. But if you run a good smokeless synthetic oil and lean out your mix your bike will run great and have practically no smoke. While I wouldn't recommend it on an enduro bike, I'm running my competition trials bike at around 90:1. For my trail trials bike, I'm running somewhere around 75 or 80:1. But neither one experiences sustained high RPM like an enduro or MX bike does.

[95naSTA]

That's crazy. I had no idea you could go that high in ratio on any 2 stroke machine, even with the different circumstances you mentioned.

[Sirius]

Yeah, for most people going over 50:1 is sketchy. The thing that makes it possible on a trials bike (not everyone is running leaner than 80:1, btw) is liquid cooling. I didn't run that high on my air cooled bikes...ran more like 60:1 as I recall. I've pulled the top end off a few trials bikes running 90-100:1 and, after over a year of operation, I could still see the factory crosshatching in the cylinder and a puddle of 2 stroke oil loitering in the crankcase. If I open my bike up on a long uphill it will clean out the residual oil and smoke pretty good.

On the bikes running richer than ~70:1 I tend to see a lot of excess oil dripping around exhaust joints. You know if it's oozing oil around the joints the muffler packing is going to be oil soaked and clogged with a greasy black mess. Since the exhaust on a 2 stroke is tuned for backpressure, that grease-clogged muffler is actually affecting performance (although most people won't notice the degradation). Those bikes certainly are louder, and messier.

[95naSTA]

I still keep this thing up and running even though I don't ride it too often. Last year the carb boot and the tank split on me. I cleaned out the carb and gorilla taped the tank crack since it wasn't completely through yet. I picked up another tank to have re-finished but never ended up sending it out.





This year, I came home to the tank actually letting go all over my garage floor. My garage already wreaked of gear oil from having a diff apart. It smelled so bad my son actually asked me what it was when we pulled into the garage. Initially I just thought it was the gear oil but then realized it was gas. I figured I might was well skip refreshing a 40+ yr old tank and try out an aftermarket one. When I looked at them in the past the color seemed off but this time it seemed close enough not to bother me. With some ebay graphics slapped on, this Clarke Manufacturing tank will definitely work. The fit was pretty good. The area that straddles the top bar was pinched in about a half inch. I put the front tank mounts on loose, squeezed it into place then tightened it all up.






These issues are definitely a sign to drain the gas out if it's going to sit for a while. I'm pretty good at running the bowl out but it's becoming apparent that I need the tank empty.

[Sirius]

Resurrection has commenced. The color on the new tank, just viewing the pics, appears to match better than the old one.

[95naSTA]

I definitely agree. The color is even better than when I first got the old tank back from refinishing.

[95naSTA]

Almost a year after that last post, I finally put gas oil and air in this and took it out. I rode it to/from work about 15 miles and got a little off road action.

[Sirius]

Almost just in time to put it away for winter. LOL! My trials bike prolly has an inch of dust on it. But I wouldn't know because I haven't seen is since it's been buried in the shop for a couple years. I need to dig it out and clear my head.

[95naSTA]

Haha. I almost rode it to work again today but opt'd for the Ducati. The Duc feels like a stick of butter sliding across a pan in comparison.

I'm telling myself I get this thing out in the woods this fall but my hard goal is to make sure the tank is empty for the winter so the ethanol doesn't eat it.

[Sirius]

Let's don't get started on ethanol...grrrr.

[95naSTA]

Yeah, I think the closest ethanol free gas station is about an hour and a half away from me.

[Sirius]

Lucky for me I have ethanol-free about 2 miles away.

[95naSTA]

Nice! That would have saved my IT tank and stopped my Duc's tank from swelling.

[Sirius]

It's a bit more pricey, but worth it for all my bikes/equipment.