bush? The big Yamaha IT 400 / 465 / 490 twostrokes were a handful, so were the bigger XR siblings in the technical bits. The less intimidating XR200, in the right hands, was a giant-killer par excellence.
ROSE-TINTED GOGGLES Enter Mark Webb, one of the generation’ s old salts who never left the dirt bike scene. Back in 1981, Mark was campaigning a 1981 Honda XR200R for West City Honda. Roll the calendar over a page or three and, lo and behold, he sees one on that place of‘ all things you don’ t need but hit the buy now button for’, Trade Me. For the princely sum of $ 350, he was the proud( ish) owner of a flea-bitten, moth-eaten, rust-heap with XR200 lettering just visible on what was left of the seat. Surely, if any, this was a case of rose-tinted glasses blurring the shoddy reality of his purchase. But, hey, where there is a will, there is a way – given enough time, swearing and help from a few key people. Rather than laugh at his folly and bugger off, his mates, being fellow motorcycle tragics, they bent their shoulders to the millstone and helped Mark recreate this stunning little bike. To see it now in its full glory, the eighties really do look like they were as cool as we remember, who would have thought?
REBUILT WITH UPGRADES Anyway, after a soaking in whatever penetrating oil and other witchcraft, loads of muttering and cussing, the wreck was dismantled to locate something not completely buggered to use as a starting point. That ruled out the suspension. Start at the heart, then. Luckily, it isn’ t a hefty unit, so the engine rebuild commenced. Naturally, that meant extracting a few more small ponies from the air-cooled little Honda,
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