I have been looking for somthing to ride for a while and let my Cj5 rest a while a few weeks out of the year.

Well your gonna hate it when I tell you what I got.....

Ok anyway. I bought a 1983 Yamaha IT 490.
I know its s big bike with too much power but I kinda fell in love with it. And it was cheap!

Its super clean with super low hours, parts are mostly stock and was a trail bike until a few months ago. ( guys lost his job)

I dont expect it to act and behave like the new bikes I just wanted to start riding again. All I am going to do is trail ride the bike also.

Like I said the bike unmolsted and from what I read its only when you start tinkering with them is when they become unreliable.

We will see. I plan on maybe rejetting it for lower end power any hints there? .

I have a 78 TT500 that is decent but it hurts my whole body to ride. It weighs a ton and looks it too.

Any good ideas for my new/old IT 490 pig of a bike for trail riding??

Thanks

i used to have one they arent bad bikes.. and when you get them cheap its that much better:eek:

I had an 83 IT200.
Make sure the pipe doesn't have too much carbon build up. They still sell pipes for them. (well at least my 200) Might be an option if your pipe is too clogged.

My bike also had low hours on it, but I found the swing arm needed some TLC. I would take it all apart and make sure the bearings all work well.

IT's were very reliable. It only died on me twice in 10 years. That reminds me, get some new reeds too. :)

The only failures I ever had:
Broken shifter on the inside of the case.
Seized the top end. (not sure why, I think I was just too hard on it)
Broken reeds.

Eeeeeeekkkkk it's and IT ....from the PIT!!!!!

:D back when I was a strapping young lad that's what we'd say when we saw on out riding :D

sweet vintage bike tho! have fun w/ it!

Eeeeeeekkkkk it's an IT ....from the PIT!!!!!

:D back when I was a strapping young lad that's what we'd say when we saw on out riding :D

sweet vintage bike tho! have fun w/ it!

thanks for the words. Im not to sure what the pit stands for?

Actually the bike is pretty advanced for its time and from I read on the net makes the yz 490 look like more of a pig.

O well, Its gotten me back into trail riding. At least as long as i can hold on to it.

Its scary fast. New reeds maybe be in order.

i hade one and rode it a lot. they are pretty reliable. they do like to ping though. 92 or better. pipe never cloged up on me maybe that was a 200 thing. as far as low end, it has tons of torque. the only aftermarket pipe i found for it was a dg. and the stock pipe gave more low end.

as far as jetting for more low end i have never heard of doing such a thing. what does that involve? i'm sure it's more then just changing the jets, some sort of cause and effect, like maybe removing disks from a super trapp muffler and jetting for that?

the biggest advice i can give you about that bike is;

(1) get ready for some serious vibes. get thick jell grips, and aluminum bars.
(2) get ready for that front end to come up on you instantley on hill climbs. maybe the first time out on it should be with a well worn out tire. that was the only way i would let my friends ride it. a worn tire in the back kept the front from going up so fast.

have fun.

It's hard to kill on old IT490. Yeah it's older and the goodies are'nt up to date, but they're still a very capable bike. Great trail ride. Not much you cant fix with a blunt rock too. Nice score dood.

For more torque and less top end scream, see if someone still makes a weighted or "add a weight" flywheel for it. Do that, throw a rear ring on with a few more teeth to gear it down and you'd have a helluva trail bike that could climb a tree. ;)

Call Race tech (if i remember right) and see if they still work over the head on those things, it will be the best $75 you ever spent. It will get rid of the pinging and knocking.

Thought about that but I have heard from a few others that the Combustion chamber is differant than the yz 490.

We will see. We can get 95 oct from the pump here . If it becomes a problem I will mill the head. But thanks very much for the info on who can do it.

Take care.