2002 Yamaha 426 "street drivability"

So a guy at my work has a 2002 Yamaha 426 that he rode twice and parked it......it scared him. It has 80 miles on it and is in showroom condition with an aftermarket FMF pipe, and is street legal with a plate, title, registration and everything. I through an offer out of $2000 and he said $2300 which I think is fair.

How do you think this bike would do if I were to drive it to work a couple times a week? Not on the highway, 45mph speed limit, 15 miles tops one way. Would the bike be reliable or would I constantly need to adjust the valves, and mess with the chain? I know you have to change the oil quite often but that does not bother me. If I buy it I will put dual sport tires on and possibly a larger front sproket and just leave it the way it sits.

Let me know what you think, I believe it would be a blast and from the research I have done just fine!

its a four stroke right? if so then yeah go for it. not too familiar with the 426. what cc is it?

It is a 4 stroke and its 426cc. I have just heard that the newer "racier" 4 strokes require alot more attention and maint. than the older 4 strokes like the Honda XR bikes.

you should be good just keep an eye on the valves and keep track of how fast they tighten up. I would also recomend a high capacity oil cooler for it too, though I dont know who makes them for yamahas, It should be farily reliable I have a drz 400 that just blew up with 20k on the origional top end. and a 426 is 426cc.

oh and watch out for the cops the bike is legal but you will continuisoly find yourself doing things that are not so legale.

Ride it!

Shit, wayyy back in the olden days I rode an IT 175 to work all the time. 30 miles each way. Loved it! Then got a XR 500, then 600 then, well, they kept getting bigger and faster and I started crashing more.
Now I ride a Yamaha Zuma.......scooter.

highway/freeway will blow! round town is cool though, I think you need the front tire on the ground to be legal though, even at a stoplight takeoff

jeepboy381 said:

So a guy at my work has a 2002 Yamaha 426 that he rode twice and parked it......it scared him. It has 80 miles on it and is in showroom condition with an aftermarket FMF pipe, and is street legal with a plate, title, registration and everything. I through an offer out of $2000 and he said $2300 which I think is fair.

How do you think this bike would do if I were to drive it to work a couple times a week? Not on the highway, 45mph speed limit, 15 miles tops one way. Would the bike be reliable or would I constantly need to adjust the valves, and mess with the chain? I know you have to change the oil quite often but that does not bother me. If I buy it I will put dual sport tires on and possibly a larger front sproket and just leave it the way it sits.

Let me know what you think, I believe it would be a blast and from the research I have done just fine!

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i own a yzf 426 that i use alot offroad, these bikes are pretty much bullet proof and ride like wildabeasts, one thing i would highly recomend is to buy a 'CR8EK' spark plug for it, the original plugs arent very trustworthy, your not going to have to worry about the speed factor on a WR model theres plenty of it trust me, just make sure everything is set at the specifications it should be

hmmmm gas mileage wise i would say rock that thing around town

FlexdXJ said:

hmmmm gas mileage wise i would say rock that thing around town

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Thats the plan! My daily driver XJ I can only get 17 trying extremely hard "coasting down hills, driving extremely civilized." I think I should get over 50 mpg driving that WR on the street, it would pay for itself in under a year.

I talked to the owner again and I guess there is quite a bit of aftermarket stuff on it. FMF pipe, nice handlebars, break guards, jetted carb, and a few other things I can't remember. I am pretty set on buying it now, $2300 is pretty cheap for a perfect bike with nice aftermarket parts and only 80 miles on it. I would love to do a supermoto conversion but then I wouldn't be able to take it out in the woods and play. Plus that costs to much right now.

Find out the valve check/adjustment frequency and procedure... A modern 4st sort of lives by it's valve clearances... One point of reference on this is a KTM racing 4st has a 60 hour valve interval.

I've got 8 of them to check & set every 6000mi (which for me works out to about every 120-140 hours, or about 2x year) You'll only have 4, and you may not have to mess with resetting all of them every time.

woody said:

Find out the valve check/adjustment frequency and procedure... A modern 4st sort of lives by it's valve clearances... One point of reference on this is a KTM racing 4st has a 60 hour valve interval.

I've got 8 of them to check & set every 6000mi (which for me works out to about every 120-140 hours, or about 2x year) You'll only have 4, and you may not have to mess with resetting all of them every time.

Click to expand...

Yes I have heard about this alot, I believe the KTM's are easier to do valve clearance adjustments on than the Yamaha 4 strokes. Well maybe not a 8 valve engine though! This bike has 5 valves and they are titanium, I guess titanium valves need adjustment more often than steel valves as well. They are lighter so the engine can rev quicker and higher but they don't hold a tollerance as well. If the valves are out of adjustment you have to pull the cams and timing chain tensioner, then you put shims underneath what I would call the lifters. Not fun but shouldn't be to bad.

Soulns like a lot of fun though. Many moons ago, I DD a '76 CanAm 175 for 30 mi daily (sometimes 45-50 with a long ride home) over fall-winter 84. It was fun on the backroads and in town. I also kept a tag on another dirtbike, a 85 KTM 350, but never commuted on it... just to & from nearby trails. I x2 the easy to get happy with the right hand and find troubles with a hi-po bike.

I have a hankering for a thumper... maybe for my next bike. For now the little Ninja 250 is scootin along well.