How good do the Tri Z's perform?

[Yamaha_Rules69]

Hey Tri Z owners/ past riders, Im looking for some personal facts and opinions about the Tri Z 250. How good do they perform overall? (track racing, big jumps, handling, reliability etc.) I ask this, because I have always wanted one, and am thinking about selling my 200x, and Tecate when I get it fixed to buy one of these machines. I have always wanted one. Let me know how good they are, and also some drawbacks to them. I have never ridden one, or even seen one in person. ? Thanx again.

[Dynofox]

I love my Z! The motor is great for woods riding since it's not a top end rever like the tecate. You can lug it right down through slow woods riding with no trouble. I own an 85 and notice the suspension is a bit soft front and rear. (BTW I only weigh 150 lbs) I put 15 wt fork oil and 1.5 inch pre load spacers in the forks and now wonder why I waited so long to do so! The front end doesn't dive like it used to when braking and just plain works better all around. I also had the rear shock rebuilt before this season. I've had no trouble with mine so far, but two of the common problems are the water pump seal going bad, and the rear shock going. I already bought the water pump seal and gasket so i'm ready when that goes. I've recently installed 20 inch fast trekkers on 9 inch rims with raptor (4x115) hubs and am very happy with the handling improvement. I've also got the 86 23 inch front tire (vs 85 25 inch) coming to help with the cornering.

[Yamaha_Rules69]

How are they on jumps? Can you get some height and not bottom? I weigh 180, and want something that can hold my weight, and still be able to jump. I would also most likely enter MX quad races with it. (show some of those golfcart freaks how to really ride)

[Rod]

I love my Z too. My only problem is that my clutch cover broke :evil: They can be fixed but iyt's still a pain. They ride great. They do about everything well. Maybe not the best in every situations but they do it all quite good. The best part is they are different then anything else you will see. It's a great choice.

[CHAINSAW]

If your shocks are any good at all, your not gonna bottom one out. Infact Ive never bottomed mine out, and I take Huge jumps on mine. I love my Z also, and working on trying to get a couple more....

[J.D.]

I love my Z. The power is good enough for me, I would recommend widening the rear axle a bit. For me, it is too skinny, and my wheel likes to come up when I turn unless I lean really far to the opposite. I've never done any HUGE jumps, bout 2 feet is the most air I've ever got, always lands nice as long as your postioned right...DONT LEAN FORWARD....lol. I did that once and flipped it :(

Anyways, all around I absolutly love my Z...except it runs REAL rich, I needa jet it one of these days.

[TimSr]

I have an 85 TriZ, now with an 86 motor, I am 5"7" and weigh 175 lbs. Over the past 6 years, my TriZ has seen 30-40 motocross races, and a few harescrambles.

When MXing, suspension is your limiting factor on how far you jump, so if you are not bottoming occasionally, your either not riding hard enough, or your suspension is too stiff. In my early races, mine bottomed excessively, both front and rear. I set the preload in the back to max, and put 3" spacers in the front, along with some 30wt oil, and it greatly improved the jump capability, but was too stiff in the minor stuff. Now I have progressive springs in the front with 2" spacers, 20wt, and when the rear shock blew, I replaced it with a Warrior one (with a little stiffer spring) and still have the preload at max. Im now very happy with the suspension on the track now, and can almost handle jumps as well as my TRX250R. I occasionally, but not excessively bottom it now. Id get a lot of disagreement, but in my opinion, a properly setup Z has the better suspension of the big 3 in the front.
The cooling system is just plain inadequate. Ive tried everything I could think of to improve it, and am now going to try the inline coolers. Mine has always started spitting after a few hard laps. I think it needs about dounble its current coolant capacity. As far as handling on an MX track, the TriZ is the worst of the strokes, solely because of the frame geometry, center of gravity, and the front rake, but it can be setup to be greatly impoved, though Im sad to say will never equal the other major 2 stroke 250's. They ride and steer like a chopper. Ive slid my front forks up in the clamps a full 2", which helps immensely. I still have a 25" tire in the front, but 23" helps too. Also, you need to buck the traditional route of putting 18" MX tires on the back, and stick with 22" on the Z, or 20" if you have the 23" in the front. Speaking of tires, 3 wheelers grab much better than quads, and with the Z's weight being more towards the back it grabs even more than the others, bald tires on the track are a must. This is the first year Ive ever gotten good holeshots on the Z, and I owe it entirely to the tires breaking loose on takeoff. Otherwise the Z wheelies badly, and while it looks cool, letting off the throttle doesnt help in your race to the first corner. The other thing Ill comment on is the almighty 86 motor. I prefer the 86 6 speed for trail riding, and even on the harescrambles, but its a disadvantage on the track. The gears are too close together on the 6 speed, so you end up having to shift more, when the engine has adequate power to pull the necessary bottom end with wider spaced gears, so I prefer the 85 motor on the track.
I wouldnt waste my money on a wider axle, as the Z is wider than my TRX250R quad in the rear. The typical standard offset of any aftermarket rim is more than adequate.
As for reliability, I am reluctant to admit that the 86 R (based on my 86TRX experience) is much more reliable. The Z's reliability is very decent, but having the two to compare, its obvious which motor requires less mantenance. As for performance, I know what the magazines say, but you wont notice the difference on top end. You will notice how much more low end the Z motor delivers than the R.
Overall the Z is super fun for competition MX, but Id have to say that overall, the R and the Tecate are better handlers on the track, however, these days, you are unlikely to encounter any other trikes on the track at all. If you are doing it to have fun, and are not serious about winning, youll have the time of your life. If you start sinking tons of money into it, with the serious intentions of beating the new quads, youre going to be broke and disappointed, because there is absolutely nothing you can do to make anything beyond the motor perform on the track like the new quads. Youve got to be a super good trike racer to beat even the mediocre and lesser quad riders on an MX track. By the way, youll leave the track getting twice the respect too. Spectators love trikes. Have fun, dont get injured, and good luck!

[denn]

Good Way to kill the praise Tim. I have a true 86 Z and with 20 inch banshee tires and rims it performs great I have no troubles anywhere. I've never herd of the gears being to close together, they are fine. And if I recall in 86 the TECATE had a close ratio 5 speed while the Z and R both had wide ratio 6 speeds. If you do the reserch I'm pretty sure you will find the Tecate had a rake of 24 the Z had a rake of 22.5 and the R had a rake of 21 someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think I got it. So with that the tri-z is in the middle. Apparently it can't have to much or to little rake. Everyone gives the Z a bad rap because they read all the crap that was written. Is a banshee a sand dune machine only? It has no low end and dirtwheels only tests it in the dunes so it must be true. I don't think so. I have one and use it in the trails and love it. I will say this I own 3 tri-zs, a yellow and black 85, a red and black 85, and an 86. The 86 is light years ahead of the 85 it feels totaly different when you sit on it and totally different when you ride it. But they are all great machines and I would reccomend it to any one.

Denn

[Yamaha_Rules69]

Thanks for the great advice guys. I definatly am going to try to get a Z sometime soon. They are so hard to come by here in MN tho. I guess I'll keep looking (

[TimSr]

I've never herd of the gears being to close together, they are fine. Denn

At the time I was racing my Z exclusively, I had both an 85 and 86 complete motors that I frequently swapped, and thats what I base this opinion on. Keep in mind most of my negative comments are in reference to the TriZ as a motocross racer, since thats what was asked. What are weaknesses on the MX track can be a strength elsewhere. I prefer the 86 motor for general overall riding, and have one by choice, and only prefer the 5 speed motor on the track. My overall opinion of the Z is that its fine machine anyone should be proud to own, and prouder to master, and I was merely pointing out what I found to be its shortcomings as an antique motocross racer trying to compete with 20 years of evolution. Personally the Z would be my first choice as a trail rider, or as a harescramble racer, but he asked about MX.

[Jeb]

In my opinion, allot of the problem with the stock 85 Tri-Zs is the size of their stock tires, which is easily fixed. My 85 Motor makes good, useable low to midrange power. I've had mine a couple years now and it's been very reliable. The motor sure doesn't have the same quickness as my KXTs, but It is close with the mods it has. I cant say I was ever very impressed with it's cornering or sliding abilities in comparison to either design of the KXTs I have. Like I said before those attributes are greatly improved with a change of rear tires. I will say this, an 85 with stock tires is a plush ride through the trails! I recommend hunting one up!

I'm not going to comment on the 86. I've never ridden one and haven't even seen one in person in a decade at least. :(

[yamaman]

i have got both the 85 and 86 stood in the garage and all i can say is that whichever i get on im grinning :D(this is a OLD pic too)

[Kilborg]

Heres my standpoint on the yammy z's....

I think they are a "tuners" bike. You don't have all the off shelf bolton items the honda lineup does, but you can make a real good bike if you look in the right places. I feel the motor was choked up a bit stock. The airbox was pretty restrictive, as well as the pipe and carbuerator. 32mm is great for a lowend motor...and the Z delivers in that area real well. Bottom end wise the z will make a touch more power then a 250r, and absolutely kill the tecate. 250r's pull much harder through the midrange and taper out towards the top (but the topend is a bit stronger). The tecate is basically topend and nothing else. Once they spool up the rpms and get traction your gonna wish you had some mods.

Suspension wise, the z was considered the lesser of the performance trikes. On the 85 I rode, I felt the stock setup was very cheezy (for my type of riding). 86 supposedly got a bit better with some bigger forks and such, but I have only ridden an 85. The rake angle is pretty steep in comparison, and depending on your riding style this could be to your benefit or not.

Reliability...this is a crapshoot. Any bike that has been running hard the past 17 years is gonna have problems, no matter the make. I feel out of the performance segment, the top honor would go to the honda 250r. While its not really all that much more reliable then the Z (they are pretty close really), you can get the parts all over. Tecates had the worst rap for reliability.

I own a 85 250r now. I wouldnt trade it for any of the other performance bikes from H/K/Y. It suits my riding style perfectly (I can run a harescramble type run and then go and get 20 feet of air with minimal hassle). Its the jack of all trades in my opinion, though it really excels in the Mx tracks. The Z is more of a woods bike. Lots of our woods races here on the east coast were won by the Tri-Z (and 250r). The tecate was the all out race bike. Ride all three of them if you can, then make your decision.