Enjoyed my Tri Z so much this Wed. and Thurs...PICS COMING

[Darius1502]

I decided to head out of town and ride and fix the Z. My family has some land in the county. It is the same place that I used to ride when I was a kid (I am now a 31 year old kid).

I took the Z out there and had to get some work done. First, I changed my impeller. Then the water seal (it was prevenative). I then put on some of those super coolers. I put two 1.5 inch coolers on each of the hot water exit lines. Lastly, I took out my thermostat. I put some water to boil and the thermostat valve opened. I still decided to go 'free flow'.


After I got everything together I rode it really for the first time. Gosh I missed bieng on 3 wheels. I dont' think there is another motor sport whose vehicles have been taken away from them. It really sucks.

I can honestly say that riding this 3 wheeler is more fun than any 4 wheeler (even my beloved 'zilla').

Power: I was very impressed. I was not expecting much since ever Honda guy likes to bash 'z's. Honestly, the powerband was perfect. I love the low end and mid range on these. I have ridden about 4 250R's (2 85's and 2 86's) I just dont like two strokes unless they have some good bottem end. The Z has more than the R's I have ridden and about as much in the middle but less on top. Mine has very few mods but I could run around in 4th gear and break the rear wheels loose on grass with a little clutch or by staying in the powerband. To me thats impressive.

In the powerband I could pull wheelies in 4th gear...I don't know if anything has been done to my Z since there may have been countless owners...but it was impressive.

Seating: I also love the seating position. The area between your legs is narrow and you don't feel like you are sinking or sitting too low. The 'R's make me feel like I am sinking because the tank is so high and wide.

Handling: I have 20 inch Banshee tires on mine with the wheels at thier widest offset. I did not experience any of the handling issues that Dirt Wheels talked about. 'Slow turner'...my ass. The amout of steering lock is phenominal. You can turn really sharply.

All in all I found the Tri Z to be just awesome and it ran like a bat out of hell. The ATV News test article as I read it again seems so accurate its unbelievable. It has the Tri Z at the top of the 250 class by a hair...and I feel the same way.

Oh...after this weekend I am getting another 86....

Get ready for PROJECT 87 TRI Z....'
The Theme for Project 87 Z? Just one question:
What would Yamaha have done if they built the Tri Z for just one more year?'

[TRI-Zbrian]

sweet man im with you also my favorite machine is the tri z and being they were only made 2 years me owning one makes me feel that more special. im also going to rebuild my water pump dump the thermistat and install those in line coolers.

[Tri-Z Pilot]

Yeah, Tri-z's definately are one of a kind. Gonna rebuild my impeller this weekend.

[TimSr]

Youve said it very well, Darius. A point Ive been trying to make for long time. Throw those trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro magazines away, and go ride one that runs right, and then tell me how lame and slow they are! I also agree with your observations about bottom end being superior. (Enough to buy a Quad Z conversion to replace my TRX250R)

A general rule is that in any magazine evaluation the Honda will win. This applies to any year or model, no matter what its compared to. This is why people were downright shocked that ATV News would draw any other conclusion and print it. Magazine comparisons are for "armchair" riders whose real world experience never gets beyond driving one on a playstation, or or logging on to a message board and arguing about "which one is faster". I occassionally read one only to reaffirm my lack or respect for them!

[davham]

I tend to agree you on your observation, but you left out your suspension. I have an '85 with '86 front end and a Warrior shock. I find the forks to be great but the the warrior shock seemed stiff at first. After a little pre-load adjustment I dont believe I'll need to fiddle with either end. I'm running my forks with 10 wt oil and zero air pressure and this works pretty good for me. I think it's great for blasting through the woods and especially across terraced wheat fields.
As for the powerband my engine has stock bore(re-sleeved) dg pipe and silencer, uni-filter and, boyseen reeds. Thats it. I have very good low end with a midrange that pulls hard but the top end seems to not even show up. It still goes and keeps on reving it just doesn't seem to be accelerating much. I find that short shifting to keep it in the midrange is the most fun. Mine will also tend to pull the front end up in fourth, especially if you tap the clutch. One must really be paying attention in third. Is this the way the stock Z powerband is? Or is the dg pipe doing anything? Maybe I'll look into improving the top end but would really like to keep the lowend.
Overall I really like mine and look forward to ridding it. Other than wanting a little more top end I cant find one thing to gripe about, and my kick starter doesn't get hung up on the peg either. One thing for sure, it is much more fun than the old 85 and 86 200x's my brother and I had 18 yrs ago.
Lastly, is it okay to not run your oil at 20:1?

Dave

[Yamahammer490]

I love my Z too. Two weekends ago I went to far northern Wisconsin with a bunch of buddies. I happened to be the only trike with my group but did meet a few others on the trails.

We put on 96 miles that Saturday and I had a blast! Our group had included me and 10 other quads. We didn't do any drag racing or anything but my Z was right up there with the Raptors and 440EX Hondas on the really fast fire roads. (I don't know how fast we were going because it seems like only the slower quads have speedometers. Bummer...)

Whenever we'd stop at a town strangers would come over and check out my Z. They'd generally make comments about how much they missed their Z or 250R or Tecate or whatever - it was really cool.

[J.D.]

Yes, davham, it's ok to run whatever you want depending on oil you use. I used Yamalube a 32:1 with success.

[TimSr]

Hey Davham, Ive never experienced any shortcomings on the top end. Uncontrollable would be how Id describe it. As far as front end lifting, as soon as I hit the powerband mine comes up, and it doesnt matter what gear its in. If it seems to rev on up, but isnt taking off like a rocket, you may want to replace your clutch fibers and springs. Its a common thing on a 2 stroke to be thinking your wheels are spinning when in fact your clutch is slipping. When I first got my 250R I had no clue the clutch was slipping until I got on a short stretch of blacktop, and realized my wheels werent spinning.