TRI-Z Q&A with driscoll

[3WW Star-driscoll333]

I raced and r&d with yamaha back in the 80's . kieth mccarty built all my motors.(factory yamaha) the motors were all long rods. the first motor ever raced professionaly was loaned out of brock glovers super cross bike.

[Tecate250]

When did you have the desire to race 3 wheelers?
Did you Start off on dirt bikes?
And do you still have a Tri Z?

[Billy Golightly]

Hey Brett, when you say long rod you mean the YZ490 one with a spacer plate setup correct? So heres a couple questions:

Now a days, the Tri-Z's are notoriously common for bending, and even breaking foot pegs. Especially the right side the kicker always hits on, did you guys ever experience this problem and if you did, what did you do to solve it?

Mike Coe mentioned in a post a while back that the Tri-Z cylinders were actually faster then their power valved YZ counterparts and that the Factory Yamaha dirt bike guys actually used Tri-Z cylinders with fake power valve covers, do you have any input on which of the two is better?


And heres a couple pictures of my 85 Tri-Z (Number 802 off the production line). A basket case when I bought it would be an understatement. But with a lot of time work and help from many members on this forum including one named Yamahondaman which has the fastest Tri-Z around I've got it where its a pretty good machine.

[3WW Star-driscoll333]

yes , motorcycles were in my blood since i can remember. but i felt more at home on a threewheeler. i owned a atc 90 at age 12 or so. but then the 81 honda was released and the rest is history.

[3WW Star-driscoll333]

i cant remember much about the footpegs. and not sure about the whole fake power valves. but the long rod 250 is what i rode , except when i needed to race the open class in SCORE. and yes i think the yamaha's were faster motors. the bike that sundahl and I won with at parker 400 was #00006 on the motor

[Billy Golightly]

What kind of suspension mods over stock did you guys use for the Baja races? How do you feel the Tri-Z compared to the 250R and Tecate for short track racing? How could it have been improved upon?

[Bryan Raffa]

what kind of pipes did you guys run?
do you rember what rod you guys ran?
was there ever a phase three wrench report and what did it consist of?
what size carb's did you guys run?
did you guys run a top mount tank?
did ya ever ride one with a 490 in it?
did you guys ever have to gusset the frame's, if so where?
did you guys ever experance any swingarm failures, if so where?
were you ever involved with harry klemm?
what kind of after market swingers did you guys use (cal-fab)(westcoast)
you guys ice race in the winter months?
got any pictures from back in the day of you guys and your bikes?

I've been waiting for someone just like you for a verry long time! It's great you finally joined "US"

[3WW Star-Yamahondaman]

not sure about the whole fake power valves.

I'M SAVING THIS "QUOTE" !!!!! I LOVE IT !!!! GIT IT RAG'S !!!!!

[3WW Star-driscoll333]

billy, I will try my best to remember all the detailed set ups.... the stock rear shock was either a fox or ohlien . the stock suspension was not good enough to revalve or rebuild. the forks were factory honda 200x (top secret!). we tried terry cable rebuild fork parts, but we couldn't beat the handling of the honda forks. plus it was a easier to steal steve wrights forks! haha the tacate even handled better than the tri-z. for speed way and other smoother tracks the tri-z was a beautiful bike.

[Tecate250]

Was it hard to compete with other racers using the troubled Tri-Z?
I know really nothing about you other then you were rider of the Tri z and the Husky. Were you at the race that jimmy white and marty hart crashed into each other?
How does it feel to be idolized about stuff you did 20 years ago? And not have known then.
Did you ever want to jump ship and move to another company?
And finally do you still have a Tri-Z?

[3WW Star-driscoll333]

yes , It was tough hanging with riders that were as fast or faster plus they were on superior handling bikes. but the tri-z had its type of tracks where it felt at home. 20 years later on this crazy thing called the internet, who would've guessed? I never got a big enough offer to even think about jumping ship. loyalty to yamaha is still there. no tri-z in my garage , but i wish. back then yamaha gave us our bikes at the end of the year. and selling them helped finance the next year. i wish i had them back...

[Bryan Raffa]

TRI-Z,,,,ebay man! and klemm still has some stuff in his barn!! LOL

[Old 179]

I don't recall you fooling with the debore(200) I seen the thumbnail on Raffa's of #178 which I think was "Hunksaker????" He had both 200 & 250. Any info with the debore???

[3WW Star-driscoll333]

bryan,,,,factory tri pipes were the best. i owned the company we only sold about 300. i bet they are hard to find. they were jigged off my factory yamaha race bikes. the long rod internals were top secret , dont remember the specs ..38 makuni , top mount tank,never rode the 490, no gussets...vibration wasnt an issue with my motors. broke swingarms 2or 3. klemm was one of my buds, he worked on some stuff i rode. westcoast was my sponsor.never ice raced. i will post some old pics soon...

[3WW Star-driscoll333]

i always had a 200, 250, and an open bike ready to go. at the time i was the only official yamaha rider. unless i picked up a team member for SCORE and other dez races. it was tough , yamaha would ask me to race dez open , then the following week, mickey thompson . then maybe the 200 class somewhere else. fun though