THE BIGWHEEL THREAD!!! Yamaha BW350, BW200

BW swamper,

I did not realize it was that small and thin!

You say it shows that in the parts list?

THAT looks to me like you have a shielded bearing that has had the shield come out of where it is fit into the bearing.

They typically fit down into the space where you can see the ball bearings. Usually they are pressed in and not supposed to come out. They help keep grease in but are not near as good at that or keeping dirt out as a sealed bearing which has a piece shaped much the same pushed in there but made of rubber.

I think that Shercoman is on the money on this one. I believe that is part of the sleeve spacer impersonating a bearing shield.





The ring was welded to the sleeve in 1987 by a Yamaha employee that probably retired 15 years ago. I think it will be difficult to get Yamaha to honor any warranty at this point.

Fortunately for me, the ring on the sleeve in the picture is held solidly in place with the strong chemical bond of rust and a thin layer of silver Krylon.

vroom_vroom,

The 350 has separate coils for charging and lighting. Neither one of them is particularly impressive when judged by their output. They do a barely adequate job and it is hard to imagine getting any excess capacity without going through a rewind of the stator or getting some super magnets involved. The set up under the stator cover looks similar to the one in the low budget Blaster 200 atv. Not the best example in the industry.

I imagine that the 200 is similarly challenged but will have to look at the specifications to really know for sure. There are some portable solar panels that might be more relevant in the desert for an Iphone application.

On the other hand, I remember this TV show where Gilligan would pedal a bamboo stationary bicycle to power an HF radio.....

Regards,

Mr. BigWheel

Now I see what you are talking about!

I did think it rather strange looking at the picture of the spacer sitting on the bearing as it did not appear to cover the whole open area next to the ball bearings like a real shield should.

I also have never had either of my bikes wheels EVER off, so was not aware of that piece fixed onto the axle as in Mr. BW's picture.

My manual does not even list it.

Good thing for, and hats off to you yet AGAIN Shercoman and Mr.BW!

so when you get off work at 4am what do you do? call the two oldest guys you know with dirt bikes and hit the lake bed and sand trails. back at it at day break 2o miles out side of vegas. found out the big wheel will do 60mph!!!! had the camera out so thought we would have some fun with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb1UAklzcoA&feature=youtu.be

and a pointless video to go with it.

SIXTY? I did not think a 200 would do sixty if you dropped it from a plane!

WOW ! New guy here with a new to me BW350....My machine came with two extra wheels and tires which are Gold in color . I now know after looking at all 73 pages of this thread that these are 200 wheels. The one has a disk rotor where the sprocket should be but it's a big ATV wheel and tire. Can I use them on my 350 ? How ? Any cool mods ? And where would a guy look for a replacement carb for it ? Thanks ..Great site and great thread with tons of information.

Welcome!

BWSwamper,

It's taken me a while to get measurements of the YZF6 shock versus the stock 350 shock. The YZF shock is almost exactly 1 inch longer than the original. (13" vs. 14") This is measuring them from the approximate center of the mounting holes. We are running our primary chains rather slack out of concern that the upper links of the chain might rub excessively on the top of the swing arm. I look forward to Shercoman's report on his long travel conversion. He'll probably come up with some sort of useful solution instead of our usual stop-gap measures.

Vintmxman,

Here's another "welcome aboard."

Do you have any pictures you could post of the rear wheel? There is slim chance that you could use that hub without some serious modifications to the swing arm to accommodate a disc brake.

Does your 350 have any issues that you need another carb? The stock Tekei 28 is rare, unsupported and 'usually' not the source of engine issues.

As far as cool mods go, the sky is the limit. Where are you going to be riding the 350? Sand? Mud? Trials? Supercross?

That would help define what would be a decent modification for you.

Regards,

Mr. BigWheel

Vintmxman,

It occurs to me that the gold wheel with the disk where the sprocket should be just might be a Yamaha Tri-Z front wheel (they had disk brakes). If that is the case, you scored. Could be the previous owner was planning the Tri-Z front fork conversion for more front end travel.

Do a quick search on ebay for Tri-Z front hubs and see if you can i.d. it that way.

Mr. Bigwheel,

Thanks for the info. Are you guys using any sort of additional rub blocks on the swing arm?

I was thinking +1.25 on the 200. But, Maybe I could go further without trouble.

I'm thinking the geometry of the 350 would give a greater travel increase per inch of additional shock length than on the 200. So maybe +1 on a 350 would be more liked +1.5 on a 200.

That's a good possibility that the wheel with the disc on it could have a Tri Z hub.

If anyone is thinking about doing the Z conversion, this is a set of '86 Z forks on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1985-1986-Y...Parts_Accessories&hash=item485353bf00&vxp=mtr

They are quite a bit overpriced and have been through at least one auction cycle so far, so perhaps the owner would be open to offers.

The '86s are the larger fork (39mm vs. 35) and would require '86 triple clamps, which are as rare as hen's teeth. However, the cool points that you receive by telling people that you are running 39s on your BW make it all worth it.


Regards,

Mr. BigWheel

Thanks everyone..I'll post up a few pictures today...not wanting to do the Tri Z conversion...Was hoping to use it on my 350...the bike will be used to run around the hills of Pa...I own a big farm and am sick of riding my ATV around..No fun..two wheels is fun, two big wheels is even better..I ride GNCC and National Level trials and this BW is a blast to ride...the carb problem is the choke does not stay in, it's keep going in and out while riding..would like to replace it rather than mess with it...is there a rebuild kit out there ! I surely couldn't find one.. I just looked up the Tri hub and that's what I have..I picked up a BW 200 front wheel and tire yesterday too, hopefully that mounts up on my 350....My BW has an aftermarket exhaust too..pretty loud, would like to go back to a complete stock exhaust system ..hard to find parts for these machines..

When I was a Yamaha dealer, I had a new BW350 that sat unsold for 3 years. One day a couple guys stumbled in (I suspect they had been drinking), and just thought it was the coolest thing they had seen in awhile (must not get out much). Next thing I knew they pulled out a wad of cash and it was theirs.
They brought it back the next day with bent forks and pretty much every piece of plastic scratched.
"Would you be interested in buying it back?"
Uh, no.

Scott, was did the 350 sell for new?

Hey Scott,
Where you at man ? Upstate NY is close by for me..I am 20 minutes South of Owego , NY in Northern Pa.

Mr. BigWheel and CliffH,

What air pressure are you running now in the Tri-Z fork on your BW350s?

Have you put the Progressive spring kits in all of them?

(I'm thinking the air pressure issue changes if one installs the Progressive springs with their heavier pre-load.)

Swamper,

I am running about 10 seconds of air from a compressor into a completely flat tire. The front (studded) tire I am using had a fairly rapid leak, requiring at least 2-3 air ups while on the trail on a decent length trip. Just today I added "Slime" to the tire in the hopes that I could at least extend my air up intervals. I overcompensated on how much air I put in the front tire, figuring that it would help the slime find it's target leaks if the tire were leaking fast. The slime seemed to do a good job, I never had to air up during a fairly long (time not mileage) ride today. When Mr. Bigwheel and I left out, with the front tire overinflated, the front end had very little lateral traction in the snow (resulting in several off camera crashes) when I reduced the air pressure, I had much better steering. All this is a lengthy way of saying that I have no idea how much air pressure was in the tires, as I never put a gauge on it. And air pressure for riding in the swamps may differ from the optimal pressure in the snow.

As far as the progressive springs, Mr. Bigwheel will have to chime in, as he did the fork rebuild, while I spent 2 hours changing the left side foot peg (IMS replacement).

BWSwamper,

We are running Progressive springs in one bike with the 39mm forks and straight rate springs in the other 39mm forks.

I honestly can't tell the difference between the two. I thought that there would be a significant change but it certainly is not a night and day difference.

We just use ambient pressure (letting any accumulated pressure out with the Schreader valve) since we don't have any way to check for two or three psi without releasing all of the pressure anyway. The three wheeler guys seem to favor this method, claiming that it is easier on the fork seals to not have any pressure behind them.

Regards,

Mr. BigWheel