Crafting a KTM Killer - Episode 2: Electric Start YZ250?

Having learned in our first test that, despite my enduring love for it, Dad’s old Yamaha YZ250 2 stroke was a far cry from today’s high-tech, european KTM machines… it was back to the drawing board. And first thing on the agenda was to do something about that damn stalling and restarting issue. Off-road the thing just became hopeless, I spent half of the first test day kick-starting it! Drastic measures were in order, for the sake of my right leg if nothing else… But we had a plan, a plan that only recently (despite how long the YZ250 has been produced in its current form) became available. And it promises to address not only the stalling issue, but the restarting one as well!
This episode is sponsored by Shipito! Enter my discount code AZL362 in the referral code box when you sign up for 15% off your first order!
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THIS SERIES is PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY
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Yamaha Motor New Zealand (www.yamaha-mot...)
Panthera Motorsports (pantheramotors...)
Shipito (www.shipito.com)
Whites Powersports (bits4bikes.co.nz)
MTF Finance Nelson (www.mtf.co.nz)
Josh Coppins Racing (www.joshcoppins...)
AXP Racing (www.axp-racing...)
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CREDITS
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Starring:
Ash Sowman
Kynan Ayers
Dave Sowman
Roger Sowman
Nicola Fleitas
Directed/Produced by:
Ash Sowman
Nicola Fleitas
Written by:
Ash Sowman
Edited by:
Ash Sowman
Camera Operators:
Ash Sowman
Nicola Fleitas
CHAPTERS
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0:00 Title Sequence
0:13 Bike Building Session #2
16:26 End Screen

[@ashsowman]

Okay so in theory that solves our two biggest issues, stalling (the kit replaces the original flywheel with a heavier one) and obviously restarting again, thank god! But it's going to take a lot more than just that to kill a brand-new KTM... What still needs doing?

[@satan657]

ESR 325 kit, recluse, Vforce reeds

[@fllwnathan]

Boyesen reeds, lectrom carb and a nice tune to keep it pulling through a rpm ranges

[@jcurtisnum1]

Smartcarb.

[@ididapoo]

Hydraulic clutch

[@ididapoo]

Bug bore kit

[@OGMKgaming]

The production quality on this video is amazing, seriously great job to everyone involved. Glad I stumbled across this channel much love!

[@ashsowman]

Appreciate the kind words mate 👊

[@lorisfoucart2475]

8:13 Damn am I the only one to get the reference ? The fact that this came out of your brain so quick man, that's awesome

[@bobbybossmode]

I’m really loving this series!

[@ashsowman]

Glad to hear it mate!

[@haydenwall3803]

Making memories with the two most important men in your life is fabulous mate. Panthera are a great company paving new roads in this arena, Sebo is great to deal with as you would be aware of already. Keep up the good content young fella.

[@highlandcycles]

Good luck with the kit man. If you watched some of my vids, you know that mine had some bugs. I think they have a lot of them worked out.

[@ashsowman]

Yeah saw your vids mate, my kit has definitely got a few differences to yours so I'm hoping they've got the niggles worked out now

[@highlandcycles]

@@ashsowman awesome. It’s a good piece of gear for sure. Psyched on your build series.

[@Pajero.m57]

@@ashsowman do you still enjoy your electric start? Thank you

[@AndyPedersenCT]

Gearing and a 18 rear wheel, nice work 👍🏼

[@firemenonbikes]

Depending in what stage of life your at could have a bearing on what mods you do. I'm nearing 50 and just want to maximise my enjoyment during the time I have on the bike. My mods - Lectron, Rekluse, LHRB - my god, way less fatigue and just like riding a giant mountain bike, love this setup so much. Impossible to stall.

[@jamesbowdler]

Thought of your bike when I was watching this Azz!

[@nickacelvn]

Quality! The narration is "Genuine Kiwi Bloke." Great stuff.

[@MotoSly]

i used shipito for bikeparts to get bikeparts from California to Belgium and it was handled very well. saved money! and they work fast and correct!

[@endurotruckererniedesjardins]

Man... the E start is like a dream. I need one for my 2018 yz250.

[@bayrats3475]

love this series keep it up and longer vids if possible

[@Meatnyancat22Gaming]

LOVE THIS GUYS VIDEOS, its so sick that you interviewd the maker of that product

[@shaddybros3566]

Stumbled upon your channel yestie, bloody awesome stuff, finished watching both of these videos on the build keep em coming! My brother and I tested a new Rieju MR300 pro vs my bros YZ250 and came to the same conclusions the 300 felt like a 4 stroke was smooth as and made everything easy leaving left the YZ for dead as you worked your ass off through the bush and up some decent hills. I contemplated modding but the test ride pushed me over the edge and went out and brought a Rieju MR200 If I was modding a YZ250 and I was in your shoes the next mods for me would be: •Change that rear tyre to an 18" (if it's not already.) •Flywheel weight •Steering damper - Scotts • Maybe Rekluse auto clutch so you don't stall out on those big hills as often haha, be able to lug it up there •Consider a bigger tank Clarke or Acerbis 10-12lt with reserve on the petcock •Ballards WR off road light if you're planning on any night racing

[@prestonthomas5399]

YZ owner here, thinking about a flywheel for off-road. Will this smooth out the power a bit? You think it’s a no brained? Don’t know much how it will affect power

[@shaddybros3566]

G'day @@prestonthomas5399 Yeah I reckon so, most blokes on thumper talk say about a 9oz weight and chuck a FMF gnarly pipe on it to, to make it more woodsy.

[@shaddybros3566]

Will smooth out the power, hitting the power band later.

[@prestonthomas5399]

@@shaddybros3566 thank you sir! appreciate the size recommendation as well!

[@mrrecliner7675]

Watched the first episode last night and couldn’t wait for the next one 👍

[@nickrobarchek2509]

Brilliant brother brilliant piece of film! 18” wheel lectron carb, gearing 13-50 or 13-52 handguards and armor, lighting, suspension tuning

[@michealcuddihy8347]

My first off-road bike was a 2009 yzf250 and I loved the bike to bits the suspension was fine and It had a heavy flywheel but just couldn't keep into all the other enduro bikes and kept boiling over now I've a 125 sherco and I love it

[@rimawihone]

just found you ash!! love this as a mechanics son raised in south auckland, I had every motorbike from the mid 70's -80's and the early 90's. Yep trail bikes galore terrorising the empty paddocks and vege gardens that our now the extensions of the airport and freight forwarding companies!! Seeing you pretend to do something with the mechanics lol (yes can see you do know a thing or two) reminds me of ME and asking my dad to fix the tricky hacks that I used :- ( throwing more dirt at the oil and petrol drips was ME Great content. XR 250 + 500 fan maybe the XT 350? My PE185 was loooose!!!

[@craca96]

my new favorite series on youtube glad to have stumbled upon your first video!

[@jaredbauer3058]

Fantastic content, great topic, informative, well shot and not taking yourself too seriously. Looking forward to more of this series....

[@minimench]

Get a head cut or one with replaceable domes! I use an Apex innovations head and its awesome

[@Choz07818]

The video quality is insane dude. So enjoyable to watch. Keep it up!

[@Toonces311]

Stumbled upon your series. Here i am not working in Utah watching an Aussie build up an old Yamaha. Love it.

[@firemenonbikes]

Haha an "Aussie" 🤣... Hopefully the "Kiwis" won't take that comment to heart!

[@theslipperface]

You Canadians are funny :)

[@kerrybutler1149]

Thats sick!!!!!

[@TwistedTriggerEnduro]

Long process but gonna be worth it!! 🔥💪

[@kanehartcher5996]

Awesome mate . Well done. I will be getting one for the crf250R . I’m over Kicking it over !

[@spoderacing3910]

Enjoying this series. Thanks for posting!

[@deanarchibald3866]

great video mate bikes gonna be lit

[@officialemceestacksone3923]

Definitely KTM killer now you got that band on button 💯

[@orseting8377]

Hey bruz, super keen for next ep surely let me know when it's uploading, chur

[@jessybonsant5181]

Great series, I’m watching from my garage in Canada.

[@alexummm]

i'm hyped to see how this turns out

[@mauser8515]

Switch to a thinner oil like KTM 2T at 60:1 then reset the carb to run the thinner fuel, like going down to 48pilot and 170 main and dropping the needle. This will stop the bike from becoming overly rich. With yamalube at 32:1 you have to use big jets to let the thick mixture through. With lighter oil like Dominator or 2T you need smaller jets. Then it’ll run crisp at 1/4-1/2 throttle. Then ad a 13oz flywheel weight and a Hydrolic clutch from Magura. Then all there is to do is maintain it, set it up for your weight and valve it for woods. It would make a great hate scramble bike due to the short wheelbase and low height. It is really nimble in the woods. I have a 250xcw and an 03 YZ250. The YZ is more nimble, but has Factory Connection suspension, 11oz weight, hydrolic clutch, low max bars, fmf exhuast system, and is jetted for 50:1.

[@JUST-A-WRF]

Amazing bro

[@Mac181]

That’s really cool

[@RecklessRobby]

I love these types of vids I wanna start modifying my yz450 now

[@rangeroadmoto]

Pretty cool to see 3 gens of moto guys working on one thing. Great series “mate” 🇨🇦

[@brewcrew574]

As a yz 250 owner I allays said no reason for E start on these bikes. But that cold start was cool

[@ThisTall]

Always wondered why they didn’t make starter kits to go in through the back side of the kickstart housing like the KTM’s do?

[@xd_gangster693]

God I love these videos. Entertainment to the max and get to see cool stuff like an e start yz250.

[@gumbyenduroadventures6225]

Excellent mate! Enduro life.

[@jtaka88]

Get ready for blown Stators, spark plug coils, CDI’s and being stuck in the trail. “Speaking from experience”

[@will_hamilton66]

You should also get the race tech restyle kit

[@NZ2STROKE]

If you want the real KTM experience you need to disconnect the battery now haha

[@danshallcrass7831]

Yeah goes hard✊🏻

[@raymondmorgan5049]

suspension will make huge diff to the vibrations

[@peteratmore6316]

Lekker mate

[@auskilluminati333]

Funny thing is. I have been looking at getting one myself. This video has confirmed my purchase

[@stephangiannoulidis509]

Won't regret it mate. Perfect all rounder bike

[@auskilluminati333]

@@stephangiannoulidis509 my next big question is ... How far away is a YZ 250 With electric start , kick stand and lights from road registration

[@Vercci1]

Do I smell a Lectron incoming?

[@rickromann]

Get yourself a magura hydraulic clutch and a Midwest mountain engineering lever it will make a world of a difference for you.

[@orseting8377]

Are you gonna get the bike back to looking stock or mod it your own style brother

[@brucemunro3342]

Only question is "why" a good running yz250 starts with half a kick!!!!

[@TubolMotoadventures]

any update if it is still working now? i heard there are lots of issues with this kit

[@gordonwhite5638]

Awesome 👍

[@jetythe2nd185]

I was excited about being able to put a electric start on my yz450f till I seen the price point and the fact that they don't have one for a 450

[@JR113FTW]

"a noise no one wants to hear" LOOOOOOOOOL

[@browie316]

Call Step Mom when you're stuck! 🤣

[@joelseconi9499]

Am I the only one who loves his voice

[@chadrides914]

He’s done all the “hard yards” gonna need a bit of help lmao “yards?”

[@jbenduro4604]

Get a hydrolic clutch to

[@dariuscooper1293]

Hydraulic *

[@TroNPopz209]

waste of time and money. hydro clutch retrofit on the yz is a waste of time

[@merinofarmeragriculturewor4623]

Awesome as ash love the videos bro

[@AdventureMotoEnduro]

great product

[@howardwoods342]

So my build. 2021 YZ 250X. Apex head. Gnarly pipe and turbine core 2 silencer. V force reeds. Lectron Billetron, reclise clutch thing is a rocket and you can lug it like a 4 stroke in the trails. Still way cheaper then a ktm and as good and lighter then my friends 2022 ktm 300 2 stroke trail bike

[@stevenschiff808]

Now add a hydraulic clutch, 18 inch rear wheel, 6 speed wide ratio transmission, headlight, fuel injection, oil injection and you are all set.....great video, thanks.

[@Leah_foxgirl]

i sense a ktm owner nearbye

[@stevenschiff808]

@@Leah_foxgirl Yes, but I have been down that road. Just never made sense to fight the obvious. The YZ is still a 2005 (your can argue actually 2006) bike. Shame Yamaha never really made the effort. I can only imagine! Regards.

[@markbeveridge4405]

Aren’t they really expensive? Not sure it’s worth the extra coin vs other enduro focused bikes (eg Beta)

[@Martens_Life]

Nice video bro

[@Lukemnukem26]

1st and second gear need to be lowered, lectron carb, apex technical innovations cylinder head, maybe a big bore, but I’m on the fence about the big bore myself. I recently switched from riding a KTM 300 for 8 years to a YZ250X and the cable clutch is honestly an easier pull in my opinion. First and second gearing is too high for really gnarly British Columbia single track tho.

[@Lukemnukem26]

I would say flywheel weight too but I see that the new stator assy acts as one

[@RuffMcPuff98]

“The ole y-zeed “

[@aluminem_6921]

Imagine having to use shipito

[@monkeybarmonkeyman]

Great... now your right calf can shrink back down to the size of your left calf :-)

[@firemenonbikes]

Kicking a 2stroke 250 that starts first kick ain't gonna build no giant calf... This isnt a 4 stroke... Gumon!

[@cooperc4060]

My son races A level and they have dead engine start. I would say 75 percent of the bikes are ktm's. He gets the hole shot almost every time with the kick start on his yz.

[@infidelmat]

The fact that you need a Philips screwdriver to remove anything on the Yam is a deal killer for me lol.

[@michaelwendler5589]

They're actually JIS-2 screws... not "Phillips Head" That's why everyone strips them out, because they're using the wrong driver to take them off.

[@infidelmat]

@@michaelwendler5589 still should be 8mm hex head with maybe a torx option, anything that can foul with mud is not good, makes field service impossible. Same issue with smaller socket cap hex, shouldn't be on dirt bikes.

[@krazed0451]

I thought the whole point of buying a YZ was to build an enduro bike cheaply... I don't really want to spend 50% of the bike's value to add e-start.

[@shirleygibbons6833]

When untill the next vid?

[@marshalljackson760]

What part of new zealand are you from

[@markylovesrave]

Seen a lot of things in life, but is that an upside down tumble dryer ????

[@lukepanasiuk1703]

Does he reply?

[@austinleach6968]

It’s not the bike… it’s the rider.

[@samuelford]

number 1 mod needs to be a hydraulic clutch

[@friskyhawk7426]

👌

[@CP-qx2ff]

squish mod, lectron carb

[@Frisky_FZR]

Think I commented this on the last video 😂

[@pabloneira8978]

Lo puedesTraducir en español porfavor

[@michaelbosko4643]

Get a Yz 250x cdi and it will be a bit better in the woods

[@Eastsidegeorgiaboy]

At over $1,000 is it worth the price?

[@firemenonbikes]

New zealand dollars shipped the cheapest version is over $1700 and with the 90w charge its $2350. If you want to turn your YZ into a KTM killer your wasting your time, just buy a KTM (or the white or red versions) your never gonna get rid of the YZ vibrations... if you want a trail friendly YZ then buy the X. Mod the head to correct squish, do the suspension if your a fat bastard and enjoy it for the purity of what it is. But enjoying the vid noe the less!

[@Eastsidegeorgiaboy]

@@firemenonbikes i figured as much. Definitely not worth it at that price.

[@cmcmahon7034]

put a new 2 stroke pipe on

[@jfxr3576]

Hardcase videos bro What web site and how much was the estart bro

[@firemenonbikes]

Google Panthera estart, job done.

[@420carper6]

lectron would be next on my list then a rekluse

[@lucasgraham4762]

Soften the what? The suspension is fine. If it’s too stiff you’re not riding fast enough!!!!

[@LJ_Adventure79]

Hey I'm looking for my first bike and don't what to get I'm 5.8 foot 13 year old boy weight about 60kg what bike should I get I've rode a 70 onec that's it so what do you recommend for me Thanks

[@coleway4318]

Yz125

[@LJ_Adventure79]

Thanks

[@firemenonbikes]

@@LJ_Adventure79 YZ125X if not riding just MX, will have to spend more tho as they haven't been out for long.

[@LJ_Adventure79]

OK thanks I'll look in to that

[@jwill540]

kdx 200 or 220 plenty of power with a mellow delivery and can normally be found cheaper than other bikes.

[@Moste_TNG]

If it wants to be a ktm killer. You need a hydraulic clutch

[@liferider3442]

No two stroke needs any electric start ffs. All you need is to add a stealthy flywheel weight.

[@KobeWilson911]

thats too ganrly my guys.

[@liamwilson1948]

So was it worth the 1200 bucks lol

[@Dropsix]

Why wouldn't it be? Bike probably didn't cost much to begin with, after 1200$ you get an estart two stroke when generally you would have to spend thousands more to get a euro bike with estart

[@rafenatho5406]

Learning clutch control is waaaaaay cheaper than an aftermarket electric start kit!

[@tomh225]

Get a restyle kit

[@chillycheeze2207]

Bekfast

[@liamarmstrong3]

That’s crappy little yz isn’t gonna kill a ktm

[@will_hamilton66]

Put a lectron carb on it

[@codywatson4284]

Get Ktm250sx I have a Ktm125 sx