The best motorcycle in the world is the one you're riding right now, and our 1977 Yamaha IT250 is no exception. After rescuing the poor, fire-ravaged beast from a barn in southeastern Ohio, the midwestmotocross.com staff has carefully pieced together this classic dirt bike, reminding ourselves in the process that when Gottlieb Daimler first wedged an engine into a wooden frame arched between two wheels, 95% of the work had been done. Since then, we've just been fine-tuning his contraption.

Make no mistake. This isn't a restore project in the religious sense. While our '77 IT250 isn't a hack job, it's not a 100% original assembly of new old stock and pristine used parts. No effort was made to create a "like-new" specimen, and, as is evident in the silver-painted swingarm, the original color scheme was not treated as if it were delivered off the mount. Our IT is more rat bike than show bike.

The reason is simple: You can't ride a show bike, not if you're us and favor your stomach lining. The goal from Day One was to rebuild a motorcycle in the most dire of condition into someone's everyday bike. While no hard spending ceiling was set, we intended to keep the cost of replacement parts to around 10 times what the bike itself ran. On our $45 initial hit, that gave us a rough budget of $450.

Fixing it
Advertised as a 1978 YZ250, the IT was someone's bastard child to what must have seemed its sure end. With no carb, a melted airbox and wiring, more grime than original paint and crank bearings looser than a noose around Calista Flockhart's waist, getting the IT back on two wheels would not be a weekend job. (The fire damage occurred when the previous owner attemped to fit a too-small carb into the reed boot. Gasoline apparently doused the engine and when the cylinder fired, so did the spilled gasoline.)

Other than the standard wear that occurs over 25 years of riding, the IT's chassis had a cracked front rim and a bent subframe section. The subframe was straightened easy enough, but the wheel called for a replacement. The front fender wasn't cracked, but the color was badly faded. The rear was missing altogether, as was the skid plate. All were replaced with used items found for cheap on eBay. Other major chassis fixes included an airbox, controls and all the basic wear-and-tear items, such as tires, tubes, brake pads, bearings, sprockets, etc.

As for the engine, the cases had to be split. The crank bearings were terribly worn and most of the seals were cracked. The simplicity of old air-cooled two-stroke engines is welcomed when tackling such a chore.

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