79 Yamaha IT250 – impulse buy #1

Ya know… I’ve always been impulsive with making decisions. Yesterday was one of those days.

Someone in middle-north NJ put a Yamaha IT250 on craigslist. Within 2 hours I called him and decided to go check it out.

The guy wanted $650. I bought it for $540. No title. Stuff like this goes quick, so you gotta be prepared to pull the trigger asap. Huge thanks to neighbor Brian for helping me get it!

It needs some TLC, but it seems to run legit. It’ll shape up well. It’s gnarly fast.

In case you don’t know what the IT is… it’s basically a full on race YZ version with lights and street legal. So it’s the holy-grail of street legal and off-road 2 stroke Yamahas. IMO.

I’m not 100% positive on all this… but differences between the normal Yamaha DT/CT versions and the IT versions are that the IT had:

  • YZ motor
  • YZ suspension
  • better expansion chamber
  • bigger carb
  • different head and piston
  • similar gearing to YZ – 6spd
  • light aluminum wheels
  • no oil injection
  • plastic everything
  • light magnesium hubs
  • footpegs, shifters and rear-brake levers that fold in

I’m hoping to not put much of any money in this thing. Fingers crossed.

The motor sounds good. It runs pretty good as is. Tires are good.
I’m hoping to clean it up. Do the wiring. Give it a full tune up. Do the VT registration trick, and just rip on it. It has a sweet custom Kawasaki spark arrester ha. Def keeping that.

Honestly, I’d prefer the IT175 but they’re super rare. I don’t need the fastest bike. I haven’t seen many IT’s pop up on the east coast at all. I always see them on eBay in Cali. I’m an avid ebay/CL stalker. Yann has the IT400, he got it out at mid-ohio.

I rode it around the neighborhood last night and on del ave for a bit. The front wheel pops up in every gear.

For comparison. The 79 IT250 had around 35hp. Where the 79 DT250 had around 18.

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12 responses to “79 Yamaha IT250 – impulse buy #1”

  1. eric with the 50's says:

    saw this bike for sale in spotswood, nj, which is right around me. completely forgot to tell steve about it as well. good luck with it!

  2. Yann says:

    Damn now I won’t have the only IT in the city. Congratulations, and welcome to the club! I like to think your ridding my 400 helped inspire this.

    The 250 was actually my first choice, curious to see how quick yours is.

    You should look at getting the stickers for it, makes them look a little less like a farm bike.. not that that’s a bad thing, and be ready for lots of random people trying to buy it off you.

  3. Ed says:

    @yann
    Yea man I’m pretty pumped.

    I’m going to clean it up a bit and put the stock decals and side covers on it. I want it to look all original.

  4. Steve says:

    Look for perforated decals. Gas vapor permeates through the plastic tanks and causes the stock decals to bubble and peel off.

    I want to scope out/measure your rear shock and swingarm. Been looking at IT/YZ shocks and YZ aluminum swingarms on ebay for a while.

  5. Robert says:

    Hello, bought a 77 it 250 a week ago,I restore vintage 2 cycle motocross bikes. Bike is definitely not gnarly fast,but it shall do. Very strange powerband in relation to the gearbox ratios.however,it is probably the best in the “looks” class.better looking than a Suzuki pe,but will never outperform it! Thanks, Robert.

  6. LOUIS T DECENZI says:

    Do any of you guys know how much compression the it250 should have

  7. Ed says:

    Yea – 150psi hot, wide open throttle.

  8. Brad Smith says:

    As far as I know the IT175/250 series was off-road only. In some states you could get plates for it, but it was never offered from the factory as “road legal”. Hope you don’t have any problems registering it in your state.
    I owned a 1980 IT250 that I bought brand new from a YAMAHA dealer in Huntington Beach, CA. I didn’t know much about two-strokes back then and had a hard time getting it to run right. When it was running great it was a runner! Wish I had the space to buy one and rebuild it. Maybe I’ll start searching for one to put a little TLC into.

  9. john keel says:

    i got a i supposte to have a 1977 IT 250 it in great shape now been building it its great the only number i can find for a vin number is on the neck and on the engine both the same people keep telling me thats not it but they are the same 1W5-001077 s it does any body know

  10. john keel says:

    i would and will post a pitcuer if yall want to see it its sharp looks almost new again

  11. Tom says:

    What is a 1978 IT250 worth with less than 2000 miles on it?

  12. Cliff mitchell says:

    I’ll give you a grand right now for it! Cliff

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Published - Jan 10, 2019

Smokey Smurf

Mike picked up an early 80s IT175. Might smoke a hair. It’ll rip.