Dave Bedford had campaigned a standard Yamaha MX 250 for a number of VMX seasons but was never really at one with the bike finding it clunky and underpowered. And having an opportunity to ride one Steve Gallichan’s Maicos and CZs of Tricky Dicky Racing fanme sealed the poor fate of the MX. Dave handed it over to Steve with the instructions to sell it or dump it and to build him a Maico or a CZ racer.
Steve pondered the proposition and decided that on balance the MX was basically a good core but needed a total refresh and a few performance tweaks. Then he decided to take it one step further - lets build a Noguchi specd bike. Only one problem with that thought, Taneharu Noguchi never built a MX 250 racing kit and focussed more on smallbore bikes. So in the absence of any fixed guidelines Steve has exercised a bit of poetic licence…..
So beginning with the frame, it is kept basically stock with the exception that the mounting brackets for fitting a YZ C tank needed to be lifted and brackets adjusted for fitting a custom airbox. Footpegs ofcourse have been widened but what is super trick is that PDI alloy swing arm. These are period items and were manufactured by PDI for multi fit applications and required only minor machining to fit the MX frame. These are super rare now so if you happen to find one grab it if you can.
Suspension has also been worked over and Steve noted that the existing shocks were off a road bike and not correctly valved and the front end was wobbly as hell. On the back now are a set of Ohlins and the front end has been totally rebuilt with emulators fitted to the forks. The wheels have been trued and refurbished where necessary and hubs centred to get the brakes to work a whole lot better. And of course a new seat to boot.
Moving to the engine reveals more work. Steve made a big point of reworking the airbox noting that the standard MX had a triangular filter which simply passed dust and crap straight into the carb and into the engine. This required a new airbox to fabricated designed to accept a two piece Uni Filter. Externally it is obvious the engine is not a stock standard unit – in this case Steve found a Webco head and fitted a fresh barrel matched and ported and breathed upon by Paul Doeke. The carb was also bored out to match the new port specifications. The bottom end was basically left stock.
The pipe is basically a hand crafted masterpiece built by Damon Gruenwald of Cycleworks in Upper Hutt. Steve decided that while Damon was at it on the production line, he commissioned a total of four pipes in total and has offered the balance for sale to other MX 250 builders.
So how does it go. Dave is all happiness. While he was somewhat surprised that when the covers were lifted there wasn’t a CZ or Maico there, he is more than happy with the ‘one off’ Noguchi built bike that he has received and cant believe that his old bike formed the core of what you see in these pictures. His only complaint is that it is way fast!