Well, I can say it has been a good ride. The yellow bike and I have bonded, as with any good relationship between man and machine. Except I wasn't very nice to the RM-Z or my wallet in the process. It survived some supercross, helped me train up for the Nationals, became first a practice bike and then, even worse, an off-road practice bike as I've lately been getting into WORCS racing.
There were no problems in the beginning. I did the usual oil and filter changes and checked the spokes and the fuel, oil and coolant levels every time I rode. But I neglected to check the valves. Yet there still were no problems. At more than 40 hard hours, I decided that I'd better not push my luck. I did a top end and a valve job. Being a rookie mechanic, I made a fatal cam-timing mistake-and it was costly.
Problem number two happened 80 hours into the bike's life. The bottom end was letting go. The bike was still running, and I should have known to stop riding it. I now know that metal shavings from the bottom end were carried up into the head, wearing everything out. This mistake meant I had to replace the whole top end as well as the bottom end (minus the transmission). I learned another lesson about four-strokes the hard way-through my checkbook.
In October the bike was reassembled with the help of race mechanic Corey Shea. I used the RM-Z to keep in shape and try to get ready for the WORC racing series. I went to my local practice tracks and on quite a few trail rides. The hours kept racking up on the bike with no accompanying problems-just basic wear and tear, at a pro level. At about the 110th hour, some extra noise came from the chain area. The chain had worn right through the chain block and ruined the chain guide. Maybe I need to look over my bikes a little more closely? During the 122nd hour of torture to the bike, it just died-while landing off a jump. I kicked the bike for a while and heard some noise coming from the ignition side of the motor. The bolts that hold the magneto to the ignition cover had backed out, and when one broke off, the bike stopped running. I know they were Loctite-ened in, but maybe some oil had been left on the bolts. In hindsight, the bolts should have been replaced. I had another costly repair on my hands, including the ignition cover and magneto assembly.
Late in the bike's pounding, I found that my subframe was broken just above the lower muffler mount. Over time I've had to replace the clutch, chain, sprockets, upper chain guide, rear brake pads and rear rotor (which had a small crack in it). I am a brake dragger, so I'm sure that led to the cracked rotor. I freshened up the looks one more time with a set of Factory Effex graphics.