Thanks Swoop,

See post 4 on the production, vin and sold date. 

As for the cylinder being painted i am only going by the Yamaha brochure for 69 and i know 3 guys that have 4 untouched 69's and all are bare metal. Who knows maybe they came both ways or changed at some point. If they were painted you would think they would have polished the edges silver like the 1970 and newer cylinders. Maybe not? I guess i will know when i take the cylinder off. I should be able to tell one way or the other. I like the bare metal look myself. 

 

Be interesting to compare engine numbers--frame numbers. Does yours have the cross brace under the tank. My bosses one Dec "68 didn't have. With 20090 engine & frame.

I too have a 69 , roughly 1000 earlier than yours , though sadly not as pretty .
I've just checked my 69 brochures , and they show a painted barrel , though it could be mistaken for shadow .
They did have polished fin edges though , so I guess yours has had a splash of paint at some stage .
I will look out the 69 range booklet , as I know that has a clearer photo of the bike .

Another debatable issue only on the 1969 DT1 250 is the hand grips. This bike i bought has the smooth grips. Owners swears they were never replaced? Then looking at the Yamaha ad back then with the bike sure enough it has the same grips on it. Searching pictures on the web and if you find a original 69 that has not been restored many have the smooth grips as well. Then talking to some collectors that own original 69's they tell me there grips are the smooth style as well? One guy bought his bike new and confirms his has the smooth grips on his bike.
There was a post about this on facebooks 68/69 forum. I don't know what's correct for sure but the grips on this bike are rock hard so i plan on replacing them with the standard Yamaha style grips that come on 99% of Yamaha enduro's. 

RT325,

No this bike has the rubber pucks slide forward gas tank like all later Yamaha's. But the gas tank has the flat formed section under the tank were the cross brace goes on the 68.

Swoop,

Sorry, I meant the Yamaha magazine ad for 1969 where it shows the 250 and the 175 right behind it. Not the Brochure. Actually now looking close at it it may be painted with polished fins? Hard to tell because the head looks the same?  Also you can see the smooth grips on the 250 however the 175 in the ad has the standard style Yamaha grips that we are all use too?

What style grips does yours have and is your cylinder painted with polished fins? 

Here is a link to the ad picture i was referring to. 

imgur.com/a/bL1Jrvk

Yamaha literature says there were a few changes to the 1968 frame and tank with the new "puck" tank mount coming along at VIN 13001... 

Installed all new seals in the petcock today. Installed the gas tank and it started on the 2 kick. Smoked me out of the garage even with all the doors open. crankcase was full of gas. let it run about a hour. cleared up. I think he has premix in it and the pump is working too. All the lights and horn work. Was able to break the clutch plates loose. i will take it for a ride tomorrow. Seams to run nice, carburetion spot on, idles good. A bit noisy top in when revving it. Has a lever decompression on it. might be leaking a bit. Need to get a cylinder head plug for the extra sparkplug hole and take the lever decompression off. 

My 69 came with oval grips , like an RD 350 , but looking at the ad photo you had , they do look to be smooth .
I replaced with similar grips , but after you have pointed that out , looks like I was wrong there .
My cylinder was painted with polished fin edges , but head is unpainted .
There are NOS heads on Ebay occasionally , and they are always unpainted .
 

Hey Swoop,

That's what i meant by smooth grips, oval like the early XS street bikes. Most likely they were original on your bike from what i hear and am finding out.
So you think your cylinder came painted with polished edges? I notice mine has rough edges so highly unlikely it was a painted with polished edges. I think i will take the cylinder off tomorrow. i am sure someone painted this one. Sure wish i knew for sure how they came from the factory. I still like the bare metal look on the painted lower end engine. Don't know what way to go now?