Very nice find there Skydancer!  And again, an impeccable job of getting the pair back on the road and in tip-top condition!

Yes, "Super Hunky" (Rick Sieman) used to make all kinds of jokes about how optimistic Japanese advertised "dry weight" was back in the day... 

I took a pretty deep dive into this topic before I bought my 2017 XT250...  If I remember correctly, an early 80's XT250 actually weighed in at about 270 lbs ready to ride with a gallon of gas in the tank according to magazine tests of the day.  The XT200 was about 240 lbs ready to ride with about a gallon of gas.

The 2017 XT250 weighed in at 291 with nearly a full tank of gas (and a much larger gas tank).  The extra gas in the tank weighs about 10 lbs...  so "apples to apples" the 2017 is only about 10 lbs heavier than its early 80's relative.  Not bad at all considering the addition of an electric starter motor and other upgrades over the decades.

My only experience with a Yamaha 200 was with a more modern TW200...  it had quite a difference in HP from the 250.  Keeping up with traffic where I live (many surface streets have 45-50 mph limits) was hard with the 200 if there was a hill and effortless with the 250....  plus the 250 is freeway legal here and the 200 isn't.  At lower speeds or out on the trails, both bikes were very fun.

I hate to admit this as much as I love the two strokes, but the Yamaha four stroke Enduro cousins are excellent and fun bikes. 

That beta weight is without fuel too. I'm sure the bikes could be significantly lighter now, but at double or triple their prices.

I'm really with you on the modern XT250 punching above its specifications, I like it more than the WR250R. Almost 10k problem free miles on mine, hoping for many more!

Thanks guys,

Yes in the old days most weights listed in brochures and advertisements were dry weights. This XT200 i have weighs in at 242 ready to ride with all fluids, almost a full tank of gas and tool kit in bike. You were close MarkT.

However it feels a good 30 to 40 lbs lighter then the XT250 when riding both bikes back to back. That's why i like having 2 or 3 bikes side by side when comparing. 

When i had the 68,70 and 71 DT1's all at the same time all in the same condition i could really see the difference between each year bikes when riding them all within minutes of each other. 

The XT250 is the cadillac between these 2 bikes. smoother yet firmer ride, straight line powerband, slightly slower reving engine but faster bike. heavy feeling but still easy to control and ride. 
The XT200 is much lighter feeling, plush suspension, quicker & higher revving engine? can't tell without tachs but sure sounds like it. Still great powerband. Not as fast as the XT250 (not expected) easy to throw around type of bike. Fun,Fun,Fun!!

Between the 2 I like the XT200 for trails and fun riding,The XT250 for street or fire roads riding. I give the edge to the XT200 if i had to keep one but the XT250 is a more capable bike.

As for the TW200 compared to the XT200, from what i read in 4 stroke,XT and TW forums the 82-83 XT200's were rated at 2 more HP over the TW200's. Cams being the big difference for those 2 years and few minor other things. Of coarse smaller diameter fat wheels on the TW don't help either. I don't think the carburetors would interchange either according to guys on the forums. Not sure all the details. 

Pictures below are of the bikes done today. Rode both today, very hot and humid here in Michigan this week. Engine's don't seem to run to hot and both performed very well. Just waiting on a discontinued (found one) tie clamp for the XT200 clutch cable that holds it close to the single down tube frame. Bought it on Amazon of all places!! NOS part in yamaha package. Hopefully i get it. 

In closing i must say when i went to purchase these bikes i thought: finally pretty nice bikes and i won't have to dump a bunch of money into them. Well it still didn't work out that way. I didn't even start them when i picked them up. Guy said they start and run good. Gas tanks were clean. He just had his mechanic clean the carbs and tune the bikes up. He spent many hours cleaning the rest of the bikes himself. I knew right away he was a Honda guy. Had many nice Vintage Honda's and newer Honda's. I think he knew the original owners of these bikes and he mentioned they were bought new together from St Helen Michigan area back in 83. He only had them for about 2 or 3 months according to the titles. I figured he just wanted to make a few bucks when he bought them. Probably wouldn't start easy or run when he received them. Did what he thought was enough to get them running to be able to sell them. Thats my guess, I could be wrong. I could tell the bikes were not rode hard or abused.The bikes were clean just not Skydancer clean. Lol! Price for the bikes was OK.  

 After getting them home and checking them out like i do all bikes.I ended up still spending a little over $600 just in Yamaha replacement & nos parts to service them and another $360 in supplies like  gas to travel to get them, real gas put in the bikes, DMV fee's and taxes. So still ended up spending a cool $1000.00 to get them as they are right now which is much better then when i received them. It's all in a days (weeks) fun, Love working on something different. Been a while since i been 4 stroking!!  

My plan as always is to ride them off and on for the next 1 to 3 months. Enjoy them a bit. See if anything changes.They are 40 years old! I went thru the bikes pretty thoroughly but who knows what can happen. 

Bikes have been together all there lives. Both even have the same build dates 10/82. How cool is that? Hard to find one nice older 83 XT yamaha and here are 2 pretty much in the same nice condition. Might be great bikes to list on B.A.T as a pair? but scary with no reserve!  Like to keep them together but who knows there future? 

Thanks for checking out the thread and bikes! I will keep you posted if something changes. 

As mentioned before I also have the original owners manuals, Yamaha service manuals, tool kits, both keys for both bikes and original brochure with the selling dealers stamp on it. Great that people buy and keep this stuff all these years with there bikes. Tells me alot about the people that own the bikes from new. 







 

They both came out beautiful and I'm not particularly fond of most 80's bikes.

Seems like the pair would be worth a lot to the right buyer. Might take a while to find that buyer yet it sounds like you can enjoy them until they find you!

Darinm,

Thanks, same here. My riding time was from 1967 thru 1980 non stop. Then i moved to San Deigo at the beginning of the 1980's and dove straight into my automotive technician career big time. Lots of hours. Didn't ride at all even though i lived just a few miles from Carlsbad raceway. Finally started riding again with 3 and 4 wheelers out in the sand dunes in the mid 90's. Then bought  a 96 YZ250 for the dunes and then bought a 1973 CZ250 a few months later. Sold the YZ later and brought the CZ back with me to Michigan in 2000 or 2001. Then started riding and buying vintage bikes and every other kind of motorcycles to this day. 

I missed the 80's completely. 

As for what these XT's are worth? I have no clue. I didn't even think about it when i bought them. My saying has always been. There worth what ever someone is willing to pay for them. 

My dilemma now is i see these bikes have old bad habbits of the CT'DT and RT's with turn signals. Weak 6 volt systems and 40 plus year old = dimming tail lights or in this case dimming neutral light, tail light or brake lights when turn signals flash. All wires and connections look brand new and shinny brass. all bulbs are correct size and sockets look new.  

According to the all the guys in the XT clubs or forums on facebook all these bikes do it? In fact one guys swears his did it even when new? They blame it on a common ground wire system and weak 6 volt set ups. I do see Yamaha went to 12 volt on the XT's in 1984.  Problem solved. 

I notice in some forums even old Honda's with 6 volts systems and turn signals have this issue too. Mainly on smaller 50's 70s and 100's from what i read. 

However i did try one of my LED turn signal kits and just like on the DT's it works great on these bikes. In fact the wiring on these XT's are very close the same as the 70's DT's Looks like Yamaha stayed with this set up for many years. 

My dilemma is do i just leave it original and have the dimming issue like everyone else or do i upgrade these bikes at a cost of $50 each and have nice bright turn signals without any dimming issue's? All the light work just fine on the bikes as is. You just notice the slight dimming when using the turn signals.

I'm going to have to think about it.
I guess i could give the new buyer the choice if and when i sell them? 

 

Inlet lobe on my TT cam. Totaly silent as back of the cam where you set tappets was still good.
photos.app.goo.gl/j2aFXadmvJ2R3gat6
photos.app.goo.gl/msDgKbbJ8gpbC2oS9

This XT200 is a interesting bike and a fun bike to ride. So much so i decided to do some research online to find out more about it. Unfortunately there's not much info anywhere on these bikes? It's like they all died and went to the scrap yards. I must say there harder to locate or find info on then a 68 DT1 250!

I did find a Cycle world Magazine test on it and here are some interesting things about it.

1. There test bike weighed in at 233 lbs with 1/2 tank of gas. These are light bikes especially for a 200cc fully equipped 4 stroke Enduro!  Mine was 242 with almost a full tank of gas and tool kit ready to ride. This is one reason it's so fun to ride.
2. Torque peak is at 7000 rpm. Compression ratio is 9.5
3. The XT200 is geared to spin faster at all road speeds.
4.  It will maintain 65 mph on the highway with a little power in reserve even with a headwind.
5. If maintaining 65 mph for long periods of time the engine didn't seem to suffer at highway speeds but on occasion it was reluctant to idle when coming to a stop so 60mph is probably the reasonable limit. Interesting.
6. Suspension forks work well in the trails and dirt and the monoshock can be bottomed out trail riding. This is why i set the preload higher. I thought it was to soft.
7. Bike get about 68 mpg but only has a 1.9 gallon gas tank.
8. Front brakes are strong. The single leading-trailing shoes provide excellent stopping power. I agree, Both this bike and the XT250 have the best front brakes i have ever used for single leading-trailing brake shoes. Better then any CT,DT or RT i have ever rode. Not sure why but using the front brakes hard with the rears brakes and these bikes will come to a stop in a hurry. Mostly because of the front brake. 
9. CW magazine test bike took 4 kicks to get started cold and choke had to be on for a mile or so to warm up. This bike i have will usually start within 2 kicks but like them the choke needs to be on or played with until warmed up. About a minute or 2 sitting in the garage. Once warmed up it starts 1st kick everytime and idles and runs excellent. This Teikei carburetor is pretty much non adjustable.
10. Price was $1299.00 new. Wish bikes were that cheap today! 
11. Only direct competition was the Honda XL185S which weighed 250lbs and had less horsepower.
12. Overall they like the bike for both trail and road use with only a few quibbles.

Couple of things i notice is the speedometers have a red line from 55mph and up. If i remember correctly the speed limit was 55 back in the early 80's ?
Wish it had a tachometer for tuning purposes and i like to see a tachometer when riding.Yes i know its a small bore 4 stroke. Tach really not needed. 
Great bikes for sure.
Only downside I can see is the Teikei carburetors on the XT200. It performs well especially when the bike is warmed up but not having any parts available or very few plus no real adjustments besides float level and a/f mixture and simple idle is a bummer. Best to keep this carburetor real clean and maintained at all times!

Wonder if there is a Mikuni that would fit without any real modifications since it looks real close to one? Then all you would need to do it rejet to the bikes liking and then have the ability to adjust or rejet as needed. Get parts when you need them. 

Anybody have experience with these bikes? You guys over in Europe or down under? Seems like most forums and threads on these bikes  are from other area's and not the U.S.