1972 Yamaha DT-2 MX Motocross Road Test - 5-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article

Description

1972 Yamaha DT-2 MX Motocross Road Test - 5-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article
Original, vintage magazine article.
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
"Almost, but not quite"
could sum up this new
motocrosser.
The introduction of the original Ya-
maha DT-1 enduro machine in 1967
revolutionized the off road bike mar-
ket. Here at last was a true dual pur-
pose street/trail motorcycle with rea-
sonable performance and good looks.
Yamaha sold them as fast as they
could produce them, and in the proc-
ess became the largest manufacturer
of trail bikes in the world. Thousands
of racers operating on limited budgets
modified the DT-1 to do battle with
the more specialized European off
road racing bikes. The results were
usually less than spectacular, but the
lesson was not lost on Yamaha. There
was a market for a stripped version
of the bike, for almost the same price
as the street legal model Accordingly,
the DT-1-MX made its appearance,
and most dealers couldn't get enough
to supply the demand. It still was not
competitive with the European bikes,
but the price was right.
But the winds of change were
blowing in Japan. Suzuki decided to
win the world championship in the
250cc class in motocross, and they
did just that. In the process, all the
Japanese factories learned there was
something to this handling game after
all, just like the experts had been
insisting. While the benefits of this
hard won knowledge didn't appear all
at once on anybody's production ma-
chines, the 1971 Yamaha DT-1-MX
did feature a much improved front
fork that actually gave good springing
and damping. But that alone was not
enough to give it the handling of a
motocrosser. There was still that poor
geometry of the original frame.
Rumors abounded that 1972 would
see a new Yamaha 250cc moto-
crosser, and for once the rumors were
true. The DT-2-MX is considerably
different from its predecessors and
considerably better. It looks the part
of a professional, and it comes close
to acting the part.
The front wheel is a 21-inch Akront
type aluminum alloy rim with a
3.00x21 knobby tire. The front brake
is a small diameter alloy hub that is
extremely light weight, but has ade-
quate stopping power. The Yamaha
forks work about as well as any pro-
duction units on the market. No
longer is it necessary to replace them
with Ceriani or some other perform-
ance brand. The springing and damp-
ing are first class, and the seals don't
leak a drop. The high mounted front
fender is made of lightweight, flexible
plastic that is more or less unbreaka-
ble. The colored striping decals on the
fenders and gas tank are very attrac-...
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