nyone who has ever ridden motocross and dreamed of taking on the factory boys can appreciate the 1987 movie Winners Take All. As a kid, I thought Rick Melon was the coolest dude around, and I always wanted to have a bike like his.

After many viewings of the movie and some vintage racing experience, I figured out that the bike had to be a 1982 Yamaha YZ250—it was the only two-stroke production 250 to have the radiator mounted to the front of the triple clamps, just like Melon rode. While at a motorcycle swap meet in New Jersey, I met a guy who had a bike that he thought was a YZ for sale, and sure enough, when I saw it, I knew what had to be done. The bike was $300 and it needed everything. I tore it down to the frame and started rebuilding.

The forks, frame, wheels, motor, and rear suspension are all basically stock from Yamaha. The silencer had the added on fishtail, and I made it removable when racing just in case someone had a safety issue with it. The rear add-on dual shocks were only in the movie when the bike was pushed to the starting line, so I set them up to be easily removed with some brackets and custom welded hardware.