He's gonna sell you the power valve on eBay...

Rebuild it, it's great viewing watching you revive an old classic

As someone who knows literally nothing about bikes, when you said, "Nothing about this bike is good" I actually said out loud, "Come on, it's still a beautiful old machine that has been taken care of." I've been watchin your videos for a while now, and if it's actually as bad as you say it is, there's literally no better place for that thing to be. You're a straight up BIKE WIZARD! The things I've seen you turn from trash into living breathing machines is wild. It inspires me to learn more about the craft. This bike, to me, is beautiful and even though it might put you back a bit more money it's so worth it to me, the viewer. I want to see this thing riiiiip out in the field so bad. I've never owned one so I live vicariously through you! Don't be let down about it brother..

Those classic bikes take me back in time when I was a kid. To this day I still enjoy seeing them run or being worked on.

Joe, it surprises me every time you "trust" what a seller tells you in order to get a "good deal". I would think by now, you'd tell the seller, "You do realize I am a popular UKpostsr, and thousands of people will watch this bike get evaluated. Are you certain there isn't anything you want to tell me before we complete this transaction? Because if you are lying to me, all of my subscribers will know it." Also, you know what to look for, yet you continue to get screwed by lying sellers. Take chances on provable facts, not the word of a seller.

Cheating a buyer when you sell from your home is really, really stupid.

That bike was the GOAT when I was a kid in the 80's. When I make motocross noises, they were YZ-80 and YZ-125 sounds!

I purchased a 1982 YZ125 in similar cosmetic condition for $50 blown up back when I was in middle school, so around 2000 time frame. Over a period of time, I rebuilt the engine with a new top end, crankshaft, bearings, etc.....to the best of my ability as a kid, and when my dad would take me to the Yamaha store to get parts or order them off Ebay for me. I was so short, I had to stand on a 5 gallon bucket to even get on the thing. At the time, my mom wasn't too worried as she thought it'd never run, but then was PISSED the first time it fired up. I had that bike for years - cool bike and revolutionary, but just OK. At the time, I hated it because all of my buddies I would ride with had newer bikes (1990's models and newer). Eventually, everything wore out on it again - top end, water pump shaft/seal, etc. I ended up parting it out and scrapping alot of it during my college years. I may still have the frame and swingarm left over somewhere, LOL. Fun fact - with the radiator being mounted above the triple tree, the coolant flows through the steering stem. So, when the seals wear out and the steering stem develops pitting and wear, coolant will leak down into the steering stem bearings. This not only washes out the grease but also causes the bearings to heat up and seize the handlebars forward when the engine reaches temperature. Probably why the radiator(s) were moved in short order to where the are located now :)

That sucks. I can't stand dishonest sellers.

Vinnie said the spokes are loose.Check it out for your safety Joe.He sniffed out that missing master link clip,He knows what he's doing.

I have watched many of your videos and I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear!! Classy stand up guy with ton of experience and talent I’m glad you plan on fixing the bike it’s definitely worth the effort time money to repair.

That seller ripped you off😤😤

Those black & yellow YZs are just awesome. & the classic lettering on the seat is so simple & timeless. I can picture the new line up in the shop during the 80s. & the smell of oils & new plastics!

It was nice of him to keep everything loose since he knew you were going to have to tear it all apart again..

I'm currently restoring a 1987 DT200LC with YPVS. It's very similar to the DT125LC. The DT200LC was not sold in the USA, so it's a bit of a unicorn! Love seeing old bikes brought back! Keep up the great work. Keep an eye out on ebay for all this old stuff. I've gotten very lucky over the years finding rare stuff.

Love the channel! Been a while from your older videos of ripping down the road in front of your house about 85mph on a 1989 CR500. Lol. Your videos are awesome! And your knowledge of these old 2 smokers is incredible. I grew up with these early 80s- mid 90s bikes and they still kick ass!

Just go ahead and rebuild it. Some you win, some you loose, but honestly Joe it averages out and you will save another one from the junk pile.

I’ll be over in 10 minutes. We’re going to go have a little visit with the seller.

Start a Wall of Shame to advertise who the dishonest sellers are.

It's still a classic bike. I like the linkage being above the swingarm and the radiator situation

Joe rebuild it, its a beautiful and rare bike now, bikes like this sell for 2 grand plus here in the uk, and rebuilt and ready to ride models like this go for 3500 plus all day, rebuild it you wont lose, everythings in great condition except engine, give it the joe magic it deserves 👍🏻❤

I owned a 1981. First year for water cooling. The 81's had no power valve and different suspension setup in the rear. My first YZ . Rebuilt motor from crank up back in 1988 when I was 19. Thanks for the throwback.

Wow stumbled back across your channel after many years. Great to see you are still going and achieving good things. Must be 7-8 years since I last watched yourself and younger brother working on bikes. Guess he is a young man himself now working his own life. Great to catch up with you again.

This is why people with knowledge ....... are important.

Easily worth $800 as is. If they're that rare and valuable.... Even if you parted it out. The condition overall is crazy good. Those bikes could throw a lot of people on their back. Even $800 is a steal.

That bike is similar to the one Broc Glover used to win the Supercross race at Jack Murphy Stadium in 1982. I was stationed in San Diego & and actually got a chance to go to that race.

Wait until the water jacket in the steering stem starts leaking. I restored a YZ80 that I gave as a Christmas present to my nephew. It took me over a year to find the seals. Great bike once it was completed!

This is part of the reason my 3 1979 motocrosser's are pretty much museum pieces now. The cost of parts for these now 45 year old machines has gotten ridiculous. And I only want NOS, so I now get the pleasure of just sitting and admiring them while sipping a beer. Riding a modernish dirt bike will be my way of getting that riding itch scratched.

What's worse is these type of sellers sell to folks that have little knowledge of fixing bikes so their out a ton of money on parts and labor. It just makes the used bike market look horrible when they are so deceptive like this.

These kind of people need to held accountable.

Not too bad, still a good deal,, rebuild the crank put a new piston find a good power valve ,fix all little things and it will be worth way more than you put into it, really simple bike to rebuild and worth rebuilding

Awesome video love the small laughs when you discovered the flaws, I learned a lot watching you tear this down I really want to hear that thing run!

Love your videos restoring these old motor cross bikes. Takes me back in time . Thanks and keep them coming ☺️🙏

Every time you step down off that truck tailgate to pull a bike down the ramp, I swear I feel my own hamstring snap. Haha! Must be nice having giraffe legs. I need a second ramp to walk beside the bike.

I have both the 125 and 250 from 1982, both restored. Even though he wasn't honest with you I think you still got a good deal, rebuilding these bikes isn't too expensive and it's a fun project, worth the effort.

Honestly I'd pay no problem $3,500 for that bike rebuilt... brings back great memories of my younger days running these bikes in the mountains outside Calgary...

Joe you should put the sellers info out so no one else will get ripped off by this guy !!!

I really would like you to make a video series on completely restoring a vintage bike like this. I mean top to bottom clean and fix everything with no concern for cost. I love watching the normal repair and sell type videos, but i think a full on project restoration would get you some new viewers.

Total rebuild, good therapy 🤙🏻😎

I worked at the yamaha Dealership in 82 we had and supported a race team the 125s were Grenades . We would take truck loads of bikes to events 1 bike ,1race ,10,s of spare motors per bike we literally had piles of dead ones behind the shop

My first bike was an 81 YZ 80. … Loved that bike.!

I like that the whole video he's like, this is loose too. I knew when the clutch was out he got screwed.

‘Cant really lose on this one’ classic.😂

As good as that bike looks I would rebuild it, love your content and how you explain the measurements and what to look for first when buying anything that starts with gas. Keep up the good work and see you on the next one.

Such ashame that peoplr lie so bad about what they are selling. YOu are a better man than me. you have such a huge platform to just humilitate these people. Yet you stay incredibly calm... Love the channel.

With your skills and experience, I'm amazed you get caught out so often, perhaps that's why I enjoy your videos so much 😢

these 82 YZ's sure had some whacky engineering going on

I had 1982 YZ 125 when I was a teen, looked exactly like yours!

Man Joe it pisses me off when sellers tell you all these lies! You provide a great service here of educating and highlighting your followers to help us save time and money, and along comes these jack wipes ripping you off! This seller deserves to have his "family jewels" clamped down on by Vinny😮 for all that damn lying!

I felt sick to my stomach as you went through this bike... Accidently dropping the sellers name right here some where, would make me feel better.. dang man I feel for you, he didnt lie about one thing the repair was over his head.. what a tough learning.....

Rebuild it? Yes, the rims alone scream GIVE ME LIFE!

bent feeler gauges and an adjustable spanner, class mechanic

That 1982 YZ 125 was a rocket ship with port work and a good tuned pipe I owned two of them and they were a fast bike for there time

"Everybody lies" Dr. Gregory House You got taken, Joe. Not the first time. Not the last.

Sucks about misrepresentation on the sellers part. The good thing is YOU will know exactly what going on with that machine when you’re done

I had this exact bike as a kid. The only brand new bike I've ever owned and only because the local Yamaha shop owener's kid dug my 1979 Honda Odyssey FL 2fiddy that I was racing at the time and the guy offered to trade me for the brand spankin' new '82 YZ 125 he had sittin' in his shop...it took me all of a nanosecond to say...."uhhhh...YES!". I was ready for another bike because although super fun racing the odyssey, it was driving..not riding..and riding is where it's at (that....and I kept snapping rear axles on the FL as there was no rear suspension on 'em back then). Loved that bike, definitely an upgrade over the '78 YZ 125 I had before, which was awesome in it's own right but was basically a light switch...zero low end and then...BAM....hold on to the screaming banshee!! The '82 with the YPVS actually had some low end grunt that came in handy because in addition to local MX, orchard and backwoods riding, I did a couple hare scrambles and actually podiumed in one in the open class on that thing. I think they only had that crazy pro-link rear end for '82. That and the vented front number plate, first year of the safety seat up on the tank, Preston-Petty looking front fender along with the anodized gold rims and shock reservoir really made that year stand out and unique.... and still looks pretty badass to this day. Cool bike and this brought back some memories. Thanks for the vid bro!

Hey Joe, I've restored the bigger brother of this, and that rust you see in the water jackets is from the steering stem bearings that seal is prone to fail causing water to mix with the bearings and leak out, that's why it was only a 2 year design. The seals are impossible to find, but what I did and others is to extend the radiator off the forks and attach hoses to it and run it straight to the bike, just go to the parts store and find the right bends you need. It's like what kawi did with the early tecates with the rad on the forks. Hope this helps.

A collector might need it. Rebuild the best you can and pass it on.

Channel locks and adjustable wrench are your favorite tools. Your a true backyard mechanic.👍🏼

Clutch out of the bike is a dead giveaway.

The The adjustable spanner, makes my skin crawl!

I wanna learn this stuff. Thanks for the hands on videos!

sorry to see this. Hate buying a bummer. i never hide anything when selling something. sweet bike. worth fixing and keeping.

You did get a great deal... of trouble! Some days you get the bear, and some days the bear gets you. Rebuild it and hold on to it. It'll get more valuable as time goes on and you'll make your money back.

Approach every transaction as if your being lied too, which is probably the only truth. Your calm is better then the way I would have handled it.

Rebuild it and you will get hours of fun out of it !!! These are classics....enjoy the restoration !

Never in my life have I seen a 2 stroke piston that worn!!!!!

I don't think I've ever had a seller lie to me that bad. WOW!!!

I’m going to give you some free advice. Whenever you are checking out a bike ALWAYS pull the mag cover and the pipe. You can rotate the crank with the mag flywheel and look at the piston via the exhaust port.

Nothing to do with dishonest sellers, but about 8 years ago I bought an 82 yz250 for $150. I never tried starting it, but it was in far better mechanical condition than this thing. It was just ugly. Ripped up seat cover. Spray painted plastics and tank. Etc. I put $100 worth of new plastic on it, a $50 seat cover and shot some hard parts with $10 worth of spray paint. I put it on craigslist for $600 and waited for the phone to ring. Then I dropped the price to $500 and waited some more. It never rang. No worries. Summer had just started and mid-ohio vintage days (the largest vintage mx swap meet in the world) was coming up! I got there Thursday after work. The guy camped out across from me saw me unloading it, came over and said "First liquid cooled yz250. Not very popular. Only made them one year then totally redesigned them. Quirky bike. Don't see too many of them around. What do you want for it?" I said, "I don't know. What do you think it's worth?" He said "I'd give you 450 for it." The event hadn't even officially started yet and I'm seeing some crazy high prices around here. So I think he's just trying to get the drop on me. I say "I appreciate the offer. But I'm gonna see if I can do a little better than that." He said "Yeah, you might. This is the place to find out." After setting up camp I took a lap around the swap meet and found some amazing deals! I picked up a nice $40 gas tank (the last piece of plastic I needed to make this thing look cherry), brand new gold aluminum handlebars for $15! A $30 gold chain and $5 grips. I mean, now this thing looked as good as ever! All things considered, I decided on a starting price of $700. I had faith that the right person was in this massive crowd, and theyd find me before the weeknd was over. Lunch time Friday came and one drunk, I mean gentleman spent a little time looking it over. "Does it run?", he asked. I told him that its got spark and compression, but I've never tried starting it (facts). "Would you take 5 for it?" I told him "You're a little early. I'm gonna give it till the end of the day, then tomorrow I'll drop it to 6. If its still here Sunday, you can take it home for 5." Not another person looked at it, the rest of the weekend. As I was packing up to leave on Sunday, I saw him walking up the row and said "It's still here!" He said "Oh yeah! Sorry man. I blew my wad. See ya next year." The guy across the isle overheard our exchange and said "Thats too bad. At least you found some more parts. So you're moving in the right direction with it." I asked him if he still wanted it for $450 and he said he only had $400 left. I said "Close enough. I'll help you load it." With that, I was lucky to literally break almost exactly even. ... and that was only because I paid so little for the bike, to begin with. ... not including my time and cleaning supplies, a few nuts and bolts that I went and got for it, storage and movement expenses. Note: If I'd accepted his $450 offer, on day 1 (ironically, the best offer I would receive), I could have profited a whopping $140 (prior to spending $90 on more parts, then being offered $50 more, only to finally settle for $50 less). Moral of the story: Understand the market and value of what you're buying, before you buy it, or you have nobody to blame but yourself. That being said, the first liquid cooled YZ's are NOT very popular in the vintage MX community, due to their quirks. Therefore, combined with a short production run, parts are not in high demand either. Hence values are relatively low. Dont take my word for it. Do an ebay search for the 1982 yz125 and filter for "sold items". Literally zero matches. People can ask "$3k all day". Doesnt mean people are paying it.

Brother, you live in, you learn.We all make mistakes, but gotta be with you.God speed brother

I may have a donor engine. I believe it’s a 83 .

I had the 82 250, ton of fun. I wish the Internet was around then. They go for 2-4k now

That’s pretty dirty of that seller…I just bought a ‘96 RM125 that I’ll be tearing into soon that I fear might be similar.

Btw, great video of tearing components out and showing us part by part !!

Reminds me of a dishonest eBay seller I bought from once before. I've learned since then to sniff out the bad ones from the good. I'm thinking that someone slapped a bunch of parts together and sold it as running to you

You should contact the seller and see if he forgot to give you some parts and maybe had them, and could ship them to you.

Share the video when you rebuild it. Love to see it running correctly.

Definitely worth restoring if the parts are available there's still definitely a market for vintage mx bikes out there. Even putting in what you figure it will cost if you decide to sell it when fixed you will probably still turn a profit on the bike. Great videos keep up the good work

Call out the seller every time this happens. Its funny

Why wouldn't you get suspicious of having a lower end when he's saying it was just a clutch. Let the buyer be ware, this should resonate inside your head on every purchase.

The Suzuki RM's were the top motocross bikes in 1982. Especially the 250 which blew everything else away. Yamaha only did the radiator on the forks for that 1 year. It heated up the fork oil, which caused problems.

I would rebuild it, the bike is immaculate, and it's worth more running than how it is now

You took the dry shaft on this one Joe... Happens to the best of us! 😢😊😅

Had this 125 bike growing up.. the yamaha i most remeber is the 1978 TT 500.. TI 360 ran strong too ..

These old vintage dirtbikes are my favorite videos by far 👍👍

I think that was apart in a box and the guy slapped what was there together and sold it as if it was running

Pretty cool find museum piece, everybody always lies all the time.

Wow I was really rooting for ya. I had one of those when I was in jr high school and it ripped. Can’t wait for when you put it back together!

Every Yamaha 2 stroke up to my 250cc too were fun... when they actually are NOT broke with something busted or cracked. Especially those lower cases cracked ALL the time. My Hondas rarely do.. 💪😎

Joe you could of done a few checks before you bought the bike to establish that there were certain things wrong with the bike. 800 dollars for a rare yammy is a bargain im sure. You got another bottom end with it that if you were to sell would offset the price of parts to fix the bike. Good video all the same.

I think he should still record his meetings when buying them. Even if it’s secretly. Even if he blurs their face. It added to the story and when it comes to this bike it would have been awesome to see and hear the guy and just see what kind of guy lied like they did.

I LOVE watching your motorcycle videos. Partway through this one and I'm going to guess the piston isn't even in it. Can't wait to see what's going on.... Okay, so the piston was there....mostly. 😖 It still looks like a worthwhile rebuild. All the plastic looks great and is there as well as most everything else, except some internal parts. Even the seat seems to be perfect. When finished it will be authentic and all original. Can't wait to watch your follow-up video. Keep up the good work. 👍🏻

EMC in Yale Mi sells tons of vintage parts.

The piston is missing? Can hear the rod flopping around. Nope, its there.

Always do a compression test before buying

definitely worth rebuilding, someone would definitely pay $2500 / 3K after you put it back together so you don't exactly get paid $80Hr for labor but whatever.... nice bike, sometimes you just have to think about the love of such a classic!!

I bought a motorcycle from a friend one time... he had it in paid storage for a year. It only had 700 miles on it when he stored it. I paid him and got the title. When we went to pick the bike up it wouldn't start. I managed to get it fired up enough to ride it home. Found out that all the major parts had been taken from the bike and old, defective parts put on. The gas tank had bondo repairs on the bottom, and the four carbs had been swapped out with a set full of rust and worn needle valves. The bike had been cannibalized to repair other bikes, with the bad parts bolted back on. The crooks didn't even bother with replacing the springs on the carburetor boots.

Theres no way id pay more than 500 for a non runner

The seller just thru this motor together to sell the bike, he left the clutch out so you could not turn it over. Good thing Joe is loaded and this will not affect his bank.