Yes, if nothing else it will act as a fork brace to stop them twisting.

Hi forum I’ve been lurking for a month after purchasing a 1978 DT250E which seemed to be in excellent condition. I have 3 vintage bikes - all of them street bikes and I do all my own work mostly with the help from the forums and occasionally YOUTUBE.
I CANT WAIT TO RODE THIS ENDURO BUT I CANT GET SPARK I can’t get the thing to start and having no spark I started looking at the magneto, rectifier and coil. Then I noticed the kill switch assembly ( at the right- hand controls) even though the plastic sleeve is intact - well the wire is severed. I have ordered the replacement part ( 1M1-83980-31-00 - FRONT STOP SWITCH ASSY)

Is this stopping me from getting spark ? How do I bypass this and crank the old girl over ? Talk to me like I am an idiot cuz Motorcycle Electrical is my weakest mechanical skill set.

Thanks Enduros forums ,

Howard Butler in Boise. Idaho.

Attached is a pic of my barn find. I paid $600.

Looks like you have the start of a good project. Hate to disappoint you, but no one is going to talk to you like your an idiot. It’s not what we do. I know what you meant by that. I’m weak in that area too, but I’m a lot stronger now than 2 years ago. Patience and determination coupled with just trying the tests will get it done. Someone will be along to help you get started. These bikes are great for their simplicity, but everything has to be right to get the most out of them.
Hard to say if the kill switch wire is the culprit. Is that specifically the wire or one of the right hand wires is broken? Someone will be along that knows how to isolate the only necessary circuits to get spark. Have you cleaned the points? If not, start there. New spark plug too. Get a couple.
Hope something here helped. The sharp guys will be along before too long. Good luck!

Hi everybody, I'm Jason. Waiting for my new bike to come. It's a 1972 AT2 125, starts and runs. I'm a metal shop teacher and have been building go karts and fixing motorcycles since I was in middle school. I really like Yamaha look, reliability, performance and more. I'm a little concerned of the low seat height and was wondering if I can fit larger rims on the bike...or make an extra cushy seat! I love off road... 2 strokes...and vintage bikes. So I hope I can learn some stuff from people here. Thank you!

Hi & Welcome. "78 looks like its still points magneto. so simply disconnect the kill switch & it should run. But will still need the main switch turned on or once again simply disconnect 'that' too. With magneto the main switch & kill switch just short out the primary side to earth. You could--if you wanted--just run the black coming out of the magneto loom directly to the coil under the tank. Coil color will be different but only one wire in so can't go wrong.--might be orange. But if no spark then give the points a scratch the best way you can without removing the flywheel unless you have the correct puller. Just make sure there's no grit from the sandpaper left in the points gap.
www.babbittsonline.com/oemparts/a/yam/50...wheel-magneto-dt250e

Welcome. I sure you'll have all the skills for modifying things. But trouble is it's got "18's front & rear. With the front you might find a 21 of something but it makes them look like a chopper all raked out & won't steer the best'. Longer better front forks could work. Then lengthen the rear arm & longer shocks but need to keep the chain happy with severe angles after that. Could then build a 19 on the rear with a high profile tire bit not too wide. Tyre like a 325-19 that runs on the front of a DT1, reasonably high profile so could be good on the rear--if you went 19 rim. Tall seat would be good. Or buy a 250, but ok, that's not the point, i know. Cheers from NZ down under.

www.babbittsonline.com/oemparts/a/yam/50...bc78476f/front-wheel

Hi Jimmy from sweden here. Bought a DT250-79 a few weeks back. Got an extra funny looking tank along with the bike. Got told the bike was an old danish army bike but the owner had converted it into a standard looking dt.
After my first ride i filled up the red tank and realized that the paint didn´t like fuel. So I got the idea to turn the bike back to it´s original army looks. I like to take long offroad solo trips and could really use the extra range from the larger and uglier army tank.

This seemed like a really great forum to visit to look at some impressive restoration builds and hopefully get some help when needed.

I think we need some pictures of this tank!

Yamajim, please post photos of your gas tanks, old danish army tank sounds interesting.

Welcome.

Jimmy doesn't sound like a very Swedish name - sure you didn't wash up on the wrong beach when swimming off the east coast of Scotland?!

from Salisbury, UK and yes, please post some photos.