Not long ago, Ori posted a video about the full process of restoring her vintage 1995 Yamaha XT225 Serow 10th Anniversary Limited Edition so it was ready to ride. In that video, she shared the process of going over just about everything outside the engine, from a full front fork rebuild to cleaning the carburetor and air filter, rebuilding the brake master cylinders, and changing the engine oil. At the end, she successfully started the bike up and had it idling smoothly, so she didn’t leave anyone in suspense.
So what’s next? A shakedown/first ride, of course, and that’s what you’ll get in this video. Here, she and Kaito go out for a lovely trail ride in Japan, taking the XT225 out to see how it fares now that it’s all back together and seems to be running well.
It looks like so much fun, and part of that definitely comes from the fact that this little trail bike is apparently only 106 kilograms in weight (that’s just a hair under 234 pounds). Now, different bikes carry their weight in different ways, and nowhere is that clearer than you’ll see if you ever ride a BMW R 1300 GS. To be completely fair, I understand completely if you’re giving me massive side-eye right now while you read this, because I wouldn’t have believed me either if I hadn’t ridden it myself. But that thing really carries its comparatively massive weight better than it has any right to do.
Still, gigantic and totally beside the point BMW GS flagships aside, there’s absolutely no substitution for a super-light, super-nimble little trail bike like the XT225 you’ll see here. You can see by how Ori is riding it that it’s super light and nimble, and even when she momentarily gets stuck in a patch of thick vegetation, it doesn’t seem to take too much work to unstick the bike, turn it around, and get moving again.
Obviously, that wouldn’t be as easy if this bike was laden down with stuff, such as if someone threw a bunch of luggage on the back to go camping, or touring, or both. But even in that case, the lighter the bike is to start with, the lower the total weight of bike plus rider plus luggage will be.
It’s truly a delight to see this XT225 out and about, stretching its legs on a glorious day on what look like some lovely little trails. This time of year is all about the possibility of all the riding you’ll do in the months to come, so what are you most looking forward to doing this year? Let me know in the comments!
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