Yamaha Blaster

The Yamaha Blaster is a legend in its own right. It has been in production for many a year now and has sold in large numbers worldwide. Its success has mainly been down to the large spread of potential buyers that it caters for. Although its main target is the rookie rider, it has sufficient power to thrill most users while providing good value for money and great reliability.

I have had my Blaster now for 7 years and had very few mechanical issues with her. Of course i have had to change tyres and top up fuel and oil levels when needed. I do as a matter of good maintenance, keep the chain and other moving parts oiled and greased, but this level of maintenance is expected on all such machines. I have recently rebuilt the top-end of my blaster engine and was very pleased to see that the condition of most of the internal waer parts was very good. I have as a matter of good course had the cylinder re-bored to the next oversize as it was looking a bit tired after the years of fun it has given me! Put in a new piston, rings and small end bearing. I did all the labour myself and although i do have a large amount of experience on motorcycle servicing it is not a difficult job to do for most patient and careful people.

The powerhouse of this quad is a potent, quick-revving 195cc air-cooled two-stroke engine with a six-speed gearbox and manual clutch. This enables you to keep changing gear to find the maximum horsepower delivery and acceleration. However the amazing thing is that the small capacity engine has bags of torque too for climbing hills or gaining traction by running in a higher gear. The fuel is delivered to the engine by a 26mm Mikuni carburettor through reed valves that ensures good throttle response for smoother acceleration and a broad, hard-hitting power band to make this little quad a very rideable machine! A super reliable CDI type ignition provides many years of faultless running as I have experienced. Although for most applications i would recommend to leave the engine in standard format , there are a whole host of aftermarket options to increase the performance of this great powerplant. A great place to start modifcations, if you are that way inclined, is a tuned exhaust pipe which is offered by many manufacturers, a higher flow air filter and an adjustment in carbration to suit these changes. This is a recent upgrade that i have done myself and wow am i pleased with improvment! Would recommend to any Yamaha Blaster users once they have mastered whats on offer from stock trim.

The lightweight tubular chassis provides a quality housing for all the internals of this compact little quad, although Yamaha have done a great job of keeping the weight down they dont seem to have sacrificed strength at any point. With the wheel base at 43 inches and seat height at about 30 inches, you get a relatively stable and super quick steering machine that is surprisingly agile if given full respect when riding fast. This is also helped by a low dry weight of 324 pounds (which I am told is industry leading) that creates a great power to weight ratio and a bike that handles well on the ground or in the air! The quad is equipped with independent double wishbone front suspension for good terrain handling capability with preload-adjustable shocks and 7.1 inches of travel for getting through the roughest section. The rear of this quad also features the same travel length with a strengthened swing arm to stand the punishment of Motocross tracks today.

We have hydraulic disc brakes all round on this Yamaha quad built to a spec way above the necessary level for the weight class. Also this bike comes with good knobbly tyres as standard to provide reasonable grip in most weathers and surfaces. The Blaster comes with a Yamaha Autolube Oil Injection System that eliminates the need for premixing fuel and oil for added convenience and less mess. This oiling method os great for the standard machine but i do now recommend to anyone who is pusing their quad hard or modifying it that they switch over to pre-mixing oil into their fuel at a ratio of one part oil to 40 parts fuel. (40:1)

As for the bad points of this quad, we look to the ratio of wheelbase/width/and overall height. The combination that is created does mean that the machine is quite narrow and to the inexperienced rider this can mean a more probable chance of tipping the quad in tighter turns. However many aftermarket companies have realised this and are offering widened A-Arms and axles at reasonable prices for the benefit they make. A good place to contact regards Yamaha/aftermarket products in the UK is drakart.co.uk based near Oxford. They have sorted many of my questions and helped with maintenence over the years.

Other than this what can I say about my Blaster, it's a great quad, which I have loved from the start (it was my second quad bike at 13 years old), I now have a banshee and a yfz450. Although both these quads have much more power than the Blaster, they are not necessarily better as you cant pull wheelies and go on two wheels with the same ease as the nippy little Blaster! Thus I would recommend this quad to most people new to the quad bike world and even some who want an all round, reliable, fun little bike for use in a great variety of situations.

To finish here is a spec sheet from Yamaha themselves:

Engine:
Engine Detail : 195cc, 2-stroke single, reed valve
Engine Capacity : 195 cc
Valve Spec : reed valve
Type : 2-stroke
Cooling : Air-cooled
No of Cylinders : single-cylinder
Bore / Stroke : 66 mm x 57 mm
Compression Ratio : 6.6:1
Ignition : Kick start CDI

Gearbox:
Transmission : 6-speed
Final Drive : Sealed O-ring chain

Fuel:
Fuel System : Mikuni 26 mm
Fuel Tank Capacity (Gal) : 2.4
Fuel Tank Capacity (Liters) : 9

Dimensions and Weight:
Length (Inches) : 68.3
Width (Inches) : 40.7
Height (Inches) : 40.9
Seat Height (Inches) : 29.1
Ground Clearance (Inches) : 4.7
Wheelbase (Inches) : 43.3
Dry Weight (Lbs) : 324
Length (mm) : 1735
Width (mm) : 1034
Height (mm) : 1039
Seat Height (mm) : 739
Ground Clearance (mm) : 119
Wheelbase (mm) : 1100
Dry Weight (Kg) : 147

Suspension, Brakes and Tires:

Suspension - Front : Independent double wishbone, 7.1 in. w/ 5-way preload adjustment
Suspension - Rear : Swing arm, 7.1 in. and
threaded preload adjustment
Brakes - Front : Dual hydraulic disc
Brakes - Rear : Hydraulic disc
Tires - Front : AT21 x 7-10
Tires - Rear : AT21 x 10-8