Howdy folks,

I took delivery of my new 1976 Yamaha IT400C today from friend and fellow Blue Ridge Pathfinder Mark Price.

Mark does a great job refurbishing old bikes. It is going to make a great rider for me, and ideal stable mate for my 1980 IT425G. If ever a Japanese enduro bike had soul, the IT400C is it. It is so closely related to the 1975 MX400B and 1976 YZ400C, it will never be confused with a foo foo bike.

You may remember that I gave this bike to Mark back in November. The IT400C originally came to me in November, along with two other project bikes (a Montesa Cota 247T and a Suzuki PE175) from another fellow Blue Ridge Pathfinder, Bill Blythe. The IT had come to Bill from another Club member, Steve Miller, when it lost spark many, many years ago. I sold the Montesa and the Suzuki for $200.00 a piece to raise money for the children’s gifts at our Blue Ridge Pathfinders’ Christmas Party. Mark had wanted to buy the PE, but another fellow wanted to buy it and my Suzuki SP500D as a package deal, so I asked Mark if it would be O.K. to sell the PE to someone else. Of course he said that it would be O.K., I then gave Mark the IT since he has been devoted friend and club member.

As I went to load the IT on my truck to take it to Mark, I noticed the kill button wire was mangled, probably by the hook of a tie down straps. The bike had been abandoned under a shed many years before due to the lack of spark. The previous owner assumed ignition failure and felt it would be too costly to fix. Having much experience with shorted out kill buttons over the years, I told Mark to disconnect the kill button, then check for spark. A few hours later he called me on the phone to say, “hey, listen to this!” “Brap! Bam, ba, bam, bam, bam” said the Yamaha! A rewired kill button and a carb cleaning brought it back to life.

Since November Mark has spent a wad of money, and countless hours of labor, bringing the Yamaha back to the state you see here. Now he wants
to buy an enclosed trailer, and needs to sell the Yamaha to do so.

Mark does good work.

Although many of you may only think of me riding Suzuki’s, I grew up riding Yamahas. My first “real” motorcycle was a 1973 Yamaha GT-3MX 80, followed by a 1972 100 LS2, a 1973 CT-3 175 Enduro, a 1974 DT100A Enduro, a 1974 MX175A, and a 1979 YZ250F. I grew up hanging out at Yamaha of Lake City (Florida), formerly Lindahl-Persons Yamaha. I worked at Yamaha of Lake City from October of 1981 until my Father’s death in April of 1983. My younger brother Don has 30 years experience as a Master Yamaha Mechanic and is now Service Manger at Interstate Cycles, a Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki dealership in our hometown of Lake City.

I never will forget the one and only IT400C that made it’s way to Lake City. A Yankee feller named Paul “something another”, who was a Golf Course Management student at Lake City Community College (my alma mater) talked his folks into sending him the money to buy it. We all were amazed at the bikes performance and the stunning fifth gear wheelies Paul would pull on it on the deep sugar sand dirt roads we used to connect the trails on Owens Illinois Paper Company land and the Osceola National Forest. I have wanted one ever since.

If I have any sense, and that is always questionable, I’ll keep both of the ITs, along with my Suzuki DR-Z400S, for the rest of my life. Can I do it? We’ll see.

In the meantime, just call me IT Al.

Happy trails,

Al Roof