"Best Year" of the Yamaha SS 440's

Blisteringsnorider

Blisteringsnorider

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What was the best year out of the SS 440's to own? Did they do many upgrades over the years or did they stay comparable? Thank in advance for the comments
 
80 was the worst. Many changes/improvements for 81. All the rest were basically the same with a few minor changes that were mostly cosmetic.

opsled
 
with op on this one ....pretty much the same sled all the way through with 80 having many updates ....go with a 81 -85 if racing it
 
My good friend has a 1980 ss that he has owned since 1987 and that thing runs like a champ and has always been reliable for him. He picked up a 1985 SS that was clean and well taken care of as a spare sled and it ran like absolute crap compared to the red ss. Im not saying those years are bad but he has never had 1 issue with that 1980 ss and in my opinion they look the best out of all the years.
 
SRV Blvd said:
My good friend has a 1980 ss that he has owned since 1987 and that thing runs like a champ and has always been reliable for him. He picked up a 1985 SS that was clean and well taken care of as a spare sled and it ran like absolute crap compared to the red ss. Im not saying those years are bad but he has never had 1 issue with that 1980 ss and in my opinion they look the best out of all the years.
Click to expand...

They had isues with the track and drivers. I bought an 80 SS440 left over in 81 that had the upgraded track and drivers for $1795 and it was probably the most fun I had for that amount of money since I have been in this sport. That sled went through more windshields than all of my sleds but always managed to get me back home.
 
wasn't the rear skidframe steel on some then aluminum rails on others??? if like the 80 srx it was a lot heavier for sure..
 
Yes, 80 skid was steel, the rest were aluminum. 80 had the big window track like most ET sleds but was a different length. Carb was a little smaller, along with a few other things related to engine/drive.

All the negatives on an 80 can be rectified using later model parts. In stock form they were slower than an Exciter440 and more prone to failures. 81 and up was a different story. Much better sleds.

opsled
 
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