BIKE: Danny Ham’s MILLER YZ250

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, this 1996 YZ250 was rescued from a shed, restored to its former glory and saved from a lonely life of paddock bashing in the process. Here’s the rundown of how Danny Ham’s weapon came back to life…

Every rider who has ever slung a leg over a bike and raced motocross would harbour fond memories of each and every machine they’ve owned. So can you imagine Danny Ham’s excitement when he got the call to let him know that his 1996 CDR Miller Yamaha YZ250 had popped up on eBay? Apparently it was in good nick, too. “1996 was the first year that I had stepped up to the 250 class and it was also when I really started getting results,” he recalled with a smile on his face. “This bike also became pretty famous after I rode it in my part in Terrafirma 3 – an international-profile film series produced by Fox back in the day.
“I rediscovered this bike when Barry Cockle emailed me a link to the auction page on eBay. I was dead set on getting hold of it as soon as I saw it. I had to battle it out with this other guy, who just wanted to buy it as a bush-basher for his kid. Unfortunately, he beat me!”

Danny wasn’t going to just leave it at that, though: “My fiancé, Shelley, called the person who won the auction and explained the bike’s history and significance. He said he was cool to sell it on to us, with a little extra cream in his pocket of course. When we picked the thing up, we were just amazed at the state of it. All the stock – or original, I should say – parts were still on the bike. I think it had just been sitting in the guy’s shed for seven or eight years.”
Once Hammy had the bike back at home, work to begin rebuilding and restoring it started straight away. “Because I’m not all that mechanically minded, I took the bike over to the guys at Axis Motorsport. They did an awesome job and helped me out with re-servicing the suspension, finding parts, etc. They really helped me out a lot and the bike has come out better than it was back in the day.” So 18 years on, just how well does the bike ride? Read on for an insight into the parts and work that’s been done to the infamous YZ, plus a ride impression from current MX2 YZ250 pilot, Errol Willis.

GRAPHICS

The original custom Miller graphics were the trademark of the Miller team and were what made them so renowned. The originals were made by Clayton Chapman, a sign-writer from Dural. Hammy got brand new decals and plastics custom-made from photographs, thanks to the guys at Nine Two Decals.

ENGINE

Danny liked a very broad range of power back in the day, and the ’96 YZ250 offered plenty of horses to spread around. Without access to the factory parts – or knowledge – that today’s teams have on hand, Rob Twyerould and his crew had to do all the work themselves. To restore it back to a reasonable condition, Danny and the guys at Axis motorsport rebuilt the top-end, but left the rest of the engine mostly as it was. The head still has the engravings it had back when it was Hammy’s race bike.

SEAT

This one-off, custom Recaro Racing seat is the exact seat cover and foam that was found on the bike when Hammy still raced it. Considering the bike’s been sitting in a shed for quite some time, it’s in pretty remarkable condition. The Recaro deal came to fruition due to some connection with the mercurial Dave Mann back in the day. Apparently, all the race bikes and the team truck had Recaro seats custom made. Not bad, right?

SUSPENSION

Just like the engine, all of the suspension tuning was done in-house. Danny says that the shock and forks have been revalved, and are now incredibly soft compared to the way he would have had them originally. Rob Twyerould mentioned that testing was a big part of the development of these bikes, and the team worked hard on getting them dialled for both motocross and supercross.

BRAKES

Very little work was done to the brakes. The rotors are stock, and the set-up isn’t any different to the bikes that rolled off the showroom floor in the ’90s. Back then, they were the best you could get, but these days they pull up a little slow in comparison. The team played around a bit with the pads but kept everything else standard.

EXHAUST

Hammy tried his hardest to sort the same pipe and muffler as the team used to run from Mitch Payton and the Pro Circuit crew, but to no avail. He wasn’t content to give up at that though, so he dug through pages and pages of exhausts in the eBay vortex and found just what he was looking for somewhere around page 48 of the ‘Parts and Accessories’ section.

COCKPIT

The cockpit is in much the same trim as it was back in 1996. New bars have been added for safety, but overall the set-up is no different than it was back in the day. Rob says that Danny was always pretty neutral with how he liked his bars and levers – he ran them pretty level, rather than down like everyone did back then, but nothing crazy.

WHEELS

These gold babies are the original rims. They’re still in great condition, with only cosmetic scratches. Danny fitted new spokes for look, but says the wheels couldn’t be in better shape. The team had the original stock rims anodised in gold to make them look trick and maintain that signature Miller colour scheme.

MECHANIC – ROB TWYEROULD

“All the work we did on the Miller bike was done in-house. The problem we had was that we didn’t have the same access to factory parts as we now do. This meant that if we were going to do something, we had to work it out ourselves. The ’96 YZs were renowned for their strong, broad power. The engines got a lot flatter over the following years, so it was a great platform to begin with. In order to get the most out of it, we ported the cylinder, and I shaped the crown of the pistons to try and get an idea of which way to go with the porting. We would try four or five different combinations on the dyno and see which worked best. We weren’t trying for peak horsepower; we were trying to get a nice broad power delivery across the whole range. As a rider, Danny was always so strong. But sometimes he’d have such an unlucky run. Maybe luck is the wrong word, but he’d be leading a race, looking great; and then he’d crash into a hay bale or something. Maybe he lapsed in concentration, or just got distracted. But you could never question his riding style or skill. We had a great relationship, too. I really enjoyed working with him. I think the whole Miller team sponsorship was pretty special and that’s why this bike holds such significance for those who remember it. We had these black Miller bikes here in Australia, and people would see the Miller NASCAR teams in the USA and that kind of thing. The whole concept was pretty special.”

RIDE IMPRESSION – ERROL WILLIS

“There is a pretty huge difference between this bike and what we race today. The engine still feels really strong, but it definitely doesn’t have as much off the bottom as mine. But when you’re coming out of turns, it really picks up just the same as my bike. It’s actually surprising in a few different spots of the track – like when you’re going through really boggy sections, it loses nowhere near as much power as I’d expect. Obviously the guys at CDR did a good job back in the day. It really feels like it has a lot of punch when you hit that powerband; it comes on so strong. The suspension is a lot different. It was a hard thing to get my head around at first. It doesn’t mind the little bumps, but once you hit something hard you can really feel the difference. It handles surprisingly well compared to what I expected. It’s a lot rougher coming into turns because of the suspension, but it still held well through the mid-turn. The brakes were a big point, too. My bike runs oversized discs and the technology is a lot better, so it definitely pulls up a lot quicker. I think the biggest difference is the exhaust note. Hammy’s bike sounds like the big 250s did when I was a grommet – kind of an ‘older’ two-stroke sound, and we need to bring that back! The gearing felt like it was spaced a lot wider, too, and it takes a lot longer to find each gear (so you wouldn’t want to be clicking gears on an up ramp!). Considering that I was only three when this bike came out, I’m really impressed. It’s still a great bike.”

This content was originally published in the Septemeber-October issue (#46) of Transmoto Dirt Bike Magazine.