sorry for the newbie questions, but i just picked up a 97 sx700 (3k miles). i am wondering what octane gas you put in it? also what oil does it use? thanks

Hey my buddy's got a 98' SRX with a 700 triple. He uses standard 2-stroke injector oil and premium fuel. Maybe someone else can back me up on this.

as long as it doesnt have powervalves, use yamalube 2-S. its decently priced, and Yamaha made the motors to work with their oil, not to say any other oil isnt as good, or better, but yamaha designed the engine with yamalube in mind, so its NOT going to harm the motor one bit.

I personally use 89 octane in my 95 vmax600. Im sure you should use the same unless you have a higher compression set up. My old 94 vmax500 HAD to have 94 or higher to run good, since it had a shaved head/head gasket (dont remember what I was told).

the first tank through might not hurt to run a very good quality gasoline, will help clean the engine out from storage :)

Ran 3 of those sleds to over 10000 miles.
Regular unleaded(cheap stuff) will work the best. That engine doesnt have enough compression to fully utilize premium.
Any oil rated TCW3 will work great. Even the cheapo penzoil 2 stroke.
The only sled Yamaha made of that vintage that required premium was the SRX.

if you do the head gasket or its been done or leaned out then 93