[MichaelMoore]

I found the site a few days ago and have been enjoying reading through the posts.

I rode my first trials in the early 1970s on my Suzuki TS185R (which also served for my first MX) and I bought a new 325 Sherpa T (M125? The new style frame) in 1974. I rode with the NMTA (New Mexico Trials Association) there in Albuquerque for couple of years and was a decent intermediate-level rider. After graduating from Uni and moving off I roadraced for quite a while. About 1999 I picked up a Kawasaki KT250 and started riding AHRMA/Sacramento PITS vintage trials. I can occasionally trophy in the Novice (3 line) class and struggle to paddle my way through on a 2 line. I am far from being an ace rider!

I've done a little porting modification on the KT and built a different exhaust and an alloy tank for it and some of the local KT guys who have ridden it have said it was the nicest running one they'd been on. It has been apart for the last several years as it needs the under-engine frame tubes bashed back away from the engine and both rims are cracked and need replacing.

It may stay in the queue until I build a new frame, as the stock frame doesn't impress me much. Not because it is holding me back (I can fall off of most any dirt bike) but because chassis design and construction is a big interest of mine (I've built several roadrace frames and host the mc-chassis-design email list at micapeak.com) and I think Kawasaki could have done a nicer job.

I don't have any plans to have a new trials bike. I had an hour or two on an early 90s GasGas and confirmed that I'm the limiting factor -- a new bike would be cool but wasted. And I've got plenty of challenges and finding out how big of an obstacle I can't clear is a challenge I'm happy to avoid.

I do have a Honda CB160 Premier Lightweight project (yes, I like oddball stuff) but the early/mid 70s stuff (before the longer travel rear suspensions) is my main interest. The later stuff is too late, and the 60s stuff is generally just too early for me.

For some time I've been accumulating parts to build a TT500 Yamaha for Modern Classic. I roadraced a TT500-engined special for 6 years and really like those engines. I've had a lower second gear cluster made to get a more trialsish gear spread. I'll modify a cylinder head to shrink the ports and I've got an SR400 crankshaft to put in to help reduce the displacement and compression. I've read that while Mick Andrews was at Yamaha there was a prototype TT trials bike made but I haven't been able to find any photos of that.

I've got close to 2000 photos on my website (www.eurospares.com) and a number of them are of interesting trials bikes. I'd be pleased to get some nice photos of custom-framed trials bikes from the 60s/70s that show the frame details, so if anyone has something for the website that might fit that bill please contact me.

cheers,
Michael

[billycraig]

Welcome Will be in San Fran in May, are their any good trials on that i could visit?

[MichaelMoore]

"FSF" mentions the Yamaha (Sammy Miller had challenged Mick A. to a four-stroke show down) but no photo. I have a veglia recollection of someone sending me a scan of a poor photocopy of a photo of the prototype Yamaha that they'd found somewhere, but I haven't been able to find that anywhere on the computer or in my piles of paper.




http://www.sactopits.org/

May 17/18 is the Cow Pile Trial (Vintage on Saturday, modern on Sunday) out at Marshall in Marin County.

I suppose if I could round up some new rims and spokes for the KT250 and get my butt in gear I might even be able to make that. I'm hoping to have the KT together in time for the Donner 2-day AHRMA event in the summer.

cheers,
Michael

[swooshdave]

MichaelMoore, on Feb 29 2008, 12:23 PM, said:

For some time I've been accumulating parts to build a TT500 Yamaha for Modern Classic. I roadraced a TT500-engined special for 6 years and really like those engines. I've had a lower second gear cluster made to get a more trialsish gear spread. I'll modify a cylinder head to shrink the ports and I've got an SR400 crankshaft to put in to help reduce the displacement and compression. I've read that while Mick Andrews was at Yamaha there was a prototype TT trials bike made but I haven't been able to find any photos of that.

cheers,
Michael

There was something like that at Chehalis either this year or last year. I think it was 2006 and I may have archived those photos already. It was something like a 400cc motor stuffed in a 250 frame. Let me see if I can dig it up.

As for a new frame for an old bike, make sure you hit up Jay Lael, he knows a thing or two about that.

[MichaelMoore]

I met Jay at Hodaka Days a few years ago. He sure can ride! I was going to build a Wombat trials special but when I retired a couple years ago I sold off half the project bikes to try and get the project queue cut down to only greatly overfilled instead of massively overfilled and all the Hodakas, small Rickmans, Greeves, Beezumph triples and Honda 160/175 (except the trials project) went to new homes.

I suspect you are thinking of Charlie's (senior moment time as his last name is escaping me at the moment though I've known him for years) TY400 which is a modified DT400 engine in a modified TY250 chassis. He built that with assistance from Craig Hanson at Hanson Racing Technology in Chico. I met Craig in the early 1980s when I was RRing my TT500 and he's the one who got me started building frames and he has given me a lot of good information and advice down through the years. Craig rides a heavily modified TL250.

If you've got some nice photos of Charlie's bike I'd be interested in putting them on my website. I found some shots that I took up at the PITS property but it was on one of those really sunny days and the bike was in very deep shadow and the photos aren't really usable.

Kim Proctor modified a TT500 for trials here in Northern California, and I have some information about it in this article on my website. I never managed to get photos from Ken and I'm not sure where the bike is now.

I did run across a French website about someone's TT trials project. I don't speak French but it doesn't appear to be very heavily modified from the stock bike. He does have a little text from M.A. who says that he wanted to do a project but it didn't get the go-ahead.

cheers,
Michael

This post has been edited by MichaelMoore: 01 March 2008 - 02:09 AM

[tony283]

Michael,

I built a special last year using a 60's/70's DMW (UK) frame and all Ossa front end and then grafted a 74 TY250A engine and back wheel into it. The build pictures, problems and solutions, are on my "blog" under "The OSSAMAHA"

I was given a Kawasaki to test ride back in 1975 when they first came on the UK trials scene, can't say I liked it but on reflection with some mods I'm sure it would make a very competitive bike on the twinshock circuit. Only problem with building a "Big Banger" is that you are stuck in Modern Classic and might find the lighter 2 strokes have a big advantage, but you can always compare scores against the Prem Heavyweights, might be a lot of fun!

Tony

[MichaelMoore]

majestyman340, I don't know that anyone has ever won a trials on an SR/TT/XT based bike, but I and other people have sure had fun roadracing them. I don't build anything expecting it to transform me into SuperRider. No one (in their right mind) is going to be calling me on the Monday morning after an event to offer me a sponsorship. I build stuff because I want to build it. which seems to be the reason Jay is putting that Hodaka engine into a monoshock chassis. "Oooh, sounds cool, let's do that" kind of thing.

Being stuck in Modern Classic with the Yamaha is no different from being stuck in Modern Classic with my KT250. It seems like no matter what I ride, I end up getting stuck, and a five to go along with it.

Tony, I'm very glad to see your post as I'd seen that bike on the Lewisport site and I was puzzled by the reference to DMW. On my website I've got this photo:



I found that in MotorCycle Weekly 28 October 1978. The information with it showed it being a TL125 frame from Fraser. The previous December they'd offered this for the TL125:



MCN in 1978 had this photo of Phil Smith's Bultaco and said he'd built a similar frame for a Cub:



Your bike (and Smith's Bultaco) is very similar to what I want to do with my KT250. I've got the 4" tube on hand.

I'd be pleased to add your photos to the others on my website, and if you could provide some additional photos showing more details of the construction of the bike that would be great.

cheers,
Michael

[tony283]

Michael,
The top picture you show is the DMW frame (Dawson Motor Works) and they also owned MP Forks. The other 2 pics are the Frasier for the TL Honda and the unknown for the Bult. You can still find them on Google with all the company history.

The DMW frames were built to take the Villiers 32 and 37A engines and came with Hagon gas shocks (Alf Hagon the Britsh Grass Track Champion, Speedway and European Longtrack hero of my childhood)

As I said all the build photos and narrative are on my blog, feel free to use any you wish. See Under; "The OSSAMAHA" in the October or November ARCHIVES. There are also some action shots of the bike in "2007 Central Arizona Trials" (2 articles) It handles like a dream and has unlimited steering lock!

Tony

[swooshdave]

I've been to your site many times. I remember it now as the "guy who's afraid of posting pictures cuz it takes up too much bandwidth" or something like that.

Now we have the fightin' blogs... Tony in one corner and Michael in the other... Who will win!?!?!?!?

[MichaelMoore]

Bandwidth was a pretty serious concern when I started my website back 1996 since a lot of people were still on fairly slow dialup. I still get an occasional comment sent to me from someone who appreciates not having to wait while stuff they aren't interested in looking at loads.

eta: I just checked and it looks like I've got 425MB of stuff on the website so having all that load automatically is probably not going to work.

I have started rescanning a lot of the material and will be putting up higher res/larger format versions of much of what I already have. But with around 2000 images on the site that isn't going to happen overnight. And I've got new material that has been waiting to go up too.

I doubt I'll be blogging. I've got plenty of fora/listserves to post on, and my website will be for recording how the projects go (when they go).

cheers,
Michael

This post has been edited by MichaelMoore: 01 March 2008 - 08:56 PM

[MichaelMoore]

I'm familiar with those two bikes and other monocoque frames. I like steel frames and a fuel-bearing spine frame like the Fraser or Smith bikes looks like it will be fun to make for the KT engine.

cheers,
Michael

[tony283]

This was the build sequence



Sizing the frame to take the Yam engine



The first build



Shortened Exhaust



Back from plating, now the Kreem



Final build



Complete



In action


It will be at Donner if you want a test ride

Tony