78 replies to this topic

[sherco29]

Quote

TL's are only good til you ride something better...and then you just gotta love it for what it is.

Ohh I knew just what it was! I like to punish myself with heavy bikes. I ride a DRZ400 too! I figured if I got good on this old TL I would absolutely ROCK on my Montesa 315!!

Rode in the Crooked River Ranch Vintage Trial today on the TL.
We had a BLAST together!!! She ran great right up till the last few sections when it started to miss a lil bit. She got me through though!
1st trial ever, rode the hardest line and got 3rd in the support class. STOKED! Almost beat my buddy riding a new bike! Bummed I didnt see the old dude I got it from there...but had a blast all the same!!! Pics later!

Edited by sherco29, 01 May 2011 - 01:09 AM.

[sherco29]

Interesting swingarm mod! Just never know what you will get sometimes!

I am addicted to all things Trials x10 now.
Day started early got to the site at about 8:15. Gave us plenty of time to get ready and drink our coffee!
Headed out at 10am for the start of the 1st of 3 laps around the 10 section loop.
Here we are heading out!

Bunch of action shots of me and some other folks.









shoulda clicked into 2nd!! LOL (did the next 2 laps!)














Overall totally awesome day. 1st trials ever for me. I am ready for the next one!!! Totally hooked. Its a mental/physical exercise like no other. Picking and remembering your line being TOP PRIORITY!!! I screwed up a couple times and went the wrong way getting 5's for those sections.
Also knowing when to take a solid dab for 1 point vs flailing and getting a 3! And not rushing! LOL I cant wait to do an event on my Montesa now its gonna seem SOOOOOOO EASY to ride after riding the old TL lately! =beavis I rode the hardest line and ended up 3rd in support class!

Edited by sherco29, 01 May 2011 - 04:02 AM.

[ross brown]

"I am addicted to all things Trials x10 now." Excellent. Welcome to the addiction. You won't be able to drive through the country - or the city - without 'seeing sections' where ever you go now.

Questions: Did you install a bj racing sprocket? Did you use a tubeless rear tyre with a tube? If so did it stay on the Honda DID rim?
Ross

[sherco29]

Ross Brown, on 01 May 2011 - 09:53 PM, said:

"I am addicted to all things Trials x10 now." Excellent. Welcome to the addiction. You won't be able to drive through the country - or the city - without 'seeing sections' where ever you go now.

Questions: Did you install a bj racing sprocket? Did you use a tubeless rear tyre with a tube? If so did it stay on the Honda DID rim?
Ross

Im running stock rear sprocket for now. It looked fine. Seemed ok for section riding...could maybe drop a tooth up front.

I used a Michelin Tube style x11. The sidewalls are super soft compared to the tubeless version. May get that next time.

[shane]

well i didnt see you in Crookedriver.i was there but didnt ride.took a few photos and drank a few beers.
my brother won the Highlander award.he rides a TL250.not as pretty as yours.his golf clubs are pretty ugly too.
are you going to do the trials down by Bonanza later this month?
later
shane.

[sherco29]

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[sherco29]

Shane sorry I missed ya! I am going to try to make the next one in Dairy...not 100% I will be able to yet.

[ross brown]

TL triangular exhaust is toast; so has been ditched. Currently thinking that fitting a CT200 farm bike exhaust from 1985 may be the way to go as it might just fit behind the shock while providing reasonable volume. However, it may be too wide right where your leg is on the TL. As farm bike pegs are much further forward the pipe is not an issue for them. Anyway, a reasonably priced one year old replacement pipe made by Musket Mufflers should be here later this week. I'm trying to avoid the straight-pipe-with-muffler-on-the-end approach (that delivers horsepower but not necessarily torque) and instead go for a better low end response that comes with a high volume pipe. After all, that's what Honda played with throughout the '80s with the RTLS.

Fitted the replacement swing arm. You can see how much the 'surprise' higher shock mounts add to the ride height. Not what I wanted, but we'll give it a try. I happened to have a brand new set of '03 Montesa 315 guards lying around, so for a laugh I thought I'd just sit them on the TL for inspiration and compare 30 years of change.

Edited by Ross Brown, 16 May 2011 - 04:18 AM.

[ross brown]

Strapped the TL to the trailer today and took it to a machine shop to get the peg-mounts straightened (bigger hammer than I owned) and the stand re-bent and welded.

When I pulled hard on the tie-downs, the forks fully compressed and suddenly the air was filled with fork blood spurting skyward. Like a mortal stab wound. The catastrophic failure of the left hand fork seal put a lot of red ATF fluid in the air. On the trip to the machine shop, I looked in my rear view mirror and thought that you would not want to have been driving behind me unless you had a really good slug of detergent in your windshield washer tank as the venturi effect of the slip stream -which is a jet effect - was sucking out whatever fork fluid was left. The day ended with two steps forward and one step backward. To all those who have persevered and seen a restoration project through to completion – RESPECT.

Edited by Ross Brown, 17 May 2011 - 08:39 PM.

[ross brown]

I've seen photos of a Swiss bike with a TL125 muffler and a straight header pipe. While I think it keeps the original DNA, or look, of the TL intact the smaller pipe diameter could prove restrictive. Then I came across photos of Greg Harding's TL250 in Australia which uses the Honda CT200 twinshock farm/ag bike muffler. While the CT technology is almost a decade advanced over the TL the materials would still be 26 years old, which is to say rusted and in need of repacking. A reasonably priced one year old replacement pipe made by Musket Mufflers has arrived. It weighs 3Kg and is longer than ideal, but it's worth experimenting with as the price is right and my need is immediate.

Edited by Ross Brown, 18 May 2011 - 04:46 AM.

[sherco29]

Keep at her!!
That muffler looks like it may be work-able.
I have been riding my 315 too much lately. The rear tire went flat on my TL, think it's jealous.

[ross brown]

I never learnt to weld, so had the pipe fitting done by a professional. For those of you reading this in the UK, the donor CT200 is a farm bike, not a step-thru like the CT110. You can see that the pipe layout is similar to the XL/CT125.


Both CT200 exhaust mounting brackets needed to be shifted to fit the TL frame mounting points. "S" bend of CT pipe was not a perfect match. The angle was not quite acute enough and the top of the "S" was too short to meet up with the header. So a new "S" was crafted to snake over the frame cross-member up to the header pipe, and also to provide a solid lower mounting bracket.


Top bracket was cut off the pipe, moved South and then rewelded back on. The set-up ends up being slimmer than the original triangular muffler right where the top of your boot is. Tyres and sprockets still on the To Do list.

Edited by Ross Brown, 30 May 2011 - 12:19 AM.

[kramit]

Ross Brown, on 29 May 2011 - 11:54 PM, said:

I never learnt to weld, so had the pipe fitting done by a professional. For those of you reading this in the UK, the donor CT200 is a farm bike, not a step-thru like the CT110. You can see that the pipe layout is similar to the XL/CT125.


Both CT200 exhaust mounting brackets needed to be shifted to fit the TL frame mounting points. "S" bend of CT pipe was not a perfect match. The angle was not quite acute enough and the top of the "S" was too short to meet up with the header. So a new "S" was crafted to snake over the frame cross-member up to the header pipe, and also to provide a solid lower mounting bracket.


Top bracket was cut off the pipe, moved South and then rewelded back on. The set-up ends up being slimmer than the original triangular muffler right where the top of your boot is. Tyres and sprockets still on the To Do list.

Looks fantastic. Good Job. Being from Sunny CA., I gotta ask if it has a spark arrestor?

[sherco29]

Man that looks factory! Nice!!!!!!!!!
Mine has been getting flogged in the backyard lately.
Gotta random stumble to work out of it...stay tuned on that.

[ross brown]

Kramit, on 30 May 2011 - 01:55 PM, said:

Looks fantastic. Good Job. Being from Sunny CA., I gotta ask if it has a spark arrestor?

Honda OEM CT200 does. But this is a modern 'replacement' of a 1985 design (Musket Mufflers www.musket.co.nz) so no matter how good it is at preventing/arresting any sparks it still won't have the US DOT /50 state approval engraved onto it like original Honda pipes do.

[ross brown]

A beautifully machined spacer to adapt straight sprockets to the TL250 rear hub arrived in this morning's mail. B&J racing in the US make the spacer. To my delight it mates perfectly to a new Talon 60 tooth sprocket from the UK. I had worried that the outer diameter of the collar on the US spacer would be too great to fit inside the Talon sprocket, but every now and then the world does seem to adhere to a common standard of engineering measurment.

I had previously approached Talon in Yeovil directly, but they said 'we have no information on this bike'. Fortunately, there are TL fans out there with The Knowledge. TY Trials supplied the sprocket along with a 12 tooth for the front. Here's how the two come together...


Here's the spacer as seen from the side of the hub. It adds 12mm between face of the hub and the opposing face of the sprocket. So if I had machined a sprocket blank as a spacer it would not have been deep enough.


But will it fit on the modified swing arm that I bought from ebay? It was only when the replacement swing arm arrived from the USA that I saw that it had raised shock mounts with extra supports welded to the inside. So I might yet have clearance issues between sprocket and swing arm and need to purchase a decent quality grinder. If nothing else, this TL250 rehab is making me feel like I am becoming My Father; with a tool for every occasion. I hope my kids are taking notice, but I doubt it.

Edited by Ross Brown, 10 August 2011 - 01:49 AM.