thats_a_five

Clever idea. I will be interested to hear the result of your test.

On 2 stoke engines it is important to think of the combination of intake, engine and exhaust as a "system." Change one part and other parts are affected. The crack in the exhaust is highly suspect in this case. Also look for a carb boot that is kinked or deformed from the airbox damage. A good metal worker might be able to heat, bend and weld the pipe. While it is likely that the running issues are related to the damage, don't overlook normal causes of poor running. One of my riding buddies has a 2.9 and recently when warming up for an event, it would not rev cleanly and was popping and sputtering. He was about to give up on riding when I asked if he had a spare plug. Quick plug change - problem solved. He took first in his class that day.

Good for you, spending the hours to master the bike. I do not think the bike is flooding. If it was, it would be stalling. TLR200's have notoriously lean jetting from the factory. When cold, they are so lean they don't like to run well. I would also suggest checking for a bad intake gasket or loose carb mounting screws. As metal heats up, it expands and may be improving the sealing of a loose bolt or worn gasket. The other factor on 4 strokes is the amount of compression braking when you roll out of the throttle. That can result in a very jerky feel when riding slowly. Best I can offer on that is: practice, practice, and more practice.

Must haves: Zip ties, Shoe Goo. Best tools: Good bench vice, Trails Central forums.

Somehow I knew you were an enduro rider before I even read your signature. Rope, fire starter, chain breaker, I understand. But, what is that white powder in the baggy? Oh wait, it must be washing up powder, right?

Good for you! As a guy who picked up trials after not riding any bike for about 30 years, I can attest to the "interesting" part of your statement. Probably one of the best things I have done in a long time. I love the bikes, the riding and the camaraderie with a great bunch of trials folks. Have fun!

There are many people who have much better collections than I. Mine are riders, not museum pieces. Like many trials riders, if you were closer and wanted to take some test rides, you would be more than welcome. You mentioned a TY175. Great bikes. Most of the historic riders in western USA prefer those to Ty250s. In the interest of getting your boy off the compute, don't wait to find a trials bike. Find something in the low horsepower range of full size trail or enduro bikes. Don't wait so long that you lose this summer. Get him on a bike! FYI, out here in the Pacific Northwet, with thousands of square miles of forest and mountains, the greenies have gotten so much of the land designated "no motor vehicles," we often have to drive 100 miles or more to ride in events. But it's worth it!q

If it is dripping a lot of gunk from the hole, it is probably time to open up the silencer, clean it out and repack. I would suggest to open and clean out the silencer,, then take it to a good welder to weld a cover over the hole and reattach the mounting bracket (Take the bike and silencer to get the bracket properly located). Then repack and you are good to go.

Welcome to the world of trials. It is a great sport and I think attracts a certain type of people. People who are very competitive but who cheer for their competitors just as loudly as for themselves. I happen to own a 2005 Montesa 4RT (4 stroke), 3 Honda TLR200's (4 stroke) and a 1974 Yamaha TY250 (2 stroke). As others have said, bike technology has evolved dramatically over the 40 years since the TY was built. You mention a TY250 for sale for about $2000. There are 2 significantly different series named TY250. The bikes from '74 to about '78 were twin shock, air cooled, drum brakes, more like a '70's trail bike. In fact, Yamaha even sold large seats and foot peg relocation kits for better trail riding. Weight about 220#. In the mid 1980's Yamaha sold a TY 250 that was a mono-shock, drum brakes, with narrow fiberglass tank and seat unit. In the US, that model was only sold with a350cc engine (TY350). Weight about 200# I think $2000 is a high price for either vintage unless it is a very well preserved original, or nicely restored bike. As trails learning bikes, either will be a fair starting place. They both make really good "buddy bikes" for ride-alongs or for very inexperienced riders because they are geared low and slow and are very forgiving. For new riders, having a seat can be much easier to ride. So called "modern" bikes came about in the mid 1990's. Much better suspensions, lower center of gravity, disc brakes and no seats. They also lost a lot of weight. 160-170#. By the early 2000's "modern" bikes had been improved, and evolved. Most became water cooled and dropped another 10 to 20 pounds. They have continued to evolve into highly specialized bikes with amazing capabilities. ******* You asked for advice. My first advice is that any bike that will get your boy off the computer (and his butt) is worth doing. If you and he can ride together you can build bonds and share some great times together. I know bike prices vary a lot from place to place. For a '70's TY, I would expect between $700 and $1300. Good running rider bike, not a museum piece, For an '80's bike I would expect between $900 and $1500. For a '90's bike between $1000 and $1800. With trials bikes the price is so dependent on condition. Some have been garage queens and some have been ridden hard and put away wet. A quick check on Craig's List shoed one or 2 bikes in Nova Scotia and several in Maine. Good luck!

I use a small bicycle type pump that I bought at K-mart or Walmart for about $7. Weighs only a couple ounces, about 7" long and 1" diameter. It has a double extension so it gives a pretty good volume of air per stroke. Nice thing is it never runs out of air.

I prefer the chest mount because it allows you to see what is ahead and also see the movement of the bars. Once I am riding I don't even feel it. No problem with straps feeling tight. It feels much more like riding the bike. I also have the helmet mount and found the side is better than the top. Mount it far enough back to not be in your peripheral vision. Top mount is much more likely to snag on overhead branches. Bad for the camera and can transfer a lot of force to your neck.

Some times you can drop the front off and slowly slide on the skid plate. If the drop is undercut or so tall that the front wheel is off the ground when the skid plate is sliding, there is a good possibility to go over the bars. In those circumstances it is better to wheelie off and land the rear tire first. If there is no smooth ground below, As soon as the rear wheel drops, pull in the clutch and land with both brakes on. Absorb the shock by bending your knees on landing.

I think what you are describing is called a rim strip. New ones do have the valve stem molded in. These are used in rims designed for tubeless tires. These rims are designed with a special "groove" that the rim strip must be properly fit to.

I made my own clutch lightener, similar to the one on ebay. Yes, it is a big improvement. Make sure that your cable is free and well lubricated.

It could be the mains as Lineaway says or some other parts that are dragging against each other. There is not a lot of extra clearance between things so a little mis-alignment, an extra washer under a screw head, or even a missing cover gasket could cause parts to be too close together and cause a screech. If it did not screech before you fixed it, and does after, the problem is most likely an alignment problem that can be easily fixed by rechecking your work.

Great to hear it is running. Sounds like it was probably a bad ground problem. Now that everything is nice and clean and shiny it may be difficult to find what is scraping. Here is a tip. Paint everything with a dark color felt tip marker. Assemble and run it for a short time. Disassemble and look for the shiny spot where the ink is scraped off. There is your interference. After you get it all fixed up, use some silicone sealant during assembly to keep out water and such to prevent future corrosion. Ride on!

Are you worried about balancing when stopped? Don't worry about that now. Most Novice sections should be able to be ridden without stopping. If you are not falling over all the time on your street bikes or the XR80, you can also ride the TLR without falling over. One huge difference in riding trials is how you position your weight in corners. On street bikes you learn into the corner. When riding really slow, leaning in will cause you to fall into the corner. If you watch the guy in the video carefully, you will see that when he turns, he leans the bike into the corner, but moves his body to the outside of the corner and applies his weight to the outside foot peg. My buddy used to say "Go left to turn right" and "Go right to turn left." The Trials Training Center website has some good free videos you can watch that illustrate proper body positioning and trials riding skills. And don't worry about being 60. There are many good riders well over 60. I am 63 and there are guys in my club who are well into their 70's who can still ride circles around me. Or ride over me if they wanted to!

There is no reason you cannot ride the TLR with your weight. I know a couple guys with your weight who very successfully compete on 350 pound, hard tail BSA's and similar. You just have to learn how to properly move your weight around.

After a similar burn on my riding pants, I made a similar patch for my pants out of nomex fabric.

Have you tried eBay or eBayUK?

Previously you mentioned that it did have a spark but that it seemed weak. Are you not getting spark any more? Do the spark check indoors in a darkened room. Often, the sun is too bright for you to see a spark outdoors. I still come back to your previous statement that the plug is always dry. If the bike was getting fuel but no spark, the plug will be wet and you can smell fuel on it. Have you checked the woodruff key in the flywheel? If that shears, the timing can be way off and the bike could refuse to run.

I am not sure I would call it "lucky" to have your bike stolen and set on fire! Maybe you mean lucky to have gotten it back and having been able to rebuilt it into a very nice looking machine. Good job! If I had an occasion to remove those old torsion rubber bushings, I would sure try to replace them with real bearings or bronze or nylon bushes. Let the swing arm pivot smoothly and let the shocks do the damping.

Be a little careful with the guitar strings. Nylon strings should be OK but steel can scratch the brass jets. I had a Honda with a sticking slide. A previous owner had assembled the slide wrong and it damaged the small index pin that keeps the slide from twisting in the bore. It took some very careful handwork with some tiny needle files to clean up the pin to stop it binding the slide.

Agree with others - fouled plugs. In addition to what others said, be careful to not leave the choke on for too long when starting. That can foul even a new plug. Brand new plugs are best but it is possible to clean them well when they foul. Search Youtube and you will find some clever guys who clean plugs with a torch! That is a flame torch, not a flashlight. I always carry a spare plug on my 2 stroke bikes.

Haha, yes after riding the Montesa for a while, when I switch bikes I forget about the fuel tap also. I do not yet run a lanyard but if/when I add one, I am considering if it would make more sense to mount it in the center and clip the cord onto my belt to avoid having it out at the end of the bars where it could be snagged by branches or pulled off by hand movements while riding. My kill switch is in the middle. 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears are quite close in the Montesa. Then a bit gap to 4th and 5th. I dropped a tooth out of the front sprocket which is about double what you did on the rear. It definitely helped me to make very slow, tight turns. I felt that the stock gearing was a little too fast. The only drawback is sometimes first is too low and you end up running out of speed going up longer, steep obstacles. So when sections have longer hills or more open areas, I use second a lot. I think only guys like Raga and Bou change sprockets to suit the individual events. All the people in our club find a combination we like and leave them alone. I usually start with 6 pounds in the front tire and 4 in the rear. I may adjust the rear down from that for grassy or muddy stuff but not for rocks. That is in the Michelin. Mind you I weigh about 240 pounds. I don’t think I have ever intentionally run less than 3 in the rear. I keep the front at 6. Below that I find it gets vague and bottoms out on the trail too much. I had a front drop to about 2.5 one time with a big elevation change and that got very hard to ride. The front just would push on every corner. It felt like a totally flat tire. One important thing is to use a good quality, low pressure gage. The stick kind are not very dependable or accurate at the low pressures we use.