I,m afraid i cannot recall the exact angle of the head stem but it is very close to the angle of a stock TY175. I modified the frame by running a long piece of steel bar-stock through the stem i then used a come-along attached to the down tube and the bar stock i heated the frame and slowly bent it till it was close to the TY. the hub is off a TL but the brake assembly is XL as i recall it required some slight modification th make them compatible. As for the weight, just trimming every single ounce of metal even cutting the back of the rear frame loop off, it has plastic fenders and tank as well as every possible non-structural piece being drilled or replaced with aluminum. I must warn you if you do go thrugh with the front end modifacation, if not properly set up steep down hill turns will be a problem because the bars will snap all the way over and if you have ground the steering stops down such as i did it will throw you over the bars. I will not put any promise on your results if you do any of these because it took a lot of time to get mine dialed in but I am extremely happy with how it turned out.
il try to post some photo,s later but right now my digital camera is acting up.
You still ride it/own it?
I'm very interested now. The 185 motor is now in the frame, and I see that Sammy Milller is reproducing side panels. hope you get the camera fixed soom
That is one nasty looking sump plug, Mine was tight, started to round off, I hammered a socket on and managed to remove the plug. squeezed together chocolate wrapper has more structural integrity than the material that sump plug is made of. Replaced it with a Hell team one - good kit. took about a week to arrive from Australia.
Are the front brake master cylinders generic or bike specific for the SY250. Reason for asking is I've just sheared off the cap head screw that clamps the whole shooting match to the handle bar and the other one won't shift either. I was trialing tomorrow too. Briefly (very briefly) contemplated riding as it was - brake held on by 1 cap head screw and spinning about all over the place. In stead got the trusty drill out to drill out the screw and yep,you guessed it, the drill wandered off into the softer alloy!!! Blast, drilled and tapped the result to M5 and put a bolt in which holds everything as it should be but it's not right.
Are there any up grades, what do you recommend? Where is best to purchase one?
Very nice, just like mine...except for the dented tank, manky mud guards, engine that runs rich and gets through more spark plugs that fuel and the perished tyres!
One thing I have noticed is the yokes on tlr have smaller offset fork centres to head stock centre line - 15mm approx. 4rt has 35mm offset.Tis pushes forks further away from centre line of steering axis - what effects does this have?? All part of camber, caster and rake etc but don't know the theory
the bigger the offset reduces the trail and makes it easier to steer and more difficult to keep it going straight.
I too am rather interested in this steering geometry black art as I'm sitting looking at a TL 125 frame just aquired from Ebay, an XL185 engine. a complete TL 125 and my Scorpa SY250.I was wondering if it would be possible to make the TL steer more like the Scorpa. The second hand frame was obtained to modify to but have an origional untouched frame incase things went horribly wrong in the modification process.
I've got the reservoir at the top on my TL and the instructions from TY Trials said to leave the little valve well alone and not the mess with the gas in the shocks.
Made a bit of progress with my build - built a cradle the the engine can bolt into and be turned over on the kickstart. Wired up the ignition gave it a good kick and ... nothing, no spark.
Second engine had some major timing issues - about 90 degrees out. re-timed it but no spark and not much compression either. sucks good through the inlet manifold and then blows equally hard through the inlet manifold! Major tear-down needed I think. Should I buy a new CDI unit or the pick-up coil unit that lives in the head?
Which is the more likely to fail? I've a new ignition coil and used two different pick-up coil units one in each engine
Ok got it running now - missed the earth from the CDI unit. XR wiring diagram shows it going just to the kill switch and the XL wiring diagram shows it connected to the frame earth. Tried it the latter way and it fired straight up in the test cradle.
I think the TLR alternator has more coils for generating electricity than the XR. The XR runs without a battery and seems to have only 2 wires coming out of the alternator one for the ignition and one for the lights. Don't know if swapping the alternators might be an option?
After a minor diversion with my Scorpa cooling fan I found some time to look at the wiring for the CDI ignition wiring without a battery. Turned out to be pretty simple using the Clymer Manual and unpicking the old wiring loom. Turns out to be the same wiring as for the 1981 XR200.
I found some 10mm OD tube with a 1mm wall thickness to sleeve the rear mounting holes in the cases to save re-drilling the holes in the frame.
I have to say the best twinshock iv seen/owned is an highly modified tl125. it had been punched to 167cc and trimmed the weight to 165 pounds WITH full fuel. we also steepend the head angle and put XL forks on it. it puts my sherco to shame in every way and it looks really nice.
Tell us more, pics of the mods, who did the steering head mods? how much did you steepen it by?. I've got a Tl in the garage with an xl185 motor and an ATC200X barrel (bigger fins) waiting for inspiration and time to fit. I ride a Scorpa but love the 4 stroke sound best! did you stay with the TL hub when you went over to the XL forks?
Tested with the jump wires- - no fan! took the bike apart some put 12V into the fan and it spam up fine. Checked all the connections, some seemed a bit corroded, Cleaned them up and applied some vasaline to keep corrosion at bay and all seems well. Thanks again for the advice.
Thanks for the advice & info everyone. I'll be checking the fan/thermostat by bypassing the thermostat this weekend. Would there be a problem wiring the fan permanently on as there's a trial on Sunday I'd rather like to enter. The Scorpa is a revelation compared to the TL125 I'd been riding.
I was planning to use the 12 tooth sprocket in conjunction with the 60 tooth rear and see how that goes.
Had one trial fitting, no photos. The rear of the frame needs a little grinding and the rear brake pivot does indeed need moving. I was planning to move it up the frame tube and lengthen the brake lever to compensate. I'll take some photos when the work finally gets underway. I've still got to sort the lack of spark in the direct wiring out yet.
The Best Twinshock Ever?
in Twinshock
Posted
You still ride it/own it?
I'm very interested now. The 185 motor is now in the frame, and I see that Sammy Milller is reproducing side panels. hope you get the camera fixed soom