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TL250 Honda rehab


sherco29
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  • 1 month later...

here is link to pics of mine.. the gentlemen with the lil TL125 is 77 yrs old and him and his son Mitch(he rode Fantic 240!!) http://s1014.photobucket.com/user/Larry_Miller62/library/#/user/Larry_Miller62/library/TLLarrys%20toys?page=1&_suid=13641826427530312289732486454

ross did you build a device to hold foot peg out of way to clear Kicker?? my TL 125 Had one.

hope ya like my album

TLLarry

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Hi Larry

I remember seeing a pic of your TL250 on the Chevy a year or so ago and thinking what a fun combination yotu have there.

Have a look at your bike's kickstarter bend compared to mine. The kickstarter on yours reminds me of the one I had on my XL250 in 76. I can remember when I changed from XL to TL that the lever had a more exagerated curve that followed the engine cases on the TL and this allowed it to clear the pegs.

1ac46fc4-781c-4a1a-8be3-16f7c906147f.jpg

See mine hereIMG_6195_2.jpg

Edited by ross brown
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  • 7 months later...

Sorry, it's been as while. Work, a new house, kids etc have all got in the way of riding, let alone restoring the TL. Anyway the Fat Girl is back from the workshop where she has been hibernating. For every two steps forward there has been one step backward, plus a stubbed toe.

  • Rear frame loop at the mudguard has been cut off. I was going to squeeze the now open-ended frame tubes together to make them water tight, but my tame metal worker made two beautiful press-fit polished caps that plug the frame tubes. Who am I to deny him his art. Earn 1 Bonus point.
  • Removing the loop in the mudguard frame allows the mudguard to be positioned higher with a more modern look to it. Weight saving is in tens of grams. Earn 0.5 bonus point.
  • Seat and new mudguard working better together. Earn 1 Bonus point.
  • But tank seat junction is still not right even after adding 25mm glass fibre insert into RS250 seat base. Subtract 2 points.
  • Previous rear mudguard had gone brittle in workshop and snapped. Subtract 1 bonus point.
  • Sourced new black mudguard same week. Earn 1 bonus point.
  • Realise mudguard is of same cheap plastic as previous disaster and with a guaranteed half-life of three trials. See that Shedworks sell TLR mudguards that are flexible but twice the cost. Do my sums and see that I have now spent the same amount, only I don't have a mudguard that I am happy with. Subtract 1 bonus point.

IMG_tl250.jpg

Tank seat junction is not looking as good as I hoped for. Seat is on top of the tank mount but now 30mm lower as the original cross frame seat support has been cut off. Back to the drawing board.

  • New front mudguard bracket was a cock-up. I tried adapting a Gas gas bracket but would have had to weld on additional aluminium in order to match up the holes. Unlike a TLR the mudguard bracket mounting holes are some way below the fork seals. Subtract 1 bonus point.
  • Re-install Sammy Miller mudguard bracket for a Tl125. Adjust rear loop of this bracket with hammer to fit the 250 so that curve of mudguard is parallel to wheel. Earn 1 bonus
  • Took an air powered polishing tool to the tank to remove paint and scratches and then attached a compressed air line - plus a heat torch to the tank surface to soften the alu - to try and get the testicle-sized dents out of the top rear of the tank. The dents are still there. Subtract 1 bonus point.
  • Only now the tank also has a leak. Not a failed Honda weld, but a failed previous repair. Leak is of course difficult to get to as it is up under the rear mounting bracket. So that might have to be cut off the underside of the tank and then reattached. Subtract 2 bonus points.
  • Top left rear shock bolt was found to be 8mm. All other shock bolts 6mm. Top left was also only 10mm long. When it should have been 20mm at least. Found that Previous Owner, (PO) or FPO as I prefer to think of him as, had tried to drill it out and in doing so had snapped off a drill bit inside the mount. Subtract 1 bonus point.
  • So had to use a concrete masonary drill, a pick and a hammer to fracture what remained of the drill bit so that it could be removed before I could re-tap the mount with new thread. Earn 1 bonus point.

IMG_4585.jpg

Did some work on the tank: paint and petrol-tightness now removed!

  • Bring bike home on trailer. Notice oil seal around gear lever has disintegrated. Subtract 1 bonus point.
  • Look for replacement set of oil seals purchased months ago. Discover that during house move I now don't know where they are. Subtract 1 bonus point.
  • Receive email from wife at 4pm saying she is coming home from business trip one day earlier than expected. Realise that time spent on TL today means all other jobs I had promised to get done before her return will now have to be done tomorrow. Workload now means no riding tomorrow. Subtract 1 bonus point.

Edited by ross brown
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Figured out a way to sort the tank seat mounting after I saw a photo of a white TLR 200 with a 2-part seat tank combo. So ran outside with my hacksaw. I should have used a grinder to do my cutting I know but grinders scare the sh*t out of me (I can see myself dropping it onto my leg/foot/arm, or the sparks shooting behind me and setting fire to the wife's car). So I figured the tank needs to go ON TOP of the seat. To do this the sides of the mounting tab that extended from underneath the tank had to be cut off. Having down that, the seat now lies flat along the frame rails for its full length making for a good and strong connection. Visually, from the side the seat is now horizontal. I need to flatten out and tidy up the edges of the flange but now it sits right.

IMG_6845.jpg

Seen from the side the seat angle is much better. But that turn down in the shape of the tank still looks wrong. 60 tooth sprocket from TYTrails looks huge. Rear mudguard flap, from swingarm to start of mudguard needs to go back on and that bloody clutch cable needs a clamp to keep it out of the way of the front wheel.IMG_6848.jpg

Edited by ross brown
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  • 2 weeks later...
 
 
  • 2 weeks later...

I heard a rumour that it had been sold :o

As part of a two or three times a decade episode when I feel the need to simplify my life and reduce a procrastinatingly large backlog of tasks, this month I decided to turn my TL250 Rehab project over to someone who could finish it at a quicker pace than myself. There was another factor involved. I’d recently purchased a Beta Evo 125 for my son. Not only is this the first two stoke I can get on with, it has turned out to be a ride-changing tool. Finding that I did not having enough time to ride my Modern (250) and then hearing the 125 speak to me “come ride me, you know light-is-right”, I realised my ambitions to finish the Rehab and then ride the twinshock were quickly sliding backward down a list of must-dos.

It was time to turn it over to a new owner. As part of the For Sale process I listed the items and costs of purchase. Bling, replacements parts and paid for man-hours of experts topped out at almost $3 spent for every $1 of the original purchase price. I consider this money well spent.

While the TL is no longer resident in the garage, it leaves a permanent legacy of twinshock books, bookmarks, and jpegs. Not to mention an occasional quarter inch deep scrape on the floor (you can’t throw 300lbs of Honda over your shoulder like you can a 125 two-stoke when you need to move it to get the lawnmower out).

Hopefully the new owner, Good Guy, access to engineering resources, will continue with this thread and share his successes in photos when he starts to compete on the mighty TL250. Over to you…

IMG_6838.jpg

Edited by ross brown
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Must have been a hard decision to sell it, but sometimes you need to stand back and ask yourself, do I want to spend Sundays in the garage playing or get out and ride.

if you can ride with your son it doubles your fun!!

Modern machines are so easy to ride compared to the old stuff, I keep having ago on my TLR and I want to love it, but it can be such hard work on the sections we get down this way, I take my hat off to the guys that turn up and ride Twin shock and British bikes round the same sections as the modern bikes and beat them.

TLTEL

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