thats_a_five Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Hi Jimmie, My friend Barry and I were at Karey's place a couple weeks ago for the Vintage ride on Saturday and Modern ride on Sunday. Barry had the beautiful TY175 and I had the very ugly TY250. Good times and good people. I thought about Lolo Pass and have heard it is a great place to ride. Its good to hear that you are making progress on the bike. I have worked with some pretty good welders and tin-knockers and you will probably be surprised what they can do. Probably will want to have the bike so they can make sure things fit together and fit the bike when they do it. I hope you get back on the bike soon. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old trials fanatic Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Mr Neutron, If you feel comfortable loaning out your bike, keep doing it. There's a couple guys that I ride with that are pretty free with their bikes, I have loaned a bike and parts of my bike in the past, but I am a little "picky" on who I loan to. But it would have been nice if the guy that borrowed yours would have at least offered to toss a bit of $$$ towards the repair. on the exhaust. The mid box does look a bit crinkled, but maybe (big maybe) it could be bodged out a bit to at least be useable until you save up/decide to buy a new one. The top mounting bracket being broke I am sure could be wiggled into a good shape and welded up. The mounting tab at the rear brake master could probably have something done to make it usable. seen worse straightened out. Gassers are a bit fragile then again most modern stuff is. They aren't meant to last they are all built to the old Colin Chapman of Lotus adage that as the car crossed the finish line it should collapse. OK I paraphrased that but he always thought that if a component could manage more than one race then it was over engineered and could have been made smaller, lighter etc. Trials bikes are a bit like that definitely more so than say an enduro bike or MX. Perhaps next time you loan out a bike loan out one of those or an old twinshock especially if it's some plonker who thinks they are the dogs bollox but really have no idea. Remember you used to have a Gas Gas 280 Pro there's a clue in the title "Pro" not "Prat". In my book you don't take liberties with someone else possessions and if you aren't proficient, as in newbie, don't try and show off what a prick you are as people have probably figured that out already. Question did they even offer to foot the bill ? if not that's disgusting and I think a baseball bat to their car, or their knees, might be appropriate 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toofasttim Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Take the airbox to a good auto plastic welder. I've damaged my airbox on a Gasser previously and it can be fixed a treat. I'd take the exhaust to a good engineering works and they'll have the tools and know-how to get it back to nearly new condition. Neither will be expensive and guys in shops like this relish a challenge or something out of the ordinary and, sometimes, will do a repair "on the house". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axulsuv Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Jimmie ; Bring the bike complete as you can to your pipe shop , as stated above that exhaust can be repaired . it may not be real pretty but as long as it works . Just make sure you get a estimate first , as the labor could outweigh a new pipe !! And your buddy should definitly kick in on the repair !!!!!! Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr neutron Posted August 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Hey, Bill!!! Small World!!! I'm the guy that parked nearby to you & Barry for the Modern bike ride on Sunday (at The Dabber Trial/Karey Krahel's place). Have the big gold-ish colored diesel pickup & the white trailer, brought the wife & dog along that day, & etc.. Barry, after killing us in our class, took some video of the Experts didn't he? He's a very good rider! I did look into the plastic welders last night, for the airbox & fender. I dunno if there are people around here that do that sort of thing, but I did look into the soldering iron/plastic filler deal at http://www.urethanesupply.com/ . I'm on the fence anbout buying all the stuff (that they say) is needed to fix this. It would be cheaper, and probably useful for the future as well, but....... Anyone know if just a regular old pencil type soldering iron, along with the correct filler rod, would do a decent job of welding the airbox & fender? Polypropelene for the fender, I don't know what type of plastic the airbox is made of. Would sealant/glue & zip-ties do just as well? I guess it's time for me to come clean about the rider: He's my son. I'm not going to make a bunch of excuses for him, but I'll say that he's "struggling financially" (goes to college & works a low paying job). He plans on selling his own motorcycle (a vintage 1980 TT250 Yamaha) to cover the costs of repairs for my bike. I actually hate to see him sell his bike, because we ride together. But it's the last thing he owns, besides his pickup, of any value that he feels he can hock to get some money. Meanwhile, I have firewood splitting & stacking service from him for awhile...... Anyway, while he's an experienced big bike rider, I had hoped to get him into trials. Again, so we might do that together. I guess it'll slow down his ability to get a trials bike (or any sort of dirt bike), if he wants one, but that's his problem to deal with......He's a good young man. He felt bad enough to puke in his boots after he looped out the bike. He's not trying to get out of giving me any money; it's just not going to happen overnight (unless there's a sudden, huge demand for old 4-stroke monoshock Yamahas, I guess.....). He has learned a lesson here, I'm thinking..... Jimmie Jimmie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samy Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Sounds like he's got a great dad! cheers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony27 Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 To find a plastic welder locally go & see your local panelbeater/body shop, they'll either have the gear or will be able to tell you who repairs plastic bumpers etc for them Your airbox is likely to be polypro as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mokwepa Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Hi mr N. Now with it being your son, thats a different story.....no objections to sharing there at all. My pops lets me ride his bikes all the time. I would lend him mine without a doubt but he always has better bikes than me so doesnt need to. I thought you meant a stranger or a friend of a friend......that to me is a no no. Pls keep us posted with pics as to how rhe repairs go. Im also sure a decent tig welder could sort your pipe out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thats_a_five Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Hi Jimmie, I remember you, your wife and dog well. Yes, Barry killed us both days! For a guy with only 3 rides on a modern bike, he did awesome. He is a very good vintage rider as well. He and I have been riding almost every weekend this summer. Yes, Barry did take some videos of the PM riders and I believe has posted them on the COTA site. Plastic welding is pretty tricky. Much like metal welding the parts need to be very clean and you need the right filler material. A regular pencil type soldering iron will not work. It is too hot and small. Harbor Freight Tools sells a plastic welding iron for about $15. I was able to weld my stator cover after some practicing but the fenders I tried did not hold up. I understand completely about your situation with your son the newbie. Good on you for trying to get him into trials and riding together with him. This is a good time to reinforce being responsible for your actions. Possibly even motivate him with something like "for every 'A' you bring home from college, I will drop $$ off your bill for fixing the bike." Keep your feet up! Anyone who rides trials and has never looped a bike should give themselves a big fat five. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old trials fanatic Posted August 19, 2013 Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Didn't realise it was your son. Sounds like he's pretty sorry for what happened etc so good luck with the repairs. Immediate family is the exception I suppose. Just have to smile through gritted teeth LOL I've got the t shirt for that one. As I said good luck and just let him work it off and keep his bike. Lesson learnt hopefully ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr neutron Posted August 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2013 Old Trials Fanatic, I had to chuckle when I read the part of your first post about "If you break it, you buy it!". Last Tuesday, not long after we figured out that he (my son) was alright, not hurt, & etc., I gave him the "If you ever get a chance to ride one of your friend's bikes, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT do it unless you're prepared to either buy the bike, or pay the $$$ to fix it" lecture. To my surprise, he told me that he had already turned down a couple of chances to ride some of his buddies' "Crotch Rocket" street bikes for that very reason. He said I'd already given him that lecture, and I had forgotten I'd done it..... I doubt that he ever reads anything here on this forum. But I was basically not wanting to write anything that he might take as criticism towards him, or anything like that, if he did read something here. It was, after all, an accident, and that's just the way it is. I was wanting to be "discreet" for his sake..... Anyway, I called the pipe repair place here in Oregon, and they do not work on aluminum exhausts. Largely for the reasons I can see on my pipe. The wrinkled up portion at the bend where the midbox becomes a silencer is too hard to straighten out. I'm not certain the pictures show the wrinkles to their worst...... I sort of wish I hadn't troubled you guys with this now. This deal isn't going to be nearly as expensive as I was originally told. I got an email just today from a dealer about the price of a new exhaust. I guess there's actually been a reduction in price on the complete midbox/silencer setup, from over $800 down to $406! It's cheaper than the airbox! My son has agreed to pitch in for half of it, and still split & stack the firewood I have laying around. I am going to try & patch the airbox & fender, and then there's the throttle. I ordered the throttle housing that can be adjusted for the tube's rotation, and won't allow full throttle. I've also ordered one of those magnetic kill switches that shut the bike off if the rider & bike part company. I'm hoping these will go a ways towards preventing another quick, violent crash that even some of us "experienced" riders can manage to have...... Hopefully, I'll have the parts and be back riding within a month or less. Will keep y'all posted on how the repairs go. I'll likely be riding with part of the grahics gone off the bike for awhile, which I suppose might look a little ugly to some, but at this point, I'd rather ride an ugly bike than not ride at all....... I used to ride almost every evening after work, and I miss it..... Thanks for all your encouragement & help, Fellas! You've no idea how much I appreciate it. Jimmie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axulsuv Posted August 20, 2013 Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 And now you've made me feel guilty about not letting my son's ride one of my fullsize Fantics in a event ... They get to play on them in the yard , but very few folks besides me has ever ridden a section on one of them . And the folks that have , have all been Financially capable pro class guys that know , you break it you bought it ... at my price ! But I have never flinched about letting my select few play on my bikes , always guy's I know who can ride much better than me ! Glenn Fix the bike , and let your son ride it some more , He'll get a trials bike out of love of riding with his dad !!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr neutron Posted August 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 Geez, I'm Sorry, Glenn. when I started this thread, it was because I was told the exhaust was over $800! With an aribox price of $480, a fender price of $168, and other smaller, less expensive parts I don't have prices on yet, I was easily looking at over $1400. I was hoping for a cheap alternative, not to lay a guilt trip on other Dads, hee hee. Was hoping to not embarass my kid, as well..... You all have convinced me to repair the airbox & fender myself, and with the cheaper exhaust, I don't feel so much like I've had my balls kicked as I did a few days ago..... I'm still hopeful he'll want to ride my trials bike again. He was just getting the hang of riding my 6" X 6" X 12' timbers I have as a sort of "balance beam" practice obstacle. He could ride the entire length of it about 50% of the time, and manage to wheelie over it or do a crude Bunny Hop over it. He'd worked on static (no engine) balancing, and then wheelies. Now, about the time he was getting small wheelies down, the bike ran out of gas. This bike does have a "Reserve" position on the fuel petcock, However, it's been my experience that if you need that Reserve to ride back to the truck, your truck had better be close enough to be in sight! We leaned the bike over to the left, watched fuel flow through the fuel filter for a couple of minutes, and decided he could make the distance back to the barn with what was now in the float bowl. After his crash,he said that as he was bending his knees down to load the forks for a wheelie, it felt like the wanted to just "take off" (his description) faster than he wanted it to. I've had bikes begin to run lean from running out of fuel before, and sometimes would start to rev to the moon just before they ran completely out of fuel. I'm kinda wondering if this isn't what happened to my poor kid..... I figure it's one thing for an accident like this to happen, but it's sad if ya can't learn from it..... Jimmie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy Posted August 20, 2013 Report Share Posted August 20, 2013 Jimmie, It sounds like he learned a bit of a lesson, if possible figure out some way that he won't have to sell his bike to fix yours. It is always different when loaning your stuff to your kids, I loan out a vehicle to other people and I get a bit nervous about how it will be returned, (drawback of owning a truck, everybody wants to borrow it). But when my older kids were learning to drive I just handed them the keys and said "drive it over there and don't hit anything". I figured eventually they would hit something but the train of thought I had was, it's just a truck and I can fix it and besides it already has a couple dents in it. With initial prices to replace/repair the bike I would have freaked out a bit as well. But sounds like things will be a bit more on the "cheaper" side than initially thought. And hopefully he will "get the trials bug" and the two of you can go riding in the future and have a good laugh about the "full rotation wheelie". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thats_a_five Posted August 31, 2013 Report Share Posted August 31, 2013 Jimmie, How's the repairs coming? I hope it is complete and you are out riding this weekend! Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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