Hello,

 

Trying to learn about TY Yamaha's prepped by John Shirt in the mid 80's. I have one that I know has been in the US since 1985, I've noticed a few items that seem to be different than a stocker, Mine has John Shirt stamped in which appears to be a different style silencer than stock. Can any one tell me what John did to these bikes.

 

Thanks,   SB

I never had one of these bikes, but had my Yam mono's attempted to by copied. Exhaust port was raised, and ports cleaned up, flywheel lightened, JS silencer. My bike also had a much thinner head gasket to bump up the compression.

Originaly the silencer was sold in a dark orange colour.Here over in europe it was a must when you had a TY Mono back in the day 84/85.

I remember Triss Ball turning up on a brand new TY250R at a Bath club trial sometime in 1986 I think. It was a full John Shirt job,can't remember if it was a 250 or 270, but the engine sounded crisper and smoother than any one I'd heard before or since.The suspension had been worked on,it was so plush,even compared to how good the Yam was originally.

There is no doubt that John Shirt knew EXACTLY what to do in terms of making an excellent bike even better.   

Thanks for  the info, I have 2 of the silencers, one which was orange in color both are stamped J Shirt.  The engine does sound crisp and is very responsive, and the suspension is very good even for 30 years old. This bike was one of two Shirt Ty's brought to the US for Jack Stites to use in the US national series, in 1985. I havent had a chance to check the flywheel or the porting, for a 30 year old bike it really rides well.

Thanks again,

SB

Then Ive ridden that very bike! :-)

Thanks for the info, I have 2 of the silencers, one which was orange in color both are stamped J Shirt. The engine does sound crisp and is very responsive, and the suspension is very good even for 30 years old. This bike was one of two Shirt Ty's brought to the US for Jack Stites to use in the US national series, in 1985. I havent had a chance to check the flywheel or the porting, for a 30 year old bike it really rides well.

Thanks again,

SB

The guy that runs cobra moto has one of these. The exhaust is orange. It's a sweet ride. Next time I head there I will take extensive pics or just bring a bike on up to hillsdale and ride with us. Awesome opportunity to see a bike manufacture here in the states plus he rides and has trials property.

--Biff

Thanks Biff!

 

Cool story with this bike, While on family vacation in 1985 my family and I stopped at the Tryals Shop in Florida, Jack came out and did a demo for us, once done he offered me to test ride his bike.  Fast forward 30 years while riding twin shock at Ginders place in Tennessee I met Graham Foster who was riding this very bike, after a chat I couldn't believe it was the same bike. Long story short I now own the very bike that started my 25 year old  trials obsession.

 

SB

We used to have a John shirt 250 mono. It was apparently John shirt jnr's. This bike had been sleeved down to approx 183cc we were told, something to do with abiding to youth rules at the time. We did a rebuild on the engine and the piston was matched up with a Yamaha blaster 200 quad bike. Other notable changes were rear shock, front brake, exhaust silencer, one off sprocket guard. I'm sure there were probably more mods as the bike never lacked in power even with the smaller capacity. Will try and upload a picture but it was a long time ago.

Steve has all the cool bikes!

 

Steve has all the cool bikes!

 

I agree.

 

--Biff

Bit of a bump but thought I'd post a pic of our John Shirt 250 (at least I think it's one of his). We bought it about 18 or so years ago when I used to ride and recently a friend of my dad had been riding it in a few comps but he's had it stood in his garage for the last few months. Currently just using it to bod about our farm whilst my son rides his pw but the plan is to strip it down and tidy up over the winter!

Edited August 16, 201610 yr by isitafox

On 12/20/2015 at 4:05 PM, steve fracy said:

Then Ive ridden that very bike! :-)

I think I may have just sold that bike you rode Steve; but I kept the silencer for my 350. Made it a bit more snappy.  

 

On ‎2016‎-‎01‎-‎01 at 10:52 AM, shercosteve said:

Thanks Biff!

 

Cool story with this bike, While on family vacation in 1985 my family and I stopped at the Tryals Shop in Florida, Jack came out and did a demo for us, once done he offered me to test ride his bike.  Fast forward 30 years while riding twin shock at Ginders place in Tennessee I met Graham Foster who was riding this very bike, after a chat I couldn't believe it was the same bike. Long story short I now own the very bike that started my 25 year old  trials obsession.

 

SB

Steve:

 

How are you? its been many years. I was wondering if you have any contact Info for Graham? He was still working at the Tryals Shop in Florida when I was at TMI in Tennessee and he was always very good to me. I know he moved to TN shortly after I came back to Canada.