Sorry for my ignorance but which is the best and most competitive out of a sorted tlr 200 and a 200 Seely? Thanks in advance

The Tlr needs a lot of tinkering to get right and the Seeley was spot on straight out of the box.

From new the Seeley was under powered for big trials back in the day so the ultimate

for me would be to put the Tlr250 motor in the Seeley chassis. Sorted.

The Seeley is very light on the front. I fitted an RTL engine in one I had a few years ago and the extra torque over the 200 motor made it difficult to keep weight on the front. On up hill camber turns it just ploughed on and if you tried to float turn it didn't want to come down. If you shut off the power and then came back on up a climb the front just wanted to lift, and if you came to a near stop up a muddy or loose climb and had to sit on it and push it was almost impossible to get any forward drive as it just wanted to climb around the back wheel.

 

I put the standard motor back in, sold the bike and the RTL engine.

 

Of the two bikes, I preferred a mate's TLR200 I had a ride on, it felt more planted and was a standard bike, just geared properly with lower footpegs.

I found the Seeley 200 difficult / impossible to get the carburation as I would have liked it at the botton end. maybe it was not carburation, just the engine characteristics. In those days tight turns were ridden without the clutch. On the 200 I found as you started to open the throttle the power kicked in with a jerk ( quite a bit more than a 325 Bultaco) which pushed the front end out on tight turns.

 

Only ridden TLRs round a car park, felt to be a smother engine than the 200

The engines are different, the Seeley based on XL185 like the RS200 engine, is has more power on the top end, the TLR 200 is smoother on all revs without extra power on the Top , TLR is cheaper, more parts and bikes avaliable....

 

If you have the chance, test both bikes before buying....

 

My favorite ? TLR250..... 

I bought a TLR 250 new for my birthday back in 1986. Lovely looking and sounding bike,but that was as far as it went. It lasted a year before the engine died. I didn't do any better with the RTL250 I had two years later. Big disappointment...

Never ridden a Seeley,again its a lovely looking bike,but I think you need to be a an excellent engine tuner AND rider to get the best out of any small Japanese four stroke,for the rest of us we are better off with a TY250...

If you really want a four stroke to appreciate how lovely they can be to use,you need to ride and get used to a British four stroke,with a separate gearbox.