thanks so much Senor feetupfun!  your knowledge is only exceeded by your kindness and willingness to share it.  May you receive an abundance of good vibes from the universe my friend.

My falcons arrived in the mail today.  deepest joy. they look so nice i'm thinking i might as well go ahead and pimp my ride and get a new tank from clarke! there is every probability that i will fall off in my attempts to get better so i'll just put this one on the shelf if i ever sell the bike

also, feeling pretty chuffed as having followed your advice in other threads got the fork seals out and replaced them.  having the air gun indeed made it effortless.

best wishes, johnny

 

 

 

alright dear friends (who are probably tired of me by now!)...totally the last question i promise then i will go into hibernation mode..

after fitting my new falcon shocks today i notice i have very little, if any, clearance between the spring and the chain.  i can fettle it by hand to get a few mm's  but if not they are touching.  is this how it should be or have i messed something up?

any suggestions/solutions? thank you, thank you and verily thrice fold thank you always.

humbly yours, 'novice junior mechanic' johnny jazz over n out.

 

Edited September 20, 20178 yr by johnnyjazz
spelling error

Space the shock with washer.

Also when you tighten the shock mount screws, do it in a way that avoids the shock mounting rubbers being gripped. The shock mount rubbers need to be free to rotate on the mounting pins to avoid side-loading the shockie oil seals as the swingarm goes up and down. Falcon shocks and many others have mounting rubbers that are wider than the Yamaha mounting pins are long.

For this you can use spacers to effectively lengthen the shockie mount pins and tighten the screws up against the spacers, or don't bother with spacers and just Loctite the screws in the position that allows free movement.

Hola friends, just wanted to say thanks y'all for all the invaluable help.  i came here a mechanically ignorant novice, and thanks to your help and guidance feel i have put together a pretty good bike.  here's a pic of before and after...having sat 30yrs...now back in action on the streets (and empty lots) of NYC!

i made it road legal, sorted electrics, changed fork seals, clutch seal, new cables, removed oil pump, fabricated bash plate, new rear shocks, new mudguards, new chain, block and sprocket, new tires, new handle bars, grips, re built carburetor, repacked and cleaned exhaust, getting pinhole leak in tank welded tomorrow...etc etc. life is good, feeling a bit puffed up  

all thanks to you!  (esp senor feet up fun, the worlds TY mastermind).  really appreciated.  thank you also for the sense of community in a fractured world.

best wishes from Brooklyn...

I’m kind of late to the party but wanted to throw in my experience with a 1974 Yamaha TY250A. Just to start, yes, it would go 60mph on the road without a problem. I did it nearly every day to get to my riding area. It would only do it in 5th gear which was an overdrive installed to do just what you were wanting to do. It was all stock with no modifications whatsoever.
You asked a question about whether you should modify or keep stock and I would have replied to keep it stock. I would love to own my old motorcycle again but a decent one without poor modifications is extremely hard to find. I think, for the time, that the bike and setup was perfect. They weren’t designed or meant to be purely trial centric but also a road going get-a-bout too. That’s why they had the lights and mirrors. I currently have a 2023 Gasgas TXT 250 that is purely trial centric and I miss the ability to get on the road for a bit to get from point A to point B.

If you’ve still got that bike I’m very jealous. Have fun!