Never rode all twinshocks , just curious what is the best twinshock bike frame geometry/handling wise..

Yamaha TY 

Suzuki Beamish

Fantic 200 

Kawasaki KT 

Bultaco 

Montesa Cota 

Ossa MAR

Honda TL

may be more. you can suggest .

Regards

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 20178 yr by bsa4life

Well, now I've changed all my TY frame around I'd have to say that!

It sucks for trail riding though, whereas the Cota is lovely at speed

My brothers Fantic seems to do everything really well despite being very simple and only 156cc. I have always liked my Armstrong 250, but it does feel heavier than the Fantic

My faves for geometry/handling in standard trim are Honda TLR, Godden Majesty, Fantic 240, Italjet Piuma, SWM TL280 and any late model Bultaco

if the fantic is so good why do we see so many frames altered?

My motto is 'anything can be improved'

Fantics were always fantastic years ago unmolested  when the sections were open, now the trend is to tightened the angle at the headstock.  I did this too following the trend and correcting the lazy bend of many years of abuse.  Not sure really if its an improvement depends where I am riding. I would say the Ty 250 I have rides and steers  as well as anything. 

I would really like to ride a MAJESTY, if only to compare to my MAR.

Months ago, there was a TY175 with Sammy Miller upgrades on it for sale.  I was talked out of buying it.  

Not so sure all those bikes mentioned by Feetupfun would be competeing in the same class.  

I do know locally, there is a guy riding a TL125, bare bones, modified engine, super low gearing and he mentioned he had steepened the headtube angle, granted he is a very good rider, but that bike simply crawls through sections with super control.

Edited December 30, 20178 yr by pmk

2 hours ago, pmk said:

I would really like to ride a MAJESTY, if only to compare to my MAR.

Months ago, there was a TY175 with Sammy Miller upgrades on it for sale.  I was talked out of buying it.  

Not so sure all those bikes mentioned by Feetupfun would be competeing in the same class.  

I do know locally, there is a guy riding a TL125, bare bones, modified engine, super low gearing and he mentioned he had steepened the headtube angle, granted he is a very good rider, but that bike simply crawls through sections with super control.

pmk, those bikes are all in the same class in Australia. Our classes are Pre-65, Twinshock Pre-87 (air-cooled mono excluded) and Air Cooled Mono.

For a while the middle class was Pre-84 (to exclude air cooled monos), but the cut-off date was later extended to allow the (1985) TLR250 in

2 hours ago, pmk said:

I would really like to ride a MAJESTY, if only to compare to my MAR

That's the reason I got one

 The Montesa Cota 200 was perhaps the best handling of all. Too bad the whole bike was not the best.

The Fantic 240 is good, the Montesa Cota 242 better, best in handling I think a tie between:
The school boy Majesty TY 125/175 and the Centromoto Panda TC220.

On 31/12/2017 at 0:57 AM, lineaway said:

 The Montesa Cota 200 was perhaps the best handling of all. Too bad the whole bike was not the best.

was it any different to a 242?

Only problem handling wise with the 200 was the narrow yokes montesa experimented with as far as I can remember. These were also fitted to the white 349. Later models of the 349 reverted to wider yokes. Not a bad bike at all and comparable to the 156 Fantic.  @nigel dabster the 242 yokes were different again and I think the 242 was a much better all round bike. Similar power to 240 Fantic but it didn't stall as easy. 

Indeed, I have a very nice set of narrow yokes that came with my bike ... I'm thankful that was already taken care of!