New Guy From Alabama

[Bials]

Hi everyone,

I want to say thanks for letting me join.  I got my first trials bike when I was a teenager.  It was a slightly used 1973 Honda TL125.  I rode that thing on the thousands of acres near my house.  It's long gone, but I am purchasing a Honda TL250 soon.

I ride Honda CRF300L at the moment and enjoy it, but it's time to slow down a little and try the trials thing again.  At 67 years old, I hope I can handle standing for so long on the pegs.  

I don't know how much advice I can give you guys/gals, but I hope you will indulge my many questions.

Thanks,

Wes

[LaVern]

I am 74 yrs old and own a 1975 Suzuki RL250, and a 1975 Honda TL250. I still ride, but not trials, just trails with my grandkids. Standing for extended periods is a problem for me at times, but more of a problem is my balance and reflexes. Last May I fractured my left fibula while riding my son's 1978 Yamaha TY250. It was supposed to be a 6-week recovery time, but for me it ended up a 12-week recovery. I did get out a few times after that and look forward to getting out again this year. I live in Pennsylvania, 6 miles in from Lake Erie and the snow has me working on the bikes instead of riding them. I think you'll be fine coming off of a Honda CRF300L. Have fun.

LaVern 

[feetupfun]

12 hours ago, Bials said:

Hi everyone,

I want to say thanks for letting me join.  I got my first trials bike when I was a teenager.  It was a slightly used 1973 Honda TL125.  I rode that thing on the thousands of acres near my house.  It's long gone, but I am purchasing a Honda TL250 soon.

I ride Honda CRF300L at the moment and enjoy it, but it's time to slow down a little and try the trials thing again.  At 67 years old, I hope I can handle standing for so long on the pegs.  

I don't know how much advice I can give you guys/gals, but I hope you will indulge my many questions.

Thanks,

Wes

Hi Wes. We are the same age and I still ride competition trials. Make sure the bars and pegs layout allow you to ride with comfort standing up. A lot of old trials bikes have relatively high pegs and when they were new, they also had high bars. Modern bars are not as high as the old bars. I find when practicing that I ride for 5 to 10 minutes on trials stuff, then stop riding and sit on the seat to recover. Riding competition can be easier on your body than practicing because you usually have to wait to ride each section, and also on a twinshock you can usually ride between sections sitting down.

[mcman56]

At 69, I agree that tall bars make things easier on old backs.  The TL250 is a heavy beast.  I had one and it weighed 250 lbs without gas.  It was also a bit short of ground clearance compared to other bikes.  It did have a very nice fork. 

I find that the TY175 is the easiest bike to ride by far.  It is maybe 60 or 70 pounds lighter than a TL250, not a whole lot more than a 4rt.  It kicks easy, starts easy and turns very tight.  Power is slow and very easy to control yet it easily lifts the front wheel to go over things.  For a mid 70s 175, It is quite surprising what kind of hills it will go up in 3rd gear.  It is not as capable as a modern bike but easier to ride because you are not constantly working the clutch and brakes.  Even with modern shocks, its primarly weakness is suspension.  When going up a rocky creek bed like they seem to do all of the time in the UK, you feel like a ball in a pin ball machine.  But, that may be true of most twin shocks.  If you don't do a lot of that, you may really like one.        

If you are set on a 4 stroke, a Honda Reflex is also much easier to ride than a TL250.

 

Edited 44 minutes ago by mcman56
add detail

[Bials]

22 hours ago, LaVern said:

I am 74 yrs old and own a 1975 Suzuki RL250, and a 1975 Honda TL250. I still ride, but not trials, just trails with my grandkids. Standing for extended periods is a problem for me at times, but more of a problem is my balance and reflexes. Last May I fractured my left fibula while riding my son's 1978 Yamaha TY250. It was supposed to be a 6-week recovery time, but for me it ended up a 12-week recovery. I did get out a few times after that and look forward to getting out again this year. I live in Pennsylvania, 6 miles in from Lake Erie and the snow has me working on the bikes instead of riding them. I think you'll be fine coming off of a Honda CRF300L. Have fun.

LaVern 

Thanks for the reply.  I will still ride my CRF and will probably ride more trails than trials. Ha!  I plan to sit plenty of the time on the TL!  I broke my tib and fib about 2 years ago on my XR650 but I'm doing pretty well now.  It did take almost a year to get back close to normal though.

[Bials]

2 hours ago, mcman56 said:

At 69, I agree that tall bars make things easier on old backs.  The TL250 is a heavy beast.  I had one and it weighed 250 lbs without gas.  It was also a bit short of ground clearance compared to other bikes.  It did have a very nice fork. 

I find that the TY175 is the easiest bike to ride by far.  It is maybe 60 or 70 pounds lighter than a TL250, not a whole lot more than a 4rt.  It kicks easy, starts easy and turns very tight.  Power is slow and very easy to control yet it easily lifts the front wheel to go over things.  For a mid 70s 175, It is quite surprising what kind of hills it will go up in 3rd gear.  It is not as capable as a modern bike but easier to ride because you are not constantly working the clutch and brakes.  Even with modern shocks, its primarly weakness is suspension.  When going up a rocky creek bed like they seem to do all of the time in the UK, you feel like a ball in a pin ball machine.  But, that may be true of most twin shocks.  If you don't do a lot of that, you may really like one.        

If you are set on a 4 stroke, a Honda Reflex is also much easier to ride than a TL250.

 

Thanks.  I am sorta set on a TL and might branch out later on.  I'll probably be doing more trail riding with my son and grandson than actual trials.  I did really enjoy seeing how many difficult objects I could go over as a youngster.  I could climb much more difficult terrain than my friends on their higher powered bikes.  I'll see what I can do within reason at my age.