A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

These are Steve Copsey's pictures copied from his Yahoo Group photo album.

This was his accompanying text explaining how he made the modifications and why:

Well folks, I'm sure you will be enthralled and delighted to know that I solved
my front mud-flap problem before my epic first off-road ride last Sun.
On Saturday before, armed with a fresh new shiny £7.99 B&Q dustbin, I set to
work on a design extravaganza ;)

I figured out that because the header pipe drops so low it would make more sense
to make a horizontal lip that fitted over the U rather than under (ie in the gap
of the U), so using cereal packet as a template, a small upside-down L-shaped
bit of plastic was fashioned, tie-wrapped to the down-tube, with enough space
around the up tubes of the U not to melt it.

This then gives a horizontal "lip" which serves two purposes - to reduce the mud
going in an upwards direction from the front wheel, and more importantly, to
stop the mud-flap bending against the exhaust.

With that in place, the right size for the mud-flap can be determined, extending
an inch or so below the lip of the fixed guard. Note that on almost all modern
bikes you can't just bolt a flap to the mudguard as it will be angled too
steeply back and will rub against the exhaust etc.

So using two vertical mounting points, the lower one needs to be spaced out 10mm
or more to push the flap back in towards the wheel, using some chopped up bits
of dustbin an inch square with a hole in the centre.

A bit of experimenting is needed - the flap should be close to, but not touching
the exhaust, and the "lip" on the fixed piece should just lightly touch the flap
so you can't feel it rubbing through the steering. If the flap is not very
close to the exhaust it will definitely hit against the tyre at some point!

Use a tie-wrap for the lower and a small bolt for the upper - a small round
headed bolt is best with the head on the inside - if the tyre does hit the guard
at full compression it will just slide over the bolt head and cable tie and not
catch.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture as it worked brilliantly on the ride,
keeping every drop of mud off the engine. Muddy water goes everywhere unless
you go steady, so you have to accept that part however. Will post some pics in
next week or so,

Thanks for the other replies - the heat-proof tape is a good idea for a simple
design certainly. Mk II coming shortly will be a slightly wider flap, and an
aluminium L part, just to look a bit better.

Steve