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

jpv7774 · Member

3 easy questions......vinyl paint my seat? Help with air filter cover not engaging...bike skids when downshifting

TTRfan · Super Guru

Q1 - didn't know it was possible to paint vinyl!

Q2 The three pins on the airbox are all the same length. Check to see that a previous owner hasn't fitted a shorter one. If it is the same length then the only explanation is that the cover isn't sitting fully home for some reason. Have a look to make sure the seal hasn't dislodged and that there is no damage to the mating surfaces.

Q3 Does the TTR tick over or idle OK? The only reason I can think of to cause the skid is that the engine stalls between changes confuse

Brian

nelly · Senior Member

could it be that hes down shifting too early,ie going too quick for the gear hes dropping into,and/ or letting the clutch out too fast,?? [ hes not ridden a bike for so long ]
just my tuppence worth

peteBLUEttr · Super Guru

It might be that he is not used to having 6 gears, or not used to the lower gearing, and is banging it down the gears too quickly yeah, that would cause a skid, especially with first gear.

jpv7774 · Member

My clutch cable is a little out of adjustment but it is very possible it is my technique. I shift through the gears w no issue but downshifting is causing a skid. I will try different techniques to see if I can solve that issue.

Brian were u asking about the ticking from my prior posts or regarding my new questions? Prior to me rebuilding the carb and replacing plug and air filter my engine was coughing or ticking backwards back through the carb. After the repairs the loud cough or tick is gone. Now it ticks with engine off as she cools down.

Yes you can paint vinyl, just google vinyl paint. SEM marine vinyl paint is very good and Dupli-color vinyl paint is also very good.

jpv7774 · Member

Well I received my XL clutch cable and adjuster from Brian and installed it without a hitch. Now I understand how to adjust a clutch cable from the two adjustment points, never knew how that worked before.

Also solved my air filter cover problem. As stated before I couldnt get the bottom pin of the air box cover to catch and tighten. Well i tried everything and I almost just gave up until I tried latching the bottom first then attaching the top two......boom done! all fixed

As for painting my seat black. Well, the vinyl paint went on perfect and covered fast. The seat looked perfect until it dried. I noticed on the sides of the seat there were areas that dried blotchy like flat black vs satin black. I figured I didnt clean the area well enough so I sanded the area an recoated but got the same results. The paint is very durable and feels great but I cannot explain the blotchy spots other then the seat is worn in these areas...who knows. I bought a cheap seat cover on ebay and will install that this weekend. If I were to advise others about using vinyl paint given my results I would suggest a primer coat first.

Next I need to apply my new decals. Nothing fancy just a few Yamaha stickers and some TTR250 stickers...will post before after pics soon

peteBLUEttr · Super Guru

Glad the fueling cough has gone and the clutch works good now.

I thought the vinyl painting idea was a bit of a weird one, I just cant imagine how it survives in the creases when you sit on it etc, would it really of worked even if primer was used? The vinyl comes out with dye on it from the factory so that is why it is such a hard wearing finish.

Defo stick a pic up of the decals and the new vinyl

jpv7774 · Member

The vinyl paint really does work. I have used it successfully on boat cushions. On my bike I used a diff MFR vinyl paint...it went on perfect and my seat was black in seconds. For some reason that I couldnt figure out I was getting uneven drying sheen's. Maybe do to wear areas of the seat. So some areas looked satin gloss and others looked flat. The seat covers are so cheap I just punted the paint and stapled on a seat cover...It was $17 bucks on ebay.

Bsturkie · Member

JPV - I too have used Vinyl paint with great success. I think Duplicolor makes a great vinyl paint that I have used on marine seats in salt water. Lasts for years. I did a golf cart seat as well. I think it would work fine on a conventional bike seat. I wouldn't think it would work very will on a gripper style seat. I think that is more rubber than anything.