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

Hi Guys and many thanks for the welcome to the Forum.

I consulted Dr. Google and it seems that the Ventura Racking System is a product of Dold Industries in Hamilton, New Zealand and they have Distributors Worldwide.

The Back Pack system was perfect for my needs and it is very well made. There are hard luggage options etc that I've seen alot on big road bikes here.

I have only "dropped" my bike once with it onboard and it was a slow speed "drop" in very soft sand and the Rack and Bag were unmarked and not twisted.

Mine is the tall one in the link that Malcolm put on the Forum and it can be mounted either way. I prefer it with the Pack to the rear. Ventura do emphasis that it should not be used as a backrest. Even with the bag facing the rear, you can still see the indicators and rear lamp.

From what I remember it wasn't cheap but I was still working when I bought it so coin was still flowing in.

I was told, about a year before retiring: "Buy all your toys before you retire" 

I think there is a person in NZ building a TTR250 to perfect condition. My Yamaha NZ mate gave me several Genuine Yamaha Parts that this person rejected because of scratches or imperfections. You would have to be extremely fastidious to have rejected them and that is all we can think the reason was.  

Brian: is Gorse the County Flower of Devon ? When the English farmers came to NZ they bought it with them so that the landscape would look like home (the Scots did the same with Thistle !) Little did they know that both flourished here because of the fertile soil and perfect growing weather. They spent most of their days spraying it with weedkiller and burning it ! This job continues to this day.

Arr the Warren House Inn, I remember it well. Pity the mythical "Black Beast of Dartmoor" had the day off !

"Mist around the Tors," oh yeah, give me abit of that and a warm pint !

Cheers

Jeff

Wow Steve, how could a "young" lad not be excited about that offer ?

Maybe a Pit Stop at the Warren House Inn for lunch and a "swift 'arf."

I accept

Cheers

Jeff

Hi Guys,

Attached are some photos of my TTR.

When I head for the dirt there are rough Side Covers and Front Guard to put on so this is it in its best 'clothes.'

Cheers

Jeff

Hi Steve,

The 263cc conversion was already done by the previous owner.

I've swapped the Shorty Header and Standard Header back and forth a couple of times as I thought I had a leak at the flange but it was a stud that wasn't as tight as it should have been. I reckon the difference is in low down torque But I think there is something on the difference in the FAQs and maybe in an attachment where the Pipe is shown in the Totally TTRs Shop. In my 45 years in the Car Industry the theory of getting the exhaust gasEs out as fast/smoothly as possible but still with some back pressure is probably true here. Would be interesting to hear from other Forum Experts on the subject. Back pressure is required, other that when it is foot to the floorboards all the way, like a Dragster. But hey, it sounds bloody good with no baffle, doesn't it ?! Most Harleys seem to get away without any baffles here and a baffless TTR is hardly up in the decibel numbers like them.

My TTR was is good condition when I got it but it is not a case of an easy life, away from the dirt and rough stuff. The previous Owner was an expert rider and probably didn't drop it as often as the current Owner ! Having the rough Parts to put on when heading to the rough stuff helps keep the good Parts good.

Cheers

Jeff

Hi Steve,

Ooo it was about 6 months ago that I did the last comparison but in my mind the Shorty Front Pipe made it breath better so maybe it was stronger from low down and right through the mid-range but I only took notice of the low down comparison, which I thought was better with the Shorty Pipe. I guess you have to remember that Mr. Yamaha made the standard pipe that long for a reason and if he could have made it shorter, he would have and could have saved a couple of inches of exhaust piping per bike.

Hopefully Brian or Steve will pick up on this subject as they would have heard all the stories. Has someone every done a Rolling Road Test, could be the question for them.

Suffice to say, I reckon the TTR "breaths" better with the Shorty Front Pipe and my TTR also has two holes (30mm and 40mm) drilled in the Air Cleaner Cover which help get more air in there. Does yours have these ? If not, I can send you a photo of mine. Not recommended going into deep water with these uncovered ! I guess most TTRs have had this mod done because Mr. Yamaha (him again) has to pass induction and exhaust noise tests before getting the bikes certified for sale but once sold ....... 

The idle change between the two was not noticeable.

The shiny front pipe does look cool and being Stainless Steel it is easy to bring the shine back up like new with Autosol and elbow grease. I bought mine back from UK on our 2015 trip and it is not very big so it sat in the bottom of a medium sized suitcase. No problems with Airport X-rays and did have an explanation ready if they did question it. Don't know what postage from UK to Aussie would be.

My riding Buddy has a WR250 and the injection makes it smooth right through the range, as you would expect. 

Hope this helps although reading back through it I do sound abit vague, sorry. Shout yourself a Chrissy present and be like Nike - Just Do It !

Cheers

Jeff

P.S. ah yes, Blackberries there's another imported weed. Seems to have mostly gone from NZ after years of spraying and burning but you can still buy the Pies and Jam (Jelly to the U.S. readers) Was Aussie blessed with Boxthorn ? That was another "wonderful" import via the Pioneers. 

Not wanting to seem like a grizzling Kiwi but when are you going to come over and collect your dam Opossums ? Thankfully, your snakes didn't get this far and we are still snake-free. We are still working on the Opossum population by shooting, poisoning, trapping and running over them, although the later option is not recommended on a motorbike ! I believe they are protected in Aussie so if you are that keen on them .......

Hi guys

On the question of shorty pipes, there is a thread here http://ttr250.activeboard.com/t54606826/shorty-header-pipe/

Here is some info copied from it:

The shorty pipes on sale here were made specifically for Totally TTRs by a local firm whose main business is making complex stainless steel exhaust systems for Maserati's etc.

The impetus to get them made up came from the October 1999 edition of the US Motocross Action magazine which reported that a free flowing end can/exhaust adds power (and significantly reduces weight over the stock item) but a larger bore header pipe did not! Shortening the existing header by 5" however produced 2bhp extra on the dyno.  Sadly, I have not ben able to source a copy of the article to see if they included the dyno charts.

CRD developed and sold a shorty pipe for the TTR250 and it must be assumed that they would have done the development and checked that it actually added power. Pity I can't find any advertising material from the time to check their claims.

CRD no longer sell the shorty pipes but they (very) occasionally come up on eBay. They don't have the exhaust guard mounting points which the Totally TTRs version does have 

I happen to find a CRD pipe and, oddly enough, the Totally TTRs' version is remarkably similar 

Brian