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

Steve Harcus (previous TTR owner and member of this forum) had organised a short Saturday morning run and invited me along at our monthly TRF meeting.

The weather forecast looked horrendous and, being a fair weather rider, I had prepared my excuses but, after a bit of email bullying from Steve, I decided to ride whatever the Gods decided to throw at me! The weather turned out nice in the end though….

Riders: Run leader Steve (WR250R), Olly (WR250R), Jane (TTR250), Mark (TTR250) and me – Brian (TTR325). Our sixth team member fell by the wayside and was apparently still in bed when Steve chased him up on his mobile!

So it was an all Yamaha run which is a bit unusual in these Days of Orange – albeit there were 2 white Yamahas amongst the blue.

After a bit of tyre pressure correcting (4lbs front and back in Jane’s tyres seemed a tad low), we were away from our petrol station meeting point in Exmouth running about half an hour behind schedule. Steve was on a promise to pick his missus up at 1pm so it was time to get a tickle on guys!

First lane of the day is one of only two across our local Common. There had been a lot of rain overnight and there was a lot of standing water and slippery East Devon mud but this only served to enhance the proceedings. We took a minor deviation for a photo opportunity whilst riders and bikes were still relatively clean. You can see the size of the puddle behind us!

L to R Mark, Steve, Olly and Jane.

 After a recent trail riding holiday in Spain, the lanes couldn’t have been more different to what I had last ridden. Did I mention there was lots of mud and standing water?

Careful use of the throttle is needed in these conditions. One of us got a bit over enthusiastic and did a neat 360 – no names mentioned – Olly…

There was rumour of a badger (aka falling off) or two in this lane and Jane’s handguard looked suspiciously muddy. Onwards to 182-272 where there are two fords.

We crossed this river a few more times as it was overflowing into the road on our way to 192-153 where the entrance to the lane is another ford. I like fords! 192-153 is also one of my favourite Devon lanes.

Did I mention there was a lot of water in the lanes? It didn’t cause the Yamahas any problems though.

A gratuitous shot of my TTR in a muddy Devon lane:

Another half dozen or so lanes saw us at a favourite coffee and pasty stop for trail riders in Tipton St John.

Suitably refreshed we headed on to the lovely rocky climbs at East Hill Strips via the newly repaired lanes 192-109 and 192-214.

The lanes through the woods are particularly nice at this time of year with a fresh carpet of golden leaves over the mud. Did I mention there was a lot of mud?

Time was running out so Steve had to cut out a few lanes and put in a bit of road work to get back on schedule. Next up was the nice whitey C-229. Always surprises the drivers on the main road to see trail bikes popping out of the hedge! Thankfully the time constraints meant Steve left out the hated (for me anyways) “lane of pain” nearby.

A few more lanes before 192-168 where there is a nice section of rocky riverbed to negotiate. I went ahead to take some pics and managed to get a nice shot of Mark having a rest against the hedge when exiting the river.

Jane did better!

Olly rode it a bit more enthusiastically - see here

Next up is the lane through the caravan park which was more slippery than a freshly buttered ice rink! Note to self – fit the spare rim with the Mitas CO2 in place of the MT43 real soon! We are close to the sea at this point and Mark posed for me to prove it although the sea looked more grey than blue today.

I took a couple of videos on this lane on a tricky bit but no offs!

See here and here 

We rode a few more nice lanes before calling it a day and going our separate ways.

The Yams all got home in one piece with no bits falling off and wheel bearings all intact. Many thanks to Steve for organising and leading the ride and t’others for their company!

We have some lovely countryside here in Devon and are very lucky to have so many lanes to choose from.

Brian