The rider
Pat is one of Herts TRF finest riders and leaders with a mass of hidden knowledge and a fast smooth style that appears deceptively leisurely until you try and keep up with him! Pat has led some of the best ride outs this year especially into Essex.
The Bike
Bought my present Yamaha TTr 250 in 2005 for about £1800 from Steve Linsdel over in Flitwick. Was low mileage and in good nick overall except a dent in the tank where he had dropped it on a rock in Yorkshire back when there were plenty of places to ride up there.
Still had my older TTr built up from bits at that point that I had had for the previous four years.
These bikes are a simple air cooled four valve six speeder, most have an electric start only although later ones also have a kick start, they were originally a grey import although I believe that as they became more popular they did import them direct. Older ones had purple frame and wheels with white paintwork steel tank and I reckon look better than the newer blue ones although the newer ones do have a plastic tank
As a trailly bike these are really a great bike for the job. They have suspension front and rear that is fully adjustable for rebound and compression and is more than good enough for most situations although the front forks are a little bit undersprung for steep downhill rocky bits where they tend to compress out. I have remedied this by putting thicker fork oil in which does seem to help, and the normal setting up the sag on the rear shock but that is all I have done to it.
A real good point with this bike and trailly riding especially round here with the road work involved is that it has a comfy seat… Not a rock hard plank to sit on.
I have entered it in a number of Hare and Hounds enduros where it copes alright and never really has any problems but obviously it lacks a bit of power and race sophistication but having said that it has always finished.
It also did the Welsh Two Day Endo (in decent weather) and that was great, completed it in time with no issues.
Upgrades
There are lots of mods and additions for this bike including a lowering link for those short in the leg, a mate of mine has fitted one of these and he reckons it makes a real difference to your riding as a shorty. Mine just has an aftermarket oil cooler fitted courtesy of John Fox which although it has never shown any sign of overheating does increase the oil capacity of the sump by about 50% which is no bad thing, and an aftermarket exhaust with new internals courtesy of John Little.
Standard gearing is fine most of the time and makes it much more usable on the road although I run mine with a tooth less on the front and have another lower geared chain and sprocket set for Endos and long distance trials (not that I do that anymore)
Maintenance
Maintenance is generally simple on the bike, most important as with any other is regular oil and filter changes although the filter is fine steel mesh and can be washed out in solvent but I have noticed that the mesh does deform after a while probably due to the oil pump suction when the oil is cold so they don’t last forever. Check the oil level regularly as the difference between low and high is not a lot.
Valve clearances are bucket and shim and not difficult to do just measure them accurately and don’t mix them up… I think I have done mine twice and they rarely seem to change much.
Mine seems to be hard on pads and wheel bearings and I put sintered pads in as none of the others last anytime at all. Wheel bearings again are not to difficult to change.
Things to look out for if you are buying a secondhand one. Main and most important (read expensive) is the starter motor assembly. If when it starts it sounds noisy or when you turn it off then it could be the starter so beware, provided it is dealt with and not left it is relatively inexpensive to sort. about 60 quid for the fancy one way bearing on the crank, again easy to fix. But if its left then it gets bloody expensive, with starter gears and new starter motor from Mr Yamaha not seeing much change from 500 quid. Having said that Brian Sussex who is a real good old boy who runs Totally TTRs can sort out a new starter motor for about 150 quid. In fact he knows all there is to know about this bike.
Battery is a gel battery which ideally keep charged on one of those Optimate chargers especially if yours is an earlier one with no kickstart. Apart from that not much else to look out for.
Summary
So if you are strapped for cash and not sure wether you want to lash out on something fast and fragile (and orange) and would prefer something a bit more friendly then get one of these because you wont go far wrong.
