I'm now in my ninth year of TTR250 ownership. My poor old bike has 64,000km on the clock, but has really covered about 67k and about 4,000hrs. This is due to the fact that it is a bike used almost solely for work in the far north pastoral area of my state. My bike is by no means a high-mileage example. There are others more than 100,000km old.
So far it has not had any engine work apart from a new camchain at 48,000km. It is still on all its original bearings and seals apart from new steering head rollers about 3,000km ago, and several kickstart seals due to stick damage.
It has had two new pickup coils due to extreme heat, a new regulator due to a shorted taillight bulb, several head/taillight bulbs, a couple of new rocker cover gaskets (also due to extreme heat), several fork gaiters (again, mainly torn by sticks), two new front discs and one new rear (worn out and/or cracked), and a new intake manifold (also about 3,000km ago).
I run it on locally-made fully synthetic 5W-60 oil all year round. So far, oil consumption is minimal, but slowly increasing which is no surprise. It is changed every 1,000km or about 50-60 hours. Often, servicing comes round in a week or less. When I'm not working my legend bike lurks in its shed, doing nothing (like me, except fooling about on my Tenere, which has yet to earn my admiration. The TTR has it [admiration] in spades).
I have ordered a new TTR for work, and will keep this one as it's worth very little as a trade. They are a great little bike if cared for.
nah, the broom has been sweeping the roughest parts of Hell's kitchen for nine years, and all it has ever needed was a touch of paint on the handle and a little trim of the bristles and its still doing a great job!
I assume, 66T, that you could be the person in another forum who said "No rebound damping in the forks unless you run 20wt oil, and very harsh compression damping in the rear end. Very soft fork springs....not good in sand" (as well as good words about reliability).
If so (or anyway), I wonder how you plan to set up the new TTR250, in light of all your experience.
BTW, here are some forum links about the rear shock (as your other post suggested may interest you).
What most of us do to fix the tricky sand handling short of using expensive steering dampers is fit 3.25/3.50X21 Cheng Shin front tyres. It's best to shave the side knobs a bit to stop the tyre munching on the fork gaiters. These tyres don't do much for the overall steering, but you get used to them and the trade-off is worth it.
I fitted heavier fork springs and oil some time before my post about the soggy front end. I think maybe just the heavier oil might have been ok, which I'll try first when I eventually get the new bike.
The rear shock is a different story. I haven't played with it as it's now old, and I need it to last just a bit longer. So far it's been very good re reliability, but is almost at the end of its life, so any money spent on it will be wasted. I would like to try a Wilbers shock (I think...) on the new one, but it will have to pay its way and earn it! So that's the plan.
Thank you for posting the links, brindabella. Much appreciated.
And thanks for your welcome, Cubber. Can't imagine how I missed this forum. It's a goldmine of good info.
-- Edited by 66T on Sunday 27th of January 2013 12:51:28 AM
-- Edited by 66T on Sunday 27th of January 2013 12:52:09 AM
-- Edited by 66T on Sunday 27th of January 2013 01:03:04 AM
Welcome to the forum. I have a 09 TTR 250 that I love and has 20,000KM on it. I just put some brake disks on it I got from Brian at www.totallyttrs.com and besides oil and filter changes I have not touched it.