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

pricey · Senior Member

Turning my TTR into a mini adventure tourer :)

leigh · Senior Member

haha sounds great, will watch with interest.

Off on my first ever camping trip on the bike this weekend. Got it loaded up and busting to get home from work now! I'm on a budget so no fancy panniers for me. You make your own fun though, no one needs a 1200gs to make it fun, in fact I'd wager you have way more fun on older cheaper bikes.

BM Steve · Guru

Hey Pricey, before you go ripping into your seat with angle grinders and knives, make yourself a set of these

Old plywood, some 50mm PVC tube, 60 and 100 grit sandpaper, contact adhesive

Trust me these tools are way more controllable, you will get a real smooth and accurate finish

Use a fine grain foam, I used some of that stuff you see in between concrete slabs, it's similar to that, maybe a bit finer

also camping mats are great, just build up your layers and shape with the sanding tools

That was the centre console armrest out of my Hilux ute, worked a treat.

pricey · Senior Member

Too late! Thanks for trying though wink I had a crack last night with the bread knife, a flapper disc on the grinder and some spray adhesive! biggrin

Good news is it actually came up ok. I put 5 layers of exercise mat on and shaped it up. Had to redo the bum bit as it looked too fat. Looks ok now. I've got a small ride tomorrow to check out the result. The foam I used was from an exercise matt. It seemed to rebound and hold its shape well. Time will tell.

i know, useless without photos. I'lll get some tomorrow.

-- Edited by pricey on Saturday 27th of August 2016 10:40:12 AM

-- Edited by pricey on Thursday 1st of September 2016 12:37:43 AM

ttr steve · Super Guru

Good stuff smile smile smile

TTRHead · Senior Member

I have a seat thats not been cut but its the blooming postage to oz that will stop you buying it lol. I only want £20 for it

pricey · Senior Member

Thanks for the offer Ttrhead but I'm not sure you'd get 2nd hand foam through customs. Steve was telling me a story about that the other day via email. But I actually think I've nailed the seat. It was as comfy as on my near death ride on Sunday. Steepest descent I've ever done on a bike. Moral of the story is don't follow google maps off road aww I took the shortest route option which was down a fire break that drops over 300m in a very short time. I thought the seat cover would've come with me when I hopped off I was puckering so hard. I was late for a meeting so couldn't stop to grab photos. I'll ride back and get some from the bottom soon. And yes I have no photos yet. Soon I swear biggrin

-- Edited by pricey on Tuesday 30th of August 2016 12:57:31 PM

pricey · Senior Member

Here's the next job. Waiting on the install kit from zen. evileye

pricey · Senior Member

And here is the seat after bodge session 2. Its bad lighting and really doesn't look too shabby in real life. Comfy too wink

BM Steve · Guru

That looks pretty darn good, where did you get the vinyl from somewhere local in Oz ?

BTW, an old James Bond fan are you ?

-- Edited by BM Steve on Wednesday 31st of August 2016 03:49:13 PM

pricey · Senior Member

BM Steve wrote:

That looks pretty darn good, where did you get the vinyl from somewhere local in Oz ?

BTW, an old James Bond fan are you ?

-- Edited by BM Steve on Wednesday 31st of August 2016 03:49:13 PM

Hey Steve,

The seat cover is an eBay special. Cheap and surprisingly good quality

http://www.ebay.com/itm/400471218067

And yep, don't mind the odd bond film. Ursula is a pretty cool shed poster too wink

BM Steve · Guru

I liked some of the earlier sean connery movies but the audio book are way better than the movies, really serious and gritty spy stuff

Doctor No.jpg

..

pricey · Senior Member

Had a great Father's Day. Got to ride the entire way around lake Eildon. Ended up being mostly road kms but was a blast. I swapped back to 5w oil on Friday night and the front end is nearly perfect now.

Here's the bike in the bush

And this is the road bit. 60kms of tight, twisty, totally empty bitumen along the Eildon-Jamieson road. Top bit of Tar.

Bike ran great and didn't miss a beat.

pricey · Senior Member

So managed some time in the shed on Saturday night. Got the "Zen Overland XR acerbis tank on a TTR kit" installed. Changed some of their m6 bolts over - for whatever reason the Zen kit has Phillips head screws that you need to fit the brackets to the tank. Now I'm not sure how you could possibly get a screw driver onto these bolts as the opposite tank lobe makes it impossible confuse .So I threw them in my collection and put 6 normal hex head bolts in instead. Much easier to tighten up with either a socket set or 10mm spanner wink .

Got to use the heatgun I got for Father's Day. Made plumbing the tank in so easy on a cold night evileye

First install with seat wrinkles

second install with the seat recovered (again furious and for like the 5th time!). I think it looks good. Next step is to whip up some brackets to raise the indicators. Would be great if the Zen kit had those

-- Edited by pricey on Monday 12th of September 2016 12:43:08 AM

BM Steve · Guru

I ditched my TTR blinkers and replaced them with these, there called "eagle eyes" from ebay

about $6 per pair, they come in orange and a few other colours

they work perfectly as blinkers, just hook up using the std 2 wires and away you go

I installed mine using rubber grommets

Mount straight into the hand guards slip them in, they never move

also they weigh only about 10grams each

they are super bright and only 3 watts each

krum downunder · Veteran Member

Heads up for next time Pricey, those wrinkles in the seat go away by themselves after a few days. you don't need to redo the cover :)

And great tip with those little led's BM Steve, just got myself a few off Aliexpress for 90c each.

TTRfan · Super Guru

I am guessing you need to put a couple of resistors in the circuit if you want the 3W LEDs to blink at the same rate as the originals Steve?

Our annual MOT test would pick up on them if they blinked too fast

BM Steve · Guru

They come ready to go with resisters

they blink at the same rate as the light globe blinkers I have on the back

I'm replacing all the blinkers on my DRZ with these, as well as the dash board light

at least I'll be able to see it during the day, I don't know how many times I have ridden for miles with the blinkers still going biggrin

pricey · Senior Member

krum downunder wrote:

Heads up for next time Pricey, those wrinkles in the seat go away by themselves after a few days. you don't need to redo the cover :)

And great tip with those little led's BM Steve, just got myself a few off Aliexpress for 90c each.

The wrinkles only disappear with a stock or vinyl seat cover krum. No way they were disappearing on the aftermarket gripper cover. Didn't take much to tighten it up.

And I like the original blinkers so am just going to make up some brackets. I have some stick on led blinker strips in my project drawer that would work but I kinda dig the old ones. And if you get lost and hungry you could always take them off and beat something to death with them... evileye

BM Steve · Guru

90c each, bargain biggrin

but is that for orange ones ? I couldn't find orange anywhere for that price

You know the nut on the back of these things weighs more than the whole unit , use a grommet if you can

pricey · Senior Member

Took the wee beasty into Melbourne today for a work do. It went awesome. Trying out a windscreen I got off ebay for $25. I made some screen brackets from a few nuts and threaded rod. Works awesome. Thinking of making the sticker above the headlight black so it fits in better. And it actually looks better in person than in a photo. Excuse the messy shed wink

I've done 270kms on this tank of fuel so far! Stoked evileye . Nice to finally have some fuel range.

Only 1000k on this rear tyre. Maybe 60% gone disbelief . Might have to get a 70/30 rear rather than this IRC 50/50. I tend to ride slightly more on road anyway. Do like the traction of a 50/50 off road but can't afford new tyres every 2000kms.

-- Edited by pricey on Friday 16th of September 2016 10:51:31 AM

Teddydrewsky · Member

I'm glad to see black seat looks good with blue. I just bought some black to cover mine with

petenz · Super Guru

try a Shinko 700 I getting 3000 plus k from them on the xt660...

...

-- Edited by petenz on Friday 16th of September 2016 11:20:28 PM

pricey · Senior Member

Thanks for the recommendation petenz. I seem to be notoriously hard on tyres for some reason. I only got 2500km on every tyre I tried on my fjr and the heidenau k60 on my old dr650 was completely shot by 3000kms. I'm a large mammal so maybe that's it? aww

Was thinking maybe an e07 as people claim big km's with them. Or something like a shinko 700 or sirac rear. Really don't want to lose traction off road but mileage and traction seem to be two things that don't mix.

-- Edited by pricey on Saturday 17th of September 2016 12:55:41 AM

pricey · Senior Member

A few images of my latest addition (top box from super cheap auto for a total of $24 wink ). Works great. Did a test run on Sunday and the box holds a bit of gear. Going to add a tool tube to either side I think. My test run involved a bit of bitumen and then some dirt. Road I went down was closed and I went over, around and under 30 or so tree . Was thankful for the light bike a number of times. Had my road gear on too which made it an experience! No photos as I was too busy trying to get home before my wife and kids

Added the rack I recently bought as well but swapped the top over from a piece of alloy (too short) and added a new $12 cutting board. Now don't have to fold my leg into origami to get it over the box like I did with the short alloy rack biggrin . Doesn't seem to move much either which is great. Used some wood m6 nut inserts in the cutting board and just drilled through the bottom of the box. High tensile m6 bolts. Sturdy as wink

-- Edited by pricey on Tuesday 25th of October 2016 07:55:51 AM

BM Steve · Guru

I have the exact same one, it felt quite top heavy when I first put it on but I'm used to it now

It's great being able to just walk away from the bike in the street and know your tools roll will still be there

when you get back, I have a small padlock on mine

Here's an interesting mod to the topbox, might do this or something similar

pricey · Senior Member

Had a bit of an epic little tour this morning. Went out in the Rubicon Valley and choofed up to the lower high country, just beside Lake Mountain. Thought I visit Keppel Hut. Bike must have been tired as it had two lie Downs on the way in

Actually the first was funny. I hit one bump, got deflected, into another bump and slightly airborne off the track. Landed in a bush laughing my arse off. biggrin Second off was too slow in 2nd gear, stall, and momentum on a steep as buggery hill wink

Anyway, here's Keppel's Hut. Nice little spot.

Have taken the screen off for summer. And have put the alloy rack on, rather than the chopping board combo rack I had on before. The chopping board gave me more room but was too flexi for my liking. Had to recover the seat again to make it fit. Had to shave the foam down one inch at the back. Also took the opportunity to make the bum area more comfy. Has worked out really well. Seat now doesn't look too fat which is nice.

Road past a peat bog and stopped for a photo. All in all a wicked morning out. Back home before the mercury hit 36 Celsius.

Nearly the entire area I was riding in was decimated by the black Saturday bushfires in 09. You can see some dead mountain ash in the background. I didn't get a photo but in some spots the dead forest stretches as far as you can see. Like riding in a petrified forest.

ttr steve · Super Guru

Great stuff Chris!

Thanks for posting smile

pricey · Senior Member

Did just under 300kms on Monday. Rode the bike the back way home from Boort in Victoria. Trailered it over as the sister in law needed to borrow the disco for a few weeks.

Used google maps to navigate as I'd heard that if you select bicycle as your transport type it takes you down backroads over highways. Was great. About 1/3 dirt at least and saw some great country I wouldn't have otherwise travelled through.

Had a little misshap when changing the oil before I left. I didn't re anneal the sump washer. When I went to unbolt it, the head rounded off straight away. Bummer disbelief . Couldn't get a spare in town over Xmas so used the bench grinder to grind it down to 11mm. Damaged the threads slightly but seemed to do up fine after I re annealed the washer. Developed a weep about 100kms into the ride, probably due to the damaged threads. Still read over half in the sight window by the time I got home so no big drama.

Took the plastic box off the back as everything was rattling to pieces inside. Will have to work out an internal tie down system. It also made it difficult to get on and off the bike. Might get a lowering link when I can afford it. Have my old Ventura tail bag on at the moment which is less waterproof but fits heaps more crap.

Here's a photo of my stop in Colbinabin along a back track. Great day of riding. I'll take a photo of the buggered sump.bolt when my new magnetic jobbie arrives from totally ttrs wink

-- Edited by pricey on Tuesday 3rd of January 2017 10:52:38 PM

pricey · Senior Member

These bad boys arrived this morning. Something exciting about a courier dropping off fresh rubber. Kenda 270 rear in 4.00 and a 760 Trackmaster 2 front. Went for these as they are relatively cheap and are 6 ply. Knobbie in the front and 50/50 rear will give me a combo of front grip off road and hopefully a few km's at the rear. The IRC tyres on the bike are nearly shot after 2000kms.

I'll report back on how they go.

-- Edited by pricey on Friday 6th of January 2017 12:00:27 PM

ttr steve · Super Guru

The smell of fresh rubber

pricey · Senior Member

Wasn't happy with the black screen so decided to whip up a freebie in the shed last night. Came up ok I reckon. Field testing tomorrow. It's 30cm high or 12 inches in the old money. Got the idea from the $6 windscreen thread (http://drriders.com/topic5258-70.html) on drriders (not a bad forum and a place where I previously spent some time wink )

Made a template and then cut up a lid to a nally brand box. For those in Oz that's the same brand as the old black plastic recycling crates before we had wheely bins. Nice and thick plastic. Attached with heavy duty velcro. Will see if it lasts. The stickers cover up marks and worn bits of plastic. That box lid had done 45,000kms off road around Australia so it had a few smile

And excuse the dirty shed in the background. 3 kids will do that to you.... biggrin

-- Edited by pricey on Sunday 12th of March 2017 09:35:57 AM

pricey · Senior Member

Fairing worked great on my quick 3 hour test today. Checked out another hut on my sojoirn- 15 Mile Hut near the Big River State Park. Did a few steepish tracks and the blue beasty went awesome evileye . Will have to head back there camping with the little ones.

Fairing keeps the wind off your chest and makes for much more comfortable highway blasts. Wind just hits the bottom of my helmet at no impediment to seeing at all. Also short enough not to be an issue on steeper tracks. Ace

pricey · Senior Member

Ps. I have no idea why my photos are all sideways. Yes it's annoying.

pricey · Senior Member

Getting stuck in to installing the new rubber. Got the rear tyre on after spending close to two hours on the removal of the old tyre Never in my life has a tyre bead refused to break like that IRC tyre. One of the reasons is I got the bike shop to change the tyres last time and they don't put any powder in. The goop they use dries like glue! I always use talc with tubed rims and generally only need a light touch with the spoons. Not this bugger. I even attempted to angle grind it off but the smoke annoyed me too much. I ended up finally breaking the bead with a g clamp and my big tyre lever biggrin

Changed chain and sprockets whilst there. Gone to a 47 rear - which should work well with the new Kenda k270 as it's about an inch taller than the IRC tyre. Another first for me- the master link clip broke in half when I went to clip it on. I must've been real naughty in a past life

Photos to follow. Too cranky to take any last night wink

-- Edited by pricey on Wednesday 26th of April 2017 01:04:06 AM

walkaboutboertjie · Veteran Member

Love the thread - thanks for posting and sharing!

Been busy with a similar project, turning my blue machine into a mini adventure tourer. They are just awesome little bikes indeed. Finally my XR tank has arrived, had the Zen mounting kit for a while - but the tank got misplaced in the post - but luckily still made it to me. Will try and fit this weekend, thanks for the tip on the hex bolts! Will go and get some before starting the fitting procedure. On that topic:

* did you use any other foam between the tank and the bike frame?
* a close up shot of the indicator mount to clear the tank will be kind ... good to see some ideas / designs before tackling it myself.

With not much of a workshop to speak of here in the city (something I am slowly building up as there is a bit of loose change for it), things are progressing slower than I would like. But in the meantime I am getting to enjoy the bike fully as my daily commute, and my weekend warrior.

Thanks again, great posts and lovely to see your riding terrain there.

ttr steve · Super Guru

Then Zen kits I sell, I replace all of the gutter bolt fixing's with the hex head type, as there is no screw driver known to man that fit's them pesky thing's properly

pricey · Senior Member

Thanks for the kind words walkaboutboertjie wink

No - I didn't put any extra foam or anything on the frame. It didn't seem to need it. I just had the tank off last week and there is no wear on the underside of the tank after 2000kms - so I don't think it's really necessary.

I'll get a photo of the modified brackets for you when I get the bike back from the repair shop (had a bit of a crash on the road and am getting insurance to fix it).

L

TerryK · Super Guru

Love all the modifications, I'm too slack to do so however I have a 11lt tank on the WRR & get 250kms without the low fuel light coming on. Would be a toss up which bike I turn into an adventure bike but food for thought.

Terry

pricey · Senior Member

Here's a few shots of the new rubber (pre crash biggrin )

And the front:

Love the new tyres. Rear is a little squirmy leant over but I'm not leaning that far with a Nobby front. Transformed the bike offroad. I now have fantastic grip and confidence in the front tyre of the dirt which is something I've never had before. The tyres do grip badly on oil covered bitumen roads - that much I do know evileye

walkaboutboertjie · Veteran Member

Sorry to hear about the incident pricey - hope it was nothing too serious?
Appreciate the feedback ... will then go the easy route and not try any padding between tank and frame. Makes my life a bit easier, hope to have it ready for the weekend after next where I need some fuel carrying capacity.

Terry, the WRR seems like a lovely machine as well, here in South Africa we only get the F.

pricey · Senior Member

Nothing too serious walkaboutboertjie wink Just hit a patch of oil, both tyres did out and next thing I knew I was on the bitumen road. Bent handlebars, hand guards, footpeg and sidestand got shortened slightly evileye not a mark on me. I'm ATGATT and wear a pressure suit and knee guards.

Biggest bugger was wrecking my brand new gloves on the first ride and my jacket.

TerryK · Super Guru

walkaboutboertjie wrote:
Sorry to hear about the incident pricey - hope it was nothing too serious?
Appreciate the feedback ... will then go the easy route and not try any padding between tank and frame. Makes my life a bit easier, hope to have it ready for the weekend after next where I need some fuel carrying capacity.

Terry, the WRR seems like a lovely machine as well, here in South Africa we only get the F.

The WR250R is a ripper, more power & better brakes but the TTR rear shock is better standard, love both the TTR & WRR..pretty lucky to own both

Terry

TerryK · Super Guru

pricey wrote:
Nothing too serious walkaboutboertjie Just hit a patch of oil, both tyres did out and next thing I knew I was on the bitumen road. Bent handlebars, hand guards, footpeg and sidestand got shortened slightly not a mark on me. I'm ATGATT and wear a pressure suit and knee guards.

Biggest bugger was wrecking my brand new gloves on the first ride and my jacket.

Be careful in case the tyres are not DOT approved, insurance companies look for anyway out

Terry

pricey · Senior Member

Tyres are both dot TerryK so all good wink

walkaboutboertjie · Veteran Member

Good to hear you are fine pricey ... never a nice experience though!
Had a few hair raising experiences in the wet whilst commuting here in Cape Town last winter, was DOT approved Michelin AC10's. I changed them out for the lesser known Kenda K280 front and rear (not the K270 as you are running - could not source them here unfortunately). The K280 just do not have enough off road credential - might try the Michelin T63 next and see, always a compromise having 1 bike as your do it all machine I guess. hmm

Steve pt · Member

Great read pricey Welldone hope your bike is sorted soon and good job you had your new gloves on😀

pricey · Senior Member

Steve pt wrote:
Great read pricey Welldone hope your bike is sorted soon and good job you had your new gloves on😀

Thanks for reading Steve wink And yep, glad I was wearing new gloves. Only my second stack on the bitumen in 20 years so not too bad I reckon.

I've been paid out for my riding gear and have already bought all new stuff (well second hand jacket and pants off ebay but don't tell anyone evileye ). Still waiting on the bike repair at the shop. Went in Thursday to see how it was progressing and he hadn't even got to it yet furious . 3 weeks and no work done. Getting cranky. Made that obvious. He said it'd be done by the end of next week. Yeah right - we'll see.

TTRfan · Super Guru

Ouch!!!

Tarmac is certainly a lot less forgiving than dirt Chris. Hope you get your TTR back soon.

Brian

pricey · Senior Member

So decided to do away with the rear mudguard guard. I bought a rack from an 81 Ag100 Yammie on line for $40. I cut the license plate hanger off, bent it in the vice, painted it up and bolted it on. I reckon it goes ok wink . Am using those led licence plate bolts. Nice and bright.

Best thing was it pretty much bolted straight into place. Score!