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

Kaos -

I feel like an idiot for not noticing it's potential. I literally put it away and forgot about it. As for part collecting... after my wife rejected the bike, I thought I would convert it to dual sport and ride it on the coast and do some light overlanding. The US models are not street legal but it is possible to get them registered if you jump through the right hoops. From there, I went through the thought exercise of competing in enduros, harescrambles, and generally ruining the machine. Ultimately, life got in the way and I would buy the odd bit as I thought about it. The parts pile is pointed at maintenance and DS conversion but after taking a closer look at it, I'm not so sure that makes sense anymore...

Tripodtiger - 

I think you're right, this is more of a 'basic maintenance and minor repair' project than a resurrection. Did you happen to document your build?

In Eastern/Coastal NC, riding season is all year. We do have an occasional snow but it doesn't accumulate much and disappears quickly. The real problematic weather is ice storms and hurricanes. Ice storms cover everything in 1/4" or more of ice and are dangerous - fortunately they only occur once every few years. Hurricanes, well, they happen seasonally and tend to decimate whatever they land on.

tripodtiger wrote:

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I also find it interesting that US Yamaha didn't make the bike comply with road legalities. Can you make it road legal?

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It seems that there are differences between States but I found a thread showing how it can be done here - https://ttr250.activeboard.com/t49719249/street-legal-a-tt-r-250/

Brian

Valve lash was in spec and the cam drive is very clean

This may be of interest - I believe that this carburetor was OEM and never serviced before I disassembled it...

I did not expect to find a #134 main. The US model specification is #50 pilot and #137 main. What happened here? This bike ran very poorly for the 10 minutes I let it run.

For the US market (and likely others) Yamaha pushed a progressive line of dirt-only trail bikes - all in a TTR family. 50cc, 90cc, 110cc, 125cc, 225cc, 230cc, and 250cc versions were available and all were blue. The idea was to introduce riders early and to promote brand loyalty (XR, KLX, DRZ series were similar). The problem was that machines like the WR250R, XT225, XT250, and the TW200 were already street legal and the TTR250 did not have the benefit of the older, more relaxed emission restrictions like the XTs. I speculate that a legal TTR250 was eliminated from consideration because it could not meet the emission restrictions at the time of US introduction (1998) and competition with the long running XT225 and TW200 was counter-productive. Despite the universal enthusiasm for a small bore dual sport, these bikes languish on showroom floors for years sometimes in the US. The prevailing trend in this market is that bigger is better and every 16 year old child with a learner's permit needs no less than 1000cc for their very first motorcycle.

It's true that each state mandates if and how a machine like the TTR250 can be made legal. Some states are relatively easy to deal with while others are strictly prohibitive. In the case of North Carolina, the simple option is to document the DS conversion and claim that the machine is self-built to register it as new. If accepted, the 1998-2006 Yamaha TTR250 would then be titled and registered as a 2019 Fat Leopard Special.

Some tire and wheel work - I discovered the rear axle was installed backward in the process.

Everything in the rear checks out. Close up of some of the new graphics - I had more trouble than expected installing these.

No issues in the front end either. 

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

Still several details to sort out but this one is ready to ride some.

In the meantime, my wife has been eyeing the new build with interest. She unexpectedly bought herself MX pants and helmet recently. Maybe she ends up with it after all?

Looking great!

How did you get on with the tank decals? My Enjoy Mfg ones have always needed trimming to fit properly.

Also the RH side panel has a tricky curvature such that I always let a mate, with more experience than me, fit that one.  He uses hot water from a kettle rather than a hot air gun which is what I use.

Regarding the seat, I think Enjoy do a cover with blues sides and a black top panel which would look really good 

Brian

Brian,

I want to thank you for your substantial content contribution to this community. I scoured your posts relative to graphics and found a ton of useful information. Honestly, I had difficulty with the Enjoy kit installation and lost patience more than once. The right side panel was the second bit I attempted which resulted in some creative trimming - don't look too closely. I did not follow your pre-trim approach on the tank set in favor of trimming to suit after application. All I can say is that it "worked" - stop peeking. I did use a method that may be of interest otherwise:  I cut a narrow strip out of the backing paper to expose a little adhesive then placed the decal firmly but with less commitment. That allowed me to back-peel a section at a time controlling the sticky monster.

I have a black gripper seat cover that I think will look good. I stopped using OEM vinyl covers for any serious dirt riding because it gets too slippery. Since I ride like an escaped felon at every opportunity, gripper seat it is.

Ttboof,

That settles it then - I will recover the OEM seat in gripper skin .

Brian,

Your builds have inspired me to keep the TTR instead of dumping it years ago. I love the look of this one:

I do like the blue/black seat cover.

Night riding now possible. 

I think that a modern headlight exchange is in the near future and possibly auxiliary driving lights. Underwhelmed by the stock headlight.

Great job! I hope the ride goes well