Trials Australia Forums

Greg Harding wrote:YES David, I suffer from it and lots of other things too!

Wow! That top photo sure set off my uncanny valley thingo.
It looks like someone added frame tubes under the motor to a TY250 frame. I know it's possible to do stuff like that but why would you?
Looks like it's got DT wheels. That might be a clue

David Lahey wrote: ..... It looks like someone added frame tubes under the motor to a TY250 frame. I know it's possible to do stuff like that but why would you? .....

Is "why would you?" the right question? Why wouldn't you?
Why wouldn't you go to a lot of trouble and effort to make a modification which adds extra weight and presumably reduces ground clearance for no perceivable advantage? And my guess is - somebody said "Because I can."

Following on from Greg's amazing showcase of Basket Cases and Barn Finds, my Barn Find TY250A, that came out of its hiding spot on Boyne Island just before COVID, was thrust into the limelight last weekend at the Gladstone All Bike Classic bike show.
Very sensibly the Barn Finds were on display at the opposite end of the show to the glistening old and new Italian and Japanese superbikes and megabuck Indians and Harleys.


Here are the entrants in Barn Find:




and the judges chose the trials bike!

Hi Everyone,

David Lahey wrote:Following on from Greg's amazing showcase of Basket Cases and Barn Finds, my Barn Find TY250A, that came out of its hiding spot on Boyne Island just before COVID, was thrust into the limelight last weekend at the Gladstone All Bike Classic bike show.

and the judges chose the trials bike!

Well done David, not surprising really as none of "Utilitarian ride to work bikes" have a story like "Mick Andrews" blazing his way around the world riding the !

Mark K wrote:

David Lahey wrote: ..... It looks like someone added frame tubes under the motor to a TY250 frame. I know it's possible to do stuff like that but why would you? .....

Is "why would you?" the right question? Why wouldn't you?
Why wouldn't you go to a lot of trouble and effort to make a modification which adds extra weight and presumably reduces ground clearance for no perceivable advantage? And my guess is - somebody said "Because I can."

Here are some more photos of that "A" model, I am not sure why either as it seems to be :
"What the hell were they thinking?"

On closer inspection, there are holes through the tubes presumably to mount a new bashplate and there is the age old argument that there should be frame tubes under the motor, what poppycock! Maybe the plastic/sheet metal bashplate failed and they wanted to start fresh?

You are right Mark, it has added weight and reduced the ground clearance by at least 20 mm......

Greg I agree with your logic about why they fitted tubes under the engine after the original bashplate falls apart.
You mention the metal-clad fibreglass bashplate being fragile. What about the first version that was just fibreglass which would have had an even shorter service life?

This TY250 bashplate is a home-made copy of the original made of super thick fibreglass and has survived pretty well.
It came fitted to a TY250B I bought in the late 1990s that also had a lot of other home-made things so I'm thinking the owner was fairly creative.
One other home-made thing I remember from that TY250B was the swingarm pivot inner bush didn't have the normal setup with a hole through it for the bolt. The home-made inner bush had a threaded hole in each end and was held into the frame by a hex headed bolt at each end.
Another thing was the rear brake backing plate axle hole had been re-bushed and they made the axle hole with much less clearance to the axle than the standard hole had. I'm thinking this was an attempt to improve the brakes but am open to other possibilities

This was a basket case about 20 years ago. Well not exactly a basket case, more of a scattered around two chook sheds, a cane farm workshop and the previous owners place of employment where he had accidentally left the carby in the ultrasonic cleaner.
A few months later it was rideable and this marked the beginning of 20 years of experimentation and restoration. Still not fancy all over but nice enough to look at and very nice to ride.
I've just put it together after rebuilding the motor, modifying the frame, modifying the forks, relocating the footpegs, painting the frame, making the rear wheel look fabulous and fitting new tyres. It sat completely disassembled (including the motor) for about 1.5 years so it was a bit of a challenge to reassemble it.
I took the photo to show the name board to the friend who made the lettering for me but might as well put it up here to add some flavour to the forum

Here are two sets of TY250 twinshock engine mounting bolts.
Today I am doing an engine swap between two twinshock TY250s and noticed the difference in the bolts. One set has hollowed heads and waisted middles. Both of these things are standard weight reduction methods found on many bikes.
My question is (and I don't know the answer) which model TY250 had the lightened engine mount bolts as standard?
I've done way too much swapping around of TY250 frames and motors to remember which bolts originally came with which bike but I seem to remember that my TY250A which came to me in a very original state had hollowed head bolts here and there (on the handlebar clamps and the upper fork tube clamp bolts) so I'm leaning towards the lightened bolts being from an A model TY250.
Can anyone confirm this theory or provide an alternative answer?

I can check for you, though not until this weekend David. I have a few A models that have never had the engine out.

Alastair

tat ty wrote:I can check for you, though not until this weekend David. I have a few A models that have never had the engine out.

Alastair

Thanks Alastair

I had today off work and did a motor swap in that . The A model motor that was in it started making a funny noise so I pulled the cylinder off and had a good look at things. It needs a rebore and a new conrod kit and I'll probably post up some photos later of the interesting things that I found inside.
I also fitted the blue Peter Paice Replica tank, seat and side covers, which better match the look of the B model engine.
The is now run-in and ready to ride trials on.
This coming weekend is a local trial and I'm still deciding which bike to ride.