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To go vintage or not to go vintage

Yinzer Moto

Yinzer Moto

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 25, 2022
Member Number
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2,781
Location
Pittsburgh
That is the question….


I don‘t have much time on vintage bikes but a year or two ago, I rode a Yamaha TY350. It was very clean and rode really nice. It might be much newer than what many call true vintage. The mono shock disqualifies it from some competition. Then I read about 350 pistons being unavailable. Sometimes I think a vintage bike might be fun but then I go looking for parts and get discouraged.

I do enjoy being able to text my TRS dealer and then parts just show up on my doorstep.

A clean TY80 might be fun but for how long?

We are heading to AMA vintage days this weekend, I might try to bring a bike home.
 
I'm fixing up a 1982 XS400 - its shaping up, but the tank was a hideous disaster- rusted out right around the tank at the fuel level- probably only 2/3'rds the steel was left around that ring. I putty'ed it, lined it with POR15 which might work out. Not many tanks on ebay.

Wasn't able to find well-matched tires but ended up with two Kenda's. While I'm messing with the tank the bike is running ok on a little dirtbike tank and its riding ok fooling about in the parking lot. The brakes are ok-ish, suspension is... ehh.. there at least. A fair number of the consumables (brake parts, pads, filters etc) are available on ebay and similar.

I'll flip it for sure once its dialed in- for me not a replacement for a more modern bike but certainly enjoyable to wrench on.
 
Any part can be made. With current state of CNC milling, bending, welding, and so on. 3D printing, and easy access to composites. It might not be cheap, but it's available.
 
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Some vintage bikes are supported in the parts marketplace, some with many new manufacture parts

Some are not

If you are not prepared to do improvisation/modification etc for service, it'll pay to do your market research on whatever bike you're looking at

Vintage bikes can be a lot of fun to own and ride and maintain
They can also be money pits that provide endless frustration
 
My first attempt at trials almost 20 years ago, on a 1984 Fantic 300 Pro twin shock. I think I would have stuck with it, had I started on a modern bike. The second attempt was on a new 2017 Gas Gas125, and then a 2018 Scorpa 125. I got hooked and have stuck with it. We have a nice local vintage series, so I bought a TY175. I sold it because it was so different to ride, than my modern bike. I got the bug again about a year later, so I bought a nice Fantic 240 Pro. Once again the style of riding was too different for me to wrap my brain around and I sold it. I finally decide to look for a newer air cooled mono shock model, which was legal for the series. I found a '87 Beta TR34, the same model that Jordi Tarres ushered in the modern age of trials. It has disc brakes and a clutch that works much more like a modern bike. There's not much change to my riding style to ride it. It gets ridden in about 3-4 trials a year, and a little bit of practice. If I have a choice, I'm riding my '21 Beta 200, but the vintage bike gives me the opportunity to ride venues and with people I wouldn't get to ride with otherwise.
 
Edit: I just realized I posted in the trials section, but it still has some merit.

Back story:

I retired a year and a half ago along with my best friend and coworker. He has a Honda CRF250L dual sport and moved to Montana. I promised to visit him and go on a dual sport ride. I had the dirt and street covered but no dual sport bike. Enter the stupid Covid prices on everything recreational. I wasn't about to pay $4K for a clapped out DRZ400. What did I do? The opposite and bought a basket case roller '87 Honda XL600R with a box of old questionable parts for $400... Yep, that comes with its own challenges!

Here's the lesson that I learned: Have another bike that is reliable, low maintenance and that you can just ride while working on your project. Next, stick with mainstream brands that you have a reasonable chance of finding parts new or used. Models that were in production for years are a bonus. Even though the XL600R is similar to the still in production XR650L, yet there are more parts that do not interchange. Sometimes part numbers change but the actual part is the same which adds to research confusion. Having a reliable yet not period correct machine was my goal. I worked my way through fueling and electrical challenges while trying to keep my total budget under $2000. There's a point to just purchase something much newer and current.

If you have deep pockets then go for it, because at that point it just doesn't matter! For the rest of us peasants it doesn't take much to end up with a pile of parts that no one wants... I got lucky and ended up with a solid reliable runner that went on that promised Montana dual sport ride. The bike did the job and I was able to sell it, even made a few hundred dollars on my investment (after $5000 worth of my time :lol3). Hey it's a hobby!

You learn a lot along that journey. It's satisfying. It's also a relief when you sell it. In my case very few people are interested in old big bore kickers. It's a limited audience. It really boils down to what you are willing to put up with.:photog

Here's a pic of my old bike adventure.


20220324_125839.jpg
 
Nhuskys said:
My first attempt at trials almost 20 years ago, on a 1984 Fantic 300 Pro twin shock. I think I would have stuck with it, had I started on a modern bike. The second attempt was on a new 2017 Gas Gas125, and then a 2018 Scorpa 125. I got hooked and have stuck with it. We have a nice local vintage series, so I bought a TY175. I sold it because it was so different to ride, than my modern bike. I got the bug again about a year later, so I bought a nice Fantic 240 Pro. Once again the style of riding was too different for me to wrap my brain around and I sold it. I finally decide to look for a newer air cooled mono shock model, which was legal for the series. I found a '87 Beta TR34, the same model that Jordi Tarres ushered in the modern age of trials. It has disc brakes and a clutch that works much more like a modern bike. There's not much change to my riding style to ride it. It gets ridden in about 3-4 trials a year, and a little bit of practice. If I have a choice, I'm riding my '21 Beta 200, but the vintage bike gives me the opportunity to ride venues and with people I wouldn't get to ride with otherwise.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think going vintage right from the start is not a great choice. I am looking at it because it would move me back a couple competition classes, to smaller obstacles. The TY350 felt very close to a modern bike. Sure the brakes were weak and the clutch was heavy but it all worked well.

Are there trials specific drum brake pads?
 
Yinzer Moto said:
Yeah, I think going vintage right from the start is not a great choice. I am looking at it because it would move me back a couple competition classes, to smaller obstacles. The TY350 felt very close to a modern bike. Sure the brakes were weak and the clutch was heavy but it all worked well.

Are there trials specific drum brake pads?
Click to expand...

Speed & Sport relines brake shoes with hi-friction linings and turns them to match diameter of the drum. Once bedded, they're by far the best shoes I've tried.
 
Yinzer Moto said:
Yeah, I think going vintage right from the start is not a great choice. I am looking at it because it would move me back a couple competition classes, to smaller obstacles. The TY350 felt very close to a modern bike. Sure the brakes were weak and the clutch was heavy but it all worked well.

Are there trials specific drum brake pads?
Click to expand...
Certain brands may have better brake shoes available? Drum brakes, especially in the wet east are a dark art... arching brake shoes, extending brake actuating arms, bigger cams. I lived through all this multiple times with enduro bikes in the day, racing vintage for 10 years and my first Fantic.
 
Yinzer Moto said:
Yeah, I think going vintage right from the start is not a great choice. I am looking at it because it would move me back a couple competition classes, to smaller obstacles. The TY350 felt very close to a modern bike. Sure the brakes were weak and the clutch was heavy but it all worked well.

Are there trials specific drum brake pads?
Click to expand...
In Trials Inc. it is ok to convert a air cooled mono to twinshock.
Air cooled,drum brakes,cable clutch, 2shocks one on each side of the rear wheel.

Brake shoes machined to fit your drums helps.

It’s plenty of fun to ride a Air Mono anyway.
A Honda Cr lever has better leverage ratio,and I had a extender on the clutch arm on the TY350 I had years ago. Finger action.
 
Yinzer Moto said:
That is the question….


I don‘t have much time on vintage bikes but a year or two ago, I rode a Yamaha TY350. It was very clean and rode really nice. It might be much newer than what many call true vintage. The mono shock disqualifies it from some competition. Then I read about 350 pistons being unavailable. Sometimes I think a vintage bike might be fun but then I go looking for parts and get discouraged.

I do enjoy being able to text my TRS dealer and then parts just show up on my doorstep.

A clean TY80 might be fun but for how long?

We are heading to AMA vintage days this weekend, I might try to bring a bike home.
Click to expand...

Yamaha's TY175 is a popular choice. Parts are readily available. They share many parts with other TY and enduro models. Lots of after market parts can be purchased from the UK. The upgrade/improvement path for the 175's is well trod. The sky is the limit on mods, but a bolt on wide peg relocation kit (tyoffroad) and decent longer rear shocks are enough to get you going.

My ty175 was purchased at Vintage Days a few years back for about 1K. It ran, but was really rough. Last year I only saw one for sale and it went for crazy money. There's typically a few yellow tank ty250s for sale. If you see a powder blue aluminum tank ty250, that's the best year for the 250's.
 
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It depends on the specific bikes, and the users attitude and expectations equally as much.
Parts can be a problem but is not insurmountable in most cases.
If you are going pre 65 for example, its how you view the term pre 65.
It can be that it means just that and you stick to the true spirit of the class, right down to the frame and the old suspension etc.
Or as is getting increasingly popular a brand new trials frame perhaps incorporating genuine period frame lugs yet with a new design frame very different to the real pre 65 frame styles. And ditto the suspension .
Both these options and perhaps differing themes of the above too, can make for interesting bikes that are probably more fun to ride and more competitive than the real pre 65s.
The twin shock classes are again a bit of a mine field, in that the modern twin shock course route layout is typicaly based arund the more modern trials bike style sections, and not near the typical back in the day layout at all.
And as such smaller bikes like the fantic 200 or perhaps the 240 are evermore popular choices today and probably more so than back in the day.
 
I've been thinking of going vintage since I may have found the solution to the two common complaints of vintage bikes, the stiff clutch and weak front drum brake. It's a magnetic clutch that may be also used on the front brake lever. I'll have to try it out on my 1983 Honda XL250 front brake. Here is a review.
enduro21.com

Tested: Motos Davins ‘Magnetic Clutch’ – forearm fatigue fixed?

Enduro21 gets to grips with the Motos Davins Magnetic Clutch, a simple mechanism developed by a rider to reduce hand and forearm fatigue when riding off-road.
enduro21.com enduro21.com

I made my own from neodymium magnets from Home Depot, the ring model, and it works great on my 1998 YZ250. The more you pull in, the less effort. One version I made the clutch would stick open. With my dog leash strap and extended lever it is very light and almost no effort fully pulled. My 4RT clutch is a little too stiff for my so I am going to put some magnets on the lever.
 

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Yinzer Moto said:
That is the question….


I don‘t have much time on vintage bikes but a year or two ago, I rode a Yamaha TY350. It was very clean and rode really nice. It might be much newer than what many call true vintage. The mono shock disqualifies it from some competition. Then I read about 350 pistons being unavailable. Sometimes I think a vintage bike might be fun but then I go looking for parts and get discouraged.

I do enjoy being able to text my TRS dealer and then parts just show up on my doorstep.

A clean TY80 might be fun but for how long?

We are heading to AMA vintage days this weekend, I might try to bring a bike home.
Click to expand...
The TY350 is a great looking bike! A while back, I refurbished a Suzuki RL250. Some of the parts were interchangeable with the RM250, which is a more common bike. You might check to see if there is a common Yamaha 350 with usable parts. If not, what about a TY250? That engine sure looks like a YZ250.

My RL250
20220212_083344.jpg
 
I'm 5'11 and a TY175 is too cramped for me personally. My TY250 fits much better. Probably the least exotic of the twin shock bikes but spares are everywhere as well as things like new exhausts. It always starts and runs, the spanish bikes a little less so, at least in my garage
 
Yinzer Moto said:
A TY 250 twin shock is probably my ideal bike. It would qualify for the most classes of vintage riding.

Although a TY80 is really high on the list, just so I can ride with Brewtus in a few weeks.
Click to expand...
I’m sure you know this already but the TY175 is a much better choice than the 250 for someone like yourself who rides a modern bike as well. Much lighter and you can make them work very well.
 
YmirTrials said:
I’m sure you know this already but the TY175 is a much better choice than the 250 for someone like yourself who rides a modern bike as well. Much lighter and you can make them work very well.
Click to expand...

I did not know that, I am not real familiar with all of the vintage bikes. I’ll see if I can get some peg time on a 175.
 
Transitioning from a vintage trials bike after riding modern...sucks. It's hard to get beyond how horrible they are to ride. Plus I'd rather ride than trying to chase parts and working on some old HOS with lousy brakes, high effort clutch, non existent suspension... Vintage bikes are cool to look at and reminisce, but the good ole days sucked in many ways.

i-K4brgF9-XL.jpg
 
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