Let's try a KT

After trying to get the TL to ride well and figure out why it didn't have any power I came to the painful conclusion that the TL in stock form wasn't going to haul my big but up hills of any size or logs bigger than 3" in diameter!!!

After setting up sections with Murray and Joe and trying a few out on the TL, Murray Man let me ride his custom TMI framed TL-250. It handled great and had plenty of power. TL-250s have a reputation for being pigs but this one rode great????

When Murray pulled up on my TL-125 the first words out of his mouth were "How in the HELL do you ride that thing"!!!! I took another spin on the 125 and knew without megabucks pumped into the engine this just wasn't going to be the right bike for me even though I have always lusted for a TL-125.....

Anyway, Cowboy Joe, who has an insane surplus of vintage rigs offered to take my TL on trade towards a KT-250 that he had. After several kicks I turned the key to the on position and she fired up, first kick!!!!

Though this was a step up it still had it's expected vintage quirks and problems. Amazingly the bike was completely stock other than the handle bars, a missing tail light and the left hand grip. It even had a title to it!!!!

Anyway, the first thing I realized when I tried to ride my first event on it was that it had fork springs for someone about 70 lbs, rear shocks that might as well have been a hard tail and a frayed throttle cable that almost turned me totally away from vintage bikes all together!!!

After a little encouragement from a few valued riding buddies, I decided to put a few bucks into it and see if it made a noticeable difference.

I never got any "before" picture so here it is with updated bars, the lights stripped off, a number plate added, new fenders and stiffer fork springs installed.

Bunn Twinshock Preview

So here's what I went with. All I have done to it so far is to paint the pipe and touch up the frame a little with some Krylon.

I'm a little torn on how far to go with this project. I removed the tail section of the pipe to see if that had an affect on power and it definitely runs better without it. Obviously, I have a banana in the tail pipe.... I decided to do the basics as far as trying to get it to run properly and then I'll go from there.

Jim at Competition Wheels http://competitionwheelsandcyclesinc.com/ is going to do a full once over tune up and install new fork seals and wipers. If it is still weak power wise I'll decide how far to go at that point.

TL-125

So I picked up a TL-125 and have decided to try and restore it enough to have a little fun in a few vintage events. This is probably not the best bike in the world to start off on considering my size but I've always wanted a TL-125 so we'll see how it goes.

On my short list of things to do to this bike; get the motor running as good as possible and paint the frame and pipe.

If I really wanted to go overboard pretty much everything on the bike could be tweaked or overhauled. i am just looking for fun and something to play around on so this will be a middle of the road restoration job.