New Toy - AT2E

[Colin Jay]

I picked up a new toy yesterday (Sunday 6-7-09). It's a 1971(?) AT2E. (E is for electric start)





I bought it from the original owner, who used it on his farm. It has 23044 miles on the clock and is very much complete, only missing the blinkers and having a recovered seat and modern handgrips fitted. I haven't had it running yet, but, the owner said it was running ok when he parked it in the shed, and I believe him as I work with his son, and know how they look after their machinery.

My long term plan is to clean it up, repace the chain, sprockets etc, maybe a rebore, but not to restore it.

I have also been thinking of not even cleaning it and riding it as is in the Bay to Birdwood Classic at the end of September (I have already entered to ride my 1964 Honda S90, and just have to get a change of machine approved by the organisers). Of course this is all dependant on getting it to run ok, and then getting it passed the local cops for a rego check.

CJ

[DG 26]

Eletric start ? crossedup2 will be  :'( he is sick of kicking his AT1 for 10 min to get it going  good find

[Nathan S]

Nice.

I might even get mine finished one of these days.
Let me know if you need any bits.

[vandy010]

very cool Col
one of these was on ebay a few weeks back and he mentioned electric start in his blurb. there were a few doubters in the questions directed to the add.
cool idea but why did yamaha put the electric leg onto a 125?
shoulda put it on them TT500 thingies

[mx250]

The Mighty AT1 . My first dirt bike . Electric start and all . One GYT kits and I was racing, DT, MX and Enduro . Gave it a good thrashing. On sold it to a mate as his first dirt and he did the same.

Great to see the humble AT1 being preserved .

[firko]

I had a ball back in the day thrashing the f*#k out of a little 125e a mate had "found" in the Sydney University car park.
The electric start option was funny as you could kick one over with your dick if you had to .
I was told that the electric start option was developed to attract female buyers and I guess it makes sense looking back to a time when the factories were still trying to work out their market demographics. It's ironic that the Yamaha DT range also included one of motorcycling historys most difficult to kickstart bikes, the legendary RT1/RT2. Imagine if they would have fitted the electric option to the bigger bikes. I reckon it would have taken the market by storm and changed the development history of the big bore trailbike. 

[mx250]

The electric start was seen as seriously 'uncool' for a dirt bike. It actually was a great feature (except for the weight of the starter genny and the battary ). Anyone who has been trail riding or Enduro and stall in a difficult position would appreciate the starter (as they do today). Come out of a creek, stall with one wheel on the bank and the rear wheel under water, precariously balanced on one foot, pull the clutch in, hit the starter and go - you will be converted . 

[mx250]

Hey Col. I was just thinking, you may have a historically significant bike. The AT1 might have been the first dirt bike with an electric start .

[Colin Jay]

I didn't think a little trailie would get the kind of responce it has!

The farmer I got it from bought it because of the electric start. It seams when you are using a bike as a working bike on a farm, just being able to push a button is a great sales feature. He now uses CT200A's, mainly for getting between the machinery sheds which are spread out over about 1km. He likes them because of the electric start and a semi auto tranny like the postie CT110.

When I was a first year apprentice, back in 75, one of the mates bought a DT125E, the updated version of the AT, and we gave him hell about it having an electric start.

I also have a fairly complete and original DT2 and the remains of a RT2 and a RT3 in the shed that I might oneday get around to doing something with, and as Friko said, an electric start would have been a godsend on thr RT's as there were always a pig to start. I will have to keep an eye out for a LT2 and a CT2 now to complete the collection.

Can anyone comfirm the model year for the AT2, the bike came with the original owners hand book, and the way I interpret the printing code on the back cover, the handbook was printed in May 1971.

CJ

[Colin Jay]

I finally got a chance to have a play with the new toy this morning (Sunday 19-7-09). After I put the 12v battery from my XT500 into it, cleaned out the carbie and washed the air cleaner, it started up 2nd kick! I rode it around my paddock for a few laps with the clutch held in as the pates were stuck together, but they eventually free off. It actually runs quite well for its age, a few rattles but no where near as bad as I expected. All the lights and horn even work. It won't start on the electric starter, but that is more a case of the battery not being big enough.

The farmer I got the bike from said the carbie used to stick at full throttle and that was the reason he eventually stoped using it. When I cleaned the carbie, I did find was that the slide was sticking in the body once it was above about 1/2 throttle. There were high spots (polish/scuff marks) around the air passages for the choke/enrichment circuit which are about 1/2 way up the slide bore of the carbie body. I honed these high spots down with a bit of 1200 wet/dry paper soaked in kero and the slide is free now.  Has anyone had or know of this being a problem with the carbies on these bikes?  I check the mounting flange with a straight egde and it is ok. I can't thing of anything else that would cause the body of the carbie to distort.

CJ

[vandy010]

Col,
if the carby's one of them flange mount jobbies then it may be overtightened to the reed block.
i'm not too familiar with the small bikes but when my RT1 was fitted with the flange type carby the throttle would stick if it was overtightened as it would distort the carby a little.
i used to back the tension off on the carby mounting bolts while working the throttle to find that happy medium.
they don't need to be as tight as one might think.

[Colin Jay]

Thanks Vandy,  the slide was sticking even when the carbie was off the bike. I check the mounting flange to ensure that it was flat, as I have seen them bent/bowed and distorted from being over tightened beforebut it was straight/flat. The gasket between the carbie and the reed block is home made so the carbie has been off at least a few times in the bikes life. I didn't see any signs of file marks on the carbie flange, but it is possible that it was distored through overtightening and has been dressed flat with a file, leaving the rest of the body slightly distorted.

CJ