eBay RL250

[Doc]

that subliminal shit don't work on me col 

truth is it probably won't happen

1. I'd have to find a more or less complete bike because of the reason you stated with parts availability.

2. If I did find a bike in that condition I doubt I'd have the coin to purchase it anyway.

3. If I bought another trials bike I'd like it to be a modern with all the bells and whistles

hmmm..maybe that sublim stuff did work..thanks! 

I piss myself everytime I watch this little vid..it reminds me so much of me but I only need 1 itty log to end up with exactly the same result. This is what trials is all about!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWr-VTwUGuQ

[lukeb1961]

ha ha ha! that's Gold! Gold! Gold!  Makes me want to rush out and... laze on a beach somewhere and think of England.

[mx250]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Motorbikes/Motorbikes/Classic-vintage/auction-160130543.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Motorbikes/Motorbikes/Classic-vintage/auction-159224779.htm

Please form an orderly que to the right......

[Doc]

hmmm..the $650 one has less than 1000klm's on it!    Great prices but unfortunately in the wrong state

[David Lahey]

It has slow steering and a comparatively long wheelbase but this matched with wide TS250 ratios in 3rd 4th and 5th make for a bike that is more like a super super light trailbike to ride. The grunt of several angry mountain goats down low, the weight of a 125 or less and they are stable at 60mph on the open fire trails. Something that scared the piss out of me on my brothers twitchy TY was anything over 60kph.

Doc have you done any trail riding on your RL on soft sand tracks yet?

[David Lahey]

Firko whaddyamean your Maico trials bike looks ugly - I reckon it looks great and I'm just about to post that photo on the trials website to stir things up a bit.
You VMX guys may already know that Rob Wager has been trying to build a KTM twinshock trials bike for a while now and this may give him a bit of motivation.

What's the story on that Maico and apart from looking horn is it any good to ride?

David Lahey (twnishock trials nut)

[David Lahey]

Heres a photo of a Beamish for reference

[Doc]

No feetup, so far it's been everything except sandy conditions. The only 'quick' work I did was on a very hard dry loose fire trail and it was ok (for a trials bike) you need to watch that front end and shift the weight forward accordingly though. I imagine with it's rakish rake it could be a right pig in sand simply wanting to plow straight seriously thinking building a dirt tracker out of the second RL..nice and light, drop it down, a bit of glasswork for the tank seat assy and run a TM engine within RL cases..different

[David Lahey]

The reason why Beamish Suzukis are more common than the standard Jap RL250s is that there was huge buyer resistance to the standard ones and the same happened in the other big potential market (the USA). Suzuki Japan ended up giving many thousands of leftover RL250s (numbers produced were many thousand more than total worldwide sales) to the UK Suzuki Importer (Beamish) after they proved that they could make use of them (and improve the Suzuki image) by selling them in a form that people wanted to ride.

While aftermarket frames were made for the Jap bikes and some Spanish bikes, standard TYs and KTs and TL125s also sold very well while the standard RL250 did not. For the same reason that the standard RL250 did not sell well, Honda wisely did not market the TL250 in the UK.

[David Lahey]

Doc theres a story on the web somewhere about a bloke who successfully converted his RL250 for MX use and it is aparrently pretty good. I'll have a look for it.
The bit about the soft sand is because when I was a little tacker I went on a trail ride on Straddie with my trail riding trials bike buddies. John Heidemann had an RL250 and the rest were TY175s. The first soft sand John got about 3 metres before tankslapping to a standstill with him on his ear. The smart arse other riders quickly told John how you need to get back over the rear and nail the throttle in soft sand and he was such a woos for falling off. Off we go again and the next soft bit he got 4 metres in this time before falling off. Meanwhile all the TYs were just cruising through the sand and wondering if we would ever get anywhere that day. Anyway that was enough for the most impatient smartarse (me) so I swapped bikes to "show" John how to ride soft sand and of course I got about as far as John had before going on my ear on the RL. No matter what we tried, it was a disaster in soft sand.
I'm a slow learner though and crashed John's RL once more a few months later doing trials stuff. From then on though I've been sworn off RL250s and have lived happily with every other trials bike I have ridden in the last 35 years.  I have nothing but amazed admiration for people who ride them successfully in trials.

[pokey]

Bloody UNZUD . hmmmI wonder if the girl is thinking about my next 3 years of  birthdays.


Was just checking the specs out for the RL on suzukicycles.org and noted it uses a Keihin PWK28 carb and not the regular Mik like on all the other 2T Suzis . I wonder why they chose that option

 

[David Lahey]

Heres one especially for Doc
This was taken on day 1 of the Queensland Trials titles held last weekend up in the mountains near Toowoomba

[Doc]

mmm..orange eh..different thanks feetup 

I'm by no means saying I can ride trials or the RL is a good trials bike. I kinda agree that it is not a good trials bike and I also think the RL185 project I had on the go a few years back or a '69 Peter Gaunt 118cc replica would be a better option. I have a good basis for a 'Gaunt Suzuki' but I just don't have time to piece it together yet

I'd probably look something like this and yes it is as fugly as a hat full of arseholes but it's non production and something I probably could replicate for little cost 


Doc Gaunt

I think DT for the RL , the frame breaking would always worry the hell outa me if it were ridden MX 

Pokey, the std Jap RL has a 28mm 'kuni, rumor has it, apparently the gun setup is a Mikuni 26mm or sleeve the original back, fit a flywheel weight, add a reed setup, sort the pushrod clutch, fix the frame then it may become rideable. Sounds like a lot of trouble just to go slower. 

[vmxrider]

I love the look of the RL and they were a great all round fun bike. Haven't ridden one since 1975, but as 15 year old kids we could pull seemingless endless wheelies on one of these things. Bought a TY a few years down the track but it just didnt have the fun factor of the RL.

[pokey]

 I really should read the entire page . the Keihin is fitted to the 350 RL.

 thought it od being as the RL engine is pretty close to the savage not to have a Mikuni.

 That 185 project aint as silly as it first may sound , pretty torquey lil engine the 185.

 yeah i know its a sickness but i love em