Looking at a 2002 TTR 125
 

What's the general lifespan of these engines? Anyone know what compression it should show (I have a compression tester)? Anything else I should look for or know about?

The TTR is a play-bike, which means that its lifespan is forever if taken care of.

You going to mini-tard it?

Trail bike for the woman. And, possibly, pit bike for me.

You got to rebuild em just like any other dirt bike. Good news is parts are real cheap if you blow it up on these little bikes.

A quick search says compression should be around 150psi.

BS on the rebuild.

There are plenty of 20 and 30 year old dirt bikes and ATC's running around that have never been rebuilt.

I bought one of these for my wife as a wedding gift. I got her the 2003 version.

My advice, get the electric start version. Had I done that, my wife would likely still be riding it. Those things never started well in the cold.

All in all, I loved this bike for what it was.

Thing is, I want a bike I don't have to rebuild. I spend enough time in the garage with the race car, a 22-year old daily driver and two finicky Sweedes.

How cold? It's pretty warm here.

This bike is owned by a friend who's giving it up for a pretty good price.

All TTRs are electric(to my knowledge)

As long as you don't beat the crap out of it, it should last a few years before the rings need replacing.(ultimately requiring the piston to be replaced also) But it's less than a $200 job that takes 2 or 3 hours depending on your mechanical ability.

The newer ones are electric.

The older models were kick start unless they were the "L" model.

I want world peace, free gas, and the Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe.

Does it smoke?

Word on the street is, they suffer from valve guide/valve seal issues, even with low mileage.

Not a fan. Buy an old Honda if you like rear drums.

JC

I've seen a lot of them on the trails. Mostly women.

They're heavy and can't really get out of their own way, but that's kinda the idea when you're looking for a "woman's bike"

Of course I'm speaking of a TYPICAL non-riding girly girl and not the brute force "shaves twat with a dull axe" hard core riders some of us have run into :rockwoot:

Most of the ones for sale I've seen haven't been maintained very well.....but I'm really particular of my bikes anyway....I wash thoroughly pressurewash after every ride (except for close to any bearings, airbox or forks now thx to AMJ) and they look NEW when I roll them back out for the next ride.

Haven't heard of them having issues as a model PERSONALLY (meaning the people I know who have them just RIDE them and not constantly rebuilding, upgrading etc like my MX friends)

That's kind of what I'm looking for. She's never ridden anything and can barely drive a stick. She'll ride it at the "pit bike" track at Competitive Edge and some trails around here. And I'll ride it in the pits at Buttonwillow so I don't have to walk 100 miles to go pee.

Looking at it today. 150psi, check.

Another one to look for is the CRF230

I picked this 09 up over the weekend.....and it's pretty awesome! Not a great deal of power, and it's got a low seat height. Perfect for my wife. And you can find deals for just over $1000 if you look hard enough

And...it does a little wheelie :lol

Nice. This TTR was stupid cheap ($900). The motor had good compression (170 psi!) but the carb was acting up so it wouldn't start. I considered offering him $500 for the bike as is since it wasn't running but instead I just said to call us when the thing was running.

It's a nice bike.. Compression on mine is 150 and runs perfectly. Just recently it doesn't like to hold onto gasoline.. When the petcock is turned on or reserve it just pours out gas from the carb bowl clear breather tube.. Not sure what that is since I haven't looked at it.

With all that said, we've beaten the hell out of this thing (it's an 04) and it just keeps going, I've had to bend shit back in place for it to work (like the shifter) But I try to keep up with the oil at least.

Got it for more of a see if I like dirt bike riding. got it for 1k.

That's the same problem this one was having. Let me know if you figure it out.

Sounds like a stuck float, or a dirty needle valve.

JC

That's what I was thinking. I had actually looked at it but not tried to fix yet. Im assuming just take the bowl off and clean it out with some carb cleaner?

We un-stuck the float and it got worse. That's when I said "if you get it fixed, call me" and left.

I considered offering him $500 for the thing as-is (i.e. not running).

Well, if you get it fixed I'd be interested to know, probably not gonna take a look at it for a few weeks.

That may work, depending on how dirty it is. You might have to reset the float height, which would be easier to do with the carb off the bike.

Worse case scenario, you may also need to replace the float needle (cheap) because sometimes the little rubber tip wears out, and it won't seal properly.

JC

The problem was the floats? were in upside down. (I know fuckall about carbs.) He says it runs great now. We're looking at it tonight, and if she can start it, it'll likely come home with us.

You'd have to be a special kind of retarded to install floats upside down. I'd have to sit down for a while, just to figure out how to do that.

Ask him what else he's "fixed", before you take the plunge.

JC

Well we picked it up. 800 bux for a decently running bike, how wrong could we go? There's no water pump, e-start or FI to go wrong, it's just so simple.

Yeah, those floats weren't upside down, he was full of shit. It's pissing gas again. Goddammit.

See post #22

Or, just send me the fucking thing, and I'll rebuild it for you.

JC

It held gas long enough for her to crash into my car with it. Not a good start.