After the unfortunate demise of my TZ250 at the Quinte TT in June 2007, I thought that building a new bike would be a much easier choice than fixing the TZ. I reviewed my current inventory and decided that there wasn't anything that I could put together in a short time without a great deal of effort. So I went over to my friend Wataru Takahashi's shop to see what he had that might work. In amongst the NSR and RGV 250's the was not one, but three TZR250's. Since I already had a TZR250 motor on the shelf I picked the TZR with the motor in a box and which also had bigger rims. Turns out, it was the somewhat rare 2XT model, made for production racing in Japan.

This picture was taken in late June after picking up the bike. I had already stripped off the major items before rolling it up on the workbench. The tail section, taken from a RS250, was chosen for its fit and period looks but I plan to replace it with a proper tail section for next year.

This is the TZR ready to go, late July. The complete overhaul included new steering head bearings, swingarm bearings, wheel bearings and fork seals. All nuts and bolts were cleaned and greased, right down to the shock linkages and everything in between. New tires and new exhaust pipes were also installed, although the mufflers are different. I had to fabricate a new one to replace the one that was missing. Stock upper was installed but without the handcuffs.

Here I am going out for another session at a Shannonville trackday mid August. Note the grind marks on the bottom of the exhaust pipes. These pipes hang way to low and clearance is a major issue. At almost every corner I'm draging the pipes and sometimes so much that the rear tire is coming off the ground. Carburator jetting has been updated to the TZR250 F3 specs and it runs much better.

Late August, and I have a few weeks before North Bay to change a few things. The battery that powers the tach is now located where the headlight used to be and spacers have been installed to move the pipes in and up for more ground clearance.

North Bay is a bit of a bumpy track, so I had to soften the suspension which put me right back to where I started, draging pipes everywhere. Gearing is way off just like at Shannonville, just too tall for all the infield tight stuff. I could really use 4 teeth on the rear sprocket.

Late in the season, but with truly wonderful weather, for a track day at Cayuga. Gearing continues to be a problem, 1st is too short and 2nd is too tall. And I'm still dragging those damn pipes. I should really do something about that.
My wish list for next year keeps getting bigger and bigger.

See what I mean? Here I am, coming around the last two corners before the front straight and the bike is leaned over as far as it will go. You could hear the grinding of the pipes in the pits, even over the racket of my noisy exhaust.

So for next year I need new exhaust pipes, the correct TZR tailsection, a fiberglass F3 front fairing,
clip-ons, 34mm carbs with new intake manifolds, carbon fibre reeds and sprockets.
Lots and lots of sprockets.

CONTACT ME AT TIMOTHY@NAUGHTYBOYMOTORRACING.COM