scooterspal

I came up with a simple fix for the burnt decomp cable on my TLR200. As you know the cable touches the rear heat shield on the exhaust pipe and it gets burned through to the metal guard. What I did was take a short section of fiberglass sheath like the that used by the theatrical lighting industry. While it may singe over time it will never burn through even with a direct flame appiled. I then dipped the ends in PlastiDip (like used for your tool handles to make them non-slip) to prevent the ends from fraying apart. Before I slipped this over the cable I patched up the missing section with Permatex Ultra Black Silicone sealant. This is good for up to 500 degrees. The photos show the results.

Can someone tell me if this shift linkage should have the bends in the two ends that mine has? It shifts fine and I'd just leave it alone but I'd like to know if the bends are supposed to be there. Thanks!

There are two used TRL200 air boxes on Ebay USA right now. One for $37 and the other for $49. Will these work on your TLM 200 I wonder? The one for $49 looks to be the better deal condition-wise. He says he ships worldwide. air box 1 air box 2

This is true and here is the complete description from their site "WATER GROOVED EBC aluminium series brake shoes are made using high pressure Die cast alluminium platforms with bonded brake linings. All shoes are radius ground and edge trimmed and also feature lead in and lead out chamfers at lining ends and original equipment style brake shoe springs. The multiple angled liner grooves are designed to channel away dirt, dust, water and debris from the braking area to improve braking and extend shoe and drum life." Has anyone tried them and are they effective?

I just purchased some new shoes made by EBC brakes. They have these deep grooves cut into them at a diagonal. Have not installed them as yet. The grooves should, as I understand it, help to dissapate the heat but perhaps they will also allow the brake powder to be cleaned off the drum and moved to the inside. Therefore, allowing the remaining brake material to continue to grab better. Any thoughts?

Along the same lines of this posting... Can someone tell me what is the smallest front sprocket that will fit and still use the OEM bolts and locking collar?

I decided to go with new Falcon shocks from the UK. Should be an improvement over what I have now. The Betors were almost an inch longer than the OEM's and I was told this could affect stability

Those bikes are brand new... not 1980's bikes. We need someone to go to Japan and find out what the heck is going on over there. Who will volunteer for this mission?

What happens when you get caught with the Gas Gas without a plate? Just curious.

So is this a currently made model? These bikes look brand new.

I may be way off... bit that fuel tank looks an awful like the one on my 1986 TLR... less the dent on one side . I have sent an email to a contact in Taiwan to see if he can identify it for us. He sells new third party Honda parts and may know something. BTW: I was told that many of the Honda parts....lights and things... actually are made in Thailand. Anyone care to comment? I bought some brand new replacement tail lights and they are as good as or better than the OEM's on my TLR.

Seems I'm the only one posting these days but if there are others out there who care to take part in the discussion... Can anyone identify this Honda? Which Honda is it? BTW: The video was apparently shot in 2006

UPDATE: Caswell is a plating company with offices in the UK and in Australia... as well as the US. They can and will import the Duplicolor paint on special order. From Caswell UK: Caswell UK We can order this in from the USA but it would be classed as a special order, so we would need pre-payment. Our next order goes in at the end of August and takes approx. 14 days to turn around. Costs will be as follows : 6 x Chevy Orange-Red @

There was nothing left to scrape. More like a heavy dark brown stain than material you could get a blade under.

Please watch this video and tell me if you think the same technique can be used on an OEM TLR 200 gas tank.

I can tell you that finding a TLR 200 was not that easy for me here in the Northeast part of the US. The only one I did find in my area.. and that meant driving 5 hours... had all the street legal parts removed and sold off and even with that he wanted $1600. I was looking for one that I could still ride on the street. In the end I found my TLR halfway across the country and had a fellow truck it in. The cost was $900 for the bike and $300 for the trucking. I will easily be spending another $300 to $400 plus loads of my time to get the bike back in top shape. Still less than the first bike and it will be street legal and in nearly mint condition!

After spending almost 2 weeks trying to clean the last few remaining remnants of my old head gasket (1986 TLR200) and after having tried every chemical I could lay my hands on... all with no luck whatsoever... I finally hit on something that worked. Actually, it was staring me in the face every time I washed my hands My so simple solution was to use a pumice block. The kind ladies use to remove callouses from the soles of their feet. Mine happened to have a stiff brush on the top and I bought it not for the pumice but for that brush to clean my finger nails. Here's what I did. I wet the top of the head with water and then sprinkled baking soda all over. I soaked the pumice block in water and then dipped that in the baking soda. Using small circular movements I went to work on the gasket material that was baked into the head. It came off in no time and with no hard rubbing. It just wiped off. I followed that up with a wet cloth rubbed on a bar of Lava soap (also containing pumice) and that was that. Washed it off and oiled up the cylinder and it's now waiting to be honed. Here is a shot of my cleaned head.

In a pinch this weekend to touch up some spots on my lower frame so I can reset the motor later this week I paid a visit to my local auto parts store to see what I could come up with. I took along one of the rear tail light brackets to try and match. There were two spray cans that seemed to be rather close but with the florescent lighting inside the store you can be fooled by the color. I bought both for $10 and took them home. I must say I was very pleased with one of them. Dupli-Color's Chevrolet Orange-Red #DE1607 engine enamel was a very, very close match. In fact, now that I look at the frame in the light of day I honestly cannot see the difference. I know the purists out there will poo-poo this but it's worth taking a look. BTW: The maker claims the paint is oil and gasoline resistant, is good for up to 500 degrees F, and leaves an extremely hard "ceramic" high gloss finish. Since posting this I have learned this paint may not be available outside the US and Canada due to the level or nature of solvents in the paint. That is, other countries consider it hazardous and will not allow it to be imported. I contacted a dealer in the UK who used to sell Krylon spray paint (Krylon is the manufacturer of Dupli-Color paints) and was told the following "Krylon shipments have been banned coming into EU due to some of the chemicals that they contain". This is rather sad news in a way as, from what I have gathered reading this site in particular, the TLR's are most popular in the UK. I was hoping this information would be of some benefit to those Honda owners.

It was recommended to me that I go with new Betor shocks. Betor Shocks Has anyone tried these?

I need to replace the springs from my rear TLR200 Showa shocks. No longer available from Honda according to my dealer. Does anyone know of a sub that will work? Not wanting to spend hundreds on all new shocks if I can get just these springs replaced. Thanks!

Thanks for the links. I also found this on a web site for Harley folks... Keihin and Mikuni jet sizes are based on a #100 jet being 1.00 mm. So that would make #35 0.0138" #38 0.0150" #40 0.0157" Numbered drills available near those sizes, along with their inch and jet number equivalent: No. 78 .0160 #40.6 No. 79 .0145 #36.8 No. 80 .0135 #34.2 According to this poster, the rate of flow is based on the square of the diameter of the jet. This would mean going from the OEM #38 pilot jet (at .0150") to a No. 78 drill size (at .0160") to give you a #40.6 jet size would give you an increase of 14% in the flow of fuel. The next larger drill size is a No. 77 (at .018"). Using that to enlarge the #38 stock pilot jet would increase the fuel flow by a wopping 44%.

I was always told you adjust your single cylinder bike (scooter or motorcycle) to obtain a nice coffee brown color on the porcelain insulator of the spark plug. That was the ideal. Not too rich and not too lean. Some have said this is not always the case... with trials bikes anyway. That you cannot tell that much about the jetting from the spark plug. What I can tell you for sure is that when I got my TLR200 last month it seemed to be running way lean and very erratic. Hard to keep running. Sputtering and coughing. I have read where the 200's made for sale in the US were factory set that way to appease the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Pulling the plug told me the story. It looked almost brand new. No carbon on it at all. To me, at least, this meant it was not getting sufficient gas. So began my journey in search of the brown plug. Here's what I've done so far. 1) Completely disassembled and ultrasonically cleaned the OEM TLR200 carburetor. 2) Removed any and all traces of the California emissions system. That meant removing the combined air and fuel venting system Honda had installed on the carburetor. I now have only a single tube running from the bottom fuel overflow port to under the engine. My plans are to install the new T-Vent system on the two side vent ports of the carb. Basically, the system ensures consistent carburetion by sending the carburetor vent hoses upward to eliminate vapor lock and bogging. It consists of some clear tubing (I plan to use 3/32" vinyl tubing made for window washers) and a couple of T-fittings available at any auto supply store. After leaving each vent port the T-fitting splits the path with one hose going down towards the ground and another going up and into the air box. Should the lower hose become clogged with water or dirt the higher hose will remain clear. There is an existing piece of right angle hose on top of the air box already from the emissions system. Both hoses will feed through there and into the air box. They also sell complete kits for around $20 that include a small foam filter you fit inside the air box. This one is made by Helix Racing and sells for $18 US. 3) Removed the old Honda OEM paper-style fuel filter and installed this newer type that uses a fine bronze metal mesh cylinder. This one, the one I'm now using, is a K&N #81-0221. $5 to $9 US. 4) Purchased the infamous Carb Improver Kit (Honda #16012-KJ2-305) for around $18 US from Honda. This consisted of a new needle and clip, a new air mixture screw and a new cap. Comparing the old and new needle I found the length to be identical but the new needle has a narrower taper. Therefore, it would be providing more gas (richer mixture) at any given position. BTW: There were no additional height adjustment grooves in the new needle. Just the single one like on the OEM version. It can be shimmed, of course. I left mine alone. The new air mixture screw was identical to the OEM version. It measured the same. The only thing I could see that might be different was the new screw had a sharper edge where the "space capsule" top met the base. This may have simply been a manufacturing thing. Perhaps the new screw was just in case you damaged the original trying to remove the cap. That would seem to make sense. BTW: The easy way to get that cap off is to heat it with a small butane torch or cigar lighter. It will slip right off with no effort at all. 5) I removed the OEM #92 main jet and installed a #105 main jet (about $6 US). These are the same style main jets used on many Honda dirt bike carbs, like the CRF100F for instance, and are easy to get. 6) The #38 slow jet on the OEM carb is not common. AFAIK no other carb uses that same style and I cannot find it listed on the Keihin web site. Some suggest boring this jet out with a very small drill (something like a No. 78 or No. 77) bit to make it a #40 or higher. For now I have left mine original. 7) With the bike at a smooth idle I then began to turn in the air mixture screw until I could hear the speed stop increasing and begin to drop back off. I then backed off (turned back out) on the screw until the revs came back up. That's where I left it sans the cap for now. For around $32 and my efforts I found the bike now runs way better than when I got it. Stronger and richer sound when idling and very strong and steady when twisting the throttle. Dumping the throttle from high revving did not cause the bike to sputter at all much less stall, as some owners seem to experience. Interested in hearing from others on the brown spark plug issue and what they think is correct. For the record: I wish to thank all those who have been helping me with this bike. I'm able to share back now because of the help I have received.

I was having a hard time kick starting my new "used" TLR200. The first thing to suspect would be the automatic decompression (or compression release if you prefer) system. This is designed to relieve some of the pressure from the starting process by opening the exhaust valve a small amount. The manual says the lever on the top outside of the head should have 1 to 2mm of play. Well, mine had that so I assumed it was working. Still the kick start was very hard to move. However, what I found was you cannot tell the decompressor is working from the outside lever action alone. Opening the exhaust adjust port, the one on the front of the engine head, told a different story. The decompressor on my bike was not working at all! It was not even touching the exhaust valve lifter during the kick. In these two photos you can see the method I used to correctly adjust the automatic decompressor system for my TLR200. After the adjustment the "half moon" shaped silver decompressor bar should press down (about 3/16") on the valve lifter for just a moment during each kick and then pop back up. I assume this would be similar to other model Hondas that also use this system. Hope this may help someone else before they break their very expensive kick start lever as I almost did. BTW: This kick start "how to" video may be of interest to us, as well, even though it's for a much larger bike. I especially like how he explains the method to find TDC (top dead center).

There's one on Ebay now for $120 and it's third party. It appears they seem to break not on the lever but on the spline part. Surprised someone has not offered a machined version that lasts. Does anyone see a market here? Hint, Hint.

It appears to be. The lever on the head pulls in with the kick start lever every time so I assume it it working. There was an old posting where someone spoke of moving the kick start to a certain point (compression I think) and then it would ease over to start. Can someone explain this further and how to feel for it.