bigplonker Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 (edited) I've just been idly meandering around the internet where I discovered a very interesting bike: a 525cc Yamaha trials twinshock, built by a talented French engineer, Frédéric Fleury (?) - see link below. Apparently it was based on a Yamaha XT500. Which reminded me of a photo I saw years ago in a Mick Andrews trials book (forgotten its title, but I remember the book was small which contrasted with the bigger books by Sammy Miller and Don Smith - I still have all three somewhere upstairs). The photo was of a partly constructed 500 trials bike that Mick was building, based on an XT500. For years I wondered if that build was ever completed - apparently it wasn't due to Yamaha pulling the plug (as mentioned in Fred's article below), which was a shame. Anyways, Fred invited Mick to have a test ride. Mick's very popular over here in France where he often attends trials gatherings. Apparently he gave it a thumbs up. It's probably not a very competitive bike but nevertheless it's an impressive bit of machinery. Bravo Fred! http://www.loeil2fred.com/525-xty/#prettyPhoto[1]/4/ Edited December 9, 2020 by bigplonker 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teamferret Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 Shame there is no video, would be nice to hear it running Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b40rt Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, teamferret said: Shame there is no video, would be nice to hear it running There is a video somewhere on YouTube, not sure if its an original conversation, or a replica. Edited December 9, 2020 by b40rt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b40rt Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigplonker Posted December 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2020 Merci beaucoup b40rt. Yes, well spotted, that's the Yam Mick was building that I mentioned (photo now attached). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teamferret Posted December 10, 2020 Report Share Posted December 10, 2020 Cheers, did think it would stall easily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nettshubby Posted October 25, 2021 Report Share Posted October 25, 2021 Years ago Mick gave a talk at our TRF meeting and I asked him what happened to the bike. He said it was dropped because there was way too much backlash in the gearbox for trials use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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