Take a look at this classic Yamaha TY 125 twin shock in for a restoration. This sad old girl came to us from the north of France, the customer wanted a full nut and bolt resto along with a stunning new paint job. As can be see here this 1970’s classic has seen a lot of life from climbing over rocks hills and jumps with the odd competition in its day . It really has seen it all. As with all our projects we take the time to photograph as many areas of it as possible. This is so we can case file areas that require specialist repairs. A seized 125 TY unit like this takes some work to make it into the detailed engine seen later in this project.
Here is a bit of history behind the Yamaha TY 125. The TY 125 was first introduced into production in 1975 and continued until 1991. The TY 125 was developed as a way to strengthen Yamahas position in the off road motorcycle(Trials) segment however Yamaha also intended for this to push them to achieve better results in competition.
one of the first stages in the restoration process is where we strip the bike down to see what lurks beneath the surface.
As you can see here this bike was not in the worst of conditions however it was definitely in need of some loving attention.
With the tank off the seat off and a few extra bits and bobs we were able to identify fairly quickly what this bike needed. The aim of the stripping stage in a restoration process is to take the bike back down to a bare frame, so that later on after all the parts are refurbished individually we can start rebuilding the bike piece by piece to achieve a high quality finish. Something to note with this particular TY was that unlike many TY’s the frame colour was originally factory black!! As you can see in some of the photos.
One of the key processes with any resto is to ensure that the chassis is structurally sound (as some of you may know these classics suffer from corrosion after years of being stood) Working closely with our partners Fast Line Coatings , we inspected the frame prior to them giving it a beautiful glossy black coat. When we have frames coated our main request is that the frame numbers are visible through the coating. Working for many years with them has ensured the highest quality finish and originality (assuming you require the factory colour)
During the engine stripping and building stage you can see the cylinder and cylinder head were a bit rough to say the least but it was nothing that a bit of elbow grease and a lick of paint couldn’t sort out. With the engine the customer stated he wanted to paint it black , so we opted for a deep 2k satin black and then polished the fins on the cylinder head to highlight the attention to detail that RTT delivers. Attention to detail is key, and to highlight that, we made sure to zinc plate all fasteners to ensure a high quality shine produced by our zinc plating department.
Once each part is refurbished individually we go on to building the bike up ensuring not to mark or scratch any of the freshly coated frame works and also taking care not to damage any key mechanical components Which is why restoration projects require time and patience to complete.
Take a look through this slideshow as I Am sure you will agree the photos speak for themselves.
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