TYs in Gold Country
Rounds 1 & 2 of the Gold Country Classic Cup
Presented by Lewisport Classics and Sacramento PITS
The Gold Country Classic Cup is in it's first season. The six round series is spread over three weekends and three unique private ranches. For this year we're using the series as a fundraiser for Rick Wolff who suffered a stroke while riding a trial. Rick is a long-time PITS member, former board president, National Twin-shock winner, and multi-time AHRMA Motocross, Cross Country, and Trials champion.
Adrian & Mandy Lewis, Dave Bengston, and their crew of merry pranksters set a great non-stop trial for the opening rounds at Lombardi Ranch. Yes, Lombardi Ranch of BAC lore. The loop was top notch. It led us up creeks, two-tracks, small stands of trees, and some mellow hillsides. A big change from the long and grueling BAC Loop, that we’re accustomed to when riding Lombardi. Some of the Northwest AHRMA folks came out for the trial, it was cool to see some new faces and some sweet new bikes. A ‘57 Ariel, A ‘48 BSA Gold Star, and two Triumph Cubs with various bits of trials trim.
Husband and Wife TY Set-up
Mike’s 1977 TY 250
The best upgrade to the 250 is our machined TY 250 Triple Clamp, with a modern 1 1/8” Renthal Lampkin-bend bar. The clamp provides stability, and control through jumbles, as well as personalized bar positioning. He said the stock forks had great feel with only new seals and fresh oil. To keep the fork protected he ran our snap-on TY Tall Boy Fork Guards. The Venhill front brake cable is routed through our machined 34mm UHMW Cable Guide. Venhill makes great cables, we’ve used them on nearly all of our vintage bikes. The Domino “fast” throttle connects a 26mm D-slide OKO Carb from OKO-USA. We purchased the TY 250 carb kit (+UNI filter, and Venhill throttle cable) from OKO USA. They note on their site, that using the UNI filter requires removing the airbox. Boy howdy does this wake up the TY, peppy, alive, and a joy to rev.
Another common modification you hear about is removing the oil pump, in order to run pre-mix. We’re running Castrol at 40:1 on all of our TYs. The last upgrade to this bike were the shocks. The stock shocks, are not serviceable, and not able to be tuned-in for rider preference, so they had to go. He opted for the mid-range, rebuildable and tunable Betor Pro shocks.
Oh yeah, and he replaced the stock front fender with a mid-200'0’s GasGas fender, for no other reason than to keep the stock fender in pristine condition. Many people buy bolt on or weld on peg re-locating brackets, that allow riders to use modern wide footpegs. Mike’s a size 12 Gaerne, and he found the stock footpegs to be just fine, even through the orange mud of Gold Country.
Darcy’s 1976 TY 175
TY 175’s are sweet lil bikes, their size and character suit smaller riders. I’m 5’4” and 110lbs with boots, so pretty much right in the sweet spot for the TY 175. So much of your comfort as a rider is due to having a proper rider triangle for your size. We swapped the stock, tiller-style top triple clamp and bars for our TY 175 Triple Clamp. I opted for the Renthal Lampkin bend which I prefer for body position and stability. It significantly helps the very weak 175 front-end. Our triple clamps have four bar-mounting positions. This equates to 1” of total adjustment in four increments. I use "position 2" with my bars tripped forward a touch, inline with my forks. This set-up felt perfect. I immediately felt at home on this bike, I could move around, and still keep the front wheel light. I used our Black 30mm UHMW Cable Guide, and TY Tall Boy Fork Guards. The fork guards are designed specifically for the later-era 250 forks; however, the cutouts for the front brake stay and the oil drain hole line up perfectly for the 175 forks. So, I just use zip-ties to secure them.
Riding in muddy trial, with an air cooled engine will really make you appreciate a front fender with a mud flap. Mike’s fender is cool and modern and small, and his bike packed with mud around the engine. My comicaly big mud flap was awesome! My engine was free of mud and clear to breathe. Best $40 I’ve spent in a long time! It’s quality is barely above mediocre, but it did the job well enough. You can find those at Speed n Sport
Post Event Update: installed the 21mm OKO Carb with a Domino “fast” throttle. WHEW! With this carb the bike has EXCELLENT throttle response. The power feels similar to riding at 700’, our home is 4900’, so I’m well pleased. The front forks felt quite clanky, we checked the oil height, one fork was correct, the other was low. We used 15wt oil, hoping for better feel. If the forks still feel weak, I'll order the heavier spring and intset kit from LewisportClassics.
Saturday: The trial was set for noon, which meant there was plenty of time for socializing over coffees, breakfasts, and bitchin’ British Bikes.
The first two sections started out swell, a safety dab to ensure the ground was still there on section 1, and a clean on section 2. After cleaning section 3 my bike wouldn’t start. We figure a branch must have tugged my spark plug cap loose while bushwhacking during our warmup, Yamaha came through in the clutch with the stock original tool kit inside the “glove box”.
We moved along at a fair pace, even with our minor spark plug setback, we never felt rushed. Section 4 I took a dab in front of Adrian, and vowed to clean it up, next time through. Sections 5, 6, 7, and 8 all went by easily, and I was starting to feel great on the bike. The conditions, the loop, the sections, were all so much fun. I managed a clean loop, which is a nice lil boost for the mental game. We turned in our 3rd loop cards as Keith pulled in on his Triumph Cub. I asked him if I could ride it…
The Cub. The Donut, taking 2nd out of 10 to My Dragon, Joe Bill. IT was a fine lil Saturday. Around the campfire Saturday night, Joe and I talked about the sections, the fun of riding trials, and how hard it is to have clean days. I told him I was coming for him, and I knew it was possible now. We shared a good laugh about it.
Sunday
The Dragon. This is more than just a score, a win, or beating someone, it signifies a degree of competence at a given level. Every class has a ‘Dragon’, that stalwart of the class that rarely loses, and drops only 1 or 2 points per trial. And Joe Bill is, in many people’s opinion THE Dragon of the 2 Line and definitely the PITS Class-A Sportsman Line.
The sections and loop were run in reverse from Saturday. There were a few adjustments made to ensure a reasonable grade for each of the lines. I took a dab in Section 2, which upped the pressure a bit. I had to clean the rest of the sections, because I knew that Joe was going to be on it. I dropped another point, ugh! Despite 2 dropped marks, and 3 for Mike we were riding very well and having a lot of fun. The style, and simplicity of non-stop is nice change of pace. I looked at the score board as I handed in my Loop 1 card, Joe had 6 points…. No freakin’ way!!! If I can just keep it to 2 points per loop, I can slay my dragon. 1 point on my second loop, that damn turn in Section 2! Ok, be cool man, just don’t blow it! I knew there was another guy with that beautiful Billy Joel painted Yamaha (piano man, get it?) I felt pressure, but not the bad kind, it was fun, and it had been a while since I had that competitive fire filling my body. Trying to keep my attitude light, I was joking with people in line...maybe I took it a little too lightly, because I dabbed in Section 1. DOH! Cleaned Section 2, HELL YEAH! I ended up dropping another point on Section 6, if I could just keep it tight for these last two section, I’d have it.
Dragon Slayed!
For the “Easy” Line, I felt that there was a good mix of Easy/Medium/Hard sections. Some sections felt harder than a PITS 3-line, the hazards were definitely in the 2-line category for a few sections, most felt perfect. Mike agreed that the Medium line (1-Line Equivalent) had a nice mix of sections. I cleaned every section at least once both days, and the same for Mike. The sections were straight forward, one path through your gates from start to finish. This made it fun, no bailouts, or cheater lines, just good ole fashioned non-stop classic trials.
The conclusion (Pre-wash) pretty much in love with my TY now. I’ve had a hard time adjusting to modern trials bikes, and feeling the flow. I jumped on the TY and felt immediately at home and comfortable on it. I’m not saying this because we sell the triple clamp, but it really improved the rider triangle, the handling, stability, and comfort on the TY. Despite some niggles with the suspension; the feel of the bike, the willingness of the engine, and the INSANE amount of traction this bike finds… I’m liable to only ride this bike for trials going forward. We brought home lots of smiles, and a couple trophies too.
Counting down the days until the next round.
