So about 18 months ago I decided what I really needed was another bike in the garage and set about finding a project. I had heard the words "Barn Find" a lot, its something that I think would be interesting to do. When I was living in the countryside I did ask around a bit but with no luck. Looking for a bit of a fixer-up project I found an interesting Italian and an old Brit that hadn't been used for a while "Garage Finds". Negotiations began but ultimately someone else beat me to them.
I was chatting to friend at work, a RC8 rider (not of this parish) about my search and he told me he had a mate that used to ride and might still have a bike somewhere, it would be a crashed but original model Fireblade. So a few emails went back and forth between them about the bike and then I was introduced. The bike in question was not a Fireblade, that went to the great scrapyard in the sky. The bike in his garage was the bike he used before the Fireblade and before he gave up biking. He always intended to do something with it, but never got round to it.
The information I had on it was basic. A Yamaha TZR250 on a R reg. Now I've always had a soft spot for the TZR and a quick calculation with my limited knowledge put it at a 3XV or at worse a 3MA model. In my opinion the 3XV model, the VTwin, is one of the best looking bikes ever made. The 3MA is a reverse cylinder engined model and is also quite good looking. They also made the 2MA and 1KT models the 2MA is the official UK import, the 1KT being the same but the Japanese home market model. Both are ugly.
So me and Stretchie turn up with a trailer and the garage door is opened. Now when I said the information was basic, it was also slightly wrong. Yes it was a Yamaha TZR250 but it was on a F reg and it was a 2MA. Disappointing. But the bike was duly loaded and driven down the M4 to BaP's for temporary storage.
The story of the bike was it was the previous owners first bike and had been well used. The front fairings were lost after he found the bulkhead of a transit van. Though thats not the only time it had found the floor, it had been repaired and continued service until the rider upgraded to a Fireblade. He parked the TZR in the garage with the intention of doing something with it at a future date, but as the years rolled on nothing happened but the occasional start up. He eventually wrote the Blade off and decided not to ride anymore, and interest in the old TZR faded so that the occasional start stopped and it sat there never to see the light of day.
It was a couple of months before I saw it again due to housing issues but when I did I could see its potential. I decided that a bit of fresh petrol and some air in the tyres would have it though an MOT in a flash. No not really, the bike hadn't been used since 1994 or at least that was its last tax disc. It had crash damage on both sides an interesting alarm was adorning the rear of the loom and the fairing that was on it was held together with wood screws. The brakes surprisingly still operated slightly but the forks are pitted. Sitting on it the suspension at the rear feels non existent.
So my plan is simple. Restore it, reuse what I can, replace what I can't. Get it back on the road. I'm going to make a few subtle modifications to it but nothing serious, I don't plan on a big bore or changing the swing arm or covering the fairings in fur. I want it to be a restored TZR250 2MA and any help or advise would be gratefully received. Let just hope I haven't taken on to big a project...