A first word on riding a vintage bike

When I bought my 74 TY250 I knew NOTHING about bikes. It was super cheap ($800) for a 250 and in the write up it said 'climbs anything'. But mainly I bought it because it looked sooooo cool! Luckily it turned out to be a super solid ride and perfect for the tight, technical trail riding I enjoy.

That said, there is one major factor you need to keep in mind when looking at rad vintage bikes. PARTS. Although some parts are typically universal (bars, grips, filters, brakes) many are not.

For example, once I was riding at Cobble Hill and my throttle cable snapped... I had to ride through 4 kms of aggressive single-track holding the tip of the cable with two fingers. Ok, these things happen. The real problem started when I hit the bike shop only to learn that they no longer supply throttle cables for my bike! After a couple of months with no riding I ending up using a mountain bike brake cable with a grinded tip so it would fit in the carb. These seems to be working quite well and the cable is of a higher grade than the original but it did take some MacGyvery. Any newer bike and it would have been a $20 dollar cable that I'd just pop on.

Now my chain is getting old and stretched so I hit the bike shop thinking I'd just get a new couple sprockets and chain. It turns out the TY250 has a special rear sprocket which flanges out from the middle. And they stopped making them. This leaves me with two options. First, the service dude at the shop said I could file the old rear sprocket down to where it bolts on then buy a normal flat sprocket and bolt it on over top using the original as a spacer. Or I could order a conversion kit from a site I found online (B&J Racing)which cost three times as much as a drive train for a newer bike, but it also allows for a higher gauge chain which would be nice... Not sure which way i'll go on this one.. it's working as is, but skips if I start climbing while bouncing around.

My point being. If you buy an awesome vintage bike that is the coolest thing in the world, it comes at a cost. If something breaks it will possibly take weeks to fix something that could be fixed with a quick trip to the shop with any newer bike.

Welcome all vintage trials nerds!

I ride a 1974 TY250 and I love my bike so much. It's insanely reliable and awesome out on the trails. I notice quite a few seem to come and go on usedvictoria.com so I'm thinking there must be more of you out there! :D

If you ride a duo-shock trials bike and your on Vancouver Island leave a comment! I'll add you as a member and you can post your specs and stuff. It would be sweet to ride with some oldies ;)