Show us your TransAlp modifications!

This is going to make every journey really hard as you will be doing three right turns to make a left. You GPS path will look like a Spirograph!

Will those seats bolt onto my '96 TA? I sort of need another one for my riding pleasure as the current one is custom lowered for family. Hard to tell from the pics but one is def blue. Others are black correct?

No all 4 are 89 Blue. Since I have never seen a 96 TA seat I can't say for certain but I would think the seat mounting did not change. I need to get these seats listed in the flea market they do take up a lot of shelf space.

These seats range from near mint to faded and discolored. I also have just a blue seat cover that was taken off of a 89 seat but you need the entire seat and cushion right?

Maybe someone else knows if the seat attachment changed from 89-90 to 96.

Thanks for that mas335. I need to go with an entire black seat.

USA bikes were only blue and gray. I had a 1991 TA that did have a black seat.

Sure looks like the identical frame and tank so older seats should fit.....

.....unless Honda did something odd and changed the mounting points.

My money is on the seats being identical.

I wonder if there'd be any hints in the part numbers between the last model year of one and the 1st of the next? I like how KTM does their part numbers. Each part gets a number that cross references to every bike it fits. I think Honda has a model code in their part numbers. I'm hoping to be enlightened on that.

Hi All,

it's been a while since I stopped in to read and catch up (about 18 months since I had a TA). I was in France for Thanksgiving break and came across this near the Sorbonne. I've never seen black bodywork before (in person). Since most bikes/scoots spend most of their life exposed to the elements, this example needed some TLC (especially the saddle). Happy Holidays!



I have no idea about the model year. I see it has a sliver motor with a rear disc, center-stand and gold rims (I'm pretty sure the wind screen is after-market). Did European models differ that much from US spec stuff or is this example from the early-to-mid 90s? And, no, it's not leaking oil/gas, it had been a damp morning.

Hi,

Are you absoultely sure the bike is actually lowered, and not raised on rear side? Judging by the above pics, it seems to sit just as high, if not higher than the average Transalp 600. These bikes are very common here in Europe. In the pics it is indeed obvious that the fork tubes are raised in the triple clamps to lower the front end, however overall the bike seems higher than most, which puzzles me.

For instance here is a pic of my '99 model

My bike is definitely not lowered in any way. In the meanwhile (since this pic was taken), I cranked the real preload to maximum, which raised the rear end by another 1-2 cm but that's about it.. ground clearance is still crappy, below the officially stated 195mm of this model.

In fact, it would be nice if you could measure the ground clearance, between the ground and the bottom of the center stand mount joints, while holding the bike vertical, and under it's own weight only.

It must be an illusion to your eyes when looking at the pics as this bike is def lowered inluding the spring that is wound down judging by the hammer tooling marks on the spanner ring. You did see the pic of the lowering kit which changes out the OEM link? Ok, I just got down on my back on the cold garage floor and measured ground clearance of approx. 185mm to the center of the cross member of the frame...give or take a mm.

I just purchased a used OEM link on ebay.de which will give me the option of jacking it back up again.

Hey, is that an AT skid plate on your TA? Does it bolt right up?

The AT bashplate will certainly fit into that space (at least the RD03/04 one would...not the RD07). But the AT plate uses one bolt at the front and the AT plate uses two...the other mounting hole may or may not line up. It doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to mod some brackets to bolt it up, though.

The TA plate from Twisted throttle is much stronger and will bolt right up to the TA. Mine has brushed off some pretty severe hits over the years.

Of course, I did see the custom suspension links on your bike. Well, I am not sure exactly to which point on the frame did you measure, but in my case the clearance was about 175mm (that was before I maxed out the preload, I think I will measure again today just to have an idea). Of course, if the center stand mounting joints did not exist at all, ground clearance would be about 20-25mm higher. This is a bad design on the EU frames... the center stand mounting is always the first to hit in certain situations, such as climbing high curbs or crossing railways in not specifically intended places when going offroad

That is indeed an Africa Twin skidplate, the 3-pieces model from RD04/RD07(a) ATs. It requires minor modifications such as cutting a few notches and drilling new holes in order to mount on the TA. As far as shape and size, it fits well.
The thing is, the higher you wish to mount it, the more you have to cut. As the transalp engine cases are very exposed, protruding a bit below the main frame rails, I wanted a little "buffer" space, around 10mm, between the underside of the engine and the skidplate.I don't know what kind of space is there on a RD04/RD07 AT, but I wanted to allow the skid plate to bend and deform to absorb impacts, not to ruin my engine cases. This also compensates a bit for the height of the centerstand mount joints, and should allow the underside of the bike to slide a bit easier over obstacles.
AFAIK, the Africa Twin RD03 skidplate (one-piece model) is a bolt-on on the Transalp frame, but I may be wrong, maybe others can confirm this.

RD03 skidplate also needs similar modifications as RD04 and RD07 ones to fit TA frame. Though, RD03 skidplate, in my opinion, is best to use for TA.

Any way you look at the TA (with or without the lowering kit) it's fricken low. I know it's not fair if I compare it to my AT. Question....is the Honda OEM centerstand for the TA any lower in physical length than the SW Mototech centerstand?

I have an RD03 skidplate on mine. A piece of 4mm flat mounted on the front of the frame, 2 holes for M6 bolts with nyloc nuts on the inside mount the plate using the OEM points.
I drilled 2 holes in the rear bottom part and used 2 countersunk bolts to mount the plate to the frametubes, using 2 of these.


It has taken a few beatings, never moved, no damage to the mounting points.

You can build your own bashplate...

Love the crate! Is it yours? Of course, needless to say that the bike is awesome!

Too good to be true, right?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-XL600...Parts_Accessories&hash=item460a0b40d4&vxp=mtr

Just making sure... Is it just cheap quality chain in general? Poor quality seals/rings, etc? Or is someone just being really generous.

I'll be needing a chain and sprockets here pretty soon.

That eBay chain and sprocket set is cheap and maybe too cheap. A good chain alone should cost around $100. Having seen front spline drive sprocket wear I will only get oem front sprockets the rear and chain just good quality but dosnt have to be oem

Last chain I bought was an EK X-Ring from ebay seller moto-heaven for less than $100 shipped. They were great to deal with and have an excellent reputation.

EK 525 SRX GOLD 120 links Motorcycle drive Chain X-RIng