Mini Adventure bike - TW200

It's not fast, but it works. Need a beefier rear shock for when it's loaded with gear, and my top speed is cut by 5 to 7 mph due to the wind resistance on the highway, but it looks badass at least. *THIS* is the bike to take through Mongolia! Heh.

Charles.

How cool is that... and I hear those back tires last forever.

dog damnit...still kicking myself for passing on a 88 with 3K miles for 1200$....another will come around I hope...

My rear tire was used up by 3300 miles, but the PO had them way under-inflated and the tires were cupped pretty badly for it. Front tire also needs replacing soon, but it's at 4500 miles now.

Bought this bike for $500, repainted, removed rear fender, new headlight, speedo, handlebars, grips, short clutch lever, lucas taillight, brake shoes, and turnsignals. Plus the ammo boxes, which are removable in about 5 minutes. (5 minutes to take everything off, including the brackets. 20 minutes to put it all back on).

Funny thing is I ride this bike more than my big street bikes. It's small, flickable, and FUN. Slow, but it'll fold a peg up (and in my case drag the saddlebags) on the street with the stock knobbies.

Charles.

If you EVER decide to sell it, I'm in Raleigh.

That, my friend, is AWESOME!

John

Very cool...those are great bikes...my wife has one that is a kick to ride...if only there was some easy way to make it a 350!!

No doubt the TW is a great off-road beastie. You've done a great job on yours. I'm thinking about saying goodbye to my white scheme and following yours. Very no-nonsense and stealth. The ability to carry 3000 rounds of 7.62 is not bad either. Thanks, Rich p.s. Watch out for the cans and your feet. I had cans on once and managed to ride over my boot - yowwzza - my foot still hurts.

thats one wicked bike !!!

Lol, ADVer's who dig this kind of off-the-wall ride are MY kinda people!

Bitchin' little scoot!
Chip

Next step is to mount some PVC pipe so I can carry my fishing rod. My whole point to this, honestly, is to have a bike I can ride down to a river or lake and go fishing. As it stands, I park the truck and then hike a mile or two, and I can't take a big cooler that way. I plan to load one can with beer and ice, and the other with my gear, and ride right up to the river bank. (I've drilled drain holes in the bottoms of the cans just for this purpose). I never considered taking this long distances... it's capable if most of the trip was offroad and two-laners. 60mph is comfortable cruising... I *could* do it, but unless I was going to hit at least 50% unpaved, I wouldn't really consider it.

As for running over my foot... yeah, I've noticed my heels tend to get caught under the cans when I paddle-foot around. I'll have to be careful.

Overall, I'm quite happy. I still think I need a beefier shock, though. I'm a big guy, and me plus a full load of luggage are doing the suspension no favors

Charles.

After spending time on the 1150GS I'm convinced that what I need is a pair of TW's for camping and exploring. I'd love to hear more about it and your rides.

Looks like a great machine to have fun with... and go ANYWHERE.... Kudos on the nice setup!!

I just picked up an '86 with all of 510 miles on her - looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor. Can't wait to get her broken in properly!

That looks like fun. I think I start watching for a good used one. That would be a good "loaner" bike to keep in the garage for those friends who just have to ride with you, but who haven't ridden in the last 15 years....

Just put suspenders on attach to bike when stuck stand up walk bike out of mud

like the OD paint... now you just need to tone town the chrome and make it really GI lookin'.

nice TW!

as far as tread life... my TW had 3000 miles when I sold it and it still had 75% tread depth. I think 6000+ miles is a reasonable expectation. It's a light bike with a hard compound 180mm tire... basically a sport bike tire size with gnarly tread and a thicker sidewall - so long treadlife is a given.

The big thing about TW's is that they're odd in all the right (fun) ways, they're basic, they're cheap, and they're reliable as an anvil.

I personally wouldn't take mine on a trip that required me to do more than 100 miles of pavement at a time... simply because of range and comfort at extended high speeds. But I had passing thoughts of doing the TAT on a TW - just because I love the bike and I know it could do it.... albeit slowly.

I wouldn't rule out the TW as an adventure rider bike. Once you get into 3rd world countries... road quality often dictates speeds under 50mph... which is were the TW shines. Americans have an natural draw to 600-1000cc bikes, but in most countries the TW is a BIG bike. Furthermore it is ultra-simple, aircooled, and will run on 87 octane. All important prereq's of adv bike. Honestly, I'd feel FAR *safer* travelling through south america on an olive drag TW200 than a fully Farkled BMW. You ride a BMW GS down there any you're a rolling randsom sign!

Downsiders are poor range and low power (especially at altitude). Obviously these are things that can be worked around with enough enthusiasm/determination.

I've no doubt that you could do a RTWorld on one - but if you did, I'd have serious doubts about your sanity

Nice bike,
I missed one in my local paper by about two hours, the gentleman had already sold it.

2001 with 1500 miles for $750.00 seller had it listed as excellent condition garage kept.

ouch! that would've been sweet