Yamaha TDR250 1988

Waste of a good TZR250 engine!

This is a story I can endorse……

Take yourself back to 1988, the LC is dead, the YPVS is a shadow of it’s old self, and the TZR is a pure sportsbike As for the RG250, well, we won’t even go there!

So what was the hooligan to do?

Well the nice men at Yamahaha decided to put the fantastic TZR 250 engine in an upright trail style frame, Lift the brakes off the TZR and voila, a new hooligan tool!

The problem, it seemed, was that no-one knew what the hell it was, was it a trail bike? Well, it had semi knobbly tyres, a trailie riding position, long travel suspension and spoked wheels, but it had bugger all off raod ability, and a lot of breakable plastic, so it wasn’t a trail bike, was it a sportsbike? Well, it handled well enough, had enough power to lift the wheel, and would scream up to 100+ on a long enough road, but the TZR had the legs on it when it came to sport riding.

So what the hell was it for?:confused:

Well, the TDR’s natural habitat was around city centres, blasting between traffic lights with a nasty stroker wail, of course, being a TZR at heart, a few quid spent could make it VERY evil indeed, and a visit to the breakers could net you a set of TZR wheels, giving you the best rubber of the day, and a bit more cred, it was the first production supermoto for the masses, the problem was, the masses were indifferent to it’s charms, they just couldn’t see the point, and it wasn’t perfect, it drank petrol at a hell of a rate if you used it right, if you didn’t, it was a pain in the arse to get the plugs out, and the oil filler was a recipe for soaking your bike in 2stroke, as for the rev-counter…………..

And once again, those acres of plastic cost a bomb to replace, for the same money, you could buy an LC, sent it off to stan the man and have enough left for decent brakes and a spax shock, and run it for a year, so the old hooligans were getting GSXR’s and FZR’s the younger ones were buying the LC’s that the older ones had traded in and no-one bought the TDR

Which was a pity, cos the TDR was a nice bike, and even now, more than 10 years after the last one was sold, they are fetching as much as FZR’s in some cases, and very few are less than a grand. They tend to be owned by dedicated enthusiasts, who maintain them well, and ride them hard.

Just like they were meant to be!

Still a great bike and it hasn’t really aged too bad in my opinion.

2T SM FTW!