I'm now a TE owner again.... First impressions of the bike is, wow! Things seemed to have improved a lot since the 06 TE250 I had. It looks beautiful! With that said let me get what I feel are squirks out of the way. Where did the overflow tank go? When did they stop installing them? Maybe I can fit on a earlier year one.. The kickstand feels like its going to bend because of the angle and free play in the pivot area. Gas tank may take some beers to figure out how to remove... Bike is made for NBA players... Filter a little hard to remove. Ok now that I let what I felt was negatives out I can continue on the good. Did I say how nice the bike looks. The plastics fit and look very good. I almost don't want to take it in the nasties.. So far I'm going real easy on the break in and still have the 40t street sprocket on. I rode it for a day, easy with all the smog stuff on it. So far I trimmed the seat and did the power up mods. Have yet to go above 5000rpm but it does seem crisp as far as throttle response. I also notice no bog or anything so far. Have 1 1/8" bark busters, radiator & rear disk guards on the way. Might look into a exhaust later as the stock one did feel heavy. Power wise it feels good on the road and thats with a 40t and half throttle! Hope to have a better report for it after I have it all set up. Time get in and do what I need to do..... And looks who's stuck in the rain.....
Looking good. what do you use to smooth the seat foam after cutting it? Look forward to the ride report. Gearing it down? Those stock tires should be worth good $$$ to an adventure rider, spendy tires that are not of much good to us.
With the button I forgot they came with a kick starter. Beautiful bike, now lets see some videos of that thing in action. They have changed a lot since the '06, I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised at how well this bike will handle. There was a picture on Off Road Champions of the retired NBA player who is going to ride the ISDE on a Husky this year. His bike looked to have two seats on top of one another to fit his size. Enjoy the new bike. P.S the Leo exhaust is nice and quiet with good power but the titanium bends pretty easy. First ride with me I kissed a tree with it.
I'm jealous! Keep an eye on the stock aluminum chain guide if you're playing in rocks, roots and such, which I believe you do. It gets deformed fairly easily and will cause rapid wear on the sprocket. I just replaced mine with a BRP unit. They're made entirely of polymer and can take major abuse, but bounce right back.
The seat on my 08 TXC250 is a real pain in the butt ... after all the riding for 3yrs, U would think it would get softer but nope ... How does UR seat feel after shaving it off that much?
At 5'6" I'm not NBA material so the seat shave has been the norm for all my bikes. There was little comfort to begin with and since I did it from new it wont be a problem for me. Touching the ground is my main goal. I think after the suspension breaks in it's going to be good. As far as the engine I noticed after I opened the exhaust, no db killer. There is a small bog indicating a need for more fuel. Thisis only when cracking the throttle wfo. Nothing major or anything. Would the Ibeat let me take care of this? I still need more time on it before I can really test it out. Trying to break it in nice. It's difficult to be going out with my old bike when I have a new toy available. Aloha
Like someone else said, how did you smooth the seat after cutting. I am also 5'6". Do you think a full suspension rework with shorter springs etc will be necessary?