Any opinions on the Yamaha TRX 850?

Good? Bad? Indifferent?

Anyone had one and want to point out things to watch out for?... Mates just
passed his test and fancies one for his first big bike

 

There is a review on ukrm.net

http://www.ukrm.net/BIKES/Yamaha/darsy_trx850.html


--

jeremy
['75 RD250A ] | ['02 Fazer 600 in blue]
____________________________________________
jeremy dot ovenden at hazelweb dot co dot uk

 

I liked mine - loads of people will tell you they're shit, but they're
pretty OK.

good points:

fairly comfortable for rider
good frame/suspension set up (though not very adjustable)
great sound, particularly with race cans
cheap

bad points:

not really fast enough
ugly
unpopular
uncomfortable for a pillion

I'd say it would make as much of a good first bike as - say, an SV650
or a Bandit 600.

 

IIRC SteveH had one and the engine blew up.

 

Wonder if he was using car oil.

 

I had one, and it didn't.

 

"Yamaha TRX: 50% chance of complete engine failure"
--

jeremy
['75 RD250A ] | ['02 Fazer 600 in blue]
____________________________________________
jeremy dot ovenden at hazelweb dot co dot uk

 

I liked Darsy's as well, during the short ride I had on it.

I thought the front-end was excellent - it felt very planted and stable.

All of the gears other than third are completely unnecessary, although that
may be a good thing if you don't like changing gear

I'd agree.


--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, TEAR#3 (and KotL), DS#5, COSOC#9, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

it was with 010s on, yes. The OE Macadams were dire.

after you rode mine, I lowered the gearing - this meant 1st became
even more useless, but 2nd-3rd-4th-5th became a lot more useable.

 

I liked yours too.

Brakes were a bit shit, mind.

 

it needed a service when you rode it, including a replacement set of
front pads.

They're good bikes, really, but a bit unfashionable.

 

And then there's that whole "Couldn't you afford a proper Ducati then,
mister?" thing, which could get a bit annoying.

 

I was prepared for that sort of thing, having previously owned a
Porsche 924S.

 

Indifferent.

 

It did. Broke the crank. Still got me the last few miles home on 1.5
cylinders, though.

As it happens I wasn't - unless OYB use car oil when they service a
bike.

I did run it on car oil after having the engine replaced.

From what I know, early TRXs (mine was an N-plater) did have a weakness
in the crank department, however, it was fixed on later bikes.

They're a bit of a bargain, but with hindsight, I should have spent the
same amount of money on a slightly older Ducati 750SS.

 

It wouldn't matter if I was, as the only reason not to use a quality car
oil in a bike is the fact that some of the fancy car oils _can_ (must
stress _can_, as it's not definite) contaminate the clutch with their
slippery additives.

On a low-revving bike like the TRX (my car, at the time, had a similar
redline) a car oil would be absolutely fine.

Anyone who says otherwise is talking bollocks, frankly.

(There may be a case for using bike-specific oils in high-revving
sportsbikes, but for stuff like the TRX, and, indeed, the VFR, I really
don't see the point in paying extra for a picture of a bike on the
bottle)

 

Ah, well played.

 

But then the bird serving in Halfords won't know you're a roughty toughty
biker.


--
AndrewR, D.Bot (Celeritas)
Kawasaki ZX-6R J1
BOTAFOT#2,ITJWTFO#6,UKRMRM#1/13a,MCT#1,DFV#2,SKoGA#0 (and KotL)
BotToS#5,SBS#25,IbW#34, TEAR#3 (and KotL), DS#5, COSOC#9, KotTFSTR#
The speccy Geordie twat.

 

Car oil made my TRX's clutch slip like a bastard. I changed it to bike oil
and it ran beautifully.

Then I could be talking bollox

 

I had one, and it didn't.
Oh look I said the same as Darsy.