Yamaha TW200 - the most capable dual sport?
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Ever since Yamaha came out with thr BW200 in ‘85 I’ve wondered how a fat tire motorcycle would do in snow. Then in 1987 Shinji Kazama rode a modified TW200 to the North Pole! 🤯 That made a big impression on my back then. So finally after all these years I got to try my own snow ride out on a fat tire motorcycle. I can’t wait to try again when conditions are more set up in the spring.
Supercool bike. Never seen one in sweden tough
I always wondered how one would do on groomed snow trails. I think it’ll do better this spring when the trails are frozen hard in the morning. I’m going to find out!😀
Those TWs look so fun. Might just have to snag one, haha.
I couldn’t believe how long it took for me to finally get one. I called back in the fall of ‘21 to buy one and my dealer couldn’t get any from Yamaha. It was until August ‘23 he got two whole TW’s. He put in for over a dozen and could have sold every one but Yamaha wasn’t sending them to Alaska for some reason.
My brother also has one and they’ve been really fun bikes to go out exploring on. 😀
The problem is, the front tire isn't helping with acceleration. Imagine having a fat tire hub motor on the front, and some heated batteries to support it?
The stock tires are garbage in snow. They don’t offer any traction. I put an ATV tire kit on the bike since this video and it works night & day better in snow.
Put an old snowmobile ski over the front tire. Big difference
👍
I can see where’d that help but my rear tire was causing more issues than the front. It’s just not aggressive enough to get good traction.
@@thatalaskaguy your still pushing the front tire
@@duanehamdorf2228 yes, I totally agree that would still be an issue in certain conditions. I’m just looking at this from the perspective of I already own snowmobiles an even have a proper snowbike. I don’t have a desire to transform my TW into anything. I like having tires as I road down the plowed roads to get to the trails and the all terrain nature of tires is a nice benefit there.
The design has the bars in a bad position unless the rider is tiny. I got rox pivot risers to move bars well forward and up. My mechanic jimmy rigged the wires so's I didn't have to order custom. Better for standing up.
I’ve not noticed the stock bar height causing me discomfort or issues so far. I didn’t care for how low the bars were on my TTR-230 and replaced them with a taller Pro Taper bar. I’ve seen the Rod risers before, they make nice quality parts.
Do you have to adjust the jetting at those temps? My 2022 ttr230 started great during 30°c summer days with stock jetting. Not so much once it got to 10°c days. Re-jetted and now it will start at 0°c alright but gets a little tough around -5°c.
I didn’t adjust anything when I rode but I noticed it took a long time to warm up even though it came out of my heated shop at 55°F. It ran fine and normal once it was warmed up.
I’ve not ridden my TTR-230 in cold temps like that but I’ve noticed it is pretty cold blooded and likely jetted very lean for emissions.
Doesn't the TW have a key? Always a great tool to deflate tires.
The TWs greatest attributes are its ease of riding in difficult terrain which comes from its fat tires, being a small bike, and having fat tires.
Those same characteristics make it not the best bike comparatively for road use. It's certainly reliable tho.
Great idea! I didn’t think about using the key. That would’ve been better than my stick.
It definitely isn’t great for extended highway riding. We’ll often mix our rides in with jumping off onto the 4-wheeler trails on the highway shoulder to get a break from buzzy highway speeds.
Dual sport means riding on roads haha
Ha ha! My GoPro quit working for the part where I rode back on the plowed, paved roads. 😀
Fat tires never did and never will work well on snow
If the rear tire had a more aggressive tread pattern it would’ve helped out a bunch.