Licks Cycles: Yamaha TRX850 Café Racer

The “Meteor 850” by Etto Bikes…

“A Ducati with Japanese reliability.” That was the concept behind the Yamaha TRX850, launched in 1996 to rival the Ducati 900SS, in addition to Japanese V-twins just like the Honda Firestorm / Superhawk and Suzuki TL1000. The engine was a grunty 10-valve parallel-twin with a 270º crank — the primary such design in a manufacturing bike.

The engine mimicked a V-twin’s throaty, pulsing exhaust, and it had loads of punch: 79 bhp / 63 lb-ft of torque. Whereas reviewers liked the bike’s character, it died an early loss of life resulting from lackluster gross sales, and the uninspired styling hasn’t aged very effectively.

“The Yamaha TRX850 was a match for Ducati’s 900SS of its day however by no means offered effectively…disgrace. The TRX is a sporty bike however road-biased with tons of character. Generally is a discount on the used market as they final effectively.” –MCN

Just lately we heard from Ian Davis of England’s ETTO Bikes, a standard sheet steel fabricator and suspension technician who makes use of his abilities to form “uncooked supplies into objects of motorcycling need.” For his personal private bike, he had a selected imaginative and prescient in thoughts:

“I really like the entire 50’s café racer ‘ton-up’ scene and wished to construct a homage to the blokes and ladies that took a poorly dealing with bike and tried to enhance it, to hit that magic ton. So the donor bike needed to be a parallel twin that wanted bettering.”

A ’98 TRX850 proved the proper candidate with an incredible engine, “boring as dishwater” styling, and loads of room for enchancment within the efficiency and dealing with departments. With a view to “add lightness,” Ian hand-crafted a race tank out of 1.6mm 1050 aluminum that weighs 3 kilograms (6.6 kilos) lower than the unique, and the subframe, oil catch can, and lots of the brackets are additionally hand-built items.

Appropriately sufficient, the USD forks are courtesy of a Ducati 749, and the bike is now rolling on light-weight Marchesini wheels with Brembo brakes and a fully-braced Yamaha YZF750 swingarm. The engine breathes by means of a set of 40mm Mikuni flat-slides and a full customized stainless exhaust. The bike was dyno-tuned with the upgrades, and the modifications in weight, energy, geometry, and suspension made for a transformative driving expertise.

“I diminished the load by 30 kgs, elevated the facility to 87 bhp, and adjusted the rake and path so it handles like a race bike, tipping into corners fantastically.”

Not solely does this TRX carry out like an entirely totally different bike, the aesthetics are past comparability to the unique, showcasing Ian’s metal-working experience to highly effective impact. So radical are the modifications the bike warranted a brand new title, the “Meteor 850.” Says Ian:

“Once I construct a motorbike I need to show to people who the saying ‘type over operate’ is garbage. You’ll be able to have each. Which is why I constructed the Meteor 850.”

Under, we get extra particulars and the complete construct sheet straight from Ian himself.

Meteor 850 Café Racer: Within the Builder’s Phrases…

I’m a standard sheet steel fabricator working my very own enterprise, ETTO Bikes. That is my very own bike; I’m additionally a suspension technician. I diminished the load by 30 kgs, elevated the facility to 87 bhp, and adjusted the rake and path so it handles like a race bike, tipping into corners fantastically.

I really like the entire 50’s café racer ‘ton-up’ scene and wished to construct a homage to the blokes and ladies that took a poorly dealing with bike and tried to enhance it, to hit that magic ton. So the donor bike needed to be a parallel twin that wanted bettering. The bike that sprung to thoughts instantly was the Yamaha TRX 850.

The usual bike has an incredible engine, however for me the seems to be are as boring as dishwater and the chassis could be higher suited to a Sofa catalogue. The goals have been to shed weight, improve engine efficiency, and vastly enhance the chassis dealing with. While giving the bike a café racer model.

It’s nice assembly prospects with the identical enthusiasm and fervour for his or her tasks. I’ve obtained prospects with café racers, scramblers, and Sports activities bike. All of them fairly rightly need to construct one thing distinctive.

Once I construct a motorbike I need to show to people who the saying “type over operate” is garbage. You’ll be able to have each. Which is why I constructed the Meteor 850.

Chassis:

Ducati 749 the wrong way up forks – absolutely rebuilt and resprung to my weight with linear springs.
Customized CNCed aluminium prime yoke
Ducati 749 backside yokes and clip-on handlebars
Brembo folding lever radial grasp cylinder
Brembo 4 pot calipers
Brembo rear brake caliper
Metal braided twin brake strains
Marchesini wheels
Customized aluminium speedo/headlight bracket
ETTO Customized absolutely braced Yamaha YZF750 swing-arm
Nitron NR1 rear shock
LSL rear units

Body:

ETTO tank: Historically hand-crafted aluminium race gasoline tank (reproduction of the unique tank). Fashioned in 1.6mm 1050 aluminium, contains an inside breather and flush becoming race gasoline cap. (3kgs lighter).
ETTO Customized aluminium sub-frame
Customized seat
ETTO Bespoke tail tidy, battery field, brackets for the gasoline pump, coolant reservoir, ECU
Reg/rec and solenoid brackets
ETTO customized oil catch tank
Honda GP RS250 seat unit.

Electrics:

Bespoke customized wiring loom and re-located ignition barrel
Koso speedo, LED rear mild and indicators
Bates entrance head mild
Koso CRD64 Speedometer

Engine:

Mikuni 40mm flat slide carburettors – dynoed and re-jetted
Domino ¼ flip fast motion throttle
Customized outsized chrome steel exhaust system – one piece per cylinder, with reverse cone silencers and soda blasted end.
16/41 gear ratio (up from 17/39)