Little Honda…
Bigger isn’t always better in the trials world, but how small should you go?
…don’t worry we’re not breaking into the Beach Boys but rather featuring a neat little TLM from Honda’s immense stable.
Using a small bike because it’s lighter than a big bike is an obvious thing to say and the trials world embraced smaller two-strokes in the Sixties for that very reason. There were those who took this thought to extreme levels and went really small to confound the establishment with microbikes. Peter Gaunt was one such rider, producing well engineered motorcycles with tiny capacities and it was seeing Peter ride his own Tlm-based machine in the Sammy Miller series which spurred on Martin Gilbert to build his own similar machine.
“We’re an odd bunch us trials riders,” says Martin, “sometimes the challenge of making something work is more tempting than it should be…”
Only those standing close to him could spot his glance at the RTX we featured last issue. Martin told me his Honda started life as a 1983-ish TLM50: “It’s a kids bike really and a bit gutless, but the fun came in trying to make it work.”
In order to do that Martin had to look at several areas, the biggest problem being the swinging arm as standard won’t accept a proper trials tyre. He contacted Berry Gamelkoorn, a Dutch engineer who makes superb swinging arms which we occasionally have in our products pages. Berry made a one-off to Martin’s requirements. “I know it’s a bit blingy and trick, but it works. Berry did say it was the lightest one he’d ever made though,” explained Martin.
Once the bike was able to cope with a big rear wheel Martin had both hubs laced with full-sized rims by Colin Leese at TY Off-road. While this was going on Martin had some yokes made for the forks by Gerry Minshall, familiar to riders in the Kia Twinshock Series.
“The yokes just alter the front a bit and cope well with the 30mm diameter forks,” Martin says, “however, the forks are not brilliant even though they’ve been rebuilt and pre-loaded for my weight. Don’t get me wrong, they work, but they are what they are.”
Now, a 50cc engine isn’t the most powerful in the world and there’s not a lot of room for increasing it either. “I approached Yorkshireman Mick Abbey, he’s noted in the two-stroke world as a tuner of repute though admitted he’d never worked on a trials bike.” First task was to increase the capacity and a Kawasaki KX65 piston was persuaded into the barrel and the crankcase and barrel porting has been extensively worked… how exactly? Contact Mick to find out. Suffice to say it has made a difference.
Also making a difference is a larger capacity airbox and a Mikuni flat slide carburettor. Both are matched to the interestingly shaped exhaust. “This bit is the first thing people see and comment on,” says Martin, “it is unusual in style but works and contributes to the bike working well.”
Now the bike works and Martin has enjoyed quite a bit of success with it in events all over the UK and Europe, there is a plan to tidy it up a little by powder coating the frame.
As I took photos Martin elaborated on how the bike has performed: “To be honest it’s done better than I expected, it’s reliable – it’s a Honda! – and thanks to Mick Abbey there’s a surprising amount of power available, though it does lose out on long hill climbs and it does require more effort to ride it as bigger obstacles look even bigger from behind 65 or so cc, but the bottom line is it’s a lot of fun to ride.”