TW200?!

[fj1289]

Anyone here have any experience with the little Yamaha TW200s?

After a two year effort (subtle but persistent!) to convince my wife to let our son have a motorcycle, she's agreed to one for Christmas -- a TW200.  There's a couple or three for sale around here - most either too new (more $$$$ than we want to go) or are older but seem to be in good shape (88-90). 

They seem to be simple, honest machines that are fairly low stressed in stock form.  So, other than the usual battery, gummed carb, and old tire issues, anything in particular to be aware of?  I joined the TW200 forum and haven't seen anything to be concerned about, but wanted to see if anyone here knows these little trail/street bikes ("enduro" seems like too serious of a word for these!).

The wife has mentioned being interested in a scooter a couple times....wondering/hoping she may want to give the TW a go herself!  Then again with her birthday at the end of January a "cute" scooter may not be such a bad idea...but that's another thread for another day

[carey]

The TW 200's are simple and reliable, but not very performance oriented.  So it would be a nice starter bike.  As with anything used, condition and service history are important.

[rktmanfj]

The TW 200's are simple and reliable, but not very performance oriented.  So it would be a nice starter bike.  As with anything used, condition and service history are important.

Or find a nice BW350.   

[andyb]

The only trouble is the lack of reasonable tire selection.  They're about what you'd expect, super light and moderately underpowered.  The closer you can find one to being stock, the nicer they are.  A friend is now on his second, and they've been surprisingly cheap, under $1200 and no older than 2009.

Personally I liked the XT's a lot better.  Fundamentally the same thing, with less silly tires.

[fj1289]

Thanks all
I stumbled on the TW200s accidentally - forgot the designation was BW200 - but I think the TW is a better choice for this.  Tires do seem limited. But I don't expect he (we) will really be pushing the performance envelope very hard. 
Looking at two now for sale in the area - both seem to be well taken care of and not used hard.  It'll be cool to have the man-cub on two wheels -- and hopefully other family members soon too...

[andyb]

Your tire choice is one type of knobby, and one type of street. Neither is worth much for any serious riding, though I kinda suspect that they're appropriate for the bike.

I forgot to mention, they use a very goofy carb that is hard to get parts for.  You'd have to do some research to figure out the jetting if you wanted to go the pipe/pod route.  I've ridden one stock and with that done to it, and the noise wasn't worth the power gains (nor cost).

Very unintimidating to ride, and simple to work on.  If you've got a place to ride in mild offroad conditions (grass or gravel, for example), they're lovely little trailbikes.  They're really out of their element once you ask them to continuously go faster than about 50, but they're a good laugh in town.