There are a couple of things to watch out for when buying a TW directly from the dealership. Firstly, these things turn up two to a crate, guaranteed, every time. So the mechanic takes a look, decides “sod that”, and gives the pre-assembly job to “Liitle Jim”, the workshop grunt
Here on this board, we primarily deal with TW’s day in, day out, but to the dealership they are toys with little mark up, and are so simple that the “big mechanic” has got better things to play with. Heck, a couple of bolts here and there, fill it with oil, get it out of my workspace. Grunt work
So the grunt does exactly that, and typically misses things. First up, look at the clutch cable, and follow it down to where it meets the left crankcase. The cable fixes to a lever, and on that lever is a return spring. This return spring is not attached in its final working position by the factory, relying instead to have it attached correctly once the bike is in use. In other words, Little Jim, who’s never seen a TW before, sees the spring, doesn’t realise it actually needs to be set up further, and hands the bike over with a “soft clutch”
We chew over this every now and then, but as new users come on board, they are often surprised -
site https://www.tw200forum.com clutch return spring - Google Search
The next one makes perfect sense when you think about it, but this is “Little Jim” – tire pressure. Given that the humble TW has about as much suspension travel as your average hedgehog, most people just look at those big bulky tires, and think “Odd”. Think about it for a moment – if you were riding a hedgehog bareback, the last thing you’d do would be to make the ride as hard as possibly by pumping up the tires to bursting point
The TW is a bit like that, and a lot of the suspension is actually in the tires. The manual states “19 psi for riders up to 170 pounds” (or something like that). “Little Jim” knows better, and puts 24 psi front and back, just like always. Sure, if you have the TW201/203 road tires and are determined to go for the land speed record on a two valve thumper, pump them up and hope you never go over a bump. But if the bike is stock, with knobblies, tone it down a bit. Many of us run below 15 psi for the trails, and not much over for the road. Not all nuts are on the bike, some of them are on the rider, and just like crates of TW’s, they come in pairs
19 psi is your starting point, adjust to body weight and riding conditions from there in either direction, but don’t leave it up some grunt in the shop …….
ricochetoffroad.com
