When I was around 12 I decided that the go-kart I built wasn’t really cutting it anymore. After all it was only good on the road, and as we all know (and the county Sheriff explained to me a few times) driving a go-kart on the road is illegal, even if you can keep up with traffic.
Sol got my mom to drive me to the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Yamaha dealer to look for a mini- bike. Even back then those damn things were expensive! I was a young kid with paper route and odd job money, not a Rockefeller for crying out loud. But what the dealer did have was a used 1974 TYBO Trials bike. It was perfect, and perfect for me because It was cheap! I somehow managed to sell my go-kart and make up the difference to make the TY80 mine. Once again my mom was pressed into service when she gave me a ride to the dealer in her VW Bus so we could load up my new bike and drag it home.
It was the best damn bike I have ever owned. Never missed a beat, 2-stroke fast, and the low trials seat didn’t clobber your, umm, guy stuff when you would take the bike off some Killer jumps you may or may not have built on your parent’s property and may or may not have misjudged your landing.
Like an idiot, I later found a bigger, better bike I thought I’d like more- a 1974 Indian ME100 Enduro bike. So I sold the Yamaha and bought the Indian. Which I till have. And it is still kind of aPos.
But I always missed that TY80 so about 10 years ago I decided to find another. I posted a wanted ad on a car forum I belong to and within an hour got an email from a buddy in Scottsdale Arizona who said he saw one for sale locally on eBay. Sure enough, there it was. Somebody was stupid enough to restore a 1974 TYBO to showroom condition with all NOS parts. And I was stupid enough to buy it on the spot, sight unseen. I sent the money and got the address for pickup.
It was about five blocks from where my mom now lived in Scottsdale. I called my mom and said “remember that Yamaha you helped me pick up in 1982?” “Of course I do, I never wanted you to have a motorcycle.” “Great. Can you go pick up the one just like it that I bought today? It is a few blocks from your house.” “Colin, you’re going to kill me.” “Great, sounds good Mom. But can you go get my bike into your garage first? Thanks!”
True story. The end.