Continuing my theme on revisiting the past I was given the opportunity to ride an RTL 250 Honda recently, some 29 years after I sold mine.
Andy B, the man responsible for the lovely Armac Tiger Cub I recently put together an article of for the Classic Trial Magazine, has taken to buying earlier Honda trials machines. One of these is a lovely “Pinky” RTL, from 1987/88 i believe. Apart from a good service Andy has had to do nothing to it, although you will see from the photos that follow that he has also got a spare tank/seat cover unit that is in the original colours to use for day to day riding. (Andy has just messaged me after reading this to point out that it needed a little more than a little service, but we know he loves having to delve further!) 🙂
I had been riding the 2004 Beta Rev3 i built for the morning at the Zona 1 practice ground so it was strange hopping onto the Honda. I had forgotten how high the pegs were on the bikes of the day !! And also the front forks seem to be stretched way forward into the distance, but once you get on and ride it for 10 minutes you just get used too it and it still rides so nicely. I popped it over some logs, rocks and concrete pipes and was happily surprised at how good the suspension still rode .. and on the climbs the first two gears were perfect. I had a brilliant 40 minutes on the machine, and Andy grabbed my camera to record the evidence !! Cheers mate.
