Garrett's 1999 Yamaha TT-R225
(Just washed after his first big crash)
Left Side
Right Side
Right Rear
Right Front
The 1999 TT-R225 is a great bike to learn on. It's smooth ride and somewhat laid back handling give a new rider a lot of confidence.
Beware that this bike is not set up well enough for average to large sized males, I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone weighing more than 190 lbs.
The price is right and the performance is perfect for a new rider to see just how interested they are in the sport or off-road motorcycling.
As Garrett (approx. 175 lbs.) became more familiar with the motorcycle and the trails he really started to push the bike past it's factory set-up. The biggest problem was that the front forks would bottom out on just about any jump. Now some will say it's all technique, however, for a beginning rider who is jumping bottoming out is not a nice sensation.
we changed the fork oil from 10W to 15W, we also noted that, according to factory spec, this TT-R was low on fork oil. Was it low from the factory? We don't know, the bike was purchased used with very low hours so we suspect so.
The 15W oil has made a huge difference in the handling of the bike on rougher terrain and jumps. We plan on adding a 3/4" in preload spacer to the fork springs to see if it can get even better.
After a couple hundred miles on trails with the TT-R Garrett doesn't slow our group down at all and even pushes us in some sections of the trails we ride on. Another new rider hooked on dirt motorcycling!
Here's what Yamaha had to say about the 1999 TT-R225.