Do you see how much better it looks in the 2nd picture? Well, I didn’t do anything to it… yet. In fact, the picture above is what it looked like when I brought it home under warehouse lighting. The pic on the dirt driveway was the for sale photo. Bait and switch? Eh, sorta. Bait to get you out there in person. Clearly he took pics of a wet bike which glossed it up and made it look “mint” according to his headline. Mint? Go figure, a Facebook ad that wasn’t 100% accurate. Which is why the guy had already dropped the price from $3K to $2K since it hadn’t sold in three weeks. Then I sauntered over looking for something to ride around the yard that would also help teach my kids a clutch. Bingo.
Trailway TW200s started production in 1987 and are still available today new from Yamaha for $4,999 as essentially an unchanged bike. Except they went with a front disc brake in 2001 and added a reset mileage counter in the speedo unit. I hadn’t been looking specifically for a TW200 but it fit the bill nicely. It’s a smaller bike with low seat height, four stroke with lights and mirrors for occasional rides on our dirt roads. And at 4,200ish miles, it hadn’t been used much. I’m sure there are other unique production colors, but this is the only year for robin blue plastics and the only year with “Trailway” on the seat instead of Yamaha. Ok, ok, not everything has to be categorized as collectible. But this is how my brain is washed from decades of tumble drying. This bike is for fun but if I can impart value during my ownership, so be it.
The bike was and is in pretty good shape when you consider all the work done within 79 miles. New battery, OEM carb, fork fluids and seals, full ignition system and new tires with receipt. They’re the wrong tires. They should be knobby trail tires. I priced out new ones. Bridgestone is the only company I found that makes the rear size. Balanced and installed by a local shop is about $550. It’ll probably happen but I’m not in a hurry.
So how did I restore the plastics? It all started with a hunt for a how-to video on YouTube. Ahhhh, YouTube where everyone shares what they’ve learned so people can comment on how great they are or how wrong they got it. Vacillate between them and you’ve found your solution. Mine? To remove the oxidation that corroded the top layer of plastic, I used a curved ruler blade. I got lucky with this tool hitting the curves because the prescribed method was a razor blade, dragging gently in one direction. After which I used a combination of a heat gun and polish plus wax to bring back the shine. I’ve got probably 8-10 hours into it but the results are great. Almost as good as spraying it with a hose and snapping some photos.
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