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Hello All,

The first motorbike I ever owned was a Yamaha Townmate, and I rode that bike up and down a beach in Co Down during the summer holidays from when I was 8 to about 12 years of age.  Unsurprisingly, rust had its wicked way with it and ate right through the rear end, and that was the end of my Townmate days... or so I thought!

15yrs later I ended up working in an office overlooking the back yard of a motorbike shop, and there in their skip was a Townmate, destined for the scrap yard!  I asked the owner of the bike shop what the story was and he said it was beyond economical repair and the owner had never came back for it.  I told him about my childhood days with a Townmate on the beach and cheekily asked him if I could have the one in his skip and he said no bother, I'd be doing him a favour taking it away, so I did.

First thing I did was contact DVLA to find out how I could become the register owner, because there was no paperwork with it, and it turned out to be really simple from what I remember, although a bit nerve-wracking because I really really wanted to own this bike for old times' sake.

Apparently they had to write to the registered keeper at their last known address and advise that somebody new was wanting to take ownership of the vehicle.  If DVLA didn't hear back within something like 6 weeks, then I would become the new owner, and that's exactly what happened.  For 6 weeks I barely looked at the bike for fear of getting too attached, just in case the last owner who had abandoned it also got a bit sentimental and decided to reclaim ownership, but he didn't and DVLA sent me a nice new V5 with my name on it, and the T80 was all mine

I then set to work stripping her down, tiding her up, and getting her through MOT, and had a bit of fun that summer scooting about my town any chance I got, but there was always a bit of an issue with the kick start, that made it very unreliable, and I found myself having to bump start her a few times in front of people which distracted from the fun I was having.

With the kick start not being very reliable, she was tucked away into my garage until I could find time to have a look at it properly, but over time my Townmate got forgotten for a second time.  Every time I moved house, she was dug out, loaded into a removal van and tucked away again in the new garage and four house moves and numerous kids later there was a chance she would never see the light of day again, until Covid-19 changed the world as we know it, that is!

The Covid-19 pandemic has left me with a bit of spare time on my hands in the evenings, and the first job I tackled was to strip the carbs of an old 600 Bandit that I have, which had gotten gummed up, and I had put off doing for a couple of years because its an awful job and I've hardly had a minute to spare, but it all went very smoothly and its given me the motivation I need to dig out my Townmate and give it a bit of TLC, starting with the troublesome kick start.

Amazingly, having dug out of its current resting place and blowing up the tyres, the flippin' thing fired up after three kicks and a bit of choke!  I can't even imagine how old the petrol in the tank must be, but the Townmate didn't seem to care.  I really couldn't believe it!

I showed it to my 4 year old daughter and she thought it was the funniest, cutest wee bike she had ever seen and had a real good laugh at me riding it up and down the street as she is used to seeing me on something a bit bigger.

So, that's my Townmate story and here is a picture of the machine in question, pulled out of storage after many many years:



My plan now is to give her a wash and get the kick start sorted, which I may need some assistance/guidance with, and to get her back on the road as soon as possible.

I have another question about my original beach bike too, which has me a bit confused, but I'll keep that for another thread as I have rambled on enough here this evening.  I honestly only meant to say hello and tell you I'm currently located in Tandragee in Northern Ireland.

Hopefully catch up with all soon, and I'll try and find some pics of my Townmate restoration from years ago and get them posted.

Dowser

Welcome among us!

Hi there Dowser.  What a lovely story.  Yes, the Townmate is perhaps one of the most endearing bikes I have owned.  I traded my first one in for a Yamaha SR125 so I could take my test (had never bothered when I was younger as you could ride up to 250ccs on L plates).
As the years passed I hankered for another Townmate and was lucky enough to find one on eBay just 10 miles from where we live.  It is a great machine and I was going to ride to Slovenia this month....Riding to Slovenia on 10 gallons of fuel
Sadly I have had to abandon this because of Covid19 restrictions.  However, the plan now is to do it in May 2021
PS, youv'e done a great restoration.

Slovenia... Brilliant!  I look forward to following your progress with that adventure in 2021.  It's like something I would do, and still might now that you've planted the seed

Slovenia is just beautiful. My wife and I discovered it in 2016, returned in 2017 and in 2018 I decided to ride there. I was going to have taken the Townmate but at the last minute decided to buy a Sinnis Terrain specially for the trip. http://125toslovenia.wordpress.com. It was great fun but it made me realise I could have done it on the Townmate once I had improved things like indicators (now LED) and setting up a charger for the satnav.

Hi,
welcome to the forum. Give it a polish and get it out?

The kick start problem may be that it just needs adjustment (is it slipping) there is a small nut and screw under a rubber plug on the LH side just above gear change lever. Undo lock nut and adjust screw to give between 1/8 an 1/4 turn free play. I recommend that you buy a Haynes manual if you dont already have one.

hello and welcome to our company.

I wish you many and trouble-free kilometers