Townmate V C90

Any of you lot out there own both the T80 and the the C90, if so how do you think they compare and which do you prefer. I've only ridden the C90 once (a restored example) and it seemed a bit of a pain with only three gears.

Have not owned a C90 but have ridden one in the passed, yes the early C90's did only have 3 gears but later ones have 4, & 12 volt lighting.
Personally the T80 with 4 gears & shaft drive is a better machine, but would benefit from 12 volt electrics. Spares are more easy to find for C90 due to many more being made & exported to virtually all countries. The T80 did not become as prolific I think it was more expensive than the Honda. The Yamaha T50 incidentally had only 3 gears & was very underpowered, so the automatic Honda C50 was a better bet. Very few T50's remain.

The 12v c90 only had 3 gears to unless they put an atc engine in it quite few people have done that or pit bike engines.....i own both got a 1977 round head light c90 and i prefer the t80, better ride not soft suspension like my c90 faster pick up the top ends are about the same but having 4 gears is easyer to get on with especially when comes to hilly areas and saves petrol around town plodding along in 4th

mark1982 wrote:The 12v c90 only had 3 gears to unless they put an atc engine in it quite few people have done that or pit bike engines.....i own both got a 1977 round head light c90 and i prefer the t80, better ride not soft suspension like my c90 faster pick up the top ends are about the same but having 4 gears is easyer to get on with especially when comes to hilly areas and saves petrol around town plodding along in 4th

I stand corrected about 4 speed, I thought the later ones were. Another good reason to choose a T80

My '75 6 volt c90 feels its age compared to my t80 tho beats it in top speed , when it eventually gets the engine spinning the c90 will do just over 50 but by that time the t80 will be way way waaaay ahead..an doin 45 mph very nicely..thank you , good evening.

an the transmission on the 90 is truly awful

The later half the 12v 90s had a roundy roundy gear box so stopping in 3rd at traffic lights you only had to press it forward again and you was in nutral again suppose that's handy lol. Yeah my t80 is better all round but both my t80 an c90 will go round to 60 but my t80 will still pull away slightly from it i prefer to plod along at 45\50 on both them tho no need to ring its neck out everywhere that's why mostly travel on back roads an avoid main roads if can. yes the 6v 90 gear box is horrible having to change thru nutral just to get second and you have to slow rite down to change into 2nd or it locks the wheel up

mark1982 wrote:The later half the 12v 90s had a roundy roundy gear box so stopping in 3rd at traffic lights you only had to press it forward again and you was in nutral again

The Yamaha T50 has a 3 speed 'roundy roundy' gearbox, (1 2 3 neutral 1 2 3). Personally I prefer the T80 set up of neutral below first. The T50 is a real waste of time, slow & underpowered, it uses the same basic parts & rear drive ratio as the T80 so you can change the engine to an 80 but you have to change the CDI unit as well, (the T50 & T80 ignitions are not the same) I think the T50 was made to comply with UK 50cc moped driving licence limitations.

A genuine 60 mph ? outta both of them ? thats good news .. i may an try squeeze a bit more speed from t80,i think i over oiled filter and it may be choked a little.
The roundy gear selector is good but i have a race c90 12v and it can go from third to first whilst on the move,it shouldnt do that,any idea what may be wrong ?

Frank1e wrote:A genuine 60 mph ? outta both of them ? thats good news .. i may an try squeeze a bit more speed from t80

I think 60mph is only possible because Mark has fitted an oversize rear tyre, this maybe OK on the level back wind, but with a strong headwind or on a hill it will struggle. 6Omph is not a realistic cruising speed on standard gearing, 45 is about right. If you want to go faster buy a bigger bike. Honda Innova 125 maybe.

My mate will be happy with that his just brought a t50 lol he was thinking of putting a t80 barrel Exhulst an carb on it would that make it go bit better?

Yeah sat nav approved speed I've got a 3.00 rear tyre on it an geared it up a bit forgot mention that i don't do that all time i mostly just ride between 30 an 45\50 if going along back roads. i can ask on the c90 site about your gear box if you like?

It does that on flat on calm day it does creep up to 60 once reaches 55 not yeah that's what mainly stick to don't want to blow the engine up keep doing it. Yeah riding at the matlock meet it did kill the speed up hills it did struggle was thinking putting a smaller tyre on for the barmouth meet next month. I've got a cb 100 and a yammy rs 100 for going faster

mark1982 wrote:My mate will be happy with that his just brought a t50 lol he was thinking of putting a t80 barrel Exhulst an carb on it would that make it go bit better?

Not sure you can fit T80 barrel on a T50 but you would then be stuck with the crap 3 speed gearbox. So better to buy a complete T80 engine (& CDI unit)

i could sworn i read you can fit 1 an it takes it to 75cc i was going to ask on here about that his got a spare t80 engine that needs rebuilding as it keeps blowing its oil out over flow any idea

depends if there the same stroke, I don't think they are,

oh rite ok he'll have to test that his got spare t80 engine that needs rebuilding so can test the barrel on the 50 engine ill have to let you know if does might be a good upgrade to some1 with a t50

Admin drgaz wrote:depends if there the same stroke, I don't think they are,

No they are not the same. T50 is 39mm bore x 41.4mm stroke the T80 is 47mm bore x 45.6mm stroke. So presumably will not fit & if it does the piston may not reach top of cylinder so will give very low compression. If it does work (& piston goes to top of cylinder) it would give 71.8cc (T80 is 79cc) so performance would not be that far short of a T80, but of course it would be limited by the 3 speed gearbox.
Much better to pick up a good T80 engine & do a proper conversion to T80. Here is a pdf of the T50/T80 handbook which may be useful http://www.classiccycles.org/media/DIR_122/DIR_664222/DIR_784233/d6bbd1466c316161ffffb256ffffe417.pdf
The original T50 exhaust whilst it looks the same as T80 has restricted baffle system to comply with moped max soeed (30 mph) but as far as I know pattern exhausts are the same for both bikes so in effect de-restrict the T50.
As for oil blowing out of breather, looks as though bore is worn or rings broken (would have low compression) new piston kits are available new on eBay

well my t80 has trouble redlining in top gear so little point in over gearing until that is resolved.
Yamaha say 58 mph , so yeah should be more to come out of it.

yeah go ahead an ask about roundy gear problem..please /thanks

You can fit a C70 top end to a C50 I did it on a honda ss50 many years ago made not alot of difference.

Oh rite ok i will tell him to just fit the t80 engine in the t50 think his got spare t80 Exhulst an carb. i will download the manuals on my phone for him and send them to him. saying that stripped the engine and the bore is egg shaped some how?. Oh rite ok mine done that for while was dirty carb that was doing it. Yeah think that just does bit on pick up an tiny bit on top end

mark1982 wrote:Oh rite ok i will tell him to just fit the t80 engine in the t50 think his got spare t80 Exhulst an carb. i will download the manuals on my phone for him and send them to him. saying that stripped the engine and the bore is egg shaped some how?. Oh rite ok mine done that for while was dirty carb that was doing it. Yeah think that just does bit on pick up an tiny bit on top end

Don't forget he will need a T80 CDI ignition unit otherwise no sparks, the exhaust may be ok if its an after market one, it is only the genuine Yamaha ones that were restricted, that's probably long rusted away. He will need the T80 carb though as the T50 is smaller bore.

Ok 'll let him know he needs the cdi box as well not sure if his got spare 1 of them think his got spare t80 Exhulst to put on it His got a spare carb i brought from a bike breakers while back

mark1982 wrote:i could sworn i read you can fit 1 an it takes it to 75cc i was going to ask on here about that his got a spare t80 engine that needs rebuilding as it keeps blowing its oil out over flow any idea

Not sure what you mean "blowing oil out over flow". Not a very clear description.

If it is blowing oil out of the oil filler plug when it is open, you need to either hone and bore the cylinder and put new rings in it. In other words rings are worn/low compression.

when i ride the bike it will blow the oil out the breather out the back the engine all over the rear wheel makes some intresting riding with the rear tyre covered in oil lol. it needs rebore took engine apart and the bore is egg shaped

When I was 17 in 1997 I had a 1986 C90M-F (electric start 12v). The only things that were better about the C90 was slightly better fuel economy, indicators and brake lights that worked properly. The latter I've fixed by converting my T80 to 12v.

Other than that the T80 is far superior in every way. Better acceleration, better top speed, nicer gearbox, shaft drive.