DAUPHINE-LAMARCK TW125

Ever get that feeling you should never have sold something? Yup, thought so. I met FCL Motorcycles owners Phill and Graham at the BSMC Event III and it reminded me to ask what happened to my old TL125 I sold them years ago, for £80, ouch! Turns out it had a tuned motor with hot cam, bespoke frame a host of trick parts. I was young, and needed the money, I’m now old-ish and still need the money, damn it! (Bear with here, this tangent is relevant).

The welcome inundation that is the BSMC inbox offers flashes of images that inspire us to read particular build stories. A fleeting glimpse of the TL tank on Dauphone-Lamark’s TW125 got my pulse racing. There we go, got there, tenuously! Phil from Dauphine-Lamrack, Paris has continued his winning recipe of modding diminutive Japanese Trailies, Stepthroughs and Monkey-bikes, as seen previously in The Shed.  If the donor bike’s piston will fit into a glass of Pernod, he’ll be happy to build a bike around it.

Californian desert racers and BMXs from the 70s & 80s were the inspiration for this dual-breed creation, that and Phil’s penchant for no-fuss city hacks. Something that will never ever happen on a race circuit, Yamaha and Honda have been forcefully conjoined.

Once stripped right down, the Yamaha TW frame received the obligatory de-tabbing and weld grinding before the rear was adapted to accept the single piece Honda TL tank and seat unit. The fibreglass was reworked and given a proper period paint job and machined fuel cap. The seat pad looks to offer a touch more comfort than the original TL thats for sure

The Kitico parts catalogue was raided for understated indicators and lights, with most of the wiring requiring a tidy and hiding where possible. Apart from the HT lead and matching red fuel hoses.

The engine is stock and was in perfectly good condition so didn’t need opening up. To cope with the open filter and handmade stubby exhaust the 24mm Kehin carb received a bigger main jet. Rolling burnouts might be off the cards but with such a stout rear Bridgestone wheelies should be possible.

Wide, laid-back bars, with old school grips look the business and will make filtering in the Parisien traffic a doddle, if not Phil could practice his bunny hops, or just pull over and admire his creation.

With Yamaha’s cheap pressed steal tank binned and this sleek one piece Honda unit taking centre stage the sand-spec tyres look purposeful rather than silly and would probably have the designers at Yamaha wishing this is how they’d designed their bike in the first place.

Thanks to Hugo Michaudel for the moody photography, really makes the red pop, as they say in Cali.

via The Bike Shed