Was actually possessed by the Devil. Registered in Guildford in I think 1980 (If memory serves) It came into my posession in early 1985. 130 Quid it cost me.
This was no ordinary 50. It was the Millenium Falcon of the moped world. Unrivalled in Aberdeen since the demise of the Immortal 'Reckless Eric FS1E' Uber Fizzie, which was known to do speeds in the region of 80 and could do 60 in second gear. Or so the man said, no bullshit. Guaranteed :)
My TY 50 was capable of speeds in excess of 70 mph, It could do power wheelies at over 40 in third gear. it could do about 60 with 3 passengers (disclaimer: I was NOT the stupid bastard that found this out) It had power bands out of this world, I've out run police cars, 250cc road bikes and Vespa 125's and I'm not talking about the bog standard ones, I'm talking Fresco pipes, jacked shockers and least 10 mirrors.
One Horrible day, The holy piston shattered. This forced us, a crack team of amateur engineers, headed up By Keith 'AE50' Thomson, Ali 'Joey' Smith, and myself. and over a couple of days, in that garage, In Aberdeen. We BACK ENGINEERED the mechanical anomaly which was the ultra TY50. What we discovered was remarkable. The port job, which was done by Chris Robb I beleive, was the key to it all, a slight enlargement of the exhaust port, but radical enlargement of the inlet. plus racing reeds of course (fibre not metal) but they were all for NOTHING without the cut piston. Essentially it was a standard yamaha 49cc piston but half the intake holes missing, i.e. cut halfway down them, and an equal amount missing from the front of the piston to balance it. We copied the dimensions of the fractured modified piston exactly, then cut the standard one to match exactly. we did this with a high-precision instrument known as a 'hack saw'
And the best thing of all is that after the rebuild the bloody thing was faster than it ever was. On its maiden test...
To Be Continued..