Buying a neglected TDM 900

[snake87]

Question...

A relative of mine has stored a 2002 TDM 900 in his garage for a little over 10 years since he had to surrender his license due to a health condition. The garage isn't the best of garages, has a little bit of damp.

He's now thinking of selling it and I'm keen to go take a look. I currently have an older TDM 850 which I love to bits, but the mileage is getting quite high and its value is beginning to decrease, so at the moment I'm tempted, but I don't want to be piling money into a bike to get it up to a safe to ride standard.

For a bike to be stored under these sort of conditions for such a long time, what sort of checks should I focus on other than the basics such as chain, folk seals, battery, tyres etc.

Annoyingly i can't remember if the 900's ran on carbs or fuel injection. If they are fuel injected which I suspect they were, I know I will need to drain all the bad fuel out of the bike and possibly replace the battery before I can try fire her up for a test ride!

Advice would be much appreciated

Dan
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Admit to nothing, deny everything
In the garage: 2010 Yamaha TDM 850 Twin, saving my penny's for a faired Yamaha MT-09 Tracer

[M.C]

Unless it was free or virtually free I wouldn't touch it.

[stevo as b4]

I disagree. I think the EFI 900's are a better lighter bike and have a better spec than the 850's. What they don't do is make much more power, but big bore headers and losing the restrictive cats should sort that out.

Unless the bike was stored very badly in a leaking very damp place I expect it will still be solid and worth economically re-commisioning. You'll know from looking at it if theres alot of corrosion or rusting.

You'll probably have to budget a few quid for new brake pads/seals/fluid and tyres as well as a thorough service and fluids change.

Will be a shame to scrap a good bike for the sake of a few £££ of bits IMO.

[Rogerborg]

Check that the tank isn't rusted out.

I'd assume that everything made of rubber will need replaced until proven otherwise, possibly including any shaft seals.

Don't get suckered into paying money to try and get it to start up.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[chris-red]

They are FI,

I'm the resident TDM900 expert, feel free to ask anything. I have attached a service manual I had to zip it because the forum has a limit on PDF sizes.

Fresh battery and fuel it'll probably go. One thing that might cause trouble is the auto choke they get gummed up and cause cold start issues.

Here is a guide to sort it.

https://www.jbx9.16mb.com/index.php?page=CS1

Ignore everything he says about dropping the rad/buggering about with the cooling system. You can use a ratchet with a screwdriver bit to get to it from above.

Other than that I'd agree with Roger. Expect to replace all rubber/fluids.

If it's cheap I'll buy it if you don't want it. I have loads of parts and I've worked on them before I'll recommission it.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[kgm]

I'd check the brake pistons as well - from the couple of rebuilds I've done I've found the brake pistons had become badly pitted after a long stand (that said the last one had been sitting for 28 years so maybe not the most representative example... It was pretty good for the most part though)

[DJP]