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| | 1976 TL250 Trial
The TL250 Honda Trials bike was another example of Honda’s market penetration experiment.
Prior to the TL250 Honda had released the TL125 in 1973 after Observed Trials were becoming popular in Europe. As much as Honda tried, the TL125 did not impress the American public. The TL250 was introduced to address some of the shortcomings of the TL125, namely the lack of power.
The new TL250 had a lot more power but was also a lot heavier. After a year of sponsorship on a full team of riders to ride every national event, American Honda decided that Observed Trials was not worth the effort and expense.
The TL250 was only imported for two years, 1975 and 1976. The last models available in Honda’s warehouses were greatly reduced in price to make room for hotter selling bikes, especially motocross bikes. Apparently The United States was not ready for Observed Trials, as American Honda did not bring Trials Bikes to this country for many years to come following the lackluster sales of the TL series.
The bike pictured here was purchased when my friend Jerry Bolt told me that he saw two of them on a trailer in Colorado, and the guy that showed them to him, wanted the trailer. Jerry told me that if I could get the TL250’s to Pennsylvania that I could have one of them. I called a friend Mike Young who lives in Colorado and he was planning on comint to Pennsylvania the following week.
All I did was to pay for the gas for his F250 and both Jerry and I became proud owners of two very nice Honda’s TL250 Trials Bike.
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