It's time for TM
By TMX Archives on 27th Jan 12
The ethos of TM has always been to produce a racers bike. There is no trail riding and no shortcuts in the machines the company is trying to produce. The result is one of the highest-spec production bikes you can buy.
The finish of the bikes is top drawer. Everything that can be made of billet, is, and almost every part of each bike is made in the TM Factory.
The only parts they don't make are the brakes, the forks and the hydraulic clutch. Pretty much everything is cast, machined and developed in the little factory by a mere 40-odd staff.
Riding the bikes the first thing I noticed is the brakes, they a truly fantastic. A mix of Brembo caliper and Nissin master cylinder, matched to a Braking over-sized disc make for both great power and bags of feeling.
On all the bikes the oversize rear disc made the brake a bit too easy to lock, but it was rarely a problem.
The suspension comes in the form of a 50mm Marzocchi fork and TM's own factory racing shock, developed on all their race bikes over the last year-and-a-half.
The shock is matched to a very Japanese-style aluminium perimeter frame and the bikes come with a whole host other ‘nice' bits, including billet triple clamps and hubs, blue Excel rims and a HGS exhaust system.
EN 125
The power plant on the 125cc smoker has been completely redeveloped for 2012, with a new cylinder design featuring an electronic power-valve, a new piston, revised CDI and carb settings and some redesigned gear-selector parts.
Riding the bike there is no getting away from the fact it is a 125. It feels like a 125 in every way. It's super light, handles fantastically and does everything a 125 should.
At first the jetting was far too rich, but this was easily explained by the high altitude and cold air and this made the bike hard to ride, it wouldn't pick up and was hard to keep in the powerband.
However once the jetting had been altered it was a whole different story. The bike is quick for a 125, and is really nice to ride. Like all eighth-litre offerings, the engine has to be in the right gear and makes all the good power when singing like a bird.
The powerplant doesn't have a lot of bottom end, but no 125 ever will. You can however trickle it along and it never wants to stall.
I am not a fan of 125s in general but if you are, this one is as good as anything else.
EN 250Fi
For me this is the gem of the TM stable. All the models have good things going for them but the 250Fi is a really good bike.
From the first one-hundred metres I travelled on it, I liked it.
Everything on this bike really works together. It handled really well around the tight and twisty course that we used. It is very easy to dominate the bike and push hard on. It's not the fastest handling bike in the world, but it felt consistent, predictable and very easy to ride.
The feel of the bike is far more Japanese than the likes of KTM and Husqvarna. It turns smoothly, never doing anything you don't want to it to, holds the line in corners well and is very easy to move around.
The engine is equally as good as the chassis. It doesn't make bags of power but more than holds its own. It could do with a little more go, but all the 250F class bikes fall into that category.
The engine is, however, smooth all the way through, with no feeling of any dips in the power delivery. It gets good traction and drives forward.
It's a bike that breeds confidence, especially in the loose, tight going that we had to test in. You never feel like the limiting factor is the bike, but yourself.
The suspension also felt like the setting was the best of all the models. Both front and rear units soaked up smaller bumps nicely, but they could also take bigger hits well.
For lighter-weight riders the set-up is definitely on the stiff side. I weigh in at 15-stone and it felt about right for me, but the good news is that the standard kit has good potential.
The factory mechanics explained to us that suspension is very tight from brand new and once a few hours have been put on the machines they settle down and the suspension softens off quite a bit.
The mapping switch did make a difference, with the gentler map killing the power off a bit.
But I think on the bike most of the riding will be done in ‘full power' mode.
As a complete package the 250Fi is very good. It puts a smile on your face and gives you confidence to try new things.
The fuel injection works very well too, and the capacity to alter the mapping also provides the chance to get more go from the bike – if you want it!
If you're looking at a new 250F enduro bike this should be a serious option.
EN 450 Fi
A 450 four-stroke is normally a predictable affair. They make absurd amounts of power, have loads of bottom end and when you turn the gas they take off into the stratosphere.
Generally they are the type of bike that's seriously fun for an hour, but a killer after three-hours and you have to be on top of your game to get the most out of them.
I expected the TM to be an absolute horse-power monster but I couldn't have been more wrong. The EN 450 is incredibly smooth.
It is unbelievably progressive and gentle – it doesn't try to break land speed records and it a very easy bike to ride. The TM engine is odd, but purely because even when revved hard the bike is still smooth and easy to ride. It makes good power, it's still very fast, but it feels like it would be fantastic around a wet, grassy special test – it's that smooth!
The bike worked better when is was revving more too, a little more aggression and dominance paid dividends, but the bike never felt like it was too much.
As with the 250 it handles pretty well too.
In the tighter sections it became a little cumbersome, but you can't expect it handle like an E1 machine either. Like the smaller bike however, it is easy to put where you want it on the going and it likes to hold the line very well.
The suspension needs a little bit of work on the 450 from the stock settings as the bike felt very stiff, especially at the rear and while backing the pre-load off helped a little it was still stiff.
With a few more hours on the bikes the men in blue say the suspension beds in and softens off and if that is the case, then happy days! The 450 was surprising in that bike felt so stiff because the spring rate was actually pretty soft.
Brakes started out feeling pretty spongy on the 450, but following a quick bleed they proved to be as good as on the other models. The only other bugbear with the 450 was a slight struggle to start on the button.
The cold atmosphere may not have helped and a quick stab of the kick-start saw her chug back into being, but it was a little annoying at times.
All in though the EN 450 is a great bike – it handles well and is surprisingly easy to ride.
SPECIFICATIONS
2012 model TM EN 250 Fi es/ EN 450 Fi es
ENGINE
Engine type: Liquid cooled, single cylinder, four-stroke with 4-valve (titanium) DOHC with finger followers & fuel injection
Displacement: 249.5 cc/ 449.16 cc
Bore x stroke: 77 x 53.6 mm/ 95 x 63.4 mm
Starter: Kick- and electric starter
Transmission: 6 gears/ 5 gears
Lubrication: Dry sump with 2 pumps
Fuel: Un-leaded
Carburettor: Fuel Injection with 44 mm throttle body
Clutch: Multiple-disk in oil-bath with hydraulic control
Ignition: Kokusan generator & Microtec electronic ignition
CHASSIS
Frame: Aluminium perimetral
SUSPENSION
Front: 50 mm Marzocchi USD forks
Rear: TM shock
BRAKES
Front: Braking wave disk 270 mm with Nissin pump & caliper
Rear: Braking wave disk 245 mm with Nissin pump & caliper
TYRES
Front: 90/90-21” (both)
Rear: 120/90-18”/ 140/80-18”
DIMENSIONS
Tank capacity: 8.2 litres
SPECIFICATIONS
2012 model TM EN 125/ EN 250/ EN 300
Engine type: Liquid-cooled, single cylinder, 2-stroke with V-force reed-valve induction
Displacement: 123.5 cc/ 249 cc/ 294 cc
Bore x stroke: 54 x 54.5 mm/ 66.4 x 72 mm/ 72 x 72 mm
Compression Ratio: 1 : 17/ N/D/ 1 : 15
Starter: Kickstarter
Transmission: 6 gears/ 5 gears/ 5 gears
Carburetor: Keihin PWK 38
Lubrication: Fuel/ oil mix at 3.5%
Clutch: Multiple-disk in oil-bath with hydraulic control
Ignition: Kokusan CDI Electronic with variable advance with two selectable maps
CHASSIS
Frame: Aluminium perimetral
SUSPENSION
Front: 50 mm Marzocchi USD forks
Rear: TM shock
BRAKES
Front: Braking wave disk 270 mm with Nissin pump & caliper
Rear: Braking wave disk 245 mm with Nissin pump & caliper
TYRES
Front: 90/90-21” (all 3)
Rear: 120/90-18” 140/80-18” 140/80-18”
DIMENSIONS
Tank capacity: 8.7 litres (plastic tank)
FOR FULL REPOT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX JANUARY 27
