pierre66

Could it be the Musee des Blindes at Saumur, Maine-et- Loire, France? I think they have a Tiger 1.

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

With the cable disconnected I have maybe 20mm of free play on the clutch arm. Am I right in thinking I need to screw the adjuster on the pressure plate in to remove this free play then back the adjuster off a half turn maybe? The biting point of the clutch is near the end of the lever travel, the friction plates look ok. Is there a stack height for the clutch plates? Cheers.

I would recommend fitting the Alpha timing side conversion. As Charlie says, the crank should spin freely in the cases, if it doesn`t, then there is something wrong. Mine wouldn`t spin freely because the bigend hole in the conrod had a very slight oval in it. It was fine with the old bearing but the new one was tight. Alpha honed it for me and all was well. Don`t run the engine unless you have oil circulating through out the engine first. The oil pump won`t prime the system on its own, I used a pump oil can to force oil through the feed pipe, once running, make sure the oil is returning to the tank before you ride it. I don`t want to sound like I`m trying to tell granny how to suck eggs but I learned these lessons the hard way. I would save you the time, expense and heartache of lunching a freshly rebuilt engine.

Thanks again guys, very helpful. Now I`ve found the mark on the clutch hub, (don`t know how I missed it, a trip to specsavers maybe ) I can tell you the pressure plate was one hole out. I`ve got it all completely stripped down now, barring the engine. The biggest surprise so far was the swingarm spindle sliding straight out. Shame the lower tapered roller bearing on the stem fell to pieces leaving the inner part stuck fast!

That`s brilliant, thanks. The torque settings would be helpful, if it`s not any trouble.

Thanks for that. Would you elaborate on the "if you`re clever enough" bit please? Any tips would be appreciated. While I`m here a couple of other questions if I may. Is the flywheel nut left or right hand thread? On the clutch pressure plate there is an arrow, what should that line up with? I can`t see any marks on the basket. I know on my road bike the pressure plate has to go back in a certain way, I did marked the plate and basket before I removed them. If the previous owner has put the pressure plate in the wrong place this could be why he said the clutch was dragging. If a picture would explain this better I`ll post one later when I`m not so oily

Do you have to split the engine to change the crankshaft oil seals on a Fantic 245? I`ve read you do on a 240 but not on a 200 or (I think) a 305. Cheers.

Well I`ve got one bolt out, more luck than skill. I wedged a thin screwdriver between the tank and seat unit, next to the bolt, and a couple of sharp twists with a spanner got the bolt to come loose, the captive nut seems to have gone tight in the tank again but I wouldn`t trust it to remain so. Not a chance with the other side. The bolt screws into a captive nut that looks a bit like a rivnut but without the top shoulder. If I grind the head off the bolt then I can remove the seat/mudguard unit from the tank but then what? Might be able to get some grips on the bolt shaft and wiggle it loose, unlikely I think. Might be able to drill it out, probably the whole lot will just spin when the drill bit touches it. I know it`s not a massive problem and it doesn`t stop the bike from running, but this is annoying the hell out of me now.

I`ve just bought a Fantic 245. I`ve removed the tank and seat from the bike as one unit. When I tried to undo the two bolts that hold the tank and seat together they just spin round. Any ideas how I can get these two bolts out? Cheers.

You are probably right about that, though I did find the same bike for sale as a classified ad for £160!!!! At that price I might have been willing to take a chance, if I`d known some engine parts are common with later models. (thanks baldilocks) The missing barrel is still probably the biggest obstacle to getting that bike back running, you may never find one of those. Nostalgia really is the key to the door of the bottomless money pit. If only my first trials bike had been a TY.

Thanks all for taking the time to reply. Here`s a couple of ebay links for the only two bikes I could find, don`t know how long the links will work for. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GAS-GAS-AIRE-AIRCOOLED-MONO-1989-/131341483525?pt=UK_Motorcycles&hash=item1e948ffe05&nma=true&si=R9Pp1D935QFxoB%252FpJXN5rgsaSL0%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Trials-Bike-Gas-Gas-Air-Cooled-/191403703917?pt=UK_Motorcycles&hash=item2c908cbe6d&nma=true&si=R9Pp1D935QFxoB%252FpJXN5rgsaSL0%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 The second bike (seized crank, no barrel etc) is surely more spares than repairs. I was surprised at how much it went for.

Jon v8 No apology necessary, I wasn`t offended. I admit it was a bit cheeky posting in the classic section, I just wanted to reach what I thought might be the biggest audience. bilks thanks for the links, that bike was one of the two bikes I mentioned in the first post. It`s now been sold. sorry baldricks, still can`t find it. Could you post a direct link please?

Is the 250 an air cooled mono? I just had a quick look but can`t find it.

Thanks Woody. I joined that group but couldn`t find anything, I`ll go and have a proper look now.