rallymadsam

Click on the years on this page, and it'll show a picture of that years bike(s). http://www.betatrialuk.com/content/blogcategory/23/72/

That seems to be common theme with current medical treatment, advise you to stop the activity, rather than proactively work on the injury or condition to make it fit for the activities you take part in. A colleague of mine has suffered with a bad shoulder for a long time, tried all sorts to no avail, ended up at a sports physio who has now correctly diagnosed the problem, given some treatment and an exercise regime, and it has now improved immensely.

Thanks for that

Hi, Just wanting to know which way is which on a 1996 Techno Fuel Tap, and if there's a reserve setting? Cheers, Sam

Just a quick one: Which is the best trials training DVD available for a total novice? Cheers, Sam

http://www.pittedforks.co.uk/fork-rechroming.php

If I was you I'd have a look at the classifieds on here, pistonheads, eBay etc, don't buy on make/model specifically, just find something that's been well looked after and maintained, particularly by an older rider. A lot of people will recommend a Scorpa 250 (Yam), or a Montesa 315r (Honda 250), if you look hard enough you should find a tidy example of either for around £1k. I found a 96 Beta Techno 250 locally that was advertised online. It hasn't done much work for several years, and it was known to a friend, cost me well under a grand, ok I've spent a couple of hundred on it since, but it's still relatively cheap, and it's tidier than a lot of 2 or 3 yr old bikes that have been ridden hard and badly maintained at three times the price.

A lot more expensive than clipping on a water bottle, but you can then carry a few bits and pieces with you too. You could just cable tie a bicycle type drinks bottle holder to the upper part of the fork legs, between the yokes, but do you really want the weight there?

Quick update: Topped the coolant up tonight, checked the plug condition, reset the idle screw somewhere near (wound it out in attempt to stop her yesterday). And, she fired up 1st kick, sounds ok, no knocks or rattles or anything, ran her for a minute or 2, all seemed ok. Kill switch worked fine. So hopefully just 'carb icing' which is a new phenomena to me. I'm going to clean the carb and check the throttle anyway just to rule any issues with them out. Also tested the fan by crossing the terminals and it runs fine, so next thing to check is the thermostat. Under £20 for a new one if it is knackered though, so not too bad. So, all of the above leads me to 2 questions: 1: What should the idle screw be set at? 2: At what temperature should the fan kick in? Thanks for the help and advice so far. Sam

So you think that water vapour (caused by temperature difference) could have frozen in the carb causing the throttle to jam open?

Went out on my 96 250 Techno yesterday, rode for about an hour, nothing strenuous, just around the fields in the snow, mostly 2nd/3rd gear very low revs 'pootling' around. I had noticed the fan hadn't come on, but it was pretty bloody cold, and hadn't been using the throttle much at all, so wasn't overly concerned. Was all running fine, then I stopped for about 2 minutes, sat there with the bike upright and fuel left on, kicked her up and she revved out of control. The kill switch had no effect, so I pulled the plug lead, turned off the fuel and she gradually slowed down and stopped, but not before she'd boiled and spat all the coolant out. It wasn't running absoultely flat out, but close to it, for approx 30 seconds I'd say, could have been a touch longer (hard to tell when you're panicking like feck). The fan didn't run when it was boiling. There wasn't a big bang, and she hasn't seized, but it's got me worried. I had no choke or throttle on at the time, and the throttle seems ok from testing it after, the twistgrip's returning and you can hear the carb slide shutting. So what could have caused it? And what should I be checking? Our initial thoughts were that she's got very hot due to the fan not running, and the plug was burning fuel without needing the spark (hence the kill switch not working & running on when the HT lead was removed). But what was she burning? As to my knowledge the throttle was shut, and fuel turned off. The kill switch normally works fine by the way. Help. Sam

Hi, Been lurking for a while but thought I'd post now as I'm likely to start asking a lot of questions before long as I've just bought my first bike. Cheers, Sam