[Social Climber]

Hello all,

Although I've been messing around on a TY80 then an '81 Cota 349 since I was a nipper I've only just decided to get into competitions. I sent my membership to the Knock M.C.C over here in N. Ireland, bought some cheap kit off eBay ( new, but cheap..) and finally got meself a '93 Aprilia Climber 280R.
I've trawled though this forum and NO-ONE seems to mention this bike. It is in great condition and in the two weeks I've had it it seems to pull like a train ( I weigh an even 18st - rugby player, not a completely fat B*****d. .).

However, it seem that they weren't that popular as there sod all on the web about them.

So, does anyone have any opinions / tech tips / set up advice? Any manuals floating about? I'd gladly pay a fair price for one if someone had one they weren't using.

Thanks in advance for any feed back.

[The artist formerly known as Ishy]

It won a world championship early nineties, Rob Crawford rode em, as you say pulls like a train, strong motor, heavy bike, don't see any about now.
Steve Fracy, often posts on this list he rode them and probably could give you more info, he may even have some old tech info on them.

[madmax]

Try the trials shop in the US...The blok used to import them and knows alot about them and still has some parts, maybe even a manual...He has a link from the front page of this site...

[Social Climber]

Just shows how little I know, I thought the bike was a feather weight, but then maybe it is compared to a cota 349 and a maico 490 (my other wee girl....)

Thanks for the info so far guys and please keep it coming.

[mattylad]

I had one a while back, the mods I made are as follows.
Lower compression ratio by using an alloy spacer between the head and cylinder. Rathmall sport should give you details.
The rear shock is slow on rebound, Race spec rebuilt mine with a 2mm hole drilled in the valve to speed things up.
Other than that get out and ride they are bomb proof.

[fastandy]

your the man to ask! anywhere decent down yoir way to ride,without hassle? arond belfast i mean,im from armagh myself,just recently got myself a bike,looking for a few places to ride

This post has been edited by fastandy: 30 May 2007 - 12:11 AM

[Rosey]

Surprisingly underated bike... last pinkish one (94) was best with hydraulic clutch etc (Phil Disney rode one for Malc Rathmell sam year as I rode the Scorpa), but nice tractable motor, doesn't need any mods apart from suspension softenng from standard, but if you are 18st then I expect it will need hardening a bit........... I tested one in 92 or 93 and found it to be much better than it looked. They were A LOT better than the first model Scorpa!

I'm sure that Rathmell's could point you in the right direction

[AMiller]

Excellent bike for its time. World Champ machine back in 92 I think, as mentioned before.

Forks are prone to go through fork seals. With the USD fork there is a lot of flex at the seals. That tends to make the seal wear in an oval pattern and causes the seal to leak. They are also harder to change than standard forks. I just did 2 sets a month ago. I tighten the seal springs a bit before I put them in.

As far as performance, if she is still pretty tight and you want more responce out of her, there is a rotary valve reprofile that can be done if you can get your hands on a pattern. Pretty simple and a noticable improvement. If you are happy with the power ride and have fun.

Aaron

This post has been edited by AMiller: 31 May 2007 - 04:41 PM

[lm248]

AMiller, on May 31 2007, 04:40 PM, said:

Forks are prone to go through fork seals. With the USD fork there is a lot of flex at the seals. That tends to make the seal wear in an oval pattern and causes the seal to leak. They are also harder to change than standard forks. I just did 2 sets a month ago. I tighten the seal springs a bit before I put them in.

We still have one ( I'm not sure what year it is, it's purple and white)
It still runs great.
Our bike had a stack of three seals in each leg. And I had to replace them at least twice a year, sometimes more.
It was so bad I had extra sets of seals. It's was very upsetting to fix them, ride for an hour, and have them start leaking again.
But we fixed that problem.
I took the lowest seal in the stack, trimmed the lip so it wouldn't contact the leg, I used that as a spacer,
So the second seal would set in the leg right.
The next one up I used a seal from a KTM fork ( I can't remember the part number )
But it was the same size as the Aprilia seal, but much more pliable.
The third seal ( the top one ) I threw away and used a wiper from a 94 Aprilia.
The next tip came from Mike at the Trials Shop.
Put the front wheel on then "cycle" the forks a few times.
With the forks compressed, clamp the axle down. This keeps everything centered.
After I used this setup, I can't remember the last time I had to replace them.
Les Mason

[richywrecka]

Well i used to have a climber, beast of a bike but totally bullet proof. Anyway i was trawling through a load of stuff on the pc trying to clean it up a bit and came across a Marzocchi fork manual for usd forks on a pdf file. So if you want a copy then p.m. with your e-mail and i'll send it off. Its just over a 2 meg file.

This post has been edited by richywrecka: 29 June 2007 - 04:08 PM