matteo

Hi, I have recently purchased an 81 349 and would like to know if anyone has experience with updating the swingarm to the later 84 349 MK/4 modifications with the shock mounts moved forward and swingarm angled. Also, with lowering the footrests. I have seen photos of 81 349s with these mods done and if anyone could give any dimensions or advice it would be appreciated. I always wanted to have an 81 and always planned to do the swingarm to those factory machine specs. Also, does anyone know if the later MK/4 swingarm would retrofit? I never heard whether or not the width at the pivot is the same for both.

Yes that's right remember how unlucky Sherco was to lose David Cobos when he ruined his knee in the indoor the year debuting the original in 99 when he was becoming one of the best and and then Jarvis when he was going to be battling at the top in 02 was it? Nigel I tried to send you a pm but it won't go through mate.

thanks mi viejo amigo, well sort of!

Having just read through all of this , excuse me for a late reply to the topic but, to the original post here I think these are only normal questions many of us may have wondered about with the timing of the above riders switching brands. I believe though Laia Sanz left because she wanted to race Dakar and other off-road events and took a great deal from doble G and it was a difficult decision for her to leave. As for the name though I would disagree to change it to Honda. The name is still on the cases and of course thanks to Honda the brand didn't die off in 84 but there is still the collaboration with Honda and the Montesa racing dept, that is very important, and the misunderstanding about how much work, and R&D is done in Spain with the bike. There are still those that think the bikes are made in Japan and sent over to Spain when it is the opposite, the RTLs have their own production run and sent to Japan. The only real works HRC bikes are those of Bou and Fuji, the rest are production bikes tricked out at the racing dept. in Spain. Being there in 04 and seeing everything first hand I would never want to see the Montesa name go away. I don't think there were ever that many leftovers, it probably started off at the right number then grew like a fish story each time told to the next person! I thought it was close to 500 or so, but they were all gone last year. The reason they were leftover though besides not really changing much is the price never really came down, they are expensive to make and that type of fuel injection adds a lot of money to the cost of the bike, but they needed to discount them more so than did. The new bikes need to be less than what they are going for in order to really compete and get more out there. Pidcocks though is doing great job with the different specials they have available though, montesa Honda should really take note of that, maybe they should have had them do the graphics for the new 12 standard 4rt! I also don't think Honda will pull out of trials and there will be a new bike in a couple years, it is reported to be very important to the Japanese, not only Honda but Yamaha, that's why there is still the team over there with Kuroyama. I think they are still trying to figure out how to go about it (as is Yamaha still) and when, other factors like the economy, the surge back to the two-strokes after the initial rule to ban them from the sport was seen to be an unreasonable expectation, and a harm to the other factories. What montesa and Honda really need to do is up the PR campaign which is and has been really non-existent. Let everyone know what is going on with the bike, just tell something other than being quiet. That just adds fuel to the fire when people start speculating. Also they need to do things like publicly thank Dougie for his years with them and the championships back when he left, explain things like why they had to let Gomez go (his salary he was still offered the bike from what learned), just a nice thought out press release or something. Tranquillo Caballeros

The standard jets in the PHBL were 33 pilot and 110 main if remember right. we used to go up one on the pilot to a 34 for close to sea level.

I use the S3 rim tapes and they are great, they protect the rim from a lot of scratches and nicks, if you have standard aluminum rims they won't show much of a scratch but any color will show the smallest and look bad. I think they are well worth it, very thick material, you get what you pay for. All you have to do is really clean the rim first with something like rubbing alcohol and they will stick well as long as you take the time to put them on right and don't do something like power wash them off. If I got the wheels powder coated or anodised I'd put the rim tapes on for sure to protect them.

I see what you mean now, I put a Keihin in the 04-present Dellorto manifold and it went in easier than thought, had matched it up before but never thought to cram it in there, but can see it could be a real knuckle buster if doing it while mounted on the bike until it conforms more to the shape! Not sure what I was thinking about using the 03 and 370 set ups because doing it that way means you still need the reed cage along with the manifold and spacer so the cost would actually be more than using the Raga parts, as the rubber tube takes the place of the spacer and is much less expensive. So I can see why people just get the spacer with standard manifold to use. I'll let you know how it is with the adapter.

Thanks Jon, yes I wondered about that too but with the cost of converting the standard Pro to the parts from the Raga (the reed block alone is over $100)there are riders who would try the Keihin if it were a simple bolt on by just needing the adapter and the throttle cable. Maybe only guys riding the top sections would notice a difference when the bike is really revved out! But also, as you said there are other ways to go about it like the 370 manifold (Or the 03 pro manifold) and the spacer. Thanks again.

Thanks for the reply, I have the Keihin with the raga set up I was just wondering about the Jitsie for others being a simpler way of doing it. I would be careful on using the dellorto manifold with the Keihin though because over time the pressure could split the rubber.

I've yet to see anyone using one of these to mount a Keihin in place of the Dellorto without having to use the manifold and other parts from the Raga/Race models but heard a couple years back the inital ones didn't work very well. They're still in the catalog and always get questions from people interested in trying the Keihin and would if could get a simple adapter like this. The newer type maifold is better anyway in that there is only one area to seal against leaks instead of two. Anyone who has tried one, could you give feedback? Thanks.

The changes you should notice are first a broader powerband, and more power overall, throughout the range. It helps give more power but really is a help to riders of all ability levels. It's one of the aftermarket items that helps and is just too expensive a mod to have as a standard item. the titnaium also will keep the temps down from steel. They are well worth the cost. I forgot to say, no, there are no changes you need to do to fit the Mitani pipe at all.