peter9000uk

Remember it well! Used to catch the bus there from Englefield Green every week just to go and look at the bikes. In later years I received some support from them on a Cheney Ossa and rode South Midland, SOuthern & South Eastern Centre events. Later switched to a RL 250 Beamish Suzuki again supported by them, Happy days. The land you are refering to near Gerrads Cross was used first of all by the SSTC ( I was one of the founder members). IIRC Bill Howes (Mark Howes dad) got us permission to use it from the land owner. We did a lot of trail clearing to get a few useable sections as I remember. We also used a piece of land owned by the Haslam family aaround the Chalfont area. Riders I remember John Bull Colin Mitson Mark Howes Tim Blackmore Pete Hampton Mick Widdowson (sic) Trevor Woods (special effects wizard these days) I often wonder what they are up to these days

I actually got a ticket for this when living in the States. I was accused of doing a California stop at a stop sign, ie dip brakes if nothing coming go. The law is you should come to a complete halt and then proceed if safe to do so. I actually showed the cop I could balance with my feet up, but still got the ticket as he reckoned it was dangerous

My old Cheney Ossa had a sky blue stripe on the tank & side panels

I think that is what is known affectionately as a street scrambler in US of A

Yep, he's still about but has given up bikes and owns a Harley instead

There were a couple of these ridden in the very early days of the Surrey Schoolboys. I know Orson Wells had one, Sky blue & yellow if I recall. Chris Sutton rode a red & yellow one with a 185 engine if memory serves

It says in the ad the front end is off a later Mont

That is a proper section, none of this poncy bouncy about mularky. Reminds me of a Southampton Vikings trial from the 70s. A mate I rode with in the Surrey Schoolboys had one of those Zundaps, it was a 175cc if I recall correctly

There is a strong possibilty!

Over 25 years ago! Used to go to the meetings in the pub room in Farnham Common and then a few when they changed to the cricket club nr Wexham

Where's Isle of Wight farm and when is the trial? Used to be a Farnham Royal member many moons ago, be nice to see if any of the old members are still about

Used to get all my Aprilia stuff from the Tryals Shop in the States

I used to mess about with diffrent cut away rotary valves on my Aprilia. Can make quite a diffrence to the power delivery

You have not picked the most forgiving bike to start out on! The 280 can be a bit of a handful compared with the 240, but what is done is done. I used to have a 91 280R and found that the motor was pretty bulletproof, in fact apart from regular servicing I never had to touch it. The weak point on the bike I found was the front forks, namely the seals. After the original set started to leak I never succesfully found a set that really lasted any length of time. Thought I'd sussed it once as I found that the sliders were oval when measured but even a new set never really cured the problem. They are also a little on the heavy side compared to othre marques of a similar vintage, whilst in fact this may not be the case on the sclaes it certainly felt like it! You can also change the characteristics of the motor by playing around with different rotary valves. Over the years they changed the shape a few times and I accumulated quite a collection of different ones, you can even move them on the spline and again alter the way the motor delivers it's power You don't mention where in the world you are but if the USA I found the Tryals Shop to be very helpful

Don't be silly, that's Slab Common