trialsrfun

Thank you for the Bantam picture, I thought it a great bike.

Did anyone get a photo of the Bantam trials bike which was shown on Saturday? It had a large diameter frame top tube with the engine suspended from it attached by the cylinder head. There was just so much of interest, it is only now a few days later that you remember some of the things on display.

Did anyone else notice the three cylinder two stroke engine that Simon Bateman, Nametab Engineering is building. Imagine a parallel twin with an extra cylinder sticking out horizontally in front, each cylinder is one of the Greeves square barrels that he replicates with I believe a Royal Enfield gearbox fitted.

Never say never GG. I was amazed at the number and variety of bikes as well as the other items you had on display, your stand was certainly a major highlight of the show. It was also a pleasure meeting you and discussing the Mecatecno & Merlin bikes, thank you.

Telford was an excellent show, well worth the effort with more than you could properly see in one day. As said the Pre 65 Scottish stand with all the winning bikes on display was really good, but equally interesting was the RetroTrials (GasGas249UK) stand with rare Spanish bikes plus some Beta's & lots of trials clothing worn by the top riders. There were new Beta, GasGas, OSSA & lots of classic bikes, British, European & Japanese. Also on display was a well restored Cheetah with disc front brake, this was the first ever trials bike with a disc brake made in the late 60's. Thanks also to Sammy Miller for firing up the 4 cylinder Jawa GP bike, we could nearly see it through the smoke and hopefully my ears will stop ringing in a few weeks time but it was worth it.

The footrests and brake pedal appear to need a little bit of attention

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1969-1970-DOT-OSSA-230cc-RED-TWIN-SHOCK-TRIALS-BIKE-MOTORBIKE-VERY-RARE-/151235833626?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item23365baf1a How about this British Pre 70, interesting bike.

Have now seen a RAL 6018 sample and it is not suitable for the TR77, when on metal it is a pastel shade.

Does anyone here on TC know the nearest paint code for the OSSA TR77 Verde please. I thought possibly RAL 6018 Yellow/green but I have not seen anything finished in that colour.

InMotion do offer a great service but where OSSA is concerned Steve Sell MarliMar-OSSA is the person to speak to, keep trying. As Woody says he has to fit the bike parts business around other things so do give him chance to contact you. He has booked a space at Telford if you can make it there.

Pleased to learn you are up & running. Fitting an engine makes you think they built the frame around it they are such a close fit. I am taking my frame to be powder coated so will have the fitting issues soon!

Hi TTSpud, Are you including the many Pre 65 two-stroke bikes that were in use in that period in your class Greeves, DOT, Cotton, Sprite etc?

Try www.thetaverners.com I think their trials may be what you are looking for. I am not at all dismissive of your ideas but it would be difficult to define eligibility, for instance would folding footrests, plastic mudguards & a larger rear sprocket be acceptable? Most original bikes from that period had road gearing, my 1961 Greeves TDS would have had 15/56 fitted which seems really high when most people now run 13-60/62 sprockets. Why not find a club in your area join in and see if it is possible to run trials with a class/route for older bigger bikes and take it from there, once the numbers build up then consider which way to go with this. Organising trials is never easy but it is also rewarding. Good luck with your sport.

All of the above is very relevant to your question and illustrates the difficulties already faced by trials organisers. In 4 stroke only events you would get riders on all sorts of Triumph twin as well as Cubs, C15, B40, Royal Enfield Bullet, Crusader & the AMC singles both AJS & Matchless, if you are lucky a Norton 500T or two as well. Are you already involved or have you considered assisting with laying on a trial event to try out your ideas, this is the only way to see first hand the many facets of running a trial.

Thankfully when you organise a trial you at least know you can rely 100% on those dedicated bunch of friendly people who always observe.....yes all three of them, this means that on the day you only need find another eight or ten!

It really is a difficult question to answer and an impossible task to please everyone. As an example when we have organised trials we have had a rigid frame class but have had riders on 350/500 4 strokes complain when people enter rigid 2 stroke machines (James 197 & old 1950's BSA Bantam) in this class. The owners of the 2 stroke rigid bikes expect to be in the rigid class and not the up to 250cc class competing with sprung bikes. Also in the unit/pre-unit class more issues arise with riders of Triumph twins, some people have also claimed that Royal Enfield Bullet's should be classed as unit construction due to them having a bolt on gearbox. Unfortunately when riders fill in their entry form they do not always put down all the machine details or even which class they are in. The above are just some examples of the problems you face when organising a trial. You cannot have classes for absolutely every type of bike or there would mostly be only one or two in each class. I suppose back in the day this situation would not have existed as all the different types of bike from different periods were not there at the same time and capacity classes divided the entry.

If clubs lay on classic trials with sections or one of the routes of sections to suit the more original bikes a separate class is not required for those bikes. Then the modified or special bikes will have their advantage reduced and more people will enjoy riding original bikes.

Thank you GG249UK, we wait with interest. Any one who is passionate about trials is bound to be interested in anything connected with the sport that Jordi Tarres is involved with.

Looking at the frame pictured above it appears to be brazed rather than welded like the later models, is this so?

Some of these cam's are arrowed for direction of rotation, I think the mark on yours is that arrow. The stepped part at the other end of the cam goes up to or over the lead thread on the crank.

Anyone on TC know just what tuning or improvements Reg May used to make when he was preparing a Sherpa ? I do not mean the Vesty 340 special mods but the ordinary production bikes that he set up for both Comerford & private riders, how extensive was the work he did.

Definitely nothing bigger than 250cc. If you can find one a Beta Rev 3 200cc, you would not go wrong with one of those they are the perfect bike for a beginner & you will not find it lacking later on.

I think if you look on John Lampkin's Beta UK website you should find pictures and spec for each model year.

I am familiar with the AMAL concentric Mk1 carb but is the Mk1.5 the same as a Mk1 with the addition of a choke. The Mk2 looks different externally but what are the changes from the Mk1 & Mk1.5. Is the jetting & slide common to all three types ?

Please let us know how it goes but I think you will have to remove the cylinder head to refit the engine.