cleanorbust

40 year age to qualify for free tax and MOT exemption.

I suspect I've been around trials about as long as you have but I've never heard the theory about odd/even sprocket wearing less quickly. I can"t figure out why that would be the case. Any ideas on the theory behind this belief?

Thanks for posting the photo. Looks to be a very rideable machine. Well done again.

I notice he rides without gloves too, for that genuine period look. Excellent.

Shirty seems to be concentrating on his offroad clothing business. He sent me an email today advertising trials shirts and jeans at keen prices, not keen enough to persuade me into such lurid designs though.

There's a secondhand MAR kickstart top on ebay at the moment and you can buy a new knuckle from France Trial Classic or possibly Inmotion.

Some ride indeed. I'm not familiar with this particular bike, presumably it's not tricked out much, as so many "pre 65ers"are?

Best place to buy an OKO would seem to be Mid Atlantic Trials in USA. Their website has an OKO section which describes how they've tuned the carbs for specific bikes including SWMs. I'm sure they'd be responsive to any email enquiries. They sell the genuine OKOs, jetted for specific bikes, not the useless copies. I think the price including postage to UK is currently about 115 quid.

I have run tubes in tubeless tyres on tubeless rims for many years - no need for a security bolt and never had a problem with tyre slip at 3psi.

Chamfer the leading edge of the shoes with a file.

If you look on retrotrial.com there's an article from Yamaha magazine which is a photo report of Rob Shepherd's 1981 works Majesty.

Inmotion Trials in UK do the plastic type as fitted to later 247s, but it's about £50 I think. I made a grey one by heating up the lid of a plastic storage box with a heat gun, bending the plastic over a broom handle to mould the curved shape at the top, drilling and fitting. Looks just like the original for about three quid, and it's another bit of plastic saved from the ocean. I hope Greta and her chums would approve if they came to a trial I'm riding, which is admittedly unlikely.

Snapping the choke on can also help to stop it, if you can overcome your hands shaking with terror.

Mine's a '79. Has the mid section box as in the diagram but it's a welded up one piece system up the point where the back box fits. The pipe at that point looks narrower in the diagram but would be easy enough to make a spacer/sleeve to fit the tailpipe.

Meant to say, I don't find the exhaust note on mine with the VW tailpipe to be much different from standard (I still have the original silencer which I removed), and I'm not a fan of loud bikes. The mid-section silencer does a pretty good job.

Rob Edwards' works bike with VW tailpipe. If it was good enough for him... Note also rear suspension units top mounts repositioned further forward.

I had problems getting mine fully bled until I used an extra large syringe. Seemed this generated extra pressure which purged all the air which a small syringe could not.

These occasionally come up second-hand on eBay. You can get a WES replacement, I think In Motion Trials do them, but a much lower cost alternative is a Volkswagen Beetle tailpipe, again on eBay for about a tenner. It's a direct fit on the exhaust pipe and easy to make a bracket to secure to the silencer mounting on the frame. This was a well known mod back in the day, even the works riders used them.

I believe an OKO works well. Check out Mid Atlantic Trials website, they have tested and tuned these for best results with the 247, and theirs are the genuine OKOs not the useless Chinese copies. The price exported to you in the UK isn't bad compared with a new Amal.

Paddling with both feet is indeed a three as long as you maintain forward motion, always has been. A five for dismounting requires both feet to be touching the ground.

You can get a complete decompressor kit from trialsbits.co.uk or In Motion Trials, or get the cable, decomp unit and lever on eBay for about half the price (sold as being suitable for Royal Enfield but would work OK).

You should definitely fit one. I have one on my Cota 247 and SWM and wouldn't be without it. I don't use it when starting the bike, it's not intended for that. It comes into its own on steep, greasy descents, allowing you to slow without locking the wheels. Also useful on tracks between sections to warn pedestrians of your approach - a quick blast of the decompressor always turns heads. I use it to stop the motor in normal situations, much kinder than deliberately stalling it. Above all it's a foolproof method of stopping an engine that's revving it's head off after a fall - much more reliable than a kill button.

50:1 in my Cota 247 and SWM works well.

How about a photo? I'm sure you"d get loads of information on the bike from our regulars.

I never found it any inconvenience to start my Beta with my right leg, standing alongside the bike. Certainly wouldn't let a left side kick start put me off buying a great bike.