cleanorbust

Villiers Services for brake shoes - they do a made to measure service at very reasonable cost.

Have a look at a Raga video.

Don't know what bike you have, but if you want to have a proper go at trials: 1. Only consider Michelin, Dunlop or IRC but much, much more importantly 2. Do whatever you can to get a trials bike.

They sell a new clamp for the kickstart but I don't think they have the arm to fit, though I seem to remember they were looking into getting some made.

He's on 01933 314145 or 07917406313, according to previous discussion on TC

You'd be surprised at how many bikes are neglected to the extent that they exist with little oil most of the time.

Sorry no photos, but easy enough to cut a rectangular window in the flat area on the back of the silencer with a dremel. Leave about a centimetre margin on the flat surface. The perforated tube will then be exposed - pull out any remaining packing and repack with modern loose packing material around the tube. Make up a rectangular plate from alloy sheet to cover the hole and fix in place with small self tapping screws into holes drilled along the 1 cm margin around the window. Seal with heat proof silicone. You then have a silencer with quick access for repacking in future. Repacking well worth it in my experience (Cota 247).

Very interesting, thanks for clarifying.

Great result. I don't think you need the spring mechanism you mentioned, and the sloppiness in the mechanism should indeed be taken up as you fix the outer case back on. Any remaining slack then is probably down to 1970s Spanish engineering tolerances, not famously precise!

That's it. Try removing the slotted carrier (don't let the pawls fly away under spring pressure) and turn it through 180 degrees, then reassemble - you should get all the gears then.

Try undoing those flat-head screws to remove the shifter return spring assembly. Behind it you should see the spring-loaded pawls in their slot. That carrier needs to be removed and put back the other way up. Photo below shows the set-up on the Cota 247, which is similar.

Hopefully this won't sound dismissive: changing the head bearings for roller type wouldn't change the head angle, so why would it transform the steering, unless it's simply the effect of replacing knackered bearings with decent ones of any type?

This is correct: getting 1st and 2nd only is the classic symptom of the pawls carrier being upside down. The slot is not quite central, but appears to be at first glance.

Mid Atlantic Trials sell an OKO on eBay which is jetted ready for the 348. They also give assurances that their OKOs are genuine, not the Chinese copies which aren't worth having.

That's exactly when I rode it!

I tend to agree re the SSDT. It's a great event, but not the rideable clubman's holiday it used to be.

Have a search on Trials Bike Breakers UK - they seem to have a set of Sherco upper and lower clamps for £65 - or Richard Allen Spares.

You're thinking of cutting out the bottom of the original tank unit to make it into a cover for a metal tank? Montesa made the 247 in this way, for the UK market at least, later in the 70s but you'd be lucky to find one of the metal tanks they used. Could be a case of getting something made up to fit under the cover or modifying a tank from a small bike or moped. Someone on here suggested rigging up a couple of metal hot drinks flasks under the tank cover, linked by a tube with T-piece and tap, but it sounds a bit fanciful and I'm not sure what sort of filler arrangement could be fashioned. If you're wanting to move to a metal tank because of problems with modern fuel and don't want to line the fibreglass tank, may be best to just use a tank from an old Yam TY or similar, and perhaps cut off the seat/side panels section to use separately.

For my 247 I ordered M7 cap head Allen screws on eBay - a much better bet than the slotted originals which tend to chew.

Tyre pressure? Handlebars rotated too far?

I used Allen screws, easily obtained on eBay, 7mm. Better than the straight slot originals which always tended to chew up.

It you take the original cover to an auto paint specialist they'll match the colour by computer and mix you some paint.

...or use an inner tube. Shame to throw away a tyre with life left in it.

I'm not a stickler for exact original colours, but I found red Hammerite to be a good match to my 247c. Think the first 247s were a deeper shade though? A good auto paint shop will computer match it for you.

That really does seem the best advice. Trying to make one bike into something it's not is usually expensive and not as effective as hoped