dadof2

A base model 260 is about £4000 before tax in Belgium. Import it into the UK and you will have to pay 20% VAT taking it to £4,800. The registration fee is a further £25 if you intend to use it on the road. On top of that there is an annual vehicle excise duty which I think is about £35 for a 260.

Best to put region of country as well. You are more likely to get good advice by doing this

Get a decent 200 or 250 2t for £1500 to £2500. You will lose far less £ in a year than you will lose the day you wheel a new 300 out of the showroom. If you were starting road racing would you start on a moto GP bike? Any trials bike over 250 (260 4rt) is a waste of time for 95% of riders. The power of a 300 is is not needed and in most sections is a handicap. Nearly all marks at a trial are the result of loss of grip, loss of balance or loss of control, NOT lack of power.

And why not go on? There is no reason at all why manufacturers should not make and label tyres and rims accurately. Its not just motorbike tyres that are mislabelled and if you look back on this forum there are quite a few posts about tyre / rim mismatches. I have come across MTB tyres that are bigger than their stated size and the side knobbles have to be ground off to clear the rear fork or chain. Some supposedly matching cycle tyres and rims don't, the tyre can actually come off at high speed. Car tyres 225/65 R16, Pirelli, Nexen and Kuhmo are about the same size but fit a Nankang (an otherwise very good tyre) and it fouls the wheelarch on near full lock. Mont prices. Average wage in Uk is reckoned to be about £25k so a RR at £8k is about 30% of average earnings. That is not really my point however. Why should a RT260 cost £5,400 in Kent (UK) yet only a few miles away in Belgium be £4,800? Billyt how do you get the price to about $12k, I would have thought it would have been about $10,300 + %5 sales tax (0 in some states)? Its a few years since I have been to the states and when I did the exchange rate was generally about $1.5 to £1. Notably some Suzuki motorcycles and Ford cars were about the same OTR price in Dollar and GBP meaning UK buyers were paying about half as much again as their US buyers.

Looks like someone in Northern England has left theirs on the rain setting

Beta fuel taps benefit from polishing the inside, many leak either to to outside or fail to shut off flow to carb, due to the rough original finish. Regarding the leak at the boss. Check the mating surfaces are completely smooth and clean before assembly (use a magnifying glass). Lube the threads with moly (MOS2) . When the nut is just tight enough to lightly nip the tap in place rotate the tap in alternate directions as you tighten it up. This seems to seat the joint properly. The nut needs to be on same number of threads on tank boss as it is on tap body.

I know its not the answer to your question but what is wrong with the 2011 frame you have?

It would have to be clubs that took on the responsibility of land purchase, individuals could not easily access lotto funding. I have looked at land purchase and lottery funding previously (not with specific relevance to trials). A problem is that when a suitable piece of land comes on the market it is often soon sold, long before a club can get the money together or get a lottery bid approved. What really needs to be in place, and really only the ACU can do this, is a continually built up pot of money and well known contacts in lotto / sport england. Then when anyone sees a good piece of land come onto the market the ACU are in a position to quickly support its purchase.

£1500 should get you near an 09/10 bike

I could not care less whether trials are on SPOTY or not, Does the winner actually have a personality? What the ACU needs to do (and should have been doing for years) is facilitate the purchase of land for off road motorsport. A £1 or £2 levy on all riders at all events would soon add up to quite a pot. Lotto / sport england would add at leasts as much again and hopefully dealers and importers would contribute a bit. Easily accessible legal practice areas are what the sport needs.

Have a look at the link and then look up a bit more on youtube, This is only a few miles from Nord View where UK WTC has been held for last few years.

Too dark to practice a night Too wet at the weekend Too long to next years BTC and Scott Only Sheffield of any interest and that's dominated by a bunch of Daygos anyway Roll on those warm summer days and the S3 championship Yes Nigel, for once you are right, I am bored

ND I see you also like #69, looks like you might have caught a touch of ludditis, hope it does not spoil your christmas

I have just clicked on the link I posted again and am puzzled why you feel it relates to the 3 retailers you have named rather than Vertigo. From what I read on TC (the post I quoted) it looks as if Vertigo are attempting to enforce the practice of "retail price maintenance" Read following link and you will understand http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/22406/1/39_98.pdf See Colin 008 #50. Vertigo could probably fix the price (without breaking the law) if they had only one retail outlet across the EU but that seems unlikely.

Posting 3 times = the internet is playing up, not keeping up with keystrokes etc, probably something to do with the floods or the high speed cables they are installing. BT email seems to be very badly affected at times. On the subject of lose vs loose that is probably down to the wizdom of ITA Why not spell loose as luce after all we have latches that are designed not to come loose and the are called antiluce Perhaps some day the dictionary will catch up with the spoken language.

Chroming the frame was not uncommon, I saw at least a couple of riders who had it done (North Lancs area). They used to cut off the unnecessary brackets and polish up the welds that tended to be a bit rough and spattery, then get the frames chromed.

I cannot understand why anyone would pay anything like 3.5 million for Ossa or why Torrot paid so much for GG. DL and JT have done the wise thing, weighed up the faults and good bits of the competition then designed new models

A 120 tyre does not equate to a 4 inch tyre, check it out on tyre supplies conversion tables. In MX a 120 or 130 equates to a 5 inch and a 4 inch equates to a 100

Houghton Tower near Blackburn? Not 100% sure I have got the name right

http://www.pinsentmasons.com/PDF/recommending_retail_prices_how_far_can_you_go.pdf See the link, in particular page 2 para 1, It seems Vertigo's pricing intentions may breach UK / EU law Which bike is best (and what is best) is largely a matter of opinion and not fact. What is a fact is that 30 years of bike development has not much (if at all) increased the severity of the sections which the majority are able to ride competently.

I would buy a 200 Beta or any 250 2 stroke. £1500 to £2000 will get a decent bike. I would advise against a new bike whilst you are initially learning as you are likely to drop it a lot. Also on a new bike you will lose a lot in depreciation if you do not like it.

Woody - your last sentence is an interesting observation. Other people seeing the same events could easily conclude that Marques seems to be more willing to make aggressive passing or defensive moves against Pedrosa and Rossi than he does against Lorenzo.

Fair enough ND you did not say no parking however what you said did imply that parking is not a fundamental requirement. I think it is and have read in several places including on TC I think that a number of potential venues have been rejected due to lack of parking especially for the works riders trucks. Park and ride is a turn off and an additional cost / complication. I have been to 3 (actually only got to 2) events (swimming, fishing & airshow) this year which attempted to operate park and ride schemes, all were unsatisfactory to the extent I still had to walk miles and at one I abandoned because of lack of parking. Just my opinion but I reckon you need about 20 + acres of parking (includes camping, trade stands etc) and terrain that provides several groups of natural sections within a 2 or 3 mile lap. With that format the event can be run at the lowest possible cost.

Anyone think Marquez spoiled Pedrosa's race at the final round?