dadof2

Just thought I would mention something simple that often improves the clutch on many bikes both cable and hydraulically operated. It often eases drag, making the bike easier to get into gear especially when cold and gives a less grabby clutch / softer engagement. Take the plates out and put them back in so all the friction faces work on a different surface to which they did previously. Also make sure all the friction plates are turned round so the side that faced the gearbox now faces outwards. Leave plain plates same way round as they were. Why this works I do not know, sometimes it cures a poor clutch completely, sometimes it makes very little difference.

Thinner, lighter and stronger yes, but at what price? Some former colleagues used to machine aluminium alloy aircraft parts from billet or forgings, very impressive the parts were, cheap they were not.

Is your helmet / peak too low at the front, meaning you are continually having to look up to see forwards. I have had this problem and it gives me a sharp ache behind both ears. I put extra foam in my helmet at the top of my forehead.

I would try asking Sandifords (importer of Cota 200) or Nigel Birkett (Birkett Motorsport) I only ever had 348s which had separate primary and gear oil. couple of my friends had 200s but I can't remember what oils they used. You are very unlikely to do any harm with 5-30 even if it is not quit right grade. I would be more worried about not changing one of the oils if 2 should be used.

Break the rollers and any cage out with a screwdriver or similar. Get a bolt (correctly called a screw as you need it threaded all the way to the head) the head of which just fits inside the bearing. Put the head into the bearing. Then you need a washer that is a larger diameter than than the inside of the lip on the bearing race. Cut the washer in half then hook the halves under the lip on the bearing housing. Tighten a nut down the threads to lock the washer halves in place. You can the pull on the bolt with slide hammer or similar.

Looks like they may still be playing with rear exhaust dimensions, looks to be a lot of slightly wobbly welds compared to what you would expect on a production exhaust.

DOT 4 is designed to withstand exposure to typical atmospheric conditions via a pin holes sized opening for at least 2 years. The amount of moisture let in by opening the bottle a few times in 2 years is negligible, but what Guy says is best, keep it sealed as long as possible. On a vehicle where the brakes reach a high temperature a bit of atmospheric water in the fluid degrades the fluid and lowers the boiling point much more rapidly than in a low temp application like trials bikes. PS never intended this topic to be a lengthy discussion on brake maintenance, just hoped to help a few avoid common problems

I started this topic not because I have any particular interest in swimming in a dirty lake nor becoming a MAMIL. Firstly Nord View WTC. Almost total lack of local advertising, I never noticed it in the paper nor on roadside boards. Why not a trailer board in a field where drivers on the M6 see it?. Local shows with a fraction of WTC budget have better advertising. Why did no dealers have demo rides at Nord View, surely a missed opportunity to catch people who may normally not attend trials. Unfortunately I know a few people who might of had a quick look to see what was about were put off by entry fee. Many other poster are spot on with their reasons and there is a problem for trials. Two recent events in this area attracted about just over 60 riders each. One even used to be a centre championship round the other a British championship round. The used to attract top riders like Martin Lambkin, Rathmell & co and be oversubscribed with well over 100 entries. Both used to be two laps including roadwork, each lap needing a full tank of fuel. Now some are suggesting its hardly worth going to the effort of putting the events on for so few. Less riders = less money for clubs, less sales for dealers and perhaps more crucially less influence. I know there are a few well supported events but on the whole numbers are insufficient. The not motorised sports do benefit from the Eco tag but One of the maim reasons for their success is that far more people of impressionable age are exposed to them. You can spend a lot on them but on the whole they are much cheaper and maintaining the equipment is with most peoples ability, a kids trials bike on the other hand can be a money pit for the non mechanically minded parent.

I read somewhere that Vertigo is using Kokusan, which is the same as Ossa http://www.kokusandenki.co.jp/english/products/products7.html

Were standard bikes used at the Red Bull city trial in Manchester? TRS Chassis info anyone?

Might it be machined from billet rather than the standard cast item? They can make them thinner, lighter and stronger this way.

Nord View WTC, say 100 competitors, maybe 3000 to 5000 spectators 40 miles away a swimming event, say 8000 to 10000 competitors and the number of spectators anyone's guess. What has this to do with trials, Well there seems to be a general drift away from motorsports to sports involving cycles and or wetsuits. More than a few of the swimmers and spectators had been into mx, trials or 4 wheel motorsport, some of them very competitively. Also nearby is a cycle shop (Wheelbase), its large car park was full and probably more customers in a day that a trials dealer will see in a month. Some say Nord View was poorly advertised locally. EDIT After looking at videos Nord View maybe had somewhat less than 3000 spectators.

I have heard some things in my time but this ones a first, preventative maintenance described as "solving imaginary problems" After reading some of the posts I get visions of people threatening their callipers with a crucifix before they dare touch them with a spanner. I know I have cursed them a time or two, but do hydraulics really hold that much dread?

I was not at Nord View but I have talked to some who were and they could not find a Vertigo on display to look at, anyone know if there was one, other than Dabills, for people to look at.

JTS = Jordi Tarres several alternatives beginning with S =TRS, I inadvertently posted JTS, it is a local joke completely meaningless unless you were there at the time the phrase was used. I know full well that GG did not make most, possibly any of their parts, however this does not alter the fact that the longer the bikes are out of production the harder it will be to restart production. Skills will be lost, workers will move on and subcontractors will close or move to other products. Additionally GGs potential market share will have fallen due to introduction of Vertigo and TRS, which are newer and therefore presumably better designs. GG may be resurrected but the case for doing so weakens daily.

I did intend this to be very brief but since a few points have been raised I will explain a bit more. I do not have shares in a brake fluid company, but I do get it trade / very cheap. Even if you pay full price a litre of high quality DOT 4 is less than a £tenner and will do 3 or 4 full changes on a typical trials bike. Water gets into brake systems. Silicone fluid does not absorb water, leaving it free to cause corrosion or reduced lubricity. DOT4 absorbs water preventing it doing damage. As DOT4 absorbs water it darkens, looses performance and can even form varnish that causes pistons to stick. Clean DOT 4 absorbs all this crap, reduces corrosion and keeps things moving freely. Why PTFE tape? If air can get past the threads it can make bleeding difficult as it gets drawn into the cylinder on the return stroke when bleeding. I have lost count of the number of seized / sheared / rounded off bleed nipples I have removed (by TIG welding). Putting PTFE on them when new prevents them seizing. You just get a friend to put a finger on the bleed nipple hole whilst the nipples out and hardly any fluid is lost. As rich1983 says, he has spent ages sorting hydraulics once they have gone wrong, regular fluid changes greatly reduces chances of them going wrong in first place. "If its not broken, don't fix it" maybe "a stitch in time saves nine" is more appropriate to brake servicing. Unfortunately even doing all my initial post suggested does not stop (but it does slow) corrosion behind the slave cylinder seals, which is quite a frequent cause of brake problems.

Probably going to shock ND with following statement. For the most part Gassers are (were) pretty well made with very good quality materials and the pre Pro bikes as evidenced by fulltilt's 1996 example, were very robust. If anything the photos show lack of or poor quality lubricants. The pros also were on the whole pretty well made of good quality materials. Unfortunately some areas of the Pros were deigned too close to the limit to give satisfactory longer term reliability for quite a number of riders. This reduced sales but unless anyone has clear evidence to the contrary I doubt it reduced sales enough to have a major impact on GGs financial position. Irrespective of what is going on at GG (anyone actually know?) I suspect with every day that passes a return to manufacturing will be harder, and because of JTS and Vertigo the justification for re starting manufacture of GG will be less. I remember a successful specialist metal forming business that had been established in the UK by quite an entrepreneurial graduate in the late 1960s. Some time in the mid 1980s the company was sold to a much larger company based in the USA. By the late 1980s bad management had brought the UK plant to its knees. A few workers moved to other parts of the parent company but most chose redundancy. At a stroke a highly skilled built up over 20+ years was destroyed. Within a month or two the employees had found different jobs and the equipment dispersed. Because of the destruction of the skills base it would then have been impossible to restart the business and the cost of buying new production equipment would have been prohibitive.

Without risking offending Pieber can you post a bit more info on what is going wrong. I would have thought that the bike no longer needed input from JT or any other ex GG employee. Just keep building them as they are with minor tweaks to sort any issues that appear over time. To me it looked like he had the ideal set up, compact easily managed factory, small batch manufacture and a bike that riders seem to like.

"although he cleaned the section the observer gave him a five mark penalty for the pause" The above quote comes from a report on the BTC round at Scarborough, but I thought it nicely sums up the issues regarding the no stop rule.

Anyone know why Fantic (and some other manufacturers) use a numbering system that does not match the bikes cc? I found this a bit irritating.

Just thought I would post some brief, easy to follow advice in view of the number of people who seem to have difficulties with hydraulic brakes or clutches. I would say at least 90% of these problems could be avoided by a few simple steps. 1) Change the fluid (full bleed through) every 6 months or more frequently. Use DOT 4 or HSMO as appropriate. Do not use silicone based fluids. If you see any dirt in reservoir, syringe it out, don't bleed it into other parts of system. 2) When you first get your bike remove the bleed nipples and re fit them using PTFE tape on the threads 3) Check your pads regularly to make sure they move freely and are worn evenly. Any uneven wear or sticking causes uneven force on the slave piston(s) causing tilt.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Medical-syringes-injections-large-2ml-5ml-10ml-Hypodermic-ink-cartridge-100ml-50-/261285994861?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item3cd5dbe16d Seal the bleed nipple threads with PTFE tape and connect a large syringe like the above link with a length of clear PVC pipe. Pressure back flush / bleed with clean brake fluid. If your master cylinder needs polishing out use 1200 grade wet and dry rolled round a piece of stick. Rinse out thoroughly with brake cleaner afterwards.

I know one person who approached Jgas about becoming the UK importer, he never even got a reply and he knew of others who had been treated in the same manner. A few weeks ago I posted that I had heard from 2 people who were well positioned to have inside knowledge (of European trials bike manufacture). The first said only two makes were safe, the second pretty well agreed. Looks like they knew something then. Beta stick to Beta

Sounds like the master cylinder piston may be stuck / not returning in which case a strip and clean should sort it.

Low compression or faulty Motoplat ignition. http://www.uk-motoplat.com/home.html