dadof2

I am very happy to see Raga win, A great bloke who seems to stay positive despite having been second to Bou so many times. I did not say Pro's were no good, I actually said they had many of the qualities that made the Honda CR500 a great bike, The problem the Pros have is they are just too lightly built in a few key areas to give long term reliability. That means quite a number of riders including myself will not buy them.

Just a bit of a sod when these things happen in public. Regarding EFI and carbs, Carbs tend to give quite a warning by change of engine response as they run out of fuel. When any injected engine runs out of fuel be it, EFI, mechanical or single point LPG the loss of power tends to be much more sudden which could be nasty particularly on an indoor type event Something I would like to have on any off road bike is a see through fuel tank.

Ayudar a mi tanque de aire está casi vacío Might be more useful Since this topic is meant to be about cash shortage, I will repeat a joke I head a short while ago. Ed Milliband comes across a Romanian beggar woman sat on the pavement, he says "I suppose you would like some change" She replies "just the leader of the Labour party"

I did not seriously think Bou was using this stuff but you never know. Remember last time Honda were in F1 with Jenson Button as driver. They were banned for about 6 months for running an oversize hidden fuel tank. So using something that is presumably allowed might tempt a company that likes to win. One bloke at our local Kart club even went to the trouble of having special soft compound tyres moulded so they looked exactly like homologated tyres. Has anybody tried this grip improver on a trials tyre? I could understand it working on dry rocks or X type trials but probably not on anything else

Whoever you are buying your sump guard off, make sure it is grade 7075 T6 or the hardest grade of Duraluminium. Duraluminium seems to be getting very hard to get hold of in UK. If anybody can press their own sump guard Talon may be able to supply the material as its the same stuff they use to make rear sprockets. You could also try Castle metals at Blackburn. You would have to anneal it before forming and harden it after. Hardening takes place naturally over about 2 weeks at room temperature but you can speed it up by warming it. You can get exact heat treatment details off the metal supplier. 7075 T6 is usefully harder than structural steel.

Anyone any more info on the broken bolt and running out of gas issues?

Needle rollers are much lower friction / stiction. If all linkage bearings were spherical suspension would be nothing like as plush. I generally run a new bike in then strip, clean and grease all the chassis bearings If I pressure wash (very rare) the bearing area or if bike has been in deep water I strip, clean and regrease Normally I service bearings about every 3 to 4 months. I find on many bikes the dog bone bearings nearest the rear wheel need more frequently greasing than the others and swinging arm bearings. Regarding warranty in the UK The sale of goods act (1974) states "Goods must be or merchantable quality and fit for the purpose for which they are sold". That applies to new and used. Trials bike manufacturers practice of restricting warranty because they are competition bikes would not always stand up in law unless they could prove on the balance of probability that the purchaser was responsible. I can remember one well known motorcycle dealer / engineer (who no longer deals in motorcycles). He probably made a slight mistake on reboring a 2T racing engine. The engine seized during running in and the rider was thrown off and injured. Not only did the dealer have to correct the bike, he had to pay the rider substantial damages for injury. A person I knew bought a Montesa Cappra 414 which was 2 or 3 years old. He did about 90 minutes practice then took it to MX meeting with a longish straight. The engine blew up. The dealer initially refused to accept any responsibility. I checked the bike over and in addition to the piston being well worn out (near certain cause of blowup) the gearbox oil and air filter were filthy, the brake shoes were worn out and the brake cables and linkages faulty. I did a report for the owner and he took it to trading standards. After just one phone call from trading standards the dealer paid full cost of engine rebuild and 50% of other parts. At the time I was not even qualified to comment on engine condition, but I was insurance company approved to asses the feasibility and cost of repairs to aluminium chassis components. I would think it would be of considerable concern to Honda if they started getting reports of poor Montesa quality.

Was the italjet frame and forks that similar to a bulto?

I have some friends going to southern Spain in next couple of weeks, they are not into motorbikes but they may hear something. I am in that area in a few weeks time. No present plans to go to Girona but if I come across any bike shops I will pop in and see if there is any gossip, though my Spanish is pretty limited.

The domination continues Perhaps he is using https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p/grip-tyre-softener-2-5-litre-grip-25 or perhaps Raga should give it a try?

I would leave oil ratio as it is. Lower the carb needle clip a notch or two to make it run a bit rich for the first 2 hours, then avoid high revs or over 3/4 throttle for next 6 hours and it should be fine

I never thought of the links identified by Jonnyboxer when I posted this but in fact some of the best trials land in Northern Centre is courtesy of farmers who have significant investment in dairy production. My reason for posting dairy issue was just as an example of how unpredictable business can be and still go wrong even with the best advice available.

Yes I do get tired of repeating and may well not bother to post again. Fuel leaks from carbs - The carb breather can be connected back to the fuel tank. In the latter days of carbs, before EFI took over on cars fully enclosed carb systems became common. The carb system on one of my road bikes is fully sealed. GG R & D funds, yes I guess they may be a bit short, perhaps one of the reasons for tie up with Ossa, access to EFI information.

#129 Yes I am familiar with accounting and can make educated guesses about what the problems are at GG, But without factual detail they would still just be guesses. I have seen perfectly viable businesses liquidated (more recent administration practices would have prevented this). I have also seen businesses that were not solvent and never would be continue to trade long after the creditors should have pulled the plug or their owners faced reality. I also know of several who have had advice from experts, business advisers or banks that has been severely flawed. Yes GG have their debts to service, but what are all the factors that have contributed to this debt? Suppliers - most firms use supplier goodwill to help cash flow / keep their borrowing down. Have GG suddenly wanted even longer credit or have some suppliers (possibly with inside knowledge) decided to try to lower the amount of credit they allow GG. Might some suppliers themselves be having cash flow difficulty, forcing them to put pressure on GG? Initial set up costs? Investment to increase / improve productivity that turned out not to be cost effective? Buying out Piebernat? Patent and design payments / fees? A sudden hike in interest rates at some time in the past? Spending on R & D, new products, supported riders / works teams costs allowed to get out of hand? Have sales fallen or not met projections used for financial decisions? Putting it simply expenditure has been allowed to exceed income. "Every topic ends up being a war" not quite but I know what you mean. Soon be summer and light nights and we will be able to use our energies on the bikes rather than the keyboard. "Fockk JHJ you're the man for GG" I bet there are quite a few who could look over the books and factory and tell them where they have gone wrong, problem for GG is those who might be able to put it right are a lot scarcer. I know of several farmers, and 2 local producers in particular that chose to invest heavily in milk production just prior to the recent price falls. Their business models which must have seemed reasonable at the time to a number of experts have now gone completely out of the window.

The issue of carbs leaking fuel is easily sorted, and should be immediately because it would usefully improve fuel consumption as well. The overflow pipes are led into catch chamber and from there raised back to the tank using a diaphragm or similar simple pump. This closed system would also prevent water ingress to carb. This topic is now up to #168 and some posters are making assertions, misquoting me or asking questions that have already been answered. Briefly I will cover some again. The reasons for switching to EFI on 4T do not generally apply to 2T so quoting Bous bike as a reason for 2T EFI is not valid. Yamaha produce both 2 and 4 stoke MX bikes, the 4T have EFI the 2T does not - What do Yamaha know? If there was consensus (in trials) that EFI gave a competitive advantage on 2T it is a fair bet that Gasgas, Sherco and Beta would have introduced it some time ago. The question is not does EFI work - it can be made to. But the full benefits of EFI can never be realised on a trials bike for reasons I have posted previously. In excess of 40 years working on vehicles I have never come across a carb problem that could not be sorted easily and cheaply. Contrast this with EFI where in the same period I have known problems that have been challenging to diagnose (to say the least) and have had repair costs frequently in the £several hundreds or £thousand +. What has come across in this and other topics is that quite a few do not understand and cannot set up carbs. Many probably do not realise that a carb compensates for changes in atmospheric temperature and pressure to a useful extent. On several of the bikes I have had I have checked the initial carburation, adjusted it if necessary and then apart from a fraction of a turn on the slow running screw never had to adjust it again. Some have said EFI does not fail or are not aware of EFI failures. That depends on what you regard as part of the EFI system. I have heard of regulator / rectifier failure on 4RTs Ossa have had a least one remapping exercise to cure problems and have had to fit a battery to make some bikes start. A carbed 2T will still start and run with either of the above failures. I run an EFI car and am quite happy to do so, the equivalent carb set up would be complex, expensive and need more maintenance. I have a couple of CV carbed 1100 road bikes, never given any problems but need balancing now and then. Would I prefer them to be EFI, no not really because it would be more difficult to diagnose and costly to fix if it went wrong.

As I have already pointed out I have not said EFI is no good for a 2T trials bike so I would appreciate it if people gave up posting this misrepresentation of my view.

You do not have to have a chain guard fitted to pass an MOT however if it is fitted it must be secure. If the motorcycle was originally fitted with a chain guard and you use it without and not informed your insurer your insurance could be invalid. There is case law on this where pillion passengers trousers have caught in the chain causing an accident and where arms have gone into the chain during an accident.

I don't expect anyone to disclose what they have been told in confidence, but I wonder if anyone can summarise the financial history of GG, just roughly when and if possible why the Debt has built up. Investors are willing to put in 9 million Euro if GG will export to some new markets??? Firstly that will raise GG debt to 24 + 9 = 33 million Euros. Secondly why do they need 9 million to enter new markets. It should be possible to set up an importer and dealer network for way under 1 million Euro To provide cash to get production moving, again you can buy an awful lot of parts for 1 to 2 million Euro. I know if I were a parts supplier / creditor I would be glad to supply parts for cash even on a reduced mark up so long as covered my costs plus a bit as I probably have no one else to sell the items to that I would normally supply to GG. Something does not look quite right.

I agree the 4 strokes started beating the 2 strokes before EFI, It was as if all the major manufacturers let 2T development stop, perhaps in the expectation of emissions legislation. With regard to lap times the big improvements are due to suspension. When I watch both outdoor and stadium the speed with which the riders get over the bumps is much faster than it used to be, try hitting things like modern suspension does on a 20 year old bike and you would be thrown all over the place. On firm but moist clay type going an 88 CR500 comfortably out accelerates a 2014 Yam 450, same thing on supermoto tyres on a tarmac hillclimb course. Do the same test on a sweeping climb with stutter bumps and the yam leaves the CR for dead. The reason I think it will be difficult for EFI to work properly on 2T is because the residual fuel in the crankcase breaks the close link between where the fuel is metered and where it burns. EFI is at its best when linked to Lambda, MAF and knock sensors. Lambda sensors will soon become inaccurate because of 2T lube pollution and also the amount of unburnt fuel that passes into the exhaust and burns there rather than in the combustion chamber. It is very difficult to find room for an effective MAF sensor on a trials bike. Having the timing adjusted by knock sensor timing will not give the right power characteristics for trials. I am not against progress, but what is progress and what do most riders want from the sport? I remember 100 National karting, used to have entries of 100 + when is was heavily cost restricted, then some said they wanted progress, less cost restriction, more performance, the sport collapsed, lucky to get 20 on the grid. Same in twin shock MX. started as a bit of fun for lads on cheap old bikes who were not bothered about going as fast as monoshocks could. Then dealers and importers started entering with top line riders on fully restored / tuned bikes. All the lads on the "bangers" gave up and left the big spenders with no one to race nor provide marshals. New technology especially when accompanied by higher costs does not necessarily progress the sport.

Nigel #120 I will now add mortar board to helmet and wig. Ideally I would live in my chosen manner in my chosen manor. I started as an engineer when apprenticeships were (on the whole) much more rigorous than today. In the engineering / manufacturing downturn in the 1980s I switched to a more lucrative option, business law and accounting. I got bored looking at figures so moved back to engineering, both civil and mechanical.

If peak power does not mean anything why does the FIM restrict 2T to 1/2 the capacity of 4T?. A 4T may hook up better, this might be because the of the power characteristics, because they have less power or a combination of both. You cannot compare just the cost of the throttle body, there is the more complex or separate ECU, fuel pump, potentiometer, larger alternator etc. And No, I did not say EFI is no good for a trials bike. My point is that on a 2T trials bike EFI has not demonstrated any competitive advantage and the added cost and complexity is a disadvantage. It may be that EFI can never work properly on a 2T because of the residual fuel in the crankcase. It may be that to get the advantages of fuel injection onto a 2T it has to be high pressure direct injection (as on watercraft) but that is a whole different and expensive ball game.

New series channel 4 at 21:00 on Sunday This is probably in wrong section but I thought I would put it where plenty would see it. From the trailer it looks like a throwback to the days when off road bikes were not much different to their road counterparts.

Sherpa 325 #114. I will not attempt to explain QE in full, I will get accused of long posts and wearing out keyboards. Basically the banks have lent too much to those who can't pay it back. Many business need to borrow to run their business and consumers need to borrow to buy business's goods. With all the money tied up an debts everything grinds to a halt. QE (printing money) is an attempt to put sufficient spare cash into the system to get it running again. It has the potential to help GG but the banks (having ballsed up in the past) are under such close scrutiny this money will probably only find its way to a few financially secure businesses. Banks have been forced to substantially increase their ratio of capital to lending, this has taken money out of the economy, to some extent QE only replaces this. I know of a motorcycle dealer who wanted to borrow a moderate amount, much less than the assets it was to be secured on, but even so the banks would not (possibly could not) lend.

At last, a bit of light hearted wit. I have built up 2 businesses and yes, I do use computers and a relatively simple spreadsheet can avoid most pitfalls. PS I am at this moment multitasking, typing and watching Dragons Den I have threatened junior that if he keeps wanting money, I will stick him in a layby with an ice cream van until he can emulate Duncan Bannantyne and keep me in the manor to which I would like to become accustomed.

Here in Northen England I would think only about 1 trial per year is cancelled because of snow, and that is likely to be because of snow on the access roads rather than the sections. 78/79 winter was a lot of snow and I think I had about 10 weeks without a trial but still took the bike out on the snow quite a bit.