bullylover

I find that the clutch springs work well at four turns out. Screw them up firm but not tight and back them off four full turns and try that. I have also used four and a half turns out but you have to have a very good clutch to do that. It also looks like you might be short a ball bearing between the pushrod and the mushroom end. Have a look and see if there is a ball bearing on the end of the pushrod. Graham.

Rad Hard Chroming have moved over to Dollis Street, Salisbury, Brisbane now.

The only other thing you should do is clean the carburettor out and check the airfilter. Pull the airfilter out and clean it. If it is okay then put it back in. Often airfilters which have not been used for a while go crumbly and you have to throw them out. Do this before you start the bike. The rear wheel often you can take buckles in the rim out by moving the spokes. This just takes time and effort. It depends on if the spokes want to move or not. Enjoy your new Bultaco! Graham.

Paulmac is right Bondy. In the early 80`s I saw 5 199 A`s lined up all with original paint on the sidecovers and frames and they were all different colours. I have seen a 199 A with different paint on each of the sidecovers. This is from standard. The Spanish didn`t use code until the mid to late 80`s even on their cars. I can remember having to spray some Spanish cars in the late 70`s and we had to get the paint codes from the paint manufacturer. The A colour usually matches the B colour and the Pursang blue as well. They did change over the years from batch to batch. Graham.

Hi Bondy. The easiest way is to take your 199B tensioner off and walk inside and switch on your computer and look through the online bike shops which sell trials items and find one that looks the same as yours. If it is an accessory one it should have a brand name on it somewhere. Good luck. Graham.

Hi Bondy. I`d give In Motion a ring and ask them as they sell Mikuni`s for Bultaco`s. For those who don`t know a M 198 A is a 1979ish 250 Sherpa T. These were the all blue ones with black fork bottoms and the first ones with no frame tubes under the engine. Over here they were the 1979 model and the last ones to come over to Australia. We didn`t get the M 199/8 B`s. All of the ones over here were imported privately.

On a Sherpa the timing depends on how you want it to run. First up the points gap should be .40mm or between .35 and .45mm. On the early ones the owners manual said 3.15mm BTDC I think. That is quite advanced though. The 250`s are really smooth at 2.6mm BTDC. I like the 350`s at 2.9mm BTDC. The more advanced you have it the snappier it will be but not as smooth down low. It really is up to you. One way is to write out some numbers on small pieces of paper and put them in a hat and see which one you pull out. I have read that Reg May recommended on the older ones 2.5mm BTDC. Graham.

Steveo, This year in Australia it is for all MA events even club days. It is in the MOMS so you have to have one in all affiliated events.

Yep they look and feel great don`t they Bondy! I just had mine done as well and I have ridden it now and the seals don`t leak any more. The way they were you would put new seals in and they would leak on the first ride. Ggggrrrr. All is fine in the world now though.

Hi bultacorock. I have a Domino with a white quick tube on my Sherpa only because I broke the Amal side pull I had on it at a trial and the Domino was all I could buy at the trial. The Amal is nicer. The Amal levers have very good leverage on the levers so they are very light compared to most levers. You can put others on it but you would probably have to drill the cable end hole in the levers larger. Bultaco cables have large ends on them compared to others. Magura dogleg levers seem to work okay though. I have a mate with a few Pursangs with Magura`s on them and they seem to be not to bad. Your Sherpa looks good. It would look better with some sidecover stickers on it though. I know I`ll being picky. Graham.

Hi Bondy. I have been using Ariette seals in my Sherpa and other Bultaco`s. They are for a KTM SX 65 2002 to 2009. They are double lipped so you only need one seal in each side and they even come with some grease to lube the inside of the seals before installation. They work very well. There is a few other posts on here about those seals. Those seals of yours look fine too. If they don`t last long it isn`t hard to change them anyway. Graham.

Hi bultacorock. Castrol Power 1 used to be called Castrol TTS which was Castrols first synthetic two stroke oil for motorcycles. It came out over here in the early eighties and it was great. I have been using Power 1 in my Sherpa 199B which has a 151 engine in it for the past six years and I have to clean the head, top of the piston and the exhaust port up once in that time. I just had my Sherpa rebored as it was still on the standard bore. It looks like it has been resleeved at some stage in its life as the ports had no chamfers on them which was making it rattle. So to answer your question Castrol Power 1 is fine and so is any good synthetic two stroke oil. The Castrol is supposed to have kerosene in it but it still works fine. Graham.

Hi Bondy. To remove rubber glued on with contact cement all you do is pick one end loose and peel it off. The glue will come off with a rag wet with mineral turpentine. I always use some plastic zip/ cable ties to hold the rubber in place. The best bet might be to buy an original rubber and glue that in place and use some zip ties through the holes in the slipper rubber. Graham.

Hi Bondy. I just use normal contact cement. Work out where you want the rubber to go and put glue on both parts and wait for it to go tacky then stick it together. Some of the brands are Tarzans Grip, Bear Cement and there are a lot of other brands. Just try and use a good one. It might also help to just give the side if the rubber you are glueing a slight sand with some coarse sandpaper. Graham.

What I do on a friends Pursang`s and his old Sherpa`s is just zip tie and glue a piece of rubber where the chain runs. I have been using rubber which has some kind of stringy stuff in it about 5mm or a quarter of an inch thick. If you do it neatly it looks fine and works as well. Graham.

I have Inmotion fork springs in my Sherpa and the improvement was unbelievable, they are a bit longer but it just means you don`t have to preload them anywhere as much. I now only have the standard alloy preload spacer in there and it is great. I weigh 85 odd kilos. I can`t comment on the Magicals springs but I think they are supposed to be a progressive rate spring which should be better. Graham.

Hi Greg. I am in Australia and I use 15 weight fork oil in my Bultaco forks. I also put 190 ml in each of them. I think the forks on mine are M151 forks. This works for me with In Motion fork springs. Being a lot colder in England you might have to go lighter. Graham.

Hi Rexhaven. The El Montadero is the same as an El Bandito of the same era. See if you can find a manual on line for a four speed motor as I think they are a four speed San Antonio engine. I think Hugh Weaver in the US would have a manual on line to have a look at. Their email address is www.bultaco.com Graham.

I use KTM fork seals in mine as well. Mine are Ariete? seals and they are for a SX 65. 2002 to 2009. With these you only need one seal a side and they work really well. I just use the standard Betor dust caps on mine and they seem fine. Graham.

Hi Bondy, It looks right and if it is selecting all of the gears it has to be right. So I would go with that. Graham.

Bondy, if you spray some paint into a small bottle or even the spray can lid and let it dry a bit then use a brush. If you want to clean the brush out you will need some acrylic lacquer thinners or even some acetone might work. Graham.

Hi Bondy. I have never used a torque wrench on these nuts before. They are a 6mm by 1.0 thread so they only need to be firm not tight as in a three foot bar on the end of the socket handle would be an overkill as well as stripping them all. Just use common sense. Do you use a torque wrench on all the other 6mm bolts on your Sherpa. Graham.

Hi Bondy. You should be able to see where it is coming from if you pull the counter shaft sprocket off. I have had the seal that goes in the middle of the inner and outer counter shaft leak before. Any of them you should be able to change from the outside with a bit of fiddling and unorthodox work. The manual says to pull the engine in halves to change the countershaft seal but I have done it from the outside before. Cheers Graham.

Hi Dave. The primary case holds 300 ml of oil if the primary case has been off and it is completely empty. If you have only drained the oil then you only need to put 260/270 ml of oil back in as they hold a bit of oil in the case. It sounds as if there is a little bit to much oil in there for the breather to be leaking. The gearbox is the same it holds about 50ml of oil if it is only drained so you only have to put about 550ml into it after draining. Cheers Graham.

Hi Dave. I think the Bultaco`s don`t use an O`ring on the Amal carburettors. I know a fair few of the older British bikes use them as in Triumphs and such but I have never seen one on a Bultaco. Cheers Graham.