2stroke4stroke

The only time I saw a 4RT rider activate a lanyard the bike kept running. Of course he was left with no kill bitton to use instead.

It's amazing what slippery stuff they can get a trials car up on the standard road tyres they have to use. Some of it many of us would be struggling with on a trials bike.

That's what I always thought until I was chatting with a former trials rider who, along with his son, was competing in a car hill climb. He said it was cheaper than trials, particularly as a suitable car was cheaper than a trials bike.

I wasn't calling you stingy - I fully subscribe to the trials rider's unwillingness to spend money. The pricing structure seems to be different in the US. From a very quick internet search the Dunlop and Michelin sell here for virtually the same price at the equivalent of 130 dollars. IRC equates to 114 dollars.

I was kinda hoping they'd keep the tension going on what the new stickers would be but alas that's now revealed in that mudguard picture.

Hah, have you ever ridden the SSDT??

It there's only two to h If there's only two to choose from then that's one more than there was for many years. Even when I was riding a lot more than I am now a Michelin lasted me for several seasons so they seem reasonable value to me. Have you priced a similar quality tyre for a road bike?

Very different. Basically you have four gears fairly close together that you can use in suitable sections, a fifth good for cross country with top for faster off road and comparatively comfortable road use. The standard front was 10 or 11 I think, not sure of standard rear but your proposed gearing would probably kill sixth at least, certainly off road. I can't remember what mine was like but it was pulling a sidecar anyway. You will have noticed that it does not have the poke of an enduro bike.

I would suggest you clean the air filter every outing as the 4RT seems to collect a lot of dirt. It's easier if you use two and swap them. I recommend NoToil filter oil as it washes out with washing powder, no need to use petrol. Coat the walls of the airbox with grease in order to catch any bits that get by the filter. Basically you want to lubricate any point of movement, especially the rear linkage which will require a regular stripdown. I also recommend you grease every thread you can get to now, before they sieze up to make future work easier. I use whatever good quality 10/40 is on sale for the motor (it's always been Castrol Power 4T so far) and have settled on Rock Oil Lite for the gearbox but it won't take you much searching on here to see that there is a wide range of preference on that subject. It may already exist but some old hand should do a Youtube video on the correct preparation and maintenance of a trials bike, using experience to show the "wrinkles" as they used to be called. Ah yes, tyre presssures. Six front, four rear is a good starting point but local riders will best advise to suit the going. I'm sure the 4RT starting technique was explained to you.

You've only found the one filter then? I understood there were two. As regards checking valve clearances I, again, was led to understand this involved pivoting the motor on the mountings involving disconnection of carb on the inlet stub, ditto exhaust, etc. i'd be delighted to find the above is not the case.for future purchase consideration.

There's a few guys in your part of Scotland running TLRs, they would no doubt advise if asked. One of them runs JAG Auto Engineers.

Interesting. I was just about to post saying that it was not uncommon to have CDI box problems on the RL250 Suzuki. The cure was to take them off and warm them up to dry out the internals. Just how the water got that deeply in is not clear as nobody really had a pressure washer in those days and the box was well protected under the tank. Worth a try?

As regards maintenance, from what I can gather as a 4RT owner who considered a Beta after a while, once you've tried to do the valve clearances or change oil filters on a Beta then you'd wish you'd kept the 4RT.

I daresay you won't be going to the Telford Show but if you are you might visit this stall 2t-offroad (2T now hold the stock of a previous Fantic specialist). You could always just contact them I suppose.

It is already registered. If you don't tax it or SORN it then you are committting an offence - I assume the previous owner will now have given your name to DVLA ? Always best not to upset DVLA - you don't want a visit and have them find what else you may have in the garage.

I have sometimes needed to give it two or three goes, admittedly.

A good way to get bite is to drag the brake to get it hot then spray water on it.

Up to the introduction of the 260 the biggest changes came in 2009 with the introduction of a new silencer (a bit quieter) and altered steering head angle. I have a 2009 but, from the shots I've had on earlier models, prefer the steering on the earlier one as it feels lighter on the front to me. Nothing wrong with the later one, just my preference. The early ones had a crude (not just by Honda standards) system of silencing whereby there were three (if my memory is correct) restrictors in the exhaust. There was a lot of discussion at the time about which to remove and which to leave in to improve the performance but, if your one has not been sorted, you may still be able to find the info. Indeed, someone may be on here soon to say. I would go for it - a pal had a 2005 for twelve years and when he changed to the 260 on a whim the old one was still running perfectly on the original plug with the only work being to change the consumables.

I can remember using 5th in the occasional section on my Rev3 200.

Have you changed your petrol supplier recently?

Watch for cracking where the rear suspension mounts - I had one and it tore the back out the gearbox.

No need to worry, they'll have hounded motorcycle sport out of existence long before then.

Make sure they know what they are doing. I've just been told by a BMW dealer that (despite having done the same job previously in an afternoon) new calipers will require the bike being kept overnight so that the brake lever can be tied back to bleed the brake as that is "the only way it can be done". B¥€€¥#&s.

All 4RTs have screw and locknut valve clearance adjustment.

It's strange that there's no tell tale seal track on the lipped one but, from memory (40 years ago) the smaller diameter of the lipped one located in the speedo drive therefore the larger diameter goes towards the bearing, with a narrower spacer between the drive and fork. If I'm wrong then it won't be long before I'm corrected.