2stroke4stroke

There are plenty modern bike trials that use easier sections than we used to ride on Bultacos and Montesas and twinshocks are just another class in the event. I've seen so few twinshock specific trials that I can't say one way or the other generally but the Kia round I observed at would have challenged a few on modern bikes.

Best prices vary all the time, you really need to search about on the day, so to speak.

Long, long ago I worked for a company where the workshop was most effectively heated by a salamander which burned whatever was available (you'll probably need to search for photos if you're under sixty), often old sump oil. Remarkably, no conflagrations ensued.

Look like Gas Girlings to me. If the damper rods bend for no apparent reason, ie without being subject to a blow, then they are definitely Girlings. Don't think Betor did gas units then but if you put them with the damper rod uppermost then they will not damp if they are Girlings which were designed to be used with the body uppermost.

I don't know about your bike but some front sprockets can be turned round occasionally to even out the wear. Back when I was doing a lot more riding than now I ran two chains and swapped them every couple of trials which helped extend chain and sprocket life.

Well found Spen!

There is a device called the Superspout that claims to fit all containers.

Indeed it would have been useful if 12Mont had come back to let us know if he had any success. Is he out there somewhere?

Interesting. If anyone is looking for a book to put on their Christmas list then I thoroughly recommend Kevin Cameron's Sportbike Performance Handbook (as a very informative publication for those with an interest in any sort of motorcycle) or Top Dead Center, being a collection of his monthly columns.

Does the original tap actually work? Could be a mod to overcome a problem with that.

Don't you mean the best running bike you never ride :-), you will insist on riding that old wee Scorpa TY fourstroke and beating everyone. You could at least reduce the embarassment factor by using the Ossa to beat 'em.

I suppose it depends what you mean by reliability. The Japanese bikes brought in an era where you knew you were unikely to suffer a breakdown during a trial and they did not require an enormous amount of maintenance. The monoshock Yam was indeed the apogee. Watercooling (or rather the minimal capacity of the systems) has brought problems and frame cracking seems more common nowadays but is the price we pay for wanting the absolute lightest. Electrics are not as dependable as they once were seemingly due to poor quality components (cheapness again it seems). However we have now reached the point where definition comes in - is a clutch that requires (as seems to be the case) the overall plate thickness to be within a fraction of a millimeter a reliability issue? Or just complexity for the sake of it.

Rather than placing up against a wall and coarsely banging it in to gear try holding the clutch in and pushing the bike off slightly with your foot as you engage bottom, then, with the lever still held in, work your way up the gearbox. It should free off when you reach fourth.

If you are still on standard 10/41 gearing you might consider lowering it. With standard bottom gear the bike does tend to leap off a bit from very low speed.

Now that I think of it I have a pair of mudguards too. Perhaps I need to find a frame and motor.

I'm sure you could test some scrap domestic plastic for petrol resistance then just put a bit in the depression, held in place by the teabag, to prevent rust being drawn in to the pump.

I'm sure you could test some scrap domestic plastic for petrol resistance then just put a bit in the depression, held in place by the teabag, to prevent rust being drawn in to the pump.

Shouldn't be too hard given that the original Randonnes had the Yamaha motor.

In the days before we could afford to buy a Bultaco bum bag tools were carried in a length of innertube rubber banded across the bar clamps.

Have you tried dragging the brakes to get them hot then spraying water on them? That often restores the bite. And it costs nothing to try.

Yeah, I remember someone curing an RL 250 box by putting it by the campfire at a two day trial many moons ago.

Most folk dumped the triangular box as, being baffled, it was felt to restrict performance. The small cylindrical one was a Sammy Miller item designed to fit on the standard silencer tailpipe. There was a similar one for the earlier high level exhaust model. I think I still have an M80 one somewhere.

The dawn of time being the late Sixties as I recall ☺

I looked at my filter for similar reasons, ymir, but it was clean. It is a very coarse filter, quite unlike a normal inline petrol filter, and I don't see how it would catch the usual fine stuff that can occur in petrol. Remove the tank bottom and take the pump off. The filter lies beneath the rubber bit.

Man takes out theft cover, bike gets stolen, insurance pays out. Does not sound like misselling to me.