2stroke4stroke

I think the furthest we usually had to ride was a fifty or so mile round trip to local events (with a GTX can full of petrol hanging from the trials jacket belt). Wouldn't like to get caught doing that now. Then there was the trial on top of that which might have been twenty miles perlap on a longer one.

Best way to get the forks just so is to remove the pinch bolts if they protrude then place a piece of glass (an almost guaranteed flat surface) across the yokes. It should touch in all four spots, adjust if not. No need to cut a pane out the greenhouse - you may have a glass cutting board in the kitchen, the purpose of a kitchen of course being to provide a facility for various trials related activities. Surely we all managed to spill molten Linklyfe on our mother's kitchen floor?

It would be interesting to know your opinion on the difference in performance between the two makes of shoe.

My memory is not exact but folding footrests became a required fitment in the late Sixties or early Seventies. Serrations generally appeared on footrests in the late sixties but these rests were "closed", unlike what we have now, and were just serrations along the edges of a piece of steel bar. Up to that point rests were just smooth round or flat bar, angled slightly upwards to encourage the foot to stay on, with, if you were lucky, a blob of weld on the end to stop your boot sliding off. The flat ones would wear to a nice leg-piercing taper hence the eventual folding requirement. Quite why it took us so long to realise that what was needed was a good grippy wide platform such as we now have is something of a mystery as it seems so obvious. Apart from tyres (though full knobblies were allowed at one time), and some basic dimensions in comparatively later years, you could pretty well do what you wanted - the whole point of trials was, after all, to improve the motorcycle. Which is why the "modern" Pre '65 machine is well within the spirit of trials generally, though possibly not the intended spirit of that branch of the sport. There was a good book printed in the Fifties titled, if I recall correctly, Motorcycle Sport, giving advice on various branches of the sport and the trials chapter, written by Jim Alves, indicates the (plentiful) mods required to be made to production trials machines of the day. Interestingly these included advice to move the footrests forward for the SSDT in order to combat the tendency for the front end to become too light on the exceptionally steep Hills, as the sections were called. How our perspective has changed!

OK if you keep your feet up but there's better grip for a dab with a trials sole?

You mean yours is the only one Ross?

Once you have cleaned pistons etc and all is working spray the pistons and seals with silicon spray before fitting the pads. This helps prevent corrosion and also dirt getting a good grip.

As one who does not really follow the WTC I thought there would have been more spectators at Portugal - or is that apparent turnout what passes for a crowd these days?

I have experienced an SWM clutch that would stand comparison with a modern one, so it can be done.

No, I mean the kick to charge the ECU first thing but it's OK when cold anyway. Plug is new and I use the slow and gentle technique. Thanks. As I say it does need the longest swing possible, a few degrees less and it's not keen, I don't know if that indicates anything.

Not the usual question, but having recently acquired the bike I need to ask. The bike starts first kick (after the priming kick) every time from cold. When hot it sometimes starts first kick and sometimes needs two or three kicks. I know about the tickover thing and keeping the throttle shut and having had a chance to adjust it at the last trial ithe tickover is now, I would say, a bit faster than others and certainly fast enough. I've seen other folk start theirs with a casual kick halfway through the swing but mine needs the very longest swing you can get. If an adjustment was out then I would expect it at least to be consistent and either always a good or bad starter rather than varying at random. Does anyone have any advice or is it just something I'l have to live with? I've spoken to about ten owners and, interestingly, despite the alleged criticality of the tickover speed, not one of them knew what speed their tickover was set to, never having used a revcounter to check. I normally use Silkolene but they tell me they don't do a suitable 10/40 for the motor, apparently the Mont uses a different spec; what do most people use in the motor, as opposed to the clutch?

I'm sure I've seen 349s with the brake pedal trimmed a bit. Whether to solve your problem or to avoid rocks I don't know.

If it didn't do it before then check for air leaks in the exhaust, possibly at the flange where it bolts to the head. You may notice a bit of burbling on the overrun when going downhill?

Yes, do the simple stuff first.

If all else fails then contact those who know - Lampkin's website carries a warning about this saying to contact them before chopping anything.

From where are you removing the metal? Round the circumference or from the face, it makes a big difference to the effect.

Thanks chaps, I'll see if I can track down a dealer to try them for size.

Wouldn't it be a lot better just to make a new heat shield? The original, in my opinion, looks a bit tacky even on the standard pipe. A titanium pipe surely warrants something a bit more special.

I need to replace my old Jitsie trousers, which were the nearest l could get to what I wanted at the time. Is it possible to get a reasonably protective trouser these days? I'm not interested in either skin fit lycra or wearing cammo pants. I can live with colour but don't really want large lettering. Thanks.

You guys seem to be hard on your handlebars. I'm still using the (unbent) Renthals I first fitted to a Fantic in the Seventies.

I've found that a Rev 3 demands very little beyond the routine stuff common to all bikes eg chains, wheel bearings, pads, air filter swap etc. However, it's very obvious at the SSDT that 4RT riders tend to be rather bored during the morning work period whereas the rest often have the thing in bits.

Can't help with the tapping but if you have not run the bike since then a quick oil drain will remove any swarf, which should only be at the hole. Drain it through your girlfriend's tights and you can reuse the oil:-)

Wrecked crankcases. Fit a half link. In the old days we did that when we could in order to keep the wheelbase as short as possible.

The modern bike is designed to be ridden on the clutch. Nobody ever had a strong enough wrist to ride an Ossa that way :-)

Motocross bars have too much rearward sweep. One occasionally sees an older trials bike so fitted and you just don't get the right poise.