2stroke4stroke

Lochaber police are no more. Police Scotland is reportedly heavily Strathclyde influenced. Strathclyde had a history of antagonism towards motorcycle events.

Not really, there's a lot of science goes in to creating the right size still air box on a modern road bike. The principle is the same but at the power levels of a trials bike less noticeable except in extremes.

Link does not seem to be working fully Ross, goes to site but not SWM stuff which could be anywhere in a lot of photos.

Indeed, it was he. Back in those days, when we often got weather at trials and gloves weren't what they are now, it was actually warmer (and a better grip was obtained) riding without gloves rather than wear a wet leather pair.

I know you are less cconcerned than once you might have been with SACU matters but, had you been at the SACU AGM, you would have heard that the weather and other factors reducing numbers of entries will, in effect, lead to raised insurance costs for the rider. However, the Union is taking steps to mitigate this.

I don't know what your other experience is but a TY 175 will feel flat compared to a more modern bike. I've ridden a 175 that was tuned by an expert and it was still flat, certainly compared to my TY 200 but I've no idea how the conversion was done or what other mods were made eg porting. I daresay if boost bottles had worked we would still be using them on current bikes.

The best tip I can offer, all else being equal and once you've found your feet so to speak, is that you actually put section markers down when you are practising or you'll be too generous to yourself on the awkward bits

Skilful though bouncing and balancing may be I think the most impressive such footage I've seen was the girl who, whist riding down a slope, used her foot as a brake on the tyre.

Aye, but it might have been difficult for them to know that when they were producing the 250 UKR those years before, when he was merely a top runner and Swedish Champion.?

John, I did not use the phrase "ramble on", rather, "ramble through" which means something completely different. ie a pleasant journey via, as opposed to an unnecessarily lengthy and possibly irrelevant monologue, which latter is certainly not your style.

Think I'll have to miss March alas - Bedlington 2 Day.

The LT coil on my TY comprises two coils mounted together, one above the other, this one being a lot smaller than the other. The manual shows only the larger one and this seems to match what I have seen advertised as a source coil. Has someone perhaps modified mine or is the standard setup different to what is shown in the manual?

Thanks.

It's normal to fit "spring down" in order to reduce unsprung weight. You may not think this significant but, hey, you've paid for an expensive bike with fancy rear suspension unit, why not make the best of it. When the gas Girlings came out they would only function "spring down", with no damping when mounted the other way up.

I'll ask the same question as I have a steel one to fit to a TY 175 but it needs tweaking. If I could find one I'd also fit a steel lever to my Beta.

The TLM was so good I'm sure they sold as many as a dozen in Britain - not the most popular of bikes because, if I recall, they just didn't match the Yamaha and were probably much more expensive. An allegedly Works one languished unsold in my local Honda dealer for months, if not years, back in the day. I rather suspected it had been the rounds of the Honda dealers as they must have been getting desperate to get rid sending it to a dealer that had absolutely no comp dealings whatsoever. I certainly wouldn't like to try and get parts for one.

It's just possible that I have a slightly used one lying about if that is any use - PM me if you are interested.

John. Sorry we didn't get a chance for a chinwag on Sunday. As I'm even older than you I feel I can say this - the sort of info you have come out with here is invauable and only a fraction of it could have been recorded in your book, but one feels it should be preserved for posterity, possibly in a less formal format than possible in a book. Perhaps you should have a monthly column on here to ramble through Scottish trials/bike/character history rather after the style of a pub conversation with photos. Or would that put too much strain on Andy's broadband width!

Laser "Haven't agile, light weight bikes out sold the over priced, heavy ones for many years now?" We can only buy what is for sale and have had no choice, within your definition, "for many years now" but to buy the lightweight bikes. You might be surprised how well the older heavier bikes would sell if the twinshocks or early monoshocks were magically put back in to production. I'm sure events to suit would appear. Let's face it the average middle route for modern bikes in many trials is less severe, relatively, and indeed absolutely in several cases, than a lot of trials we rode thirty and more years ago. I can cite a lot of steps we used to do on Bultos etc that are now regarded as too difficult and ridden round rather than up.

I've been with Norwich Union, now Aviva, unbroken for forty years and the renewal premium is quite acceptable (but Aviva won't allow me to go direct) and the broker this years wants a 50% fee, effectively for posting two letters. It would appear that the insurance broker is voluntarily becoming an endangered species in this era of internet insurance.

That depends how keen you are between sections I witnessed my pal's 1970's 50 kph endo, which still gets talked about. Even the guy in front stopped to see what had happened behind him. Fortunately no real injury and, being a Bultaco, the judicious application of a scaffold tube straightened the bike out, more or less.

That depends. If the one sits in Tynwald and none of the 1,728 do then one could trump hundreds.

Surely cutting the tubes out was a fairly common period mod?

Bultaco build quality really, nothing to be too worried about - just get the chain running straight.

Not uncommon, I recall coming back down Cameron Hill fairly rapidly when the Fantic ran backwards. Then there was the time when I was riding the Bultaco to school (them was the days) and it coughed at the give way line - when I let the clutch out I reversed in to my French teacher's Toledo!