2stroke4stroke

The price of TYZ parts brought forth a collective sharp intake of breath from the trials world in the day. For some reason it has stuck in the mind that an exhaust pipe was £360 (quoted at the time because they seemed rather vulnerable) which was about 8% of the cost of the bike. Makes a Titanium pipe seem cheap twenty-odd years later.

Triple clamp was in use to describe a yoke decades ago in the American magazines (come back Cycle and Motorcyclist, where are you now) and I always thought the trees bit was used to describe the combination of top and bottom yokes together with the spindle.

"......contacting every house around the route directly would create too many objections. Mostly from people that wouldn't even notice the event was running." The very point I made earlier. Good luck with the event, having put in a disproportionate amount of work.

And the reason it was introduced was to justify an opinion on motorcycle trials so therefore relevant to the proponent's argument. Perhaps Chris Akrigg's style comes about due to him being a motorcycle trials rider first?

Great isn't it, a superb computerised stock control system but the importer can't tell what it is from the official Yamaha part number and has to ask "what's it for pal"? Which may bring back fond memories for Edinburgh residents.

Worth trying super unleaded.

It can be worth putting some paraffin in and working the forks a few times (spring out and top off) to clean out the mucky residue but make sure you tip it out quickly as if left it could cause the seals to swell.

Not necessarily - have you ever seen Chris Akrigg in action, especially on a fixed wheel bike? He tends not to fart about http://chrisakrigg.com/ and has a very flowing style. Let's face it, riders only stop and bounce about to make it easier so if they are not allowed to do so then there has to be more of a challenge? And it does not matter what system you use, the sections should be laid out to give the riders some element of safety - it may just be a bit different if no stop is in force.

Very smart. You will no doubt be aware of the care required when starting these earlier models with the RHS gear lever. I recall one at the start of the SSDT at Gorgie cattle market. The thing gassed up and would not start so the rider gave it a really good kick with the throttle wide open - needless to say it fired at full bore just before the starter lever slammed the thing in to gear - he took away the starter's table and sent the gent flying. Rather early for a five.

You shouldn't get sub-standard Michelins. i know someone who works for them and part of his job is to put a Stanley knife through the walls of anything that does not pass inspection.

Ah, but using the same line as everyone else does not always give you the best line. In a "traditional" trial part of the skill is in picking a line.

Because if you don't notify residents the chances in most situations are that most won't even be aware that the event is on. Tell them and they'll be straight on to the Authorities complaining about stopping the noisy motorcycles they haven't noticed for the last thirty years.

Campbells of Campbell Street, coincidentally (or perhaps not). You will recall the showroom was downstairs and the spares department occupied what had been a flat upstairs. The wifie who ran the spares bit did not seem to have any bike involvement, other than her job, but knew exactly what she had, what it was and just where it all was amongst the various rooms, cupboards, shelves and piles on the floor. Much better than computerised stock control and the average parts man these days. When Campbells closed the place became part of the Ernie Page empire for a while but then was a variety of things over the years such as a household items shop before, in the Nineties, becoming Manx Motorcyles, if memory serves me. This was a real throwback to the Fifties with bits of dismantled bike festooning the window ledges. I think that lasted a couple of years. Willie Pitblado's was just a breakers, in my day at least, and was chiefly distinguished by the presence over the years of a Manx motor in the window (wouldn't happen now) and Willie's distinctive white with blue stripe Bond Bug used to tow the Pitrite Special to trials. I'm sure he was chief marshal at the SSDT for a while but I certainly recall the story of him rolling the plot on the way back down from the Fort when he fell asleep at the wheel. I suppose that makes me "one of the older bike folk".

If you asked for coke and ice in your pint of IPA at my local you'd get huckled out the door.

You'll not get the best results that way round joeninety. Barrel and piston to Langcourts so they can plate to suit what size the piston actually is, as opposed to what a piston is supposed to be.

Surely this has to be a prime candidate for Big Dave's get rid of red tape campaign?

There's always this of course http://www.probike.co.uk/it110009.htm but it only checks the chainline, not the wheel alignment.

If you have the wheel in a position about the middle of the swing arm and the sprockets lining up (by string line or chain should be accurate enough) then you're fine but five notches does seem a lot. Try measuring the distance between the cam stops on the swing arm and the centre of the swingarm spindle to see if they are the same. If the dishing was wrong then you would not be able to correct things by use of the snail cams. If you had the wheel centralised under such circumstances then it would not be pointing dead ahead. Pete - I tried for ages to get a straight edge that would work on the road bike but the answer eventually came from Kevin Cameron's "Sportbike Performance Handbook" (not an appealing title but a really useful book full of his distilled knowledge) - two fluorescent tubes. Cheap ie free, guaranteed to be straight and set up like your device but measurements at the front are taken to the "front and back" if I can put it that way, of the discs. Allows very fine adjustment of alignment and "centre lining" of the rear wheel by tweaking spacers if necessary.

I don't think I ever had a bike in that era that was not like this. Spanish materials and build quality were not of the highest order so swingarms could twist or the frame be off true anyway. Rear wheels were sometimes set off-centre to allow the chain to clear the tire - bear in mind that the motors were basically designed for use in road bikes with much narrower tyres. If the chain is running straight between the sprockets then your wheel is pointing "straight forward", assuming the motor is too (see above re build quality). If the rear wheel is a bit to one side of centre then that is not critical on a trials bike, indeed Sammy Miller once said that made it easier to balance the bike. Whether or not that was the case or just BS to cover for what was coming out the factory we'll never know. Notwithstanding the above I would imagine that having the front rim central in the forks would be advantageous.

Of course if you never see water then there's no point.

I'm just asking for a friend. Is the state of Beta quality control really that embarassing?

Oh yes, the Paul Edmondson bike was a 50, officially a moped as he was only 16. Someone else (I think Steve Colley) rode a Gas Gas 50, as I recall, the same year for the same reason. But I'm happy to be corrected if someone else has a better memory, or a programme.

It seemed to make a slight difference when we filed grooves in brake shoes back in the day.

Lights are an irrelevance and a speedo is easily fitted (I think a 50 now could need one, unlike a few years ago) but you need to get the paperwork from the importer? I reckon it won't exist as there is probably no intention for these to be registered, unlike the 125s and up. Best bet is to speak to the importer of whatever you are thinking of. As I recall the TLM 50, in typical Honda manner, was equipped more for road use than for schoolboy trials so would have had the necessary docs.

Where's the problem? If it's rattling then at least the plates have freed off!