2stroke4stroke

The MAR was sold as the Plonker in the US as I recall. Had they called it that over here sales might have been considerably lower.

I used to get staining off with that kitchen cream cleaner stuff - but that was in the days when petrol was petrol.

I'd try gluing something in - it's not as if it's going to cast you off at 120 through Windy Corner if it fails is it?

Regardless of their cleaning effect I certainly would not be spraying any chemical type cleaners in to a helmet. Standard recommendation from Arai is to use baby shampoo and I use it under a warm shower. Force drying is out of course so it takes about a week to dry out.

I would go for a modern bike as they are lighter and, take it from me, have a riding position and suspension better suited to old backs! If you can find a decent Beta 200 that would be a good basis for you to judge things. Many will say a125 but the 200 is easier to ride as it has better bottom end characteristics.

I would imagine any reasonable engineering adhesive would sort this. The force, when in use is, after all, going to press the metal harder against the magnet rather than try and remove it.

"Pity they never went on to make trials bikes. " I seem to recall I did once see a 250 BMW converted for trials - interesting, given the shaft drive. I can't remember where though, can anyone confirm its existence?

There may be enough material in the barrel of the twistgrip to reduce the diameter further. We used to use two hacksaw blades side by side but if you have access to a lathe that would be easier.

If you have it on the left or right hand it is more liable to end up underwater when you drop the bike. Having it so you can operate it with your thumb whilst your hand is on the grips is no great advantage - the times when you really need it are when you are six feet away and it is screaming its head off. Put it in the middle, it keeps the wiring tidier too.

If the ACU head office can't help you with this then something is far wrong. Give them a try or, failing that, try an enduro site as they use forestry all the time. There must be a standard set of documentation.

Given that we're battering the bottom of the forks across rocks I wouldn't be too bothered about how much damage a carpeted car floor is going to do. The seat belt mounts or there's usually a loop to hold the seat backs up - either of these make suitable tie points.

"This would sort of narrow down the competition to only those that could afford to do it - in my view that's not what the Olympics are about." In a way I agree with you but I'm sure it would be as nothing compared with the cost of being competitive in athletics etc. By chance someone at work was telling us the other day about the regime a friend's relative has for Scottish swimming. It involves the whole family in huge sacrifice with several car trips each day to/from the pool/school, swimming 7 days a week, travel to events etc etc ad infinitum. Makes a fleet of trials bikes look cheap. Basically "those who can afford it", or have somebody/some organisation afford it for them have the edge no matter what sport you are talking about at that level. And, the boats these guys row don't come off the local park pond, I'm sure the expenditure of tens of thousands on a craft assists more than a little in a winning performance. I recall that the consideration of trials as an Olympic sport got quite far down the line about thirty years ago. The main protagonist was an Olympic equestrian medal winner whose name may have been Fox. I'm sure there are several on here who can elaborate on this.

There was a fad. in the Seventies I think, to put sponge under the wipers and oil it (you would see this being done in the parc ferme at the Fort) but I don't know if this stopped due to bad results arising or just CBA.

Far from protecting the bearings from water I would have thought that a bearing sealed on both sides would be worse. If you fill the crankcase with ingested water I imagine the pressure will force it past the seal and in to the bearing but the seal will prevent it escaping. The bearing then continues to run in this muck. If the bearing is open then the dirt escapes and, if you're fussy, you can flush the case with petroil mix to clean it out?

I think the requirement to have a speedo was one of the several changes brought in earlier this year - despite the law not requiring some vehicles to have a speedo (unless that has changed too).

In my estimation the 200 is effectively an "old fashioned" 250 in the way the motor works. I have ridden for decades with a pal and we're evenly matched on the rough but he couldn't keep up with the 200 on any of his Scorpa 250s so it's plenty fast enough.

The answer is no. Your valves are either badly made, the seal has been damaged or there is dirt preventing it sealing fully. Try holding the valve open and letting the 25 psi out - that should shift anything. If indeed the valve is the problem.

I don't know what the price difference is and can't be bothered investigating but how much money are you going to waste in entry fees and travel with a tyre that does not perform? My last bike was a Pinky which gripped like the proverbial to a blanket on Michelins and I had it for nine years and can't remember putting a tyre on it but I suppose I must have done so say (as the original would be worn when I got the bike) six years for a tyre - that seems to wipe out any cost difference. I've had the Beta now for eight years and run two wheels but haven't put a tyre on either wheel myself. I could not work out why I was riding so badly at a trial last year when I realised half way home that, due to a leaking rim tape, I has used the "spare" wheel which I lent to someone for the SSDT and which came back with a Dunlop on it. A waste of time compared to the Michelin.

I'm sure there was a whole bottom end going for less than this not so long ago - Solvol ain't that dear.

Aye but most of the mountain bike guys would not be seen dead with mudguards on the bike - how many trials riders would not use mudguards if the Regs permitted? In the twinshock days I always used rubber gaiters (front and back) and it was no trouble to leave them loose between trials to ensure moisture evaporated. I, reluctantly, stopped using them when fork travel got to the point that the gaiter was fully compressed before the fork travel limit was reached - no point losing an inch or so of movement to keep the chrome nice. Frankly (and I concede I don't ride in a predominantly muddy area) there seems to be no problem with the modern exposed stanchions in terms of wear due to being unprotected. I've never fancied the neoprene stuff for reasons mentioned above. I did not pursue gaiters on the mountainbike, though I was inclined to, for the loss of travel reasons above. I've had no problems with wear based on just wiping after use though many mountainbike users of an American fork seem to suffer very severe wear under conditons nowhere near as bad as the average trials bike sees.

It depends how fussy you are about these things and how the bike rides. Personally, having paid for all that design expertise, I use the half link to keep the wheelbase as short as possible.

Scrutineering? The last scrutineer that looked at any of my bikes died 25 year ago.

I once met a Yorkshireman at a Guzzi rally and he told me that when his wife's company car got an oil change he would promptly drain it and swap it in to his Guzzi.

As we can't seem to edit now I've used quote. As regards petrol quality, a pal recently sold a TY 250 twinshock that had not run for eight years and last had petrol put in 10 years ago. It started second kick. Petrol was petrol in them days.

Do the additives replacing lead cause more harm than the lead? This was known at the time of the change with many deeming the Benzine to be far worse on several fronts. Breathing in fumes that have not been through a catalytic convertor - it takes about eight miles, I am told, for a cat to reach operating temperature. Up to that point the emissions are apparently worse than with no convertor. The average car journey in the UK is less than 4 miles so most never reach temperature except perhaps the day they go for the MoT test. Moral of the story? Worry more about what you're breathing in when you go to the shops than in a section queue. It seems fully synthetics are not well regarded by many tech types as suitable as they do not offer such good protection when the bike is lying up for extended periods - something many trials bikes do a fair bit of. I bought a TY200 last year that ran 40:1 but did a good impression of the Red Arrows. For trials Silkolene recommended a variety of ratios in their Comp 2 Premix (which I can easily get) ranging from 40:1 for deep sand up to a rather lean ratio which I can't remember (I have a print out of the e-mail somewhere) for lighter use. I settled on 50:1 which seems reasonable as my Fantics ran fine on that with far inferior oils 30 years ago. The Beta seems to run OK on this at the Beta recommended 70:1.