I ran my Suzuki GT250A 1976 on Spry Crisp 'n Dry over a couple months back in 1982 when I so skint...tweaked up the CCI auto-injection and no problems at all...other than it smelt like greasy spoon cafe behind me....I can't believe I took the chance, things were soooo much easier back then .
I personally don`t care what helmet anyone wears. But a helmet should not give you more confidence to ride bigger obstacles. Your ability should be what gives you the desire and will to ride untried obstacles. Then again I started riding trials before helmets were required.
You're confusing me with someone with some ability
Read last night that the EC series of enduro bikes, that ran thru the noughties were based on the JT/TX/TXT engine....is that true?
I had several EC's from 2006 up to 2011 models and all were 100% bullet 'n bomb proof, whilst all around me my friends pumpkins were throwning all manner of rattles out of the pram.
My friends used to call my little gasser EC-200's the 'lil woosh woosh....whilst they were changing out parts on their katooms as I looked on smuggly smoking a Marlboro light...
Noticed the brake lever arm being a little reluctant coming off when I was practicing on Sunday....did the usual 'remove the dipstick from the van and dribble a tad of oil around the arm desperatation trick'....its bad maintainance on my part, no excuse. The more keen eyed would have noticed two dipsticks in my van on Sunday, myself being the other.
The old girl since being rebuilt 2 years ago (?), has only had the carb cleaned once and the gearbox oil dropped 5 or 6 times, in that time she has lead an 'on and off' life as my enthusiasm has gone from peaks to troughs...I'd rather lay on a Norfolk beach than do a trial in the summer and watch my 5 year enjoying herself...maybe I should drag Speedy down to Mundesley next time...anyhow...
I thought I'd strip and clean the brakes out but got beaten by bad light. I then come across an article about setting up brakes and thought, I wonder how much of this is new to those whom weren't brought up on drums?
Reading it I knew never to mix the shoes up once 'bedded in' but didn't think about marking the camshaft before removal, these old cams are all old and must have taken a 'set' by now.
The bit about centering the brake plate using the brakes themselves works well from experience and I even made my axle hole larger when I rebuilt her which improved things too.
anyhow most will know all this, but for some it may be useful.
The guy is writing about cycle drums but it all transposes over very well.
I keep hearing of this test and finally found it today.
What no one ever seems to mention (or I've missed) is how old this test is, published in 1978, although that may not be any cause for concern, but what is, is the use of Castor Bean oil, not mineral based oil.
I used to be an automotive test engineer and then went onto pure combustion research and a few of things from this report really bug me, all from the comfort of my armchair & not really knowing jack s**t about 2 stroke R&D. I was compression and spark ignition 4 cycle only ..or dirty diesels and gasolene's, sorry petrols outside of work.
OK, any test such as this, and this is a real biggie should have been an A, B, A test to have any meaning (such as 20:1, 30:1, 15:1 then back 20:1 again). There is no mention of barometric corrections which can cause errors both positive and negative and few other bits and bobs that may have been edited out for all I know but the author has gone to long lengths to go over the test methodlogy. If I made a mistake then I appologise up front, there's a lot of work gone into that report that much is evident.
Also, another biggie, the oil used is castor bean oil so it follows that it can't be assumed that it's relevent to petroleum based oils, be they mineral, para synthetics or synthetics, we like to compare apples with apples when testing things, keeps the anoraks happy.
Somewhere there is a Castrol or Shell test report (someone told me about it in the mid-90's at either Castrol Sunbury or Shell Chester) that shows issues arising from using too much oil in the ratio for mineral oils. I was doing enduro's at the time so it caught my attention.
From memory it was something to with having to work the engine so hard to produce enough torque due to poor combustion that it caused elevated piston crown/cylinder head temperatures etc going on to cause hot seizures. All of that sounds counter intuitive, but hey, these guys do know a thing or two about oil....not forgetting this would go against the all important internet conspiracy theory of "they want us to use to more oil so they can sell more so they would say that wouldnt they...ohh"
Anyway up, best bet is simple, run an SWM and don't worry, our Rotax lumps don't seem to be oil ratio sensitive from what I hear, and, my owners manual from back in late 70's states 50:1 on pure dinosaur oil....so all hail and kiss the toe's of the mighty & tough as old boots Rotax mill.
enjoy, if you like the smell of napalm castor bean oil in the morning....and it's even more fire on the "what oil for my bike and what ratio"....
MICHELIN VS PIRELLI. Tommi Avhala winning his World Trials Championship on the inferior Pirelli tyres..... on the hill climb he struggles abit,while the Mitchelin runners just sail up there.
Ok used my 661 fullface helmet today and its great....light at 900grms ish and well vented, lower chinguard is cool. Good fit and finish. 46 quid delivered from a blowout deal.
I'm Totally converted to full face now, dont even notice it...i'm riding stuff i would quake at before, its helped my confidence on the tougher rockie stuff for sure.
I should get a drink out of all this Wulfsport love.
Finally bought a proper trials top and pants rather than use my enduro gear.
Pants are excellent with padded knees, shins and side of legs where i always get a bruise....from where i dont know. I'm 32/33" and medium fits well. Thought I'd feel a prat in these tight fitting pants but they are a real help when riding with no baggyness and a better fit for trials boots....and shows off my bootie to its best!
Top is on the tight side for my camel front but good on length, collar feature is cool too.
Total cost was 60 quid delivered found on fleabay deals. Nice build n finish too.....only problem is I look the part, now I got ride the part'
Found it the new Pirelli tire was developed as to keep up with Michelin who started already two years earlier with their radial tire for all different kind of temperatures and finally sold them to the public as an W version for temp below 17 and a S version for temp. above 17 deg. Celsius.
First test where done in late 1982 and where performed through Manual Soler in the last two world GP rounds. Here Pirelli for the first time introduced the non rectangles knobby design.
The statement of Krahnstöver (11 times German trials champion): "... Manuel Soler rode the bike with the rubber through the sections but never on the podium"
The tire got on the market one year later but with no success. Either the old style Pirelli diagonal tire with the rectangle knobby design was mounted by the manufactures or the Michelin.
When I look through the old magazines there where many Michelin advertises some Metzler but no Pirelli at all.
Forgot to mention: Trialsport no. 80 from November 1982, page 29.
Well done that man....serious research. Interesting stuff....a winter and summer grades of trials tyres, but with hugely bigger markets worth doing I suppose?
I've used them on an enduro kdx220 and they were excellent around kent and wiltshire. Hare and hounds and trail riding
It was a long time ago, 2005 'ish and I'm sure the later compound and build recipes are even better.
They were used and liked by the more cerebral South West and Welsh trail riders....almost unfair when the going got technical.
Supposed to be worse than a mx tyre in mud but i never had any issues.
Nowhere near as gummy aa a full on modern trials tyre so ultimate grip won't be as good.....but would you notice?
On the plus side mileage was good on my kdx220.
If you want to use to for enduro practice I would buy some. I see them used for trials too by far, far better riders than myself.
If they are cheap check the date stamp cartouche of manufacturing....four figure number.
For example 3415 would be 34th week in 2015.
How old is too old....depends on storage, with good correct storage I still wouldn't go past 3 years maximum but I'm no tyre expert so err on the side of caution.
'Most' name brand tyre manufacturers warrant up to 5 years old from date of manufacturing.
Offroad tyres do tend to have a lot more natural rubber to synthetic in their content than a road tyre (80-20 to 50-50) and its the rubber that tends to age quicker....harder less flexible.
That's really interesting as the bike was first registered in 1976 and was/is based in Kent. I wonder if it could be the same bike??
It's a small world you never know.
It was a red bike...or was it blue
no, it was 100% red....the bike was a brand new bike when it was plated.
Bought, stripped, plated, reassembled then used at Cliffe first time out.
It may of come from Commerfords.....you may wish to stick one of these decals on it.....I say that, but Sturdey's keep buzzing around my head for some reason....back in the day a non-franchise dealer could still do a deal with a franchised dealer, the franchise dealer having a smaller mark up but still getting a sale...from memory Sturdeys were into rice grinder's not Bultaco, so may of come via Commerfords?
It should clean out of the engine pretty fast without doing any special washing out. I had a two stroke lawnmower that had the tank accidentally filled with diesel and the person borrowing it attempted to start it (until they broke the starter mechanism).
I fixed the starter, drained the tank and carby and put premix in the tank. It started up fine but the exhaust fumes smelled terrible for the first few minutes
I've done the same thing but on a 4 stroke mower
Drained the fuel out, in with the unleaded, bit of carb' cleaner on the spark plug and fired straight up!
I don't think I would steam clean the tank out on the Bully, I would hazard a guess that it may give you more probs than you started with. It's difficult to get everything out of a tank, maybe leave the tank in the boiler room for a while.....I'm writing that assuming everyone like myself has oil fired central heating in a seperate boiler room...sorry.
I have on occasion turned a trials bike completely over with the plug out to clear a crankcase...Monty 315R with a failed carb' needle valve that filled the engine. But even that didn't give any starting issues afterwards.
It always tempting to try second guessing the issue but if it was 100% before the diesel fuel then, well you know the rest.
My guess is she needs a good full load run to clear her out?
.....it won't be long before a failed condensor is mentioned
You know that trick with disc brakes about getting them very hot then cooling the disc quickly with water? Well I wonder if this could be transferred somehow to drums....I don't know maybe, heating the drum brakeface using a flame?
Just thinking out loud, some swear by that water on the disc method.
Bit late to the party but these bike chocks are brilliant, fantastic, excellent et al.
Originally bought for my road bikes for track days as strapping down and securing sports bikes with fairings is a real chore to avoid damage. It really is one of those items I wish I'd bought years ago.
They start at £30 ish but heavy duty ones are £45 as used for my GSX-R750, Firestorm etc and bolt onto the floor. In fact they work so well it only requires two small straps just for piece of mind.
Picture below is similar but mine has two securing mounts up front but you get the idea
..or dirty diesels and gasolene's, sorry petrols outside of work.
Effect Of Oil Ratio Tests Gordon Jennings 1978
in SWM
Posted · Edited by iconic558
I ran my Suzuki GT250A 1976 on Spry Crisp 'n Dry over a couple months back in 1982 when I so skint...tweaked up the CCI auto-injection and no problems at all...other than it smelt like greasy spoon cafe behind me....I can't believe I took the chance, things were soooo much easier back then
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