crowley

Mine didn't foul plugs, but a bit rich 'n wooly on std settings. I've dropped the needle (clip in top slot) and all is well.

I will never insure with CN ever again. After being with them, claim free for over 15 years, my renewal quote on a multi bike policy for this year, doubled to over £900. I told them to shove it, and asked the reason for this increase. They told me that Equity Redstar would no longer insure my Ducati 1198 and the new quote was from a different company. After moaning about this to the bloke on the phone, he told me to hang on and he'd see what he could do. I complained, that since I was paying CN to act as a Broker, he should have done this in the first instance. He came back to me with a new quote of just over £420. When I asked who this company was giving this most recent quote, he sheepishly told me that it was Equity Redstar!! I shared my wisdom with this bloke; doubting his parentage and honesty, and surprisingly he didn't hang up but continued trying to give me a garbled explanation - I just told him I thought this was dishonest and would never insure insure with them again, even if it cost me more, and followed this up with a letter of complaint to the Ombudsman. Several weeks later, I got a groveling apology from the bandits at CN. This experience, fair made my wee boil!

I've just finished building this XL 250 and I prefer riding it to my Fantic 300 I've altered the fork angle, shortened the swinging arm and raised the motor a bit. A 26mm Moltk carb and some Betor shocks make it handle really well. The bottom end torque from the heavy flywheels is quite astonishing.

Cheers Kevez, I'll probably see you at the Boxing day trial - I'll be in a white Transit with Ducati and Buell EBR stickers on it. I once triple plugged a race bike bike to see if it had any advantages, but the Dyno showed that 2 plugs were sufficient for that particular head + squish! If I can lay my hands on a spare head, I might give it a go and play with the timing a little more.

It's worth keeping an eye out in Aldi. A while back, on a Trackday Forum, word was put out that they were on sale for about £5. I didn't believe it so went along to check - and there they were I've used it a couple of times, and it works ok. To get the outside of dirty carbs etc clean, I've rigged up a little grit blaster from fuel pipe and a pop bottle and stick it on the end of my air line. Using BiCarb of Soda as the medium, blast the ally clean, and then rinse under the tap. Wear a mask

I'm new to Fantics, but it appears to have the later Ducati ignition. I've worked out that advance should be around 25 deg, but according to my 'a*** dyno', the motor feels happiest with the timing knocked back to around 22 deg. Do you know if anyone has twin plugged one of these bikes?

Can anyone tell me the timing in degrees for an early 300......or the length of the rod so I can work it out? Thanks

Like the others have said, keeping crud out with a 'pre filter' of large open cell foam is a good idea. I always use chainsaw bar oil on foam and K+N cotton filters on my race bikes. It's very cheap, very tacky, and as good as the pukka filter oil (I've tested this by using two filters on a Dyno - so it's not opinion) Use it very sparingly

Well, I was going to start 'Please allow me to introduce myself', but I see another Stones fan has already done that I did some trials about 30 yrs ago, and that led onto all kinds of siliness, ranging from Pre '65 scrambling with a collection of old sheds; TriBsa's, JAP Specials, Rickmans etc, and currently to racing and regular trackdays on VTR's, Buells and Ducs. One Sunday, a few months ago, it was too wet to go and annoy N.Wales Police on my bike, so off I went see a local trial held by the Aquaduct Club. It was like I'd bought a Time Machine off EBay, the same old crowd were still at it..........and I was greeted with all kinds of abuse for not having a bike with me It looked too much fun to miss out on, so I've built myself a TY 175, crank and Leccy ignition sorted by Colin Leese. Sooooo...........if you see me wobbling about on my little Jap Stinkwheel in the near future, please don't laugh at me too hard, I have feelings you know Cheers Adam

After a few months of lurking on this forum, I've decided to get back into trials (30 yrs since my last one) and thought I build a TY175. Like a good shot gun, I like a nice fit on my bikes, and after seeing the comedy prices asked for yokes on the Net, I decided to modify my own. The lightweight yokes I've had CNC machined for my Buell track bike and Ducati 1198 didn't cost anything like the ones for the TY!

Paint bubbling on plastic tanks is an eternal problem with S1,S2,+S3 Buells (I have 7 of them and Moderate on a Buell forum) because the plastic used allows the vapours to breathe. I got a specialist car body spray shop to prime some of my tanks with a coating which yhey wouldn't divulge the name of. I subsequently top coated them and they've been fine since. Recently, there's been talk of a 'Class Action' against Ducati in the USA because the high Ethanol content has been making plastic tanks turn to jelly and fall off their mounts. My UK Duc is having a careful eye kept on it I think the 'breathing' issue with plastic tanks and decals lifting, is one reason why MX bike decals are covered with tiny holes to allow vapours to pass

I've had some luck with sanding and polishing race plastics (after a bit of tarmac surfing). Unlike polishing alloy where you have to get some heat into the work, you must not do this with plastic. Low speed and light pressure for the cutting compound is good.