mr neutron

Like has been mentioned, the old, out-of-print book by Len Weed/Bernie Schrieber would be one of the best reads, if you can find one. And the video from Ryan Young is a very good thing to have. I have the one called "Trials Training Techniques And Cross Training Tools", & like it a lot. It's a very good instructional video for the novice or higher-evel rider. He breaks down the components of a technique, and describes them very well, I think...... I personally love to read, and found this at an Australian trials website. It covers the basics pretty well, & gives a few ideas for some training drills, which I like a lot. It's in pdf form, and seems to be basically a "condensed version" of The Bernie Book, sorta..... Was "The Bernie Book" we refer to titled "Observed Trials"??? http://www.trials.co...manual&Itemid=9 Click on the Adobe deal that says "TRIALMANpdf.", and that brings up the manual. Hope this helps some! Jimmie

Have to say that I really think these things are a great idea. I had the "opportunity" to drop my bike & test out the new kill switch, numerous times this afternoon. It worked very nicely! I'm a fan of these things! The only time it was any trouble at all was after I killed it, and took my pack off to pilfer around for a new Zippy-Tie for my rear fender, After the repair, for some reason, I put the magnet & strap in my pack, my pack on my back, and then kicked for a minute or so before I saw what the problem was.... Jimmie Added in EDIT: Sawtooth, why would you feel that you need what essentially amounts to 3 kill buttons? At any rate, I'd think all you'd need to do is put the ring terminal on the ground by the coil, with all the other ones on there, and then find the right connectors (auto parts houses have those things here in the states) to go from two wires/connectors into the one wire for the kill switch.....

Yeah, Congratulations, Dylan!!! Glad to read that you did well!!! Kinda like you, I have a goal to make it up to the Intemediate class for next year, at least at my local club's Intermediate level. It looks like you're well on your way to making that! What did this trial show you that you ned to work on? Were there things you feel you need more practice on, and maybe things that you felt really good at doing? Again, Congtats, Dylan! Nice Job!!! Jimmie

The very first motorcycle that I ever bought, back around 1969 or 1970 was set up exactly as you described, Zippy. The guy that I bought it from used this little Honda for Hillclimbs, and wanted/needed a killswitch like this for the inevitable times when he'd need to chuck the bike..... It worked really well.... Jimmie

Good Points, Telecat! My new lanyard-style Kill switch is made by Leonelli. I wonder if they make spare magnets available, or if anyone knows of any good, available substitutes? BTW, I do like mine, but fortunately, haven't had the opportunity to "really try it out" yet..... Jimmie

No, Zippy, I'm both an advocate of, and a user of Zippy-Tie Products!! I used to splice television cable years ago, and have seen Zip-Ties do some amazing things...... The friend I mentioned is a fellow trials riding buddy from work here in Oregon. He's helped me a lot with my trials riding. Every now & then he just forgets how dumb I actually am, and forgets to "Pull out the REALLY BIG Crayons". and explain that he meant for me to use the little Zippy-Ties to hold my fender on. But like any good, true friend, he won't forget to remind what a Dork I am when I crash! In my bike's case, as beat up as the fender was, ripped at the stock holes, lip missing, & etc., I should have still used only 2 small Zippy-Ties. It was totally "My Bad.", and had nothing to do with your advice, Buddy! Again, I just hope that anyone else that reads this will learn from my mistake here. And about that beer: Man, I would really love to travel & see your part of the country (Michigan). I'm originally from Oklahoma, but I'm certain both Oregon & Oklahoma aren't anything iike your part of the country. It looks like you guys have fun at your rides, which makes it even more appealing! Unitl I can show up in your neighborhood, or you wander out here (the invite is out...), I'll drink a Fosters' beer for ya! It ain't the best beer around, ain't the worst, but ya git a lot of it in them big cans they come in.... Jimmie

Thanks for the good Advice, Squid! Maybe some can learn from my mistakes..... On my 2010, the rear fender is held in place by a molded in lip that slips over the rear end of the airbox. It's further held in place by a stainless steel round head allen bolt/washer combo at the front most part of the rear fender (bolts into a thread insert the airbox, I believe), and had 2 plastic trim panel fasteners towards the outside of the fender, that went through factory holes in the airbox. Well the 2 trim fasteners kept breaking when I'd crash (I've stated before that I spend a little time picking my bike up now & then..... Just to stay in shape.... ). So, per the advice of a well meaning friend, I replaced those trim fasteners with Zippy-Ties. At that point, the molded lip under the fender (hooks on the back end of the airbox) had almost completely split off. So I drilled a couple more holes, and added more Zippy-Ties. And that was probably part of the problem that caused a lot of my airbox damage when my son crashed my bike..... I used too thick/strong of Zippy-Ties, and then too many of them. There rear fender really couldn't move much during a crash, without ripping the airbox up with my not-so-well-thought out modifications. Those trim panel fasteners are probably meant to be used as a sort of "fuse" in the fender/airbox circuit. I'm fairly certainthat those fasteners are supposed to either pull out, or break in the event of a crash, so the fender & airbox don't. Now, I'm using really small Zippy-Ties in only 2 places, and that stainless allen head bolt/washer deal. In my pics above here, it sorta looks like I have another bolt/washer deal in that area, but it actually is a riviet & washer that holds on that plastic muffler guard. At any rate, I'm hoping that the next time I crash, those 2 tiny Zippy-Ties will be the "fuse" & break before the airbox does. Bigger, stronger Zippy-Ties are not what is needed in this application. Unless you like repairing airboxes, hee hee.... Jimmie

Very Cool, Mokwepa!!! Looks like a nice event, and that was well done vid! And you guys have some good riders in that group! Zippy, are you sure the ratio of WGASA consumed beer-to-Bouncy House time would be a good idea???? Jimmie

You're correct; The bigger screw effects tickover (idle), and has no effect on the mixture. More air equals a lean mixture, and more fuel equals a rich mixture. Getting the correct balance is key. I think a slightly richer mix makes the bike a little slower reponding off idle, as in when you just barely open the slide/accelerate. A leaner mix makes them respond quicker. Within reason, if you're reasonably close to that 14:1 (or whatever it is, I forget the "optimum" air to fuel ratio....), being a slight bit lean or rich won't hurt anything. It'll have more effect on throttle response than engine longevity. Now, if your talking mainjet/wide open circuit, this correct mixture is more important (to engine life), and being slightly rich is normally somewhat more desireable than being too lean. My bike has a Dellorto carburetor, which has a fuel screw. The bikes with Keihin PWK Carbs have an air screw I believe. Here's a rough rule of thumb, if you don't know which carb you have: The Keihins will have the air screw closer to the "bell" end of the carb. It will be at the air inlet end of the carb. Screwing that screw out will make the low speed circuit leaner; screwing it in will make it richer. It regulates the amount of air you get for the idle/low speed circuit in the carb. The Dellorto carbs will have the mixture screw "in front" of the slide, sorta, up by the intake manifold. Screwing this screw OUT makes it richer, and IN makes it leaner. Just the opposite of the air screw. It regulates the amount of fuel you get in the idle/low speed mixture. Hope this helps! Jimmie Added in EDIT: I wasn't sure which carb cwill has on his bike, which is why I typed what I did above here. If any of it is not accurate, or wrong/incorrect/stupid, I hope someone will chime in to correct me. It's been my experiences that bikes with a fuel mixture screw tend to have the mixture screw located the way I described (close to intake manifold end of the carb), and carbs with an air mixture screw tend to have that mixture screw located at the opposite end of the carb (closer to the air inlet end). This has simply been my own experience. In life, there's probably exceptions & variations out there waiting to prove me wrong......

Thank You for noticing!!! I think you just decribed my first wife....... Jimmie

Probably not, totty79. The viscosity index ratings given by manufacturers are sorta "vague", or more like a general guideline. One manufacturer's 5wt. is another manufacturer's 7.5 wt., or vice versa.... If possible, I'll try to find a somewhat techinical website, done by a man named Peter Verdonne, or something like that, which had a chart that was a good guidline for viscosity indexes of different brands of oils. You will most likely be able to adjust out any differences you feel with your clickers (adjusters) or the oil level itself...... Jimmie In EDIT: Here's that website with the chart of relative viscosity indexes. it gets pretty technical, but is a good reference of sorts. Scroll down to the bottom for the chart i mentioned above..... http://www.peterverd...ve/lowspeed.htm

Might suggest some stronger springs if the elephant is serious about a ride........

Ya know, I recall seeing those pics before, Andrew, and thinking how I liked that look your bike has. You're obviously a trendsetter, Sir! Again, personally, I can live just fine without the graphics. As far as I'm concerned, it's around $125 (approximately 80 pounds, if I'm converting correctly....) that I could spend on fuel to go riding, or more bike parts, or beer, or whatever....... I won't criticize anyone for going bonkers over graphics; it's their way of making them happy. Just a matter of finances & priorities, I reckon..... Jimmie

Squid, I hope you don't have to use it again either!!! I can imagine both you & the checker had a good case of "Big Eyes & Soiled Shorts" at that moment in time, huh? It is nice to hear it did what it's supposed to do! I got mine (the mag kill switch) from Jack's Cycle in Maine. http://www.jackscycles.com/ That's where I got the deal on the muffler, and would've gotten a great deal on the airbox had I not repaired mine. Stu Preston owns that business, is a very good rider, has always given spot-on advice & help, & has been wonderful to deal with for anything I've needed, whether it be from Gas Gas, or aftermarket. Sadly, I think he's also kicking my butt at our personal weight loss challenge..... Anyway, the kill switch works fine. Stu told me those guys like to take the magnets & "hide" them from the riders of bikes that own them. Just another thing to keep us amused, huh Zippy? I also got the adjustable throttle thing from him, but I'm on the fence about whether I like it or not. It does what it's supposed to do: Limits the amount of throttle rotation, and hence, power. But it feels "different" from what I've been used to, as far as my old stock Domino feels. Like it has an off idle "catch" in it that keeps me from being less smooth than I normally am with the throttle. I didn't seem to be able to get full throttle when I had it adjusted to allow that, which might possibly be problematic sometime. I may need to attack something with some fine sandpaper or a file....... Jimmie

Man, Oh Man, Bruno!!! I hope you're healing well now! I had not seen this thread for a few days, and just saw this! I'm really glad you're not hurt any worse than you are, and am hopeful you heal well! You really have to be careful about what has been inside those barrels, but I guess this is a little late for that, huh? Any word on finally getting your Beta? Jimmie

Zippy, I think I first read about the V-Mar Racing adapter here in this thread, after you got one & posted about it. Having once panicked (spelling?) because I thought I lost that stock rubber adapter, and having fought getting the airbox back on once I found that goofy rubber adapter, your post made a lot of good sense. I have one on order. And Thank You for the Head's Up! on the install of it. It's about time for a good carb leaning anyway, so I figured I'd simply take off the carb to do the install of the adapter...... And actually, I agree with you & Bill, and am not really into graphics all that much. Function is more important to me than looks on my bikes. Graphics seem to help sell a bike, and not much more, to my way of thinking. My wife complained when I took the stock graphics off this bike, and asked me when I was going ot get some more "stickers" to replace them. When I told her that I think aftermarket "stickers" were around $125 a set, with OEM even more money, she backed off a bit, hee hee. Those stock Gas Gas stickers are some of the toughest I've ever seen, however...... Where do you guys mount your magnetic/lanyard-style (Leonelli) kill switches? By the clutch perch/master cylinder, just like stock? Does that lanyard typically go around the left wrist? I've seen some with a coiled cord on the magnet dealie like a Slinky, mounted to the rider's belt, and one of those folks had the switch right in the middle of the handlebars, by the mounts..... At any rate, it's GREAT to be riding again. I missed my 20 minute workouts in my yard...... Jimmie

It got put back together & ridden yesterday! I got a new midbox/silencer for the bike, as well as a new throttle (the one with the adjustment that controls how far it can be opened), and a bunch of other miscellaneous bits & pieces. Still have more stuff coming, but I was thrilled to get it put together enough for a ride! I used a cheap plastic welding kit to repair the rips & holes in the rear fender. Stuck some stainless steel screen in there with the soldering iron/welding tool. Then I attempted to use the filler rod & sorta smooth things over somewhat. It came out uglier than a bucket of buttholes, but it has held well so far. I used the same tool on the airbox, but managed a slightly better looking job, barely. I also used zip-ties & black silicone sealant on the airbox. Since the split airbox & fender now had some ratty graphics, and since I needed them off in a few places to make repairs, I took all the graphics off. I will look into some graphics kits from either S3 or Jitsie sometime in the future. I pretty much now have one of the ugliest 280 Pros in existence, but it's rideable again! The little black deal clamped onto the end of the new exhaust is my spark arrestor, which is needed to be able to ride on National Forest property...... So far, for the one ride I have on these repairs, everything has held together just fine. It's great to be riding & crashing again! Thanks for your help here, Fellas! You guys are truly a metric ton of help/advice, and I appreciate y'all!!! Jimmie Added in Edit: Bill (that's_a_five), I went to Lolo Pass & rode some of the sections from the trial events the two previous weekends. Went with the the guy that took 3rd in the Novice class one day of the PNTA event, a young Intermediate rider, & the Int. rider's father, who rides Advanced. What a tough trial that would have been to ride! Some of those sections were seriously tough for folks of my skill (or rather lack of skill) level. I couldn't believe what they had some of the Int. riders do. I rode a few of those section, but had to chicken out on one. Didn't feel the need to make a run to the hospital quite so soon after finally getting to ride again, ya know? Barry probably would've aced everything!

A couple of weeks ago, my son had a slight mishap on my Gasser while learning the finer points of wheelies: I got a new midbox/silencer & some miscellaneous parts. Repaired the airbox & fender. Have a new throttle, and a new Leonelli kill button with the magnetic lanyard deal. Also should have a V-Mar Racing carb adapter coming as well, but that really has nothing to do with crash damage. This is what my poor bike looks like now: Since I was going to have to "sacrifice" the stock graphics to patch up the airbox & fender, I decided to just take them all off the bike altogether. Will look at S3 or Jitsie graphics kits in the future, but I believe S3 is the only place making them for my old bike that I can get here in the States. I patched up the airbox & fender with a cheap plastic welding kit. On the airbox, I also used some zip-ties & silicone seal as extra insurance. The fender came out horrible (the airbox won't win any prizes either, I'm thinking.... ). I reinforced it with stainless steel screen material, and attempted to fill in the stock holes. I'm just using tiny little zip-ties and the one bolt up front to hold the ugly fender on for the time being. I know the bike looks pretty ugly, especially compared to how it did when I first bought it. But I'm able to ride again, and that means a lot to me. Everything held up well for the ride I did yesterday, so I guess my repairs are successful, so far..... The exhaust has a black spark arrestor on the end of it (from a John Deere Gator; way cheaper than what you can buy from some trials shops here....) that I needed to ride in National Forest yesterday..... Oh yeah, about the throttle: It has a feature that allows me to adjust a stop for the throttle tube, that prevents the throttle from fully opening. You can adjust how far it will open, sorta like what the old YZ minibikes had. This feature will be used when ANY new rider, or my son, rides this bike in the future..... Jimmie

Nice work (again!), Mokwepa!!! Any chance on one of the longer logs that you can hop up on it, and then ride the length of it, and hop off? I have an old maple tree I decided to save from being firewood that I attempt that on. It's close to the same diameter as my front wheel. Makes a nice balance & double blip (to get up on it) practice drill.... Jimmie

Balance drills/practice can be done without even having the bike running. The figure eights, along with the "Circle of Ribbon" are really good turn practice. The Circle of Ribbon is ribbon laid out in your yard, about 10 feet or 11 feet (3 to 3.5 meters?) in diameter. You ride into the circle, and turn 3 complete left hand circles without dabbing, then ride out. Ride back in & do the same thing turning right. If it's too easy, make the circle smaller....... They had us do this at a school event our club's expert riders put on. There were 2 circles; one was REALLY small. That really tight circle they had (all laid out on perfectly flat lawn) even tripped up a lot of Advanced & Expert riders who would normally just start hopping in most situations. And you can practice just riding & stopping and then balancing. There's a knack to that. Front & rear wheel hopping can be practiced in a small area. Really, there's a lot of good help for you that can be done in the back yard..... Jimmie

If you're absolutely, 100% certain that it's only broken ribs, there really isn't too much that doctors can or will do for you, in my experience. If you got knocked out from a crash, and/or felt like you got the wind knocked out of you, along with the that old broken collarbone & rib kinda feeling, and especially if you sound like you're playing a harmonica when you breathe, it'd be a great idea to go see a doctor then. You've got problems from ringing your bell, and a punctured lung from the broken ribs. Have first hand experience on this deal...... Jimmie

Definitely!!! If it ain't fun, don't keep going at until you become even more frustrated. Figure out some way to make it fun, like you just did! Good Job, Buddy! And sometimes, a change of shorts helps also. I find that a pair of shorts with a lovely floral print makes my mood happier..... Or Yoga pants...... Naww, actually, I think Zippy nailed it: It's them dang ribbons!!! Jimmie Added in Edit: Bruno, thanks for posting with Mokwepa's videos embedded! Again, the front wheel hop into the turn & hop over the barrel/tire looks good, Mokwepa! Ya know, I'm trying to learn ot hop, and for some reason, I can't get the bike to go to my right. Only to my left. Wonder why???

Sorry, my post has no value whatsoever. I just have this "8th Grade Level" juvenile humor gene that becomes dominant when I read a funny comment like that...... My wife is actually the photographer in our family. I had planned on showing her this thread for (what I feel is) the helpful advice, but not certain I can do that now..... But to expand some on what Laser1 said: I can recall a photo, taken from very much behind the rider, showiing his roost, and the HUGE rock he was attempting to go up, with his minder waiting up there, & etc.. This was really cool angle that almost put you on the bike, and it was easy to visualize what the rider had to do, and how difficult it was. Nicely done photo that I wish I could recall where it was seen..... Jimmie

Good turn practice drills, Mokwepa!! Keep that up! That looks like pretty tight turning, and you have a bit of uneven, up & down hill terrain to make it more difficult. Cool! To me, your Bunny Hop looks better than what I do. I still have trouble getting decent height out of my Bunny Hops most of the time, and doing them wrong as I do wears me out quickly.... In the Ryan Young video, he breaks it down into the details of a Bunny Hop very well. But that part about jumping forward and kinda pulling the bars with you (paraphrasing here) is where I really screw up. My jump trajectory probably doesn't resemble "an arch" (arc?), as Ryan says it should look. Uncontrolled floundering most likely....... But I can see where getting this technique would be helpful for other techniques, like the Jap Zap maybe. And it is a nice way to clear smallish logs that lay across the trails in between sections & etc.. Jimmie

You hit a Kudu??? Those are pretty "solid" animals, aren't they? Man, I've dreamed of hunting for those, & you guys can simply run them down with your trucks!! Seriously, we're glad you're alright (you must be if you're posting, I guess), and would imagine that a Kudu can mess up a truck pretty good? Jimmie