totty79

I'd call it a show bike, real bikes are built to be ridden. It's built for looks like too many customs are these days, although it does look good. Oversize front tyre and no fork brace will mess up handling, you see this all the time. Tiny tank and thin seat fit the style but are no good for a road bike.

I've watched similar bikes on ebay recently in the £500 to £1200 range. Try searching completed items to see what actually sold and at what price. I paid £650 for my 99 321 in April. It was described as ready to go, good sprockets, forks just serviced etc. However in reality sprockets were very worn, fork oil filthy, snapped fork spring, rear wheel bearings needed replacing etc. Without seeing it based on the description alone I'd say £850 for yours but at the end of the day it's only worth what someones willing to pay for it.

Cost doesn't directly relate to level of safety, there are many other factors but marketing has as much to do with cost as safety does. For road helmets check out http://sharp.direct.gov.uk/ I'm not aware of any similar tests for trials bike helmets. The head hits inside of helmet comment does make me question the fit though. Helmets aren't all the same shape, ideally you need one that suits the shape of your head not just the size that's the closest fit.

Interesting link - I'll stick with the 7 that I've already got. I'm yet to experiment with the clickers as they were overtightened and stuck when I bought the bike, I freed them off when I stripped the forks to check the springs. Hopefully they'll function correctly.

Thanks for the tips, I think I'll make one of them tools. I've already got 7 weight oil, would a novice like me notice the difference?

It's looking like I might finally get it fixed this week. I couldn't source a new original or alternative spring. The used one bilks very kindly sent me unfortunately turned out to have a small crack, only really visible when compressed but I don't think it would have lasted long. I decided to have two made, the first two attempts were found to have defects in the wire - they're now making another pair which should be shipped this week. Owned it since April, ridden it for 5 hours :-( Parts availability is my number one priority for whatever bike I buy next. Although this one will be a half decent bike again before I'm finished with it. It's been that long that I've now forgot how much oil each leg holds so I'll have to research that again.

I brew with raspberries and brambles from the garden and hedges, also done a couple of batches of rhubarb when given some. Made cider once, but used a juicer as I don't have a press - the juicer pulping the skin in made it green, but it went down alright.

It's normally on the spark plug box in the form of degrees rather than torque. This might also help http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/techinfo/spark_plugs/installation.asp

Do the newer caps not fit? There's a one on eBay listed for a txt pro which looks identical to the one on my 99.

The adjusters are for minor damping changes. Going by my 99 321 red is rebound and on the right. I'd advise stripping the forks and checking for a broken spring if it bottoms easily.

I use a XENA XA201. Watch out for cheap copies, they can be unreliable. Batteries last spring to autumn, then need two changes in winter. I doubt it's that effective but it's relatively cheap and easy to use.

Mains electric and even some cordless Impact wrenches work fine. I use one of these http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuilder.asp?id=20&method=mViewProduct&productid=14216

Even though he hasn't been there, in my opinion Marquez will be in the running by the 2nd or 3rd session if not the 1st. He will have studied the layout, lines and braking markers learnt in Moto2 don't transfer to MotoGP anyway. Cal needs to stop being so hung up on getting the latest parts, they aren't always better. He's already rejected one frame upgrade, last season when he complained about Dovi having newer brake calipers Stoner was using the same older ones as Cal. Dovi was/is simply better on the brakes than him. It's all excuses, although I think he believes them and they probably hold him back. He really doesn't need to be making excuses given how he's performing, frankly it's as insulting to the other riders as Bautista saying they are holding him up but at least Cal doesn't then plough into them. The constant cycle of a moan from Cal followed by what appears to be a scripted backtracking press statement is a bit irritating. He isn't very sponsor friendly and doesn't seem to realise that the ultimate aim of racing is selling products, I'm surprised that hasn't stopped him from getting this far e.g. Repeated cycles of "the bikes not good enough" to "the bikes great" from one interview to the next. The insinuation that Marquez brake tested him, then at the next race making a big deal of Marquez having a genuine problem and being unable to release the brake - even though in the same conference Marquez more or less admitted it. If he was a foreigner I seriously doubt that he'd have many fans in the UK. He's extremely talented, he's just not likeable, it's like someone gave Stoner a joke book and a face transplant. If you haven't guessed I'm not a fan. I think it's Marquez's year with Lorenzo second. Although I'd prefer Rossi to win, actually I'd prefer Edwards but that isn't going to happen.

I took crankcase decompression to mean gases pumped out to lower the pressure like the panigale.

Optimum 2 stroke temps seem to be mostly quoted for maximum performance. I really don't know enough to offer advice here so I'll only say that I wouldn't be concerned by 90°C with no other symptoms. The usual indicator of blowing coolant probably can't be relied upon with your high boiling point coolant. The next indicator can be detonation. Changing the radiator guard sounds like the easiest way to reduce the temp. You can measure radiator inlet and outlet temps to see how effective this is.

Are there any signs that make you think it's not running at optimum temperature? Have you measured the temperature, does the fan cycle on and off as it should? Cooler is not always better, you might be trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.

I haven't had much practice since posting this topic, still under 4 hours on the bike. I'm currently waiting for a replacement fork spring which is hopefully the last problem for a while. Clutch control is always going to be an issue for me due to the hand issues mentioned in my first post, I need all 4 fingers on the clutch and I'm in pain just typing this, but I'm happy to simply improve my riding. I plan to enter a trial next month, I intended to this month but had a rear tyre problem two days before it. Controlled/Tight turns appear to be the key to me (which I suppose combine the 3 items you list as key). I rode some practise sections and found that none of the obstacles were difficult with a straight run at them, but they all became difficult when offline due to messing up the turn leading onto them.

One spring has snapped. Bilks, I'll send you a pm.

Mine has sealant, but I've got no idea if that's standard or a bodge.

Thanks for the offer, much appreciated. I'll get back to you shortly.

Thanks Chris, Fingers crossed that it's not a broken spring. I think I'll buy some oil and put the back end back together before starting on this.

Hi, It's been pointed out to me that my 321 has excessive sag on the forks just under the weight of the bike, I forgot to measure it before posting but it's in the region of 30 to 50mm. I suspect this is due to either missing preload spacers or very tired springs. The previous owner said the forks had just been rebuilt - I wouldn't be at all surprised if whoever did them thought what are these bits of plastic pipe doing in here and threw them away. I've stripped forks on a couple of older road bikes but I've never worked on forks with adjusters. Do the caps just screw off as normal or do the adjusters need to be disconnected somehow first? There is a screw on the top surface of the fork cap and a small grub screw on the side, I'll upload some pictures. Does anyone know the specs for the springs, particularly the free length. Also what are the spacer dimensions - ID, OD, length range. Thanks Allan

I can't believe I didn't think of that, thanks for the tip, I'll use it next time. I've never needed it on other cars or bikes, they've had some leakage but never this bad.

Sanded down a gouged area of fork and filled the remaining scratches with nail polish. It should improve seal life. Changed the rear brake fluid, another one that was a pig to bleed. The tolerances on the bleed screw to caliper threads are all too large, air/fluid just leeks by them. Used some red rubber grease to seal them which helped a lot.

I finally made it back out to practise last night, thanks for all the tips they really helped and I feel like I made quite a bit of progress.