hencam

can anyone recommend insurers for off road bikes please, particularly for pre-65 trials bikes, if it makes any difference they are all road reg.

Somerton Classic trials club ran their annual 'end of year' trial at Hext Hill, Low Ham, yesterday (28-12-2016). firstly I will make it clear I am not complaining about a venue, I am just trying to provide context. As the name suggests the venue is relatively high and is very open, so when it's warm it still feels cold and when it is cold it is B****y freezing. However the venue is good and some excellent trials are put on by the club, yesterday was no exception. Personally I had a great day, plenty of festive chat and banter and a good trial. However as I was merrily riding round enjoying myself with a couple of other riders, we had the usual conversation about how much the observers and organisers were appreciated especially on such a cold, albeit bright day. So on the last lap we did the usual thing for us, which to say 'thankyou for observing' we also made a point of having a laugh, with many tongue in cheek comments throughout the day with the observers. Today the club updated the web page with results and photos and a COMPLAINT, unbelievable though it may seem over 50% of the entry failed to acknowledge or thank the observers. All I can say is 'COME ON GUYS AND GIRLS' the least this dedicated band of supporters deserve is a thankyou, particularly when weather conditions are on the harsh side!!!. so a plea from myself and all the other riders who enjoy turning up for their fun day out and show their appreciation with a thankyou, to all those that may have forgotten, PLEASE PLEASE say a thank you to these ladies and gents and try and brighten their day with a laugh or two on the way round.

I used these on my Bantam, I know exactly what you mean about standard jubilee type clips http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Mikalor-W2-430-Stainless-Steel-Worm-Drive-Hose-Clip-Clamp-Clips-Clamps/191114294151?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007 eBay item number: 191114294151

Hi John, I like it, looks really nice, where did you get the alloy tail pipe/silencer from. I had same trouble getting mine to run nice, ended up with a new Amal in the end, despite none of the secondhand one that i overhauled looking that bad or worn. which ignition did you choose?

Hi All, looking for some suggestions/guidance on trials trousers, a mate of mine has been riding in various forms of trousers, work jeans/overalls etc for the last 6 months while he decides whether or not he likes our hobby/sport. He does and wants to purchase some more appropriate kit, the issue he is having is with the trousers. He is not the most normal shaped of chaps, a little broad in the beam and short legs!!!!! as he puts it i am not the right shape for an all in one lycra suit!! can anyone recommend some makes and types of trouser, something good on the skin (no hideous seams or bits to chaffe!) breathable, waterproof and good value (cost being the least important issue if the product is good). i have a pair of Hebo Baggy trousers, unfortunately they will not get anywhere near his waist size. size is 40" waist but only a 30" leg. all suggestions gratefully received!

Spot on Stewart, Enjoy riding that Bantam and being part of the Drayton owners club!! great bikes built out of nice parts and marketed by a decent bunch of chaps, who all support each other and are busy enough not to need to pedal their products by any other means than word of mouth and reputation built on good old fashioned support, banter and quality.

Hi Stewart, I have given up contributing to the thread, it has got out of hand. To get back to your question, all I will say is, if you want to try a Drayton Bantam as a bike, to ride in whatever class suits you and the organisers of the club and you are in my neck of the woods, or at an event I am attending, you are very welcome to try my bike for what it is and constructively critique it or discuss the options available with Jim Pickering. I am based in the South close to Salisbury, I ride as far south west as Devon with SWCTA , my local clubs are Bath and Somerset classic, I ride as far north as Cheltenham Hawks and Golden valley, and in a south east direction Aldershot, Bagshot etc. With all sincerity I can assure you I stand by my original comment of riding in whatever class the organising club put me in if i have not entered in the most appropriate. The fact remains it is a reliable, lightweight, cheap to maintain, easy to maintain, easy to ride bike, with plenty of spares back up secondhand and new. The offer is there..................................... and all the best, Hencam

Absolutely, the only difference between a normal mortal using his Britshock, Pre-65, Pre-67, Pre-70 call it whatever you will is the amount of money he or she can throw at their bike to disguise the modifications. How a bike looks, (the silhouette) is no measure of originality or compliance with a year or period in time, it just means more Engineering ingenuity or money has been available to play with. Marzocchi/Betor internals in numerous types of old British forks for example? some are in a position to buy two pairs of forks wreck both to make one trick pair for example. Plus most fall at the first hurdle of ignition. A well known event such as the Talmag, clearly stated in the regs no electronic ignitions/only original ignitions, unless many entrants all dutifully changed their ignitions before this event and in some cases whole engines, they all had their share of PVL, Interspan, Electrex World, Pazon or modified Japanese ignition fitted. so in the case of a Drayton Bantam am I really doing anything so bad or different, Whitton Wheels for instance adorn many bikes of the era in question, the MZ forks are just, not hidden in any way, the frame is modified/updated but then so are most aftermarket versions, the PVL ignition is not disguised or hidden and in my case I have not changed the outer cover for a more Pre-6??? look, what is the point?? What I am also guilty of is having alot of fun, on a bike that I enjoy riding with like minded people that I am able to maintain and keep riding while having to go to work 5/6 days a week and takes me 1/2 hour to check over prepare for Saturday/Sunday trial. If the time comes when Draytons are forced to ride an alternative class, I will ride in the Twinshock and still enjoy myself just as much if not more. This sport/hobby is about having a laugh and a bit of fun the best way you can, we, the riding fraternity must never forget that. I am afraid I am guilty as charged your honour for owning a Dishonest Cheating Chicken!!!, that does not contain it's original giblets , basically I am Plucked!!!!!!!! Get out the TURKEY baster and give me a good sorting out, good quality stuffing (paxo or similar only though)!

The same amount of parts as most modern Pre-65 incarnations that have an aftermarket frame, wheels, modded forks, electronic ignition, modified engine internals, etc etc, very few.

Thank you Deryk, there is no hiding from the ORRe team it would appear .

Hi Stewart, My father and I have one each, we purchased them last year and intend to build 2 more ourselves this year from all the parts supplied by Jim & the Drayton team, before I give my opinion on the Drayton, what I will say is if you decide not to purchase the one offered can you PM me please as I would be very interested. I asked Jim about eligibility for Scotland and at the time ours had the modified forks he was using (MZ I believe), Jim did not feel these were the best choice regarding eligibility for Scotland, this I believe was the only area of doubt and he was working on an alternative which he has now produced, that are eligible. The other area Jim pointed out was the engine, if you want to retain the Pre-65 look you will need the earlier outer covers but with the later internals. Jim will assist you in building or will indeed build you whatever you ask for, so I could have gone the route of most people and disguised my modern forks in Norton bottoms for instance. To the best of my knowledge they are pretty much accepted everywhere I ride in the south and southwest with the MZ forks. Ours are Drayton frames, Whitton hubs, MZ forks, Amal carbs, PVL ignition, Renthal bars, Domino controls and IRC and Michelin tyres, the engines are B175 with centre plug heads bored to 185cc with a modified 2nd gear. I am only an average rider, however the handling of the Drayton in my view is nothing short of superb, the steering is predictable with no washout or tucking under, they grip superbly and the engine behaves beautifully, parts for the engines are readily available and cheap. I would say they are an investment but that depends on how much you are paying in the first instance, what i have noticed is that when I started collecting Bantam B175 bits about a year ago you could buy a whole bike for about £600 with a V5 etc, now you are lucky to find one and when you do it will cost you £1000 upwards. The final bit I guess and I am not an A$$ kisser, or in any way linked to Drayton apart from through riding the bike I bought and the relationship I have built with Jim and the Drayton team but the total buying experience and aftersales service in my view is second to none. For a relatively small concern nothing is too much trouble before or after you part with the money. People will say they are overpriced etc etc, maybe they are.............. but how many other bikes that are as competitive as a Drayton Bantam can be purchased for that price. Personally I love mine and would recommend one to anybody.

thanks to everyone for the advice. i will keep an eye out for the enduro star g/box brentmain, if no joy i will work on using the std road box.

Thanks Woody, hopefully a few others will share your experiences and comment accordingly. i could probably spend the £300 on something more useful

Hi All, i am in the process of building myself a unit construction BSA either C15G or WD B40 for trials, my question is simply this. how essential is the Wide ratio box. I have a C15G, which has the standard road box in it, unfortunately the B40 GB motor i bought has had the Wide ratio gears robbed and a stub tooth B25, B44 road box in it, i was assured on buying the motor it was a standard B40GB with the wide ratio box, unfortunately the owner got his facts wrong, he has offered to have it back but for what I paid I would sooner keep it. unfortunately a Wide Ratio box is going to cost in the region of £300, which is alot of money to me. I am an average club level rider, using 1st gear most of the time, 2nd very occasionally, i do very few road trials. although top gear is the same on all later models i believe, so what is the advantage of much desired wide ratio trials box and do i need one?

Hi Charlie, All trials people, Happy new year! In fairness the carbs were not bought from Burlen in the first instance, they were from another well known source of these carbs. I'll be honest in my view and may be it is just me but perhaps not everyone would like a soft spring but they could at least offer it as an option. I noticed in the book on the counter that the chaps used the part number for the soft spring was written in Biro next to the standard spring p.no. Alternatively offer the standard type as a training aid for strengthening ones grip. I did also wonder if the dreaded H&S police or legislation were involved and it was a requirement to make sure your throttle closed but then Mikuni and Keihen don't have a rear shocker spring as a slide spring do they. I will find the part.no. and post it on here. as you say all the best for a happy new year!!

Many of you may already know this and if so apologies for stating the obvious. having recently purchased 2 Amal Mk1 carbs, the premier type, i was dismayed by the strength of the slide spring, I am no weakling but you needed two hands to open the the throttle, lso when it snapped back it sounded like the throttle stop screw was going to bust off. living quite close to the AMAL people in Salisbury, i dropped in to have a moan and ask if they had any suggestions. They were very helpful and merely said. oh yeah loads of people complain, you are not alone, we fit the throttle slide spring out of the carbs that go on the triples, alot of trials and motocross boys do it. so I bought 4 springs (2 for spares) at a grand cost of £1.75 ea, once back home I fitted them. result, a silky smooth throttle that snaps shut nicely with out fear of busting of the screw an is much easier to ride with. hope this may help somebody. HAPPY NEW YEAR

I have lots of C15 parts and can definitely help with a multitude of good quality genuine parts, all second hand. one question I have for you is do you know if it is a C15F or C15G, it does not really matter but the if it is a C15G , in my personal opinion you will be hard pushed to find a better motor. The C15G was side points but more importantly it had the much favoured 'end fed crank' which is bullet proof and the same set up and crank pin etc as the B40GB WD. if your engine has no number stamped on it just look at the sump plate, if it is square and directly under the flywheel/crank area of the engine it is a 'G' motor. if it is rectangular and slightly forward of the flywheel crank case area it is an 'F' model. PM me if you like, I am no expert but have had unit single BSAs for the last 30 years and my father for the last 35 years, we have had them on grasstrack, motocross and trials, ignitions have varied according to the money available at the time. Whilst I would not disagree with any of the advice given with regards to Electronic ignition, if you are not building a high spec trials project a well set up points ignition will work fine. alot of people have a low opinion of the points ignition because it is worn out and they can be fiddly to set up. you could also try Boyer Bransden which is a sort of half way house, half the price of some fully electronic ignitions though, with the right set up you can run lights, on most off road electronic ignitions this is not an option. PM me if you think I can help. I have points plates, cams, very good condition advance and retard units ++++ loads of other engine spares, all good. goo luck with the project

I owned a very nice TY in the southern centre, sold it and the next time i saw that it was chromed

Hi, I had similar plans, when I owned my Ariel, a number of people gave me considerable help. John Bartram from South Street, South Molton, Devon and a chap on here Jonv8 (Jon Cull) Bath area , Nick Smith also from Devon, George Greenland is also well worth talking to as he also had some considered and valuable input and in my opinion built one of the nicest short stroke Ariels I have seen. John Budgen does barrels and heads. Mick Ash makes gears for the Burman box. I would have liked to have completed the project but did not want to spend a disproportionate sum of money on an a bike already well above my capability. so I left mine long stroke.

hi, I am fully aware this reply will attract criticism, anyway here goes. my father and I run a number of Bultacos and i try to avoid the fairground ride rear sprocket syndrome, which unfortunately with my riding style (i dislike having to slip the clutch all the time) and section becoming tighter and tighter seems a necessity. so I bought from in-motion a Talon 10T 520 chain size front sprocket for a mono-yam (TY250) i then bored the middle to them same internal diameter as the Bultaco one, I can't remember but i think it was either 0.5mm or 1.0mm bigger on the inside. i used a carbide tool and took my time. I then made a thin spacer or washer as the Bultaco is thicker towards the centre and the yam one is same thickness I think all the way down, either way the sprocket needs to sit the same distance off from the case as the Bultaco one. next is the bit requiring patience, you have to dremel the female spline of the yamaha sprocket so they are wider, basically make the male bit (the bit that locates in the gearbox shaft spline thinner. it is important to make sure you take the material off the same edge of every spline. i did mine so as the drive takes up the sprocket is good edge is where the contact is and if you like the back edge which does nothing is the one where the width of spline is reduced. you also need to either loctite the nut on or make a reduced lock tab otherwise the chain fouls the lock tab I got my idea from Woody's 10T sprocket that can't be identified and thought somebody must have thought it necessary!! plus I like a challenge sounds like alot of work, it isn't and it is much easier to see when you have both sprockets in front of you. i ended up with 10T front 46T rear and 1st gear is excellent for just plodding on tight turns, or for tricky loose bits or on rocks and best of all I don't have to fiddle with the clutch! hope this helps, I will prepare myself for everyone telling me how i have wasted my time and it is not necessary.

Somerton Mcc ran the Gordon Francis Trial today at Binnegar Quarry. The day could not have been more perfect, firstly 10 excellent classic style sections, exceptionally well laid out, once the mist lifted glorious sunny weather, and a good turn out, all the usual faces and plenty of banter and lastly a brief presentation to the eventual winner Barry Barthorpe who piloted his Ariel to a solid victory dropping only 2 marks to lift the trophy for a 2nd time. well done to Somerton club for laying out 3 routes to ensure all abilities had a challenging but safe day. if Carlsberg ran trials...............................

Hi, I have to say i have experiences similar to all of the above, Woody commented on my question regarding this topic for a Bultaco Sherpa almost a year ago, there are many posts and as usual lots of info on here. I think the biggest problem is with consistency of response, as dadof2 rightly states and is confirmed in a later post it is an offence to have a bike taxed but not insured, however after losing the the will to live (Woody have you no stamina, giving up after 2 attempts, shame on you!! ) and phoning for a hard copy NOVA1 etc etc I contacted these people www.dvlaadvice.co.uk/ spoke to a chap called David Williams, paid them £90 filled the highlighted parts of a form in, the rest is done for you, and hey presto within 2 weeks I had my V5, the costs of daylight MoT and tax are on top of the £90, however I sorned the vehicle immediately and got back 11 months of tax. What i don't understand dadof2 is I did NOT have insurance, despite my understanding being exactly as you state. £90 is alot, I am civil servant so form filling and bureaucracy do not phase me and believe me, I am as tight as the next bloke, however I can honestly I almost gave up, having spent the £90 I would do it all again, hell I might even get some of my hair back!! To be fair the single biggest problem is the majority of the people you talk to have no idea what you are trying to do or why you cannot prove how much you paid for box of junk called a trials bike to put on your NOVA1 etc etc. my advice is bite the bullet, splash the cash and try them http://www.dvlaadvice.co.uk hope this may help.

Hi Larry, yes we did and your suggestion was spot on, only because a frontera wheel was so expensive i used a japanese trail bike wheel that had chain drive one side and brake plate the other. while that was working fine (very well in fact) i set about the original Bulto wheel in the sherpa as described above. because Bondy was asking about front disc, my reply was more centered around that. i was not aware the alpina/frontera fronts were 140.00mm. i assumed (as always makes an A$$ out me) that pursang, alpina and frontera were the same front brake at 125.00mm. i reckon somebody has fitted a sherpa wheel to my pursang! however even the front on my sherpa works excellently with the hub lined, pivot bushed and bored and shoes with proper linings machined back to the required diameter. i just never had a lot of luck with newfren linings. thanks again for the previous advice.

hi, i am interested in your comment for other reasons, can you tell me please why the Alpina or Frontera front brake is better than the Sherpa?? I though they were the same diameter, same shoes and same brake plate etc. always after other peoples useful comments and experiences. the best i have my sherpa is relined hub, by shrinking cast steel liner into it, bushing the brake pivot cam hole in the plate, having original FORMA shoes relined and then machining them back to the required diameter of 125.00mm. from your suggestion I am wondering if I have missed something as I am fairly certain my Pursang has a Frontera front wheel but cannot see any difference! i like my bultaco as original as possible, but not at the expense of it working as best as possible.

yes I got lucky, you have to hand it to steve hand, no pun intended a pre-unit 500 Triumph twin and he drops 1 all day!! now that is good ride. you must have read my mind on the Ariel, my biggest concern is the castrol R, i pushed it around with the plug out for miles it seemed to pump the R around, it runs well and is reasonably quiet. i can't see a couple of trials hurting it, if i strip it down, i know i will not get it back together this year.