mags

I'm using Regina chain on the Montesa and the Beta. 70 hrs on the Beta and the chain and sprockets are still in great condition. 20hrs on the Monty and still like new. Mags

If I'm facing uphill and turning across hill or doing 180 I use the front until facing down and then swap to rear or judicious use of both. I have face planted in the beginning when using too much front on downhill on slippery surface. A lot of the time going uphill I just throttle off and let bike come to stop for split second and then hold on clutch... and then go around on clutch... applying brake as I start facing down hill. Takes smooth clutch/throttle control and very small movements on clutch/throttle. Took plenty of practice to get to this "hold and around on clutch only" stage... and some special "tastings" of my local dirt!!! Mags

dpyam, The answer in for that still lies with the spec set down by design engineer/manufacturer. Manufacturers in most cases specify a torque setting for the "assembled" parts fasteners (not all fasteners on bike, some you just use a recommended torque for the particular thread as set by the fastener maker) and if this part "assembly" specifies a compound applied (like in the case of rod bolts, usually a mineral motor oil) the torque setting is correct for the assembly with the compound applied. In fact it might need the compound, in conjunction with the spec'd torque setting, to achieve the correct "tightness". Here is another example.... My jet ski jet pump is under water and in a harsh environment. The 4, 10mm thread bolts holding the stator on corrode easy with no compound. Sea water wicks up the threads in a millisecond. Yamaha specifies a Loctite compound to be applied to the threads and then torqued up to spec. This particular Loctite is a thread locker, anti-gall compound and a sealer (to stop salt water getting in to thread. Every year I disassemble the jet pump, check clearances and re-assemble, the bolts have been fine... 8 yrs now. Yamaha has spec'd a semi-slippery compound to be applied and then torqued to a spec. Having said the above if I use an anti-seize type product where clean and dry is the norm I reduce the torque. I also reduce the torque if using full synthetic oil.... it is very slippery and a torqueing has to overcome friction. If you think about it.... friction increases as you tighten the fastener, this friction applies load/pressure to the spring in the torque wrench. If you severely reduce this friction by applying a slippery compound more rotational force (applying pressure to the threads) is applied to reach the same friction point (more clamping force on bolt head to achieve same friction).... this can take the faster beyond the plastic limit. I usually reduce from 10-20% in the case of anti-seize but I just do this from experience I dont have any set tables for different applied compounds... they may be around though. A mech engineer would be able to shed more light on the subject. One thing I do if reducing torque because of slippery compounds applied where it is not spec'd is to drill and race wire the fasteners. An example is the 3 fasteners on the oil filter cover of my wife's Beta. One fastener was machined cocked from factory and the thread was stressed so I applied oil instead of "clean and dry" used 20% less torque and race wired the bolts. It was ok reducing cover sealing pressure in this instance as the cover has an O ring not a gasket so reduced pressure of less torque does not affect an O ring seal like gasket seal. An O ring seal just needs to be "home" a gasket seal needs a certain pressure to maintain seal and stop oil wicking and/or leaking. The best method for good mechanical technique is to follow the manufacturers specified setting and compounds whether it be simple mineral motor oil, EP grease, anti-seize/anti-gall or a locking compound. In any absence of compound spec I re-install as found and it can be as simple as "clean and dry". One good practice is always assemble with threads cleaned of any debris, dirt, old compound et cetera. I use a simple can of brake cleaner with a long nozzle to clean internal blind threads and a whiff of compressed air. Clean bolt and install... torque up. One tip I can offer as well... NEVER, EVER assemble 304 or 316 stainless fasteners (bolt and nuts) bolt and threaded hole "clean and dry" as stainless has great friction (galling) properties and it can/will gall (cold weld to itself) especially if the tolerances of thread spec are on the limits. Even just plain old wd-40 or clear machine oil will stop it galling. If using a clear machine oil normal torque values should suffice. Mags

G'day Chris, Yeah mate! I thought I'd keep it short... Mags

I have been using torque wrenches for nearly 40 years and this is just my opinion... ( I still have one from my 17th birthday, in a wooden case made by my dad) It is very difficult for the human hand to feel accurate torque hence the need for torque wrenches. The correct torque as specified by engineers is done to stop the plastic limit of fastener threads being exceeded and causing potential failure of the component or fastener. Thread deformation causes a stress riser at the thread root and allows far less load to be applied to the component before failure. Also, designed "cycles to failure" are severely reduced... if a brake caliper bolt is tested to 6,000,000 cycles of hard brake application before failure/no failure and the bolt thread is stretched beyond the plastic limit (by over-tightening) it may fail at 1,000,000 cycles shortening its design life by circumventing mechanical procedure. I have met many people (especially motorcycle mechanics) who say "Don't tell me I need to use a torque wrench I've been doing up bolts for years , mate". I say two things.... Why do you bother with a torque wrench for head studs or rod bolts but not worry for much else, is your hand NOT accurate for rod bolts only? And.... I'll give you $1000 if you do that bolt up to 41 ft lbs with a ring spanner? MMMmmmmmm! Using a torque wrench allows a fastener to be tightened and removed many times without stressing the threads of the fastener or the parent material. It is also used to apply "even" pressure of one component to another with many fasteners... like, even pressure and no warpage of a crankcase cover for example. This is achieved by applying the torque in stages and using the tightening pattern as laid down by the engineers that designed the component in the first place. Stages are used to NOT apply all the torque on one fastener at once leaving others undone. This can warp the component or attach the component in "cocked" or warped manner. Torque wrench convention usually has the torque applied in 3 stages. When doing up the side cover fasteners on Monty I use a centre/outside/criss-cross pattern and apply torque at 3Nm, then go around again at 6Nm and finish off at 10Nm (Montesa spec). A last run around at final torque to finish. Correct torque also protects the component from failure via tension failure in the case of over-stressed threads or the component working loose from cyclic load, say, in the case of an under torqued fasteners on a front brake caliper or rear axle nut for example. Torque patterns.... for example take the left side cover on my Montesa 4T, that has to be removed every time you want to change the oil filter. The case has many fasteners and a thin gasket. if the torque pattern or torque value is uneven the gasket is compressed unevenly and this will allow the best chance of a leak. Also... holding the filter in (in the Monty) is a small tab held on by a small fastener. This tab holds the O ringed oil filter cover in position. If this fastener came out the motor would lose oil pressure and the fastener would be at the mercy of the rotating parts of the flywheel and stator magnetic pull... very costly and all down to one little bolt. I dont risk my idea of what I think the torque feels like, I torque the thing and dont take the risk of costing me mega bucks for repairs. Granted there are some bolts that are not critical and experience over the years allows you to tighten these to "tight" and not have failures. Things that are not critical to rider safety are ok to snap or wear treads BUT... things like rotor bolts, brake components, steering/handlebar fasteners, axles, axle pinch bolts et cetera should be torqued to spec as a matter of good mechanical technique. Torque wrenches come in "ranges" and are most accurate in the 20-80% of their range. For example... a 0-60 Nm torque wrench is most accurate doing fasteners up between values of around 10 and 50Nm. Torque wrenches mainly use springs (there are other types) and the springs under low tension and under high tension are the areas of least accuracy. If I want to tighten a fastener to 60 Nm I wouldn't use my 0-60 and have it at 60Nm. I would use my next one up, 20-110Nm range (from memory) and set at 60Nm. For the smaller fasteners I use an inch/pounds/Nm Its range is about 0-15Nm and the Monty case bolts are 10Nm. I have 4 torque wrenches that I mainly use and are Norbar Aviation Quality that come with a test certificate. No need to go this far but I treasure them as they are very accurate and part of my tool collection. There are also attachments that allow hard to get at fasteners to be done. Things like crows feet which give open enders on a torque wrench and you drop the value as calculated by the distance away from the torque wrench. Also... I have an attachment that can capture a ring spanner and attach it to the torque wrench... this come with a torque value table to calculate the altered torque values using the attachment. If you dont have a torque wrench and everything you touch has been fine I dont have an issue with that but I use them to maintain accuracy as set by the design engineer and to not wear threads out on components that are removed over and over. Also gives the best chance of never having a failure of a component. Mags

Maybe one of these if you are spending the summer in Italy! Mags

Great vid Barry... throughly enjoyed it! Good luck to you all for Wildwood! Rubber down tank up, please! Mags

We have a couple to look at now. I've had a chat with the "boys" and they are all keen but we have decided if for any reason it doesn't feel right we'll pull the pin and look at more... or just not do it. We also have to factor in... another mate just purchased 400 acres a little further away but we can use it anytime. The only downside is it has cattle on it not used to motorbikes. I've told the boys I won't be stressing cattle. We are looking at fencing off an area for quads and trials maybe? I also need to search more areas closer to the city and ask permission to ride. Mags

Looks like the French are going... Back to the Future! Mags

I can show you how they go... This is me circa 1973 around 14-15 yrs on my brand new one! I saved my ass off mowing lawns and selling newspapers to get it! Mags

I agree... another great save!! I'm sure they languish in some sort of motorcycle purgatory waiting for a saviour!! Mags

Three friends and myself might have the issue solved!!! We are going to look at a property about 80 kilometres away from home. Its just on 180 acres and has some hills as well as flat areas. We are pretty sure it has water frontage but will know for sure when we look over it. $360,000 divided by 4 makes it viable. All of us ride motorcycles and 3 of the 4 have young kids so a quad or off-road polaris 4 wheeler might be in order. I have a 16 yr old that gets her car learners licence tomorrow and has to do 100 hrs certified before applying for car licence test. AND.... the real appeal for us... A place of our own to make some permanent sections for the trials bikes!!! Overnight stays would be fantastic! We are thinking of dropping 4 big, second hand shipping containers there for a bit of storage initially. I'll have the other 3 converted to trials within 6 months!!! Hehehehehehe Mags

Pat, I have not been on any early-ish Montesa bikes.... That Johnny M won't ship my 2 stroke Mont to me!!! I have not even had a go on a 2 stroke trials bike! We went 4 stroke because we practice at home which is a suburban block in a capital city. The neighbours 2 stroke lawn mowers are louder so none have complained about us riding the bikes around the yard. When we purchased it was always going to be 4 stroke. A Montesa Cota was not available at the time (or so I thought) so I went with the Beta 250 4T for my wife to learn on and purchased the Montesa Cota Standard some 8 weeks or so later. I have been very happy with both bikes with a bias towards the Montesa because of the better quality. I have offered to buy my wife a Repsol Replica for 2015 but she wants to stay with her Beta. She rides the Montesa at times so knows the bike. Mags

It is pretty hard later in life. I did a little in my early teens but soon went to motocross... at least I had a good grounding on other bikes first. My wife, as most know, wanted to start riding a motorcycle at 50! I insisted she start with a trials motorcycle to learn skills other motorcycle disciplines won't give you. I dont think she will ever lift the front wheel to log jump or ride on the back wheel for any great distance but she is now very addicted to her trials bike and loved her first comp. She is also addicted to road riding as well. Rode 1000 k's in the last 3 weeks on her road bike. Just the way she pulls up very slowly at traffic lights and lifts her foot early to take off is ALL down to her trials riding. She has only had a road bike for a month and is booked in for her motorcycle licence test on the 23 rdNov. Mags

More important to get the viscosity right than the brand IMHO. The viscosity changed from 15w to 10w for the 2013 to 2014. Check the manual for the grade spec'd by factory for the 2011. The 2014 is a full synth from factory fill and I use a full synth ongoing. I use the recommended Panolin but its in short supply here at the moment. I will be going to a full synth motorcycle oil in the recommended range for the 2014 (10w-50), most likely Motul as its available here and around the same price as the Panolin. I dont have any issue with the factory paper filters.... have about 65 hrs on the Beta now. You should use an accurate inch-pound/Nm torque wrench on the filter housing bolts. The metal in the case feels soft to me so I backed off the torque setting by 15% and have the bolts drilled and wired. Torque up the screen filters as well. I clean them with brake cleaner in an aerosol but kero and blow off with compressor is fine. The Beta is my wife's bike and I dropped the front sprocket one tooth to help her slow the bike down in first gear, slow terrain... and I think its helps over all. Much cheaper to experiment that way than buy a rear sprocket and new chain. Better, as she is a beginner, you may want to leave it stock? Mags

Heather, Pic 1 was a thorn in our side for months when we started! It is about a 2 ft shear drop followed by a rocky creek floor to ride over (Pic 2) It took months and some advice from people in here how to approach shear drops and go over them before I attempted it. I eventually did go down it and now go down that section regularly for a 0. It was a psychological barrier but I needed confidence to do it! That came with some more practice going down much smaller drop-offs and building up to the bigger ones... and technique! After my wife saw me going down that section she eventually tried it... she was very nervous the first time and had to lower the bike down the drop using front brake and feet on ground.... then dabbed all through the rocky section but didn't fall down. She has done it only 3 times now with the rocky section dab free and she is building up to the drop off to eventually ride over it verses lowering the bike down it. It can take a bit of time sometimes... but in the end you will be amazed how quick you start catching up to the abilities of the bike! Going across the face of a hill and turning is a scary one at times! Cindy was practicing at our favourite hill and there is a tree stump about 2 yards up a steep bank and we go up the left side of the tree stump... static for split second or two at the stump then go around the stump and back down the hill. 3 or 4 times around the left and then swap top 3 or 4 times around the right. You have to hang ya bum out reasonably far to turn and static or you will fall downhill... which is what happened to Cindy! She went to static at the stump but not enough bum out so fell down the hill... all I heard was the smack of the helmet on the side of the stump as she went down! The lanyard did its job and shut the motor off... she was ok just a little shaken up! I parked my bike and raced to her as she was getting up.... she says " I think I dented the stump with my head!" I said "Yep! Its got a 30 degree lean now"! She then said "My bum was not far enough out was it?" I said "nope!" That particular fall was straight down to basic fig 8 technique or more correctly the lack of it. Hundreds and hundreds of fig 8's later she goes around that same stump with ease and has never fallen there again. She actually takes a harder route to it by going up beside a boulder first then around stump. As a side note... even when doing some stuff around home we have a rule... if the engine is to be started you have to have a helmet on!!! Don't be tempted to its only 5 minutes it will be right... if you dont already... once engine started to do something, helmet on! Don't be in too much of a rush to get through the beginner stage... its a fun time and one of the best times to look back on as thats where most of the funny stories about misadventures come from!!! Mags

Was wondering how long it would be until your trials "voice inside your head" tempted you to the dark side! (draggedKickingandScreamimgWink) Mags

I'm with you Biff... and hour on a trials bike in a creek bed is great for core training! Gym is for the chest shavers! (bicepCurlWink) Hehehehehehe

I live and breathe motorcycles.... (have 11) been riding 44 years this year, wife and I had first date on a motorcycle 32 yrs ago and still have the bike AND my beautiful wife, I have done road race sprints on an old 70's 650 Kwaka four, raced social motocross, did some flat track in a sidecar outfit on the chair, have done over 45,000 kilometres on my bikes in last 2 yrs alone, have won 3 motorcycle concourses, I ride every day... But none of that prepared me for trials motorcycles and my first trial except I knew where the controls would be and I could start one!!! I fell off 3 times with one being a good old fashioned face plant right in front of my wife as I pulled up to tell her to take a few pics!! I sure scored a podium finish in the embarrassment class!!! One fall I just lay there in the section... I was so buggered I just lay thinking I need a little rest I'll just lay here under the bike! Because I didn't move two guys ran down to me and started picking me up and saying "are you ok?". I said "Just having a little nap boys!... I'll be right". I only completed about 15 sections and though I had a score card didn't know I had to punch the thing full of holes! And... didn't know you had to get a new card every 10 sections!! ahahahahahahahaha I probably looked like a turkey, sounded a bit like a turkey, was as dirty and dusty as a turkey from falling in the dirt... BUT, I was hooked on this TRIALS thing! That was last March! We practiced and practiced at home as we now had a dream to compete in a trial together... when we thought we were ready. We static practiced every night after dinner and did fig 8's til dizzy every chance we could, at home. We rode 3 Sundays a month for months at the trial comp venue. My wife decided she was ready and wanted to try a comp. We entered a trial about a month ago! What a difference some practice makes... my wife scored a 72 for the day and I scored 56. Neither of us fell off the bikes which was the major mission. I think 5 people entered the Novice class... I scored 2nd place on the day and my wife placed 3rd. I am very proud of her... she had never ridden a motorcycle before last January and is aged 50 yrs... she was very determined to achieve her goal to ride one! To that end I insisted that she would start on a trials motorcycle! We all know that there is nowhere to hide on a trials bike they teach precision clutch and brake control with balance and steering perfection or you get outta shape very quickly. Her first motorcycle in her life is her 2014 Beta 250 4T Trials and loves riding the thing!!! We are "both" addicted and having so much fun on our trials motorcycles, now!!! The kids are wanting to try it out now... Mags

MMMmmmm! I would never ride illegally here in my state. We have some of the most stringent legislation in the world for doing illegal stuff here. It comes under the Anti-Hoon Legislation and first offence is motorcycle confiscated for 48 hrs, then a month, then 3 months. If offence is bad enough you lose car/motorcycle and it is auctioned off to highest bidder. Also... riding a motorcycle on a public road unregistered can get your licence cancelled and/or a healthy fine and loss of licence points. Your motorcycle is usually towed away and its a visit to holding yard and pay associated costs to redeem it. You might be busy in Magistrates Court as well. WE dont have a Bill of Rights unfortunately! I did it as a kid.... rode my XR75 on a public road... got arrested, charged, released to Dad and had to appear in court Monday morning. I was 14 or so. Mags

Looks like we are not as bad as some places and probably the norm when it comes to off-road motorcycles. Speaking of buying a piece of land! My wife is so addicted to her trials bike she suggested buying 10-20 acres for investment and so we can ride our own place! I was shocked! I replied "Not real good investing in something that does not generate income, cost heaps to maintain and you pay interest on!!! Also... to get a parcel that big we would be travelling for an hour or more to bring the price down. So $25 per bike, 1.5 hrs away is very cheap trials land... I would never buy our own land at that price! In semi-retirement and shifting home to acerage... that may be a different story! I'm going to find suitable local properties and ask permission to ride for the trials bikes only.... the $25 per bike and signing off on "their liability" might persuade them? Mags

I fell off a few Fridays ago... not a bad fall except badly injured old vertebrae injury. Had a heart-attack the following day... with 4 more smaller ones over next two weeks. Hospital, blood tests, angiograms, echo cardio gram stress test and now on pills for ever... put it down to a thrombus in Left Anterior Descending heart artery. Got the clearance for first ride off-road and first ride on Monty yesterday... been waiting a month for clearance. YAY! Cardiologist said " If you were not reasonably fit for your age and diet wasn't as good as yours is (minimal take out food and processed food, non-smoker, no type 2 diabetes, et cetera) it could have been a very different outcome for your family!!! Damn I enjoyed riding the trials bike again!!! Speaking of kickstart injuries... In about 1974-75'I borrowed a BSA left hand kickstart, circa late 60's... a 650 from memory. I wanted to buy it (I was 16 yrs old) so took it home to show mum... long story short, couldn't keep it! I walked over wet grass and kicked bike over with wet shoe... with kickstart scraping all the up my calf with injury like above! Most of the memory of the incident was the pain for next week or so!!! Geez! It hurt so bad I swore I'd never buy a bike with a left hand kickstart!!! And never did!!! Heal well!!! Mags

Ok... up on my soapbox now! There is a complete bias towards off road motorcycles here in Australia and especially trials bikes because they cant be registered for road use. I dont mean I want to ride one on the road but if you have a trail bike or enduro bike you can trailer your bike to any state forest and ride your trail bike so long as you have your on-road motorcycle licence. Hell! You dont even need a permit! The only place you can ride a trials bike is private land and anytime you say any word with motorcycle in it the land owner says "Sorry mate, not on my land you might freak the animals", or you'll tear up the land and make noise. The nearest land I can ride my trials bike is a 3 hour round trip, some areas are 4-5 hrs round trip. Yet there is suitable land not 30 mins from my front door. We do ride round and round the house but its only a suburban land block which gets really small really quick. Australia is the size of the continental United States with only 22 million people not 300 million like the USA yet.... you cant ride that trials bike mate, you might kill an ant or upset a rare spider or make a bird sit in a tree too long. Even with "user pays" the land we ride gets expensive. Our favourite spot costs $50 a day for two bikes, which is fantastic! We ride there 2-3 Sundays a month. The next option which is a motorcycle park for everyone to use and was set up using land given by Government is dust bowl, costs $90 a day for 2 bikes. Its 4 hours round trip. Another we plan to go to next Easter for 4 days is 10 hour round trip and $100 a day for 2 bikes thats $400 just for the bikes. We wanted to take 4 bikes and ride trials and some trail riding on the enduros but thats $800 for the 4 bikes so we'll cull to two. Because of the low profile of trials I dont things things will change. Land is so expensive because of greedy developers and the Government is not interested unless a buck can be made... $90 a day to ride a bike on donated land is just absurd and I won't do it. The trials competitions here in my city or more correctly surrounding land areas are held on private land by the goodness of the people who own it... and a standing ovation with applause to you! We would not be having comps anywhere without your dedication to trials riders. Gap Creek motorcycle park where we ride for $25 a day per bike holds trials comps there (twice a year) and drops the price to $15 per bike to enter the property if you compete in a trial. Kudos to them and their assistance to trials riders. So what about you people in Europe and the USA (and anywhere else) are you strangled with places to ride trials motorcycles??? Mags

I hope I'm still on a trials bike and that fit at 75 years old!!! Great vid! Mags

Have a peek at this thread by Sherconoob... especially the first video in it. Trial Techniques Applied To Dirt And Enduro Bikes thread in the Trials Training and Technique section of the forum. Mags