Thought I would reawaken this thread with my first post, so Hi all.
I bought myself a gas gas 300 txt Pro 2011. It's my first trials bike after a enjoying a trials experience day. Have you seen that advert where a bloke gets everything wrong, the one where he sells all his shares just before they rally, and so on?...Well that's how I felt as I couldn't quite believe it when the week later I read Gas Gas had stopped trading. Still waiting for good news on that front.
Anyhow, got the bike went for a ride and the radiator started to leak....mmpphhh...But the dealer did the right thing and got the radiator sorted. Whilst I was waiting for the repaired radiator to turn up I thought I would service the bike, and give it a looking over doing little things like getting the throttle tube silky smooth. In doing so, I found that the fork bleed screw had been snapped in the thread and the top just put back in place. Again the dealer got one ordered for me without question.
Fitted the radiator and went for a ride - yipee, great fun even if I can't ride it very well. But found the fork seal was leaking badly. Damn, I knew I should have been more concerned about those scratches on the fork stantion. Oh well, I'll have to take this one on the chin. So stripped the forks apart and give a complete service with new SKF seals, and managed to drill out the ramains of the broken air bleed screw. I used some black nail varnish on the stanchion. Nothing but the best for me, so I used L'Oreal Resist And Shine Titanium in Meteorite Black – Ebay special together with some very fine Wet and dry. Pleasantly surprised at how good that repair came out, but only time will tell about its longevity. The oil that came out was more like mud, so couldn’t wait to see how good they would be with fresh oil.
Eagar to try my fresh forks, I arranged a practice day with a fellow rider for the next day, knowing it would get me on to finish reassembling the bike, (I also changed the steering head bearings) so imagine my disappointment when I took it off the stand and jumped on, gave a few bounces expecting the bike to bunny hop like a good ‘un. Instead the rear just bottomed out. So tried a few more times, and yes, whilst on the workshop stand , the rear shock had decided it wanted some attention as well, so promptly dropped it’s oil. Aggghhhhhh…is this what Gas Gas ownership is going to be like? And I thought it was KTM’s that had a reputation.
Next chapter, stripped the shock down, but had to take it to a local shop for refilling as I can’t recharge. Fortunately new seals did the trick. It must have been serviced before because a schrader valve had been fitted – a bit of good luck at last. Took the opportunity to strip down the swingarm and linkages to grease the bearings, but on inspection decided that it would be better to replace them all, as they where a mixed bunch – some ok’ish, and others with seized roller pins.
And that gets me to this weekend, where I watched some Toni Bou youtube clips and thought I would do the same in the paddock. Oh, well at least the bike worked well. Well, apart from the sticking clutch that launched the bike better than I could when I put it in gear for the first time! I did free it, and it hasn’t stuck since – Another thing for me to watch for. Not sure if this is because of the oil I used (Putoline Light Gear Oil), don’t know what was in there before, or the extended time in my workshop without use?
And that is my introduction to trial riding with a Gas Gas, it can only get better!