dan williams

I have a 300 that I put a low compression S3 head on. It also has VForce carbon reeds and I dropped one tooth on the countershaft. I also had some custom clutch washers made with less preload and replaced the two thicker fiber plates with the thinner plates. As someone pointed out the 250 has a lower compression ratio so I'm not sure how much of a change you will see. On my bike it mellowed out the hit that occurred at mid throttle. It also made the bike easier to kick over. It does seem to have limited the ability to run at high revs/low load as the bike burbles wide open on fireroads. If you want the bottom grunt enhanced I highly recommend the carbon fiber reeds. My bike pulls a gear higher on hills and is almost impossible to stall. this is literally the first thing I do to any new bike.

It does but mainly on the plains. I don't get all the angst. The Vertigo looks like a great bike. It's a pretty fair bet no one on this thread could push it past 30% of its ability. Dibs is a hell off a rider. Other riders are just a tiny bit better and that shows in the scores. That's just the way it is. It was the same for Steve Saunders though I loved to watch him ride there was just that tiny bit of inconsistency that kept him from world champion. The same thing dogged Diego Bosis. Dougie, Jordi, Toni and Adam are that rare breed that can dominate a small sport but the guys that can run even close deserve a hell of a lot of respect.

Fajardo was getting up a few things in RI that only Bou and Raga were getting up. It was fairly obvious he has upped his game.

That and the 200s are very popular for resale if you do decide on a bigger bike.

Learn something new everyday. Plug replaced and problem fixed thanks to Stewie at Jack's Cycles.

I'm leaning more towards electrical because the bog was immediate. She was going to bring it back to the guy who worked on it. I'm sure he'll be able to sort it out.

Tried to help a friend today who kept stalling her 280 Raga. She thought it was her but when we got back to pits I adjusted her carb and took a putt. All seemed good until I hopped the front end and it died. Hmmm I thought and tried just holding the bike while bouncing the bike with the handlebars. Just like holding the kill switch for a second bog. Pulled the carb and adjusted float level and travel. Same thing. Pulled tank and disconnected kill switch, no change. Tapped and tugged various wires looking for intermittent, no change. I didn't have a flywheel puller so there was no way to get a visual on the stator. Anybody else seen this kind of behavior? Any suggestions? Bike was apparenly stripped to weld frame over the winter.

I had a sticking front caliper that I rebuilt a few days ago. First time out today and it's all good. The rebuild kit came with pistons and seals. The new pistons measured ~0.003" smaller than the originals. Still snug on the seals. Felt fine today. It was easier than I thought it would be.

Oh a carbs not THAT bad! Once you do it a few times it's nothing to strip and clean in 30 minutes. If something goes wrong with FI well...

As always read the manuals. Read through the forums to get a good idea of what can go wrong and how people have fixed it but most of all go riding. A lot. And welcome.

Fuel cell bike. Yeah that's the ticket.

Word from a friend talking to a reliable source is the Mecatechno Dragonfly adult E-bike is in final development. If it looks even remotely like the old gas Dragonfly I'll want one just to have as art work.

Interesting dual ignition with a tiny little plug.

Oooooooooo! Couldn't have been a week earlier and brought it to RI?

Just out of curiosity how do you have your bars positioned and what bend are they. I ask because it's not uncommon for new trials riders to have their bars too far back which causes a host of issues including putting too much weight on their hands. The wrong bars can also be problematic if the sweep and lift of the bars is incorrect.

Maybe time is the answer. I hope you can get it sorted.

Two strokes are easier to maintain, lighter in weight and a lot cheaper. It's common for beginners to think two strokes are harder to ride but the opposite is true. If you can go to a local trials event and check out what people are riding. Odds are you'll find several bikes for sale to try.

Improved clutch

Oil mixture, jetting, bad crank seal on primary drive side. Worn needle/needle jet, float level, ignition timing not sufficiently advanced, worn rings/bore, wrong spark plug heat range. Obviously the easiest is to go up one heat range on the plug. If that works you save yourself a lot of work. On an engine that old there's a good chance all of the above play some role.

Have to be a bit more descriptive. Oil fouled, carbon (dry) fouled, or white deposit fouled?

I think all modern bikes use a single fork spring in one side and the other leg controls damping.

When it runs better with choke it's running lean so either blocked jet/passage, wrong float level, air leak. I've done the carb clean routine and had to redo it because I missed something so my first thought would be to go in again for a full disassembly and compressed air blow out, reset the floats and make sure they aren't fouled by the bowl gasket (trim with X-acto knife if necessary), inspect the air boot carb to intake manifold. You can eliminate the air leak hypothesis before you do all that though with a simple test. Get a can of ether starting spray and spray short bursts around the outside of the intake manifold. The engine note shouldn't change. If it does you have an air leak and you'll have to chase it down. Best case is something simple like a split air boot. Worst case is a leaky case gasket. Personally my money is on some gunk in the tank getting loose and fouling the carb again. Sometimes there will be machining debris that stays with the parts or the manufacturer puts an anti-corrosion coating on them for storage that can cause this sort of repeated carb issue. Oh yeah, fresh batch of fuel too in case you are chasing a bad batch of gas.

Only regret I have from this world round is I didn't get to meet Andy. Otherwise very impressive job by the RITC. Somewhere up there Bill Mathewson is smiling.

So what was with the near fist fight between Fujigas an Fajardo in the corridor of section 10? I've never seen that before at a world round.

Unlike Andy I'll be spectating. I've worked enough.