dan williams

I just posited this as an idea. Not taking anything away from Toni.

Maybe he does have one. Then again Bou is still a monster and only Raga and Caby have a shot at beating him.

The wonderful thing about Tiggers are that Tiggers are wonderful things!

Zippy, I pay for it by watching hockey goalie saves over and over. She plays goal. Heather, I suspect if there is some shock trickery Honda would play it very close to the vest and restrict it to the top dog. Neil's, I'm just trying to hang onto the bike at this point.

OK so I was watching the FIM trials videos from MavTV and my wife was playing on her iPad and watching somewhat when she says, "Why does Toni Bou always make the really big steps and nobody else does?" I, of course, went into a long winded explanation about his conditioning and the technical expertise of Honda along with very deep pockets, blah blah blah... She wasn't buying it. She made me replay some of the big hits over and over in slow motion and full speed and said she didn't know what but something was different about the way Bou hit things. Well she is an engineer and there are things she sees that I miss so I started thinking about it. As we watched the replays one thing became obvious, Toni does a sort of double loading of his suspension for a big hit. None of the other riders do that and I wondered why. They would have obviously noticed Toni doing that and tried to copy the technique but it must not have worked or they'd be doing it in competition. The only obvious thing might be Toni is going deeper into the elastomer bumper but the majority of that energy would just be absorbed by the rebound damping. Hmmm maybe there's something more to this than technique. I remember a few years back when the Reiger shock came out and suddenly the GasGas bikes were sticking to splatters like no other machine. The Reiger has a lockout that can be set for a delay when the shock is fully compressed. This lets the bike climb a bit further up an obstacle before the rear suspension starts its rebound. I got to thinking, what if Toni's rear shock has an additional feature that on the first full compression the rebound damping switches off and on the second switches to the lockout mode like the Reiger. The end result is Toni could get maybe 4" to 8" more lift out of the rear wheel since the stored energy in his spring isn't partially absorbed by the rebound damping. It doesn't sound like much but it could be the difference between cleaning and not making the big hits especially for the indoors events. OK, cue the jokes about what you could do with another 4".

Possible you have bent plates. That'll also cause drag.

Pushing a bike with the plug out to clear fuel out of the engine is how I ended up with a flaming Bultaco. Very dangerous. Don't trust the kill switch. Disconnect the coil and have an extinguisher near by. Very near.

Hi Heather, I didn't see it mentioned but that is the overflow for the float bowl so either something is depressing the floats. or as mentioned a piece of dirt is holding the needle open causing too high a fuel level in the float bowl. Fortunately the Mikuni has a removable float needle seat. Careful blowing things out that there is NO flame or source of ignition nearby. Wear safety glasses, You will be making an aerosol out of what ever fuel may be in the carb body. You don't want to know what it's like in the business end of the combustion chamber. Believe me, I have the record for the 250cc flaming Bultaco throw.

I have to ask if you did the cleaning of glue from between the pads and anywhere else on the fibers that might contact the steel plates. It is possible that the glue has contaminated the fiber pads in which case you would need to clean them though I'm not sure it's possible. I'm not fond of ATF. I find it makes for abrupt catch and release of the clutch but it shouldn't cause cold stick. I also wouldn't leave the clutch pulled in as that is keeping the actuator system pressurized which may not be the best way to make the seals last.

You have to let us know your approximate location for us to help.

Hi Richfr, What is your clutch doing after the fix?

I've never heard of putting an air filter through the wash. I'd be afraid of four things; Detergent affecting the filter foam. Heat affecting the filter foam. Especially if it goes through the dryer. Other things in the machine mechanically tearing the filter apart. Coating everything washed in the same machine from then on in a fine coating of air filter oil. I always hand wash, some times with a mechanics hand soap to break up the oil. Rinse thoroughly to make sure none of the soap remains. Rinse again and hand wring in a paper towel. Re-oil and reinstall.

I remember when GasGas came into the U.S. market their bikes were priced under the competition. Not an unusual plan to take market share. In response the other manufacturers tried to compete on price. That causes an across the board downward pressure that is actually destructive to the sport. The argument that a lower price point brings more riders in seems logical on the surface but when you dig deeper it means insufficient profit for the factories to survive. Depressed used bike prices which slows turnover of new bikes so long term fewer dealers can make a go of it. And eventually failure of some brands that has to result in an increase of bike prices back to a more normal level. This isn't just a new phenomenon. Trials is cyclical. The same thing happened with the influx of cheaper two stokes in Sammy Miller's day and the influx of cheaper Japanese machines in the 70's. Being a small market trials tends to feel the effects of any disruption more keenly than the rest of the market. Some manufacturers learned to be very careful not to play the game. Honda is a prime example. No one ever argued the Honda was too cheap. If anyone has the economy of scale to make a cheaper bike it's Honda but they looked at the cost structure and said here's what we must sell them for. GasGas has to raise prices to survive. That will allow other brands to follow suit. I think in the long run paying another 10% for a new bike to have a healthy sport will be well worth it and riders will get that back in resale anyway. I do hope GasGas survives and has learned the strategy of, "We're losing money on each part but don't worry we'll make it up in volume." Usually doesn't end well.

I just walk the section chatting with the observer and when it's time to ride say,"Let me show you how NOT to do this." Or when they yell RIDER I thank them for their optimistic appraisal of my abilities. I don't have a problem being watched but like everyone else when there's ribbons up every obstacle grows by 20% and every corner shrinks by the same amount.

I sit corrected. Unfortunately I can't have one of each.

That ride over the bridge freaks me right out.

I think the difference is the Rev3 shock characteristics are tuned to provide the effect of rising rate internal to the shock body. This made for a much more expensive shock and Beta could save money going back to the linkage suspension. This isn't a slight on Beta. They simply saw no more advantage to the side shock since every other manufacturer was using linkage. That JotaGas and now TRS are showing a side shock is actually rather surprising. I wonder who's making their shocks?

It's normal. Stronger springs available from Steve Saunders.

Could your float level be way off?

Just fill it until you start to see oil in the sight glass on the side of the case with the bike level.

Is it really cold where you are? In cold weather fuel won't vaporize as easily in a cold engine and can require an even richer mixture. Strange as it sounds sometimes when I can't get an engine to fire cold I'll blow into the tank vent to pressurize the tank and pinch off and hold the line for a bit to force fuel into the engine. It seems to help though it could just be brain damage from gas fumes.

Any extra forward momentum lets you "throw" the bike forward at the top to be sure the rear wheel sticks.

Two things, Big effort to jump up and forward. The total inertial mass of you and the bike must have a net forward momentum as the rear wheel gets to the top. Don't stay on the throttle. This is the most common mistake. If you stay pegged on the gas the rear suspension doesn't unload until far too late in the maneuver. You want the rear suspension decompressing as soon as the rear wheel is high enough on the rock for your skid plate to clear. This rotates the mass of the bike forward as well as keeping the wheel in contact as it goes up.

When I'm bored I'll change gear oil. That's about it. I suppose there'll be indignant howls from the purer mechanics. ?

Welcome back my friend. (to the show that never ends) Showing my age?