dan williams

Try it out. I have one on my 300 simply because I hate the full wrist bend required by the slow throttle. Once you get used to the quick throttle you really depend on it being there. If you're not having any issues with the bike getting away from you now and you feel a bit compromised with your wrist all twisted it may be a good mod. The bike will still be a somewhat soft state of tune but you'll have an easier time using all it's got.

Tommi Ahvala said in an interview he didn't work out in a gym. Just rode his bike. I think Toni is that rare combination of talent, desire and sheer physical ability. Jordi was the same way and I love that Toni is as easy going and accommodating as Jordi was. As for the Bluetooth, I have it in my Subaru. Doesn't make me a better driver though.

According to the S3 catalog http://www.s3parts.com/product_trial.html pg23 they only offer a high compression head for the 125 and low and high compression heads for the 250 and 300. I agree with the above though that the 200 is a lovely soft bike and you just need a little more time to get used to it.

If you whiskey throttle and get it back under control it's a 125. If you whiskey throttle and end up wobbling into the trees before you fall over it's a 200. If you whiskey throttle and it flips and breaks the rear fender it's a 250. If you whiskey throttle and wake up in the hospital it's a 270. Sorry, can't pass up a good set up.

Yeah you need to be a bit more specific. is the fork solid from the top of the travel, sticking in the middle, stuck at the bottom?

Truly the promised land.

Yeah. I find that the same tool I use for the OEM (piece of PVC pipe) doesn't properly fit the SKF seals. They are wider at the seal lips so I had to hog out the seal driver with a Dremel tool. I still think they're gonna pop out once the bike gets ridden. Not a great option until the wiper is redesigned in my opinion.

Go for carbon fiber reeds. Makes the bike grunt up hills and smooths the power out quite nicely. Of course proper jetting is essential as well.

Great Mr English. Welcome to the sport and let the missus know that there is now a whole international forum that adores her!

I think you mean the wiper on top of the tube. I just put a set in a friends Rev4 and I noticed the lip that goes into the fork leg is far shorter on the SKF green wipers than on the old OEM seals. I'm pretty sure his will pop out too.

Rick your sense of humor is greatly appreciated. Your Thor pants are fine. I also have a set that I'll usually use. I love the Gaerne boots because they have a world better feel than any others I've tried but like everything you're going to have a hard time finding stuff in your size. (NOTE TO SELF: Do not p*** off Rick) I think your best bet is to look at the British websites advertised on this site. I've had good luck ordering from all that I have ordered so far and they carry a far greater assortment of trials goodies than anyone in the US. Ryan will have to special order for you but he is also very good to deal with but it may be you won't find real trials gear in your size. The trials helmets seem to run pretty true to size but fit differently depending on shell shape. Unfortunately it's kind of a crap shoot since no one has a stock of different helmets over here. Gaernes seem to run true to size but other trials boots I've owned have been variable usually on the tight side of things.

I can't bear to look. Did I scare him yet?

Allreet another member of TFGIS (Team Fat Guy In Spandex). Welcome to the team. If we can't dazzle them we can blind them. Or at least make them wish they were blind. Either one works for me. I will warn you though if you get the true trials pants they run small. Like two sizes smaller than you think. Those skinny little euro stick figures are probably wearing a large. But they are sooooo comfortable with absolutely NO padding. Oh yeah, there will be no question as to your, er, "qualifications" if you get my drift. I find a set of the spandex bicycle shorts under riding pants works well since there is no padding on the fender and we all sit down at some point.

Allow me to drop the fundamental learning on you. Stay centered. You will find that almost all of your dabs (foot touches) will be on the inside. There is a reason for this. New riders, and this is a constant battle for the rest of us, don't bend their knees. Try this sometime. Stand on a hill sideways, perpendicular to the fall line with your feet slightly apart facing forward (if you extend your arms one should point uphill, the other downhill). No problem right? You're nice and stable. Now look down at your knees. The uphill leg is bent, the downhill leg is straight. This is the proper technique for standing on a hill or turning a trials bike. When you lean a bike one peg and handlebar come up the other side goes down. Now if you are a trail, enduro or street rider you are used to leaning in a turn. This is done when standing usually by keeping both legs straight and dropping a shoulder into the turn which moves the center of gravity to the inside of the line between the contact patches of the tires. At typical trail speed, no problem. At trials speed, inside dab. So here's the problem, you lean the bike and one peg comes up. You keep your legs straight because that's what you're used to and to balance you twist your spine to rotate your butt to the outside. Your body is now torqued and twisted dropping your inside shoulder. You have lost the ability to pressure the foot pegs to steer the bike so the slightest obstacle that changes the speed of the bike causes you to drop a foot. You can illustrate this easily back standing on the hill. Get into the proper comfortable knees bent stance and have a friend push you this way and that. Pretty stable. Now try straightening the bent uphill leg and notice how you have to twist to stay balanced. Now have your buddy apply the same force and note how easily you can be knocked out of your stance. The great thing about this is it can be practiced in a driveway or yard. Do figure eights trying to keep your shoulders level and using peg and bar pressure to steer the bike. Get used to keeping your knees out from the tank and the feeling of the bike moving as you stay centered over the line between the tire contact patches. At first it'll feel odd then it'll click and you'll feel balanced. Practice enough and it'll become second nature and when you dab you'll know exactly why. Watch the really good riders turn and you will see how they stay centered and steer with their feet. This is why they can stop at any point in a turn.

Welcome to the sport. It's not easy at the moment because you're fighting the bike. Don't worry, it'll come but right now every reaction you have is tuned to a different style of riding You are having to unlearn the conditioned responses of another type of riding so you are using 2-3 times the energy you'll need when you have reprogrammed your muscle memory to the trials bike. That is why it looks so much easier even for the old guys. Of course once you get the hang of it there are more difficult things to try so the battle goes on. What you will find amazing is how the reactions developed in trials translates to other styles of riding. You're going to find that a lot of what you accepted as being the proper way to ride a bike isn't.

Polishing the sides of the tabs that ride in the slots on the basket is essential to make the clutch progressive. Another thing that can happen is the tabs wear grooves in the slots that prevent the tabs from sliding smoothly. Some have reported luck with filing the sides of the grooves smooth again though I'm a little nervous about that myself.

Actually Billy I was thinking the upside was you weren't pulling little pieces of aluminum out of your header pipe.

Heh heh Sherco guys get cranky during the holidays. ?

...and he keeps that a****** under his kilt! Sorry, can't resist a proper setup.

I also go down one tooth on the countershaft sprocket for the beta but that's dropping it to a 10. That was more of an adjustment to make second the preferred gear for plonking.

Well I've learned something new.

Well 1st to 2nd has to go through neutral. I suspect the slope of the indexing cam is not steep enough or the spring on the indexing plunger is weaker to make shifting easier so it never fully indexes into 2nd. All engineering theory aside sometimes the simple solution is best... I shift 1st to 2nd, bike pop out of gear, me crash, ow. I shift 3rd to 2nd, bike stay in gear... me crash but my own fault. ow.

Priceless!

Even though this sounds counter intuitive a properly jetted bike can seem smoother and less powerful than an improperly jetted bike. This often happens when the pilot/needle circuit isn't quite right and the bike will be boggy off the bottom and suddenly get interested in the proceedings once a larger throttle is given. A slow throttle is a good idea. Another thing I've found to make a large bike easier to deal with is carbon fiber reeds. One of the first things I do to my Betas is throw a set of Tassinari V-Force reeds in. The Beta and the Sherco take the same reeds. Adds great grunt and really smooths the transition into the mid-range. Another thing to try is a lower compression head. I have an S3 low compression head insert in my current bike. It mellowed the 300 out just enough to let me catch back up to it. It was starting to get away from me last year and I thought I needed to make it less aggressive. Turned out I had Lyme disease so my strength was going so mellowing the bike was kind of necessary anyway. Did the antibiotics bit and I'm back at the gym 3-4 times a week so I may go back to the stock head but I'm never going back to stock reeds. Oh yeah, the lower compression head makes it easier to start.

I've had excellent luck with Betas but all brands have their foibles. Betas are known for failures of the trigger coils in the ignition stator and erosion of the metal around the water pump impeller. First year EVOs (2009) cracked frames at the headstock but Beta replaced these for free. Beta clutches require a little cleaning up work to work properly. See pinned post on top. Betas with Mikuni carbs tended to piddle fuel due to having too long vent tubes. (easily fixed), 2000 Rev 3s broke swingarms. Betas are monster climbers but have a tendency to want to stall on downhills if the carb is not set up correctly. Has to do with the angle of the carb. From a riding point of view Betas are very stable bikes. They sort of feel like you are sitting in the bike as opposed to some other geometry where you feel on top of the bike. Hard to explain in a concise manner. You just have to ride a few. Engine wise Betas are somewhat schizophrenic. It seems that one year the factory wants a bike for experts, the next year for clubmen. Again you really need to ride a particular bike to get a feel for the motor in that particular bike. Betas have been traditionally rather front heavy. Again personal preference. Some people prefer the light front end of the GasGas but I find them tough to steer without washing out. Probably just means I've been on Betas too long to ride a GasGas. If you're buying a new bike they're all pretty damn good at this point but yeah they all have issues. GasGas gearboxes/starter gears, Ossa's hard starting, Honda/Montesa....Price. I have no knowledge of the Sherco problems and the JTG is also a mystery to me. If you are buying a used bike any one from a Senior rider who has more time and money to fettle than ride is always a good bet. A used expert's bike is, well, used.