collyolly

Speaking to a friend who is a keen cyclist it seems £5000 is not out of the norm for a mountain bike once you get to a competitive level and possibly a lot more for a road bike and there's not much to one of them !

There was also a strong rumour that Montesa(Honda) built about 3 years production in one hit then stored them until they could all be sold. You must remember that nothing really changed in the first few years of availability and people often questioned the make dates from the frame numbers and the assumption was it was cheaper to build one big batch and store them than build lots of smaller batches. The price differential between these bikes and say GasGas, Beta and Sherco would have easily have covered the cost of funding the project. Maybe it was 5 years worth !

Well unless you are going to fly it will take you a day each way to drive to Scotland from the South East so a major part of your holiday wasted. Riding a big single lap in Yorkshire will be out of the question for a self confessed novice rider. The Barham trial mentioned above would be a good intro to competitive trials at what we call Center level although there is no Expert class there, it is relatively close to London and there are plenty of good pubs in the Kent countryside !

How many people actually believe they can out ride the standard forks their bikes come with ? Change of oil, possibly the spring for heavier riders and that's about all that is necessary, a sport with no speed content is more about the riders skill than anything else. Take a look at the top riders near to you , I bet they all ride box standard bikes and do things that we can only dream of - lots of practice is the answer !

Wonder if they are going to do a white framed version, it certainly was a very attractive bike and think it may have been available as an option before ?

I seem to recall Jordi having a great deal of success on the steel framed Gasgas !

That is where the old bikes come in, they are harder to ride so you can ride old style (read easier route ! ) and have an enjoyable competitive ride. As weIl as my classic I also have a modern bike, I couldn't ride that against my peers on the easy route and feel compelled to ride sections that are as you say sometimes scary if you cannot do the trick stuff. This will now follow on into the next classification of bike as riders get older and hanker for the enjoyment of their yoof.

Why not do a similar cost exercise against the price of a bike and all of your gear ? Plenty of riders turn up at a practice day with £5K of bike and gear do they really expect to get a ride for a tenner ? Think of the land owner, why should he let you loose on his ground for your enjoyment ? As has been said you can't get land down here (south east England) for the cost of a bottle it's more like a couple of hundred quid. I think the real price should be nearer £20-£25 and we should be grateful !

I think GasGas UK had a problem with 'grey' imports back in the 90's and had a batch of bikes produced in Grey to try to isolate the problem, you used to get asked about your bike before spares were sold to you ( anyone else remember when that was ?) Either that or someone has just fitted a set of plastics from a 320 , I had one in silver I think it was a 98 ?

I have a flywheel weight on my 2014 GasGas and have a similar problem with the gear lever, I have bent it out ( carefully using a vice ) and then only clamped it on with 75% shaft engagement, not ideal but without a special gear-lever what else can you do ? And yes it does improve the way the bike rides (300)

I agree with the last post, let's see what your footrests look like and the damage to the boot before you get carried away chasing the manufacturer. I have worn Gaerne boots for years and never worn through a sole, the stitching gives up first, but I am only using standard type rests none of this sharp titanium or screwed in pins on my bike !

The French one is superb, well worth a visit even if you are not into Tanks.

Looking very good Mr Raga. ( just won in Sheffield in case you are not up to speed ! )

Where did you find the head bolt torque figure, it sounds very low to me.

Am I the only one who does not get it ? Looking forward to the 2016 Gasser or maybe I will just stick with the pre 65s, now they are things of beauty !

Trials is not about full throttle, perhaps that is your first lesson !

I think the whole point of the exercise is to bring in to line the use of 'British style' carbs on the pre 65 bikes even though the concentric carb was not available pre 65 ! This is possible now that a 20mm version is available, I don't think the Spanish made a 4 stroke version of a 20mm carb or even a 20mm one at all.

If you google small spark plug gap you will see it is possibly the cause of some of your problems, erratic running, unburnt fuel, running rich etc Re set it, give it a thorough clean and hopefully away you go.

Are you sure about that gap ? That looks more like 0.15mm or 0.006 inch ! ( commonly known as six thou) Just humour me and check it again ? Kind regards

What gap is that plug set at ? It may be the angle of view but it looks too small.

Hi Jon, my short stroke uses the XT350 piston and the MDP barrel without a plate or modification to the piston. I need to use full retard to start ( I still use a TT mag) or I get either a no start or a big kick. But, I would not say she runs like a chuffing steam engine, in fact due to the lighter 350 flywheels there is minimal flywheel effect compared to a long stroke 500 motor. You can't have both a fast turn on and off and chuffing steam engine, I like the way it rides like a lighter bike and responds better to the throttle for our now obligitory over tight sections. In fact I have often run with slightly higher tick over to stop her from stalling and ride with a good clutch to ensure the reliable bite point gives me every advantage ( never knew with the old clutch when the engine was going to get loaded and hence the occasional stall, which the long stroke motor would just pull through )

Depends on what sort of end product you are after, if it's the kudos of a 500 then build a 500 if not why not just build a good 350 out of relatively standard parts ? You will still end up with a pre-unit bike that is lighter than the A.M.C. and Enfield competition and unless you are doing the harder routes at the national trials (Miller or Kia) do you really need the power ?

Talon should be able to help, I supplied them with a special toothed wheel for my Ariel and they 'broached' in the internal spline for me so they do do specials.

Your R1 may as well be an aeroplane ! Go and look at a trial first, no not a proper event go and look at a club beginners day first, I am sure someone with local experience can point you in the right direction with regards to your nearest club. I have known plenty of first timers with road bike experience who have spent their money then had difficulty literally riding across a muddy field to get to the sections, it is much much harder than it looks, but if it is for you you will bin the R1 and never look back ! Probably an event on within 30 Miles of you every weekend (join a couple of clubs) and every one will give you a different experiance. Good luck and I hope you join our crowd.

Have you got 500 crankcases ? I think they have 5 stud mounting for the barrel and the 350 has 4 stud although it is probably just a simple matter of drilling and tapping the missing fastener as the castings were possibly all the same. The head I think you want has an internal exhaust port rather than an external stub, these are now becoming rare and expensive. I have a short stroke bike and it 'rides light' compared to the long stroke original in fact feels very modern, well worth the effort if you can source all the parts.