pjc

He's asking 'I want to install the map change switch on my 4rt 260. I don't know what the color of the cable I need is. Thank you,' If anyone wants to help.

I've had all the bikes mentioned, also in the early years when they were new. The Yamaha was easily the best, and that is said begrudgingly, because I loved the Spanish bikes. They seemed to me to be more pure than the damn cheeky Japanese upstart - for no apparent reason whatsoever. The Yamaha moved the game on, and was new as opposed to being a further development of older technology that was coming out of Spain. However, you said Spanish, so no to the Yam, despite it being the best equipped as a pure machine for tacking stuff. It would get you over more than any of the 3 Spanish bikes you mentioned given the same rider, easily. Of the 3 you're choosing from, Bultaco by some margin. Montesa and Ossa are great, but Ossa spares are getting harder to find and are also older than the last Bultacos. Montesa, you can get good and bad ones, but again, some spares can be an issue. Bultaco spares are plentiful, the bikes are lovely and easy to trick up from standard. I'm not entirely convinced that any of the 3 bikes would make you a better rider, but I am convinced that what you can do on one, you can do on any of the others, so go with the least running/sourcing headaches? Bultaco all day long.

I think you stand a slim chance unless you have sales records as to who bought it first, or plain luck with recognition from the picture. I've done a bit of digging and Dave MacKenzie Motorcycles is the right direction. Sadly, Dave passed away some years ago, but his son Nigel worked in the shop for years and now lives in Manfield near Darlington. He may know, have records or a better guess than I. Still involved in bikes, but I believe more an enduro guy these days. His LinkedIn profile suggests he works at Mercedes Benz in Sunderland https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigel-mackenzie-54836b25/ but I think he left and now works for CJT Offroad at 31 Racecourse Road, Gallowfields Trading Estate, Richmond, North Yorkshire DL10 4SU. Their number is 01748 826 430

Perfectly normal. I used to ride twin shocks back in the day at a very high level. So cock of the north and all that. The old metal lumps had to be bashed and bullied through sections, and it was more a case of staying on like a rodeo rider when they got knocked off line, and EVERYTHING knocked them off line. Tried a modern bike after a small 20 year gap, the damn thing ripped my arms off. They don't get knocked of course, you point, they stick, they pull, you do far less work than the bike, or compared to black and white days, and you hang on as it climbs a cliff. It shocked me. Their capability made me very, very wary after assuming I'd be like Toni Bou and certainly took me down a peg or 500. Long story short, stuck with it for the first day, and by the end of it, I was doing much harder stuff that I'd ever managed in the 15 years I rode, including Nationals. That was mainly the bike, not me. Stick at it and remember, the bike is only as vicious as your right hand. It's a big dumb thing until you twist the throttle, that's where you'll learn to tame the bugger no matter what type of throttle you have on it. It's never the bike.

I think you may well already have the answer to this already, but are hoping the responses match your thinking to better persuade you to choose the route you want to go anyway. Maybe that's just me and I'm entirely incorrect. It's rational versus emotional. If you forced Raga to compete next year on a 2017 model he would have the same world class performance as currently, and still not beat Bou. I can't imagine the changes making more that a couple of dabs difference over the entire season either, if that. So a 2017 model can't possibly be maxed out by people like us, ever. It's still a tremendous machine and you will lose less selling because you are buying it at a lower cost. This is entirely the head, and ignored totally when buying with the heart. Head works to a budget, so if you have a fixed 2017 sized budget, and cost is important, it's decision made. Ah, but THE LATEST TECH!!!. Makes no rational sense at all, but there is a lot of emotive in all of us. Heart says it's nice, if you can afford it, to buy new. There is no real rational reason to, not at our level. It is doubtful it will increase our performance by enough to alter the position we finish a trial in. Again, one or two dabs at best, with it being so close to the 2017 model. But yes, it's great to have the latest, why else do we work so hard if we can't treat ourselves for no reason? It's why we enjoy luxury so much. Luxury is never measured on value. The entire point of luxury is we SHOULDN'T be spending that, and we rarely do. I don't think you can make a wrong decision, as it's not really going to affect performance much, so there is little to justify paying the additional cost. Rational sets the buying intent, so buy 2017, emotional sets the buying intent, so buy 2018. It's rare to posses both thoughts in any one situation and you inherently know which type you are going to apply here. You know you best. Apologies for not answering the question, I think it's a personal decision and you already have the answer. Me? I'd go, for no good reason whatsoever, with a 2018.

I’m beginning to understand how powerful personal preference is, despite demanding that everyone here who answers this thread puts it to one side. I can feel myself failing badly, yet it is not you who have let me down. I rode from 72 onwards (aged 7), right through the 70’s and 80’s. Rathmell seemed on the wane and Lampkin was pipping him all the time, a massive hero to me as a boy, sealed when he let me, a 14 year old, take his winning works bike for a spin at the end of the Scott Trial. That memory is more indelible than a tattoo and I saved and saved and saved for a polypropylene slim tank. Then Schreiber and watching Vesterinen on a Bulto at the SSDT. I think I have free will, but clearly not. When Bultaco introduced a 175 I got the first one! Finally, a REAL bike for Class A and B schoolboys!!! I became Martin Lampkin. I bought the orange Clice gear, stitched Hammond’s Sauce logos on it - basically everything that demonstrated how pro I was except when I rode and demonstrated the huge gulf of talent between us, massively emphasised because I had all the gear I couldn’t hope to earn with hindsight. I remember when he signed for SWM. Its not something I wish to ever talk about. Monts and Bultos had a romantic heft, which was actually shown to be old engineering and badly built in terms of weight when the Yams came along. Bultaco engines grunted, yet did very little else immediately. Open the throttle, get a cup of tea, eat your sandwiches then maybe, just maybe, the acceleration would kick in before the end of the trial. But gents, a third gear hillclimb with plenty of run up!!!!!!! Fantic? How dare those bloody foreigners come over here (Lampkin made Bultacos British, I’ll have you know), with far better bikes that weighed less, had a good throttle response and fantastic ground clearance. Shockingly bad manners. How VERY dare you. I’m sad I’ll probably buy a Fantic, or try a Fantic, as it wasn’t my era. I find trials bikes like the music of youth. We think the artists we loved when we were growing up were amazing, but with hindsight, you had little choice as that is all there was, now pasted as a memory. We had reduced choice but we didn’t know it. So I just missed Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd and the like, and swore that ABBA and the new romantics were better. Youthful idiot. I wanted, against all the odds, for it to be Bultaco. But I also don’t want to dab in a section on a Bultaco when I maybe wouldn’t have to on a Fantic, the bloody stupid fizzy damn things.

Back in the day, when men were men and badly suspended twin shock bikes bounced into your nuts so often it made you sound like anything but, we all kind of knew the pecking order as to what was the best piece of kit at any given time. We had the most popular evolution of roughly Mont, Bultaco, Ossa, Yamaha, Fantic and SWM. Each taking the previous ones crown and moving the game on significantly over the last ‘best thing.’ There were many others, like the Beamish Suzuki, but they never quite gained the kind of popularity needed to give real credence to being ‘the best’ at the time. We may not have personally ridden them, or even liked them, but purely as a machine there was often a consensus. I rode a Bultaco, but when Ossa launched the Gripper, the ground clearance alone would humiliate mine over rocks. 9 inches versus 13. Apologies for sounding like my ex wife there when she told me the reason she wanted a divorce. Anyway, I still brought another Bultaco, so I would personally say the Bulto, but the real answer is the Ossa. My two questions are: If you had to buy a Twin Shock to compete with now, what would you consider to be the absolute best piece of kit to go for, within the current twin shock regs? Put personal preference to one side and assume all the bikes respond to our riding style beautifully. I’m hoping to get a consensus of answers based on the merit of the machine rather than answers that don’t lead to a decision, or at the very least a very short shortlist. Yes, of course, I’ll try them before buying. Finally, on the bike you recommend, what mods would you do to it that, again, stayed within the regs for competition today?

You'll catch him in the pub this Sunday.

lineaway - Thanks, travel all over so no location issues, Live in Surrey, family in Glasgow, ex Richmond Motor Club. Love the rocks and intend to use the bike properly, whatever breaks can always be repaired/replaced so not keen on keeping it mint every day. Can refurb when too tatty. petert - Good to know, have read up about it, something to aim for once bike fit. spen - Nice range of bikes, envious. 2stroke4stroke - Yup, watched the videos, looks good. metisse - Glad you’re keeping the tradition alive, what the bikes were designed for. cleanorbust - Sounds obvious but never thought about that, solves the issue completely, thanks. one nou - Great trial, thanks for the link (bit far!). Nice to see a Bulto clean that section at 48:39. Proper section, exactly what I’m talking about. Thanks for taking the time. curse - Like the social aspect, but do like them tougher than ceremonial, feels more worthwhile washing the bike afterwards.

Getting back into it after a few decades. I know there's lots of chat about which way to go, twin shock or modern, and I'm having the same dilemma but for different reasons other than the bikes themselves. I'd prefer twin shock just for the nostalgia, but here's the thing, are there any tough twin shock trials? A decent twin shock can be more expensive than a decent modern, but what's the point if there's not much to go at once bought? Maybe I've seen the wrong pictures/videos perhaps? A lot on YouTube made me look twice to see if they were actually sections, rather than the kind of terrain you mess about on when warming the bike up. When I think back to how trials used to be (80's), classic trials seem to be using the same bikes but not the same terrain? Is it a case that if you want something tough, or how it was, you HAVE to go modern? Or have I been looking in the wrong places? My old Bulto happily bounced around the SSDT and Scott but I've yet to see any pictures of a twin shock trial with steps, decent rocks, big hillclimbs or, basically, to the level a decent trial was when those bikes first came out? They're still the same bikes? No doubt there will be the odd one, but are there enough events to get a decent week in week out season from? Also, the year of cut off seems to be 1983 in a lot of club rules, is this a safe bet to buy on or before? I'm asking to avoid an expensive mistake. Is there a definitive guide to classifications or is it club by club? Thanks in advance.

I've just joined the site specifically to answer this question. I am on the Asperger's spectrum and it's a non event. There are no boxes to tick for it. If you were refused a license, it is because you'd need to send a separate letter to basically say 'you didn't ask for it on the forms, but I'd like to point out things you don't know about me, to see if it's an issue, it isn't, but I'm going out of my way to persuade you it is.' It would be no issue, even if you volunteered this information that no one is asking for. You'd have to work hard and be very persuasive to MAKE it an issue? I have over 300 trials trophies and competed, many moons ago, at National level - winning some. It's a non issue. You're analytical/logical side will serve you well. If you have a deficit on the social side, really, many have worse deficits on the social side in trials and they are not even on the Asperger's spectrum. I've met many. Forget about it. No one asks, no one cares, it's not a detrimental thing, it isn't checked, it can't be refused, it isn't identified, it doesn't exist as a barrier to entry. Really, forget about it. Asperger's isn't a disease, it's not a medical problem, it's not a medical issue, it's a condition. You can answer all of the questions truthfully without breaching guidelines. It's only if you get overzealous and you yourself classify it as something that it isn't in the interests of being over honest. You're not being deceptive, not once. But to point this out, it's like filling in 'receding hairline' against 'Medical Conditions,' It's NOT a medical condition. It's who you are with no disease, no impediment, no detriment to safety, no recent condition, no detriment to performance, no inherited condition. Finally, you already have a road license, which requires a greater degree of disclosure. Bear in mind that many people with Asperger's can't even ride a push bike. If you have been diagnosed as Asperger's then you are clearly on the lowest end of the spectrum. This is awesome. It usually means you get the advantages of Asperger's in the way your mind works and very few of the social inadequacies. If I could, I would recommend this for anyone, I really would, it's fantastic if that's where you are on the spectrum. You have a road license? Trials is a HUGE step down in legal requirements compared to a road license. You're overqualified already. Asperger's is NOT a thing that has any medical negative and does NOT qualify against their questions unless you make it so. You don't need to mention it, not because of honesty, but because it doesn't warrant a mention and it's irrelevant as an answer to the questions asked of you.