sherpa325

I think the difference here is that TRS have gone with a fairly conventional design where not much can go wrong. The design brief seems to have picked the eyes out of the existing bikes and come up with a great looking but conventional, simple bike. Vertigo has gone down a different path with the use of fuel injection and an unconventional exhaust layout, which seems to change every time you see the bike. I guess TRS have gone with the 'if it isn't broke don't fix it' route and this appears to be working with Raga finishing second to Bou in the latest round of the Spanish Championship at the weekend, not bad for its second outing, and you cant imagine Raga has spent much time on it as he was still on the Gas Gas a couple of weeks ago.

The problem with a European manufacturer supporting a young rider is that Honda can just come along and poach your rider and there is nothing you can do about it, cant imagine Beta is particularly happy as that is what happened with Lampkin, Bou and now Busto. HRC are always going to be able to beat any offer made by a Euro manufacturer as they are governed by bike sales and HRC well who knows?

The problem is the money has to come from somewhere and in trials that is basically the manufacturers and the accessory suppliers involved with the sport, S3, Hebo, Jitsie etc. To the best of my knowledge these are pretty much trials only companies and as such rely on the sales of trials bikes. If you take into account the cost of producing a bike and then paying all your overheads I would imagine it would leave very little funding for a Factory team effort and factory rider salary. The size of the factory teams has been steadily declining since the 70's to the point where, Honda aside, they are all running only one rider, with Ossa and Jotagas not running a team at all. My guess is the top European sponsored riders get a reasonable salary and top it up with clothing, helmet, boot, oil sponsorship etc. For Honda to get Toni Bou all they have to do is top any other offers by whatever amount, which I don't think would be very hard for them.Reading the Retro Trials articles is eye opening as you soon realize that payment of riders has been an inherent problem for a long time. Trials cant realistically be compared to other sports as we don't have the market appeal,sales, or popularity of any popular sport and therefore don't generate the funds.

I get the feeling that they have stolen the limelight from Vertigo to a certain degree with the signing of Raga and the success he is already bringing, very smart marketing.

I always bore mine to 1.5 thou and have never had a problem, always very careful during run in. A friend had his bored and thought it was nice and quiet until we went riding together and then realized his brand new rebuild was quite noisy. To cut a long story short, he pulled it down and got the piston ceramic coated [cost about $40] The ceramic coating people can alter the thickness of their coating to suit, and after reassembly the motor was a lot quieter and ran great, fairly cheap solution. Cheers Greg

Looks like that would do the trick, I have always put the bike on the trailer and pulled down the front end as far as possible and this puts enough pressure on the damper rod to allow the allen headed bolt to be loosened or tightened as required. That tool is certainly easier to use however. Cheers Greg

Keihin / OKO style cabries don't have a fuel filter in the the carbie itself so its essential to fit an inline one particularly if you have a fiberglass tank. I fitted a keihin on mine years ago and am very happy with the result, so I bought an OKO off ebay which was very cheap to go on another bully, but could not get the thing to run at all. Basically it was a piece of rubbish, pulling it apart revealed there were no markings/ sizes stamped on any of the jets and no amount of blowing jets out or anything would get this thing running, you get what you pay for I guess. Cheers Greg

I have been able to find neutral on all my pros , the secret is the oil viscosity, the thinner the better - ELF is the best oil in my opinion

There have been bikes throughout the history of trials that have set a standard that the rest of the manufacturers have followed. the first Sherpa T, the monoshock TY Yamaha, the first Tarres Beta Zero and even the first Sherco set a new sub 70 kg weight that forced the majority of manufacturers to follow. I personally would like to see a completely repackable exhaust system, radiator protected by the downtubes, adjustable footpeg position, head and barrel easily removed without pulling half the bike apart, not sure about fuel injection just yet and why not have a lighter bike. The vertigo does appear to address some of these issues, but I guess I was hoping James may have been able to crack the top five on the bike, but as I suggested before it must be very difficult to develop the bike and compete in the world championship at the same time competing against the already existing proven rider and bike combinations.

The problem I see with what they appear to be doing is that the exhaust looks to be a sealed unit with no provision for repacking, and I would imagine very expensive to replace. On another note altogether the bike doesn't appear to be a game changer that I was hoping for in terms of its performance in the world championship. I realize it is early days but Dabill hasn't really moved forward since leaving the Beta for the Vertigo. Maybe he is not a great 'development' rider, no disrespect intended. Some riders just ride what they are given and are happy to do this and concentrate on their riding, while others continually fiddle with the bike setup, trying different shocks, peg positions etc etc.Or maybe the bike is significantly different in terms of development each time he rides it.

All weighed on the same digital kitchen scales S3 Fatbar buffalo 660g Hebo conventional + crossbrace 760g Renthal conventional + crossbrace 715g

Hi not wanting to cause any dramas but I have to agree with Woody, front wheel,front hub, forks, triple clamps all M91/92 series 1 , the frame also appears to be series 1 M91/92. After the various M49s comes the M80 which is essentially the same frame only slimeline tank/seat and that model has none of the M91/92 frame/front end updates. Maybe someone has re-stamped the frame to suit the engine! The mystery frame is maybe an M27 or early M49 - looking at the rear top shock mount. Cheers Greg

Interesting to note that for 2015 the weight of Moto Gp bikes has been reduced by 2 kgs with a further reduction again in 2016. I personally think the weight of trials bikes should start at say 67kgs and be reduced by a published 1kg every two years so every manufacturer/team can meet those goals. This would rate have to be revised periodically to ensure costs didn't get out of hand for privateers and also ensuring that manufacturers continue to improve and upgrade their designs

Maybe not what you had in mind, but never the less it is a sherpa 325 M92 ridden by a good friend the day before a trial in 1973 Australia

I am pretty sure the first swing arms with grease nipples are the 159 [1975] onwards, and there is a recess machined into the bush, to give the grease somewhere to go presumably , that lines up with the grease nipple [pretty much in the middle of the bush] I don't think the aftermarket bushes have this recess machined in them. Cheers Greg

I think welding new peg mounts for the later style of wider pegs is a good move and will help your feel on the bike. I keep mine in the standard position forward/back but get them as low as possible. As breagh said I find the standard geometry fine. I have tried moving them down and back but found the front end not as planted with a tendency to push in turns. I don't have trouble finding traction so for me it was not a good move. However the current crop of spanish bikes 'Puma' etc seem to be moving their pegs back as well as down, so it must work for some. A couple of things to take into consideration when modifying bikes, particularly bultacos, is that the standard bike is pretty good for the period of time it was built. They won five world championships on the trot with three different riders. Also remember pretty much everything is a compromise, handlebar height,wheelbase, steering head angle, flywheel weight ,footpeg position. If you are not riding the bike at least weekly at a reasonable level and have some favorite practice sections to test your modifications on, it is going to be very difficult to gauge any improvements. For me its important to have the bike running in really good order, Carburation needs to be spot on, timing needs to be done regularly, new fork springs, good rear shocks, good tyres, barnet clutch plates, one finger clutch and then plenty of practice. Cheers Greg

Yes the bikes with the curved front down tube and less curve in the bottom yoke are the 250's that ran a different frame to the 325's from 1975 though to 1977. [m158, m182, m190] The 199A had the same airbox as the 199, but my 199A ran much better than the 199- maybe I had a dud 199 who knows The airbox was upgraded on the 199B As most will agree, the most complete package is the 199A - 199B

Hi, I just looked at your original photo where the size of the gap would appear to be about 1mm. I just checked my M92 by removing the large clutch adjusting 'bung' in the case and the clearance between the clutch posts [the ones that hold the clutch springs in place] and the case is about 2mm. So you may be able to get away with the original gasket, certainly worth checking out before you go to any extra trouble. Also just checked and you can buy gasket paper up to 3mm thick. If you decide to make your own you don't have to follow the internal shape of the original gasket where the mounting holes are, you should be able to make it about 20mm wide [instead of 5mm] and just add some cutouts where required, shifter shaft, chain tensioner?. Cheers Greg PS dadof2 - that was a joke, really hate it when I have to explain my jokes

Sounds like something the GasGas factory would do, must say I did expect better from you!

Sounds like the best solution, are you sure that you will need a thicker gasket. It would be worth trying the std one to see if you have enough clearance. Making your own gaskets is not as hard as you think, gasket paper can be purchased at any good motor accessory shop. You need a 'wad punch' to punch out the holes [can buy cheap ones on ebay] - just remember when punching out the holes to do it on the 'end grain' of a piece of wood, preferably hard wood. Cheers Greg

Ossa Gripper maybe???????

I forgot to mention I also rode montesa's as well, 348, nice bike - shorter than the equivalent bultaco, less bottom end power, felt lighter, not quite as stable as a Bully but a good bike, couldn't pull second gear as easily as it was a 305 349 too long, too tall[red first series] plenty of power- full 349, not as predictable as the bully off the bottom,steered slower than the bully 349 'white wonder' montesa got it right here, wheelbase fixed up, just a real nice bike. Italjet, tested the 'all green' ones, found them to be just OK, felt heavy. nothing special- never competed on one. Italjet, competed on a 350 Piuma in 1983/84- Great bike totally different to the green ones, much lighter, more power, better everywhere. Good clutch, lighter flywheel, alloy axles, completely different. lighter frame, marzocchi forks and triple clamps, fantasic handling. Just felt like the old bully with some improvements. The only problem was the mono yamaha had just turned up.

OK here we go, rode all these in competition and these are my recollections, M92 series1 - nice and stable, longish wheelbase, slow steering, motor very torquey [fantastic bike for its time] M92 series 2- same as above, but diagonal tubes running from swinging arm pivot rubbed on ankles, preferred series 1 M125 Great bike - lighter, more power[27mm carbie] shorter wheelbase, steeper steering head- brought it into line with the miller frames M159 Great bike - better everywhere, motor had wider range of power [28mm carbie] longer travel rear suspension, loved it M183 same as above but a slightly longer swinging arm is fitted to increase stability and control on larger steps never owned a M183 but fitted the longer swinging arm to my 159 M191 Great bike , just happy to get on a new bike as my 159 was well and truly worn out, same as 183 M190 250, shorter frame-wheelbase, lower headstock/handlebar, more ground clearance- tried and tried to like this frame, even fitted my 325 engine, but never really liked the handling, always preferred the stability, steering and riding position of the 325 frame. M199 Really liked the handling of this bike but struggled to get it to run as good as the earlier 325's, later found out the small airbox was the problem. Also the bike didn't look a patch on the earlier bikes, I can remember getting it out of the crate and being so disappointed to see all the alloy painted black and three different shades of red- guards, airbox and tank all different! Ended up on a 348 cota for a year as a result. M199A Certainly better than the 199 as an overall package but the fact that the motor was lifted up in the frame reducing stability makes the 199 the better handler in my opinion- I just find the 199A a little more nervous than the 199, but would have a 199A every day of the week over the 199 M199B Only ridden a borrowed one of these in competition,basically the same as the 199A with a slightly less aggressive engine, very similar though, maybe just personal tuning setup. I do have a 199 frame in the shed, so one day the plan is to put the running gear off one of my 199A's into the 199 frame, modified to Comerford specs Cheers Greg

Hi, well done finding this rare bike. If you are going to restore it to original condition the triple clamp fitted to the bike is off a later model and is a much better design. The original top clamp is a bit of a pain as the handlebars are secured by two u bolts which are difficult to adjust. The footpegs should bolt onto the bike through the swinging arm pivot bolt and an additional bolt underneath and are non folding, more photos would be great. Cheers Greg PS San Antonio is the name of Paco Bulto's property where a lot of the development work was carried out- Bultaco trials were held there also for sponsored riders/dealers.

Yep that flywheel looks standard for the early 325 models, don't be fooled by the flywheel nut looking like an afterthought that doesn't go all the way on - that's what they did at the factory. Cheers Greg