sherpa325

You can get equal enjoyment out of either type of bike, so I would suggest you buy what your friends are riding or what bike is better catered for in the area / club you intend to ride at. Having said that there differences in riding both types of bikes, the newer type all require the use of the clutch to control the bike whereas the older twinshocks can be ridden without the clutch and have less power and in some respects this can make them less of a handful.

Chain tensioner

My 199A in for a makeover during the Xmas break, exhaust is the first of many jobs Cheers Greg

I had the same experience with my brand new 199- paint washed off in places,swinging arm mainly, after riding in muddy conditions and I didn't even use a pressure hose! Ah those were the days

I think 20 - 30 pilot is the go for a Mikuni and 130 main for starters PS they really are simple motors that are built proof as lbhbul said

Thanks for that, I assume then they go a bit better than the standard points system.

Do any of these ignitions have an advance built into them and provide a performance improvement or are they just to do away with the points and provide reliability?

That's interesting, all 3 of my late model Bultacos have red, I vaguely remember earlier ones having yellow

Thanks Mark that sounds like the one he has. As I said this was talking to him on the phone, not actually seeing the problem. I would think it would be next to impossible to fix by the sounds of it. Found this photo. Thanks Greg

Hi, just talking to a friend on the phone and he has a 198 red plastic tank that is leaking around the fuel tap area. I know these are different to the later A and B models which have the two 6mm screws, but we are not sure what the actual tap screws onto, plastic or a metal insert? and he is reluctant to try to over tighten it without knowing what he is dealing with. Thanks Greg

Although they will run within a large range of timing settings, it is quite alarming to see how much difference a small adjustment to the points gap can have on this timing. For the bike to run at its best you really need to make sure the timing is done first before looking for other problems. cheers Greg

This may be a long shot, but I had a freshly rebuilt bike do something similar, points, condenser, kill switch all new but I couldn't get it to run correctly. Swapped a carb off another bike but the problem persisted -very similar to the dreaded condenser failure. So out of frustration I decided to replace the brand new condenser, thinking it could have been faulty, with a spare I had. Well during this exercise I uncovered the problem, on the points there is a threaded hole where the two wires are attached, this hole was not threaded all the way through and so the screw was bottoming out without actually putting a lot of pressure on the two wires, so under load all these problems would arise due to this poor connection. I guess I should have picked this up when putting the bike together back I'm blaming old age and not so new eyes. Cheers Greg PS I should mention that sometimes the bike would run fine for a short while, so very frustrating and difficult to track down

Sounds like it is running backwards

Nice looking bike,rare in Australia. The only thing I could suggest is that it was a replacement frame, for whatever reason, and therefore had no numbers. No ideas other than that. I know recently a friend purchased a new Aprilia road bike frame and it was not stamped also I know of a recent purchase of a Gas Gas frame that also wasn't stamped. Cheers Greg

Not sure what you are implying here, there is no point making more bikes than you can sell? Surely to be competitive they need to keep the workforce gainfully employed all year round and this would dictate how many are employed and how many bikes per day fits that equation.

Bultacos are relatively easy to restore in that they are a very simple bike to work on and you can buy just about any part for them. The cost of the restoration is down to a number of things, firstly is the bike complete - it will generally be easier to recondition/ refurbish parts than to source and purchase second hand or new parts that are missing. Also the amount of the work can you do yourself, or are prepared to do yourself will have a huge affect on the final price of the restoration. Another consideration is what standard do you want the bike completed to - concourse or a bike to compete on and enjoy. I am biased but all the sherpas in my opinion look great and are great to ride when set up correctly. Cheers Greg

8 a day equals 2000 per year

Possibly the prettiest bike ever

Back when I stared riding in 72 Sammy Miller was the Toni Bou of trials and he had a great range of products that were highly sort after out here in Australia. He sold mufflers, air boxes, fork braces, handlebars, hubs, lighter tanks and of course frames. I vaguely remember something about pistons as well. There were two miller framed bikes where I lived but I never rode them as I was only a mug back then and was not game to ask for a ride on them. This miller mystique for his products began to fade as he stopped riding bullys and the younger riders like Lampkin Rathmell and Vesty took over and the Bultaco bike itself improved with each model.

Yes I have seen a couple of 199A's crack in the same spot as well as an Italjet Piuma that had a sidecar on it at some stage

That would be great

Yes the backbone can bend if the head steady is broken or bent as was pretty common in the late 70's. The miller frames were the bees knees so to speak in the early seventies as they had improved geometry [shorter, quicker steering, more ground clearance] were lighter as well as they were made from reynolds chrome moly tubing. Also the tubes were removed from under the engine, another emerging problem area. However the model 125 released in 1974 pretty much copied the miller dimensions and was also made from chrome moly. The only real difference was the tubes still remained under the engine. So by the mid seventies the miller frames became rarer and rarer as the factory frames narrowed the gap. I would imagine there would be not a lot of difference strength wise between the two. Cheers Greg

Thanks will order an IRC and give it a go Cheers Greg

On ebay you can buy a surflex clutch kit that has a number of steels of varying thickness so you can get the completed thickness you want. I had the same problem on my 014 racing, purchased the kit and all good now. I also bought a digital vernier to get the measurement spot on. If you are using the standard fibre plates there is one that is slightly thicker and this one must go in first. Cheers Greg

Thanks for the replies and yes I have tried a Dunlop before but it kept coming off the rim at trials pressures,apparently OK on DID rims, so I guess its an IRC - can anyone confirm the whether or not the tubed michelin has been discontinued. Thanks Greg