trapezeartist

I carry my bike in a Berlingo and it does get filthy if it's a muddy trial. But the car is an old nail I bought for that purpose so I'm not bothered. If it was a car I cared about, I wouldn't carry the bike in it.

I've hurt my back twice (ribs, not spine) so I probably should get a back protector. But then I'd go and damage some other bit. On the whole, trials injuries are very rare.

More than enough. When I had petrol bikes I filled them to the brim and never found the need to top up part way through. I took whatever was in the can with me, just in case, but never used it. I found I got about three trials out of five litres.

I wasn't aware of a clear difference in values between the 200 and 250, but if that's so, it sort of answers your question. The 200 is £1000 better (according to enough people to influence the price). When I was looking for a modern-ish petrol bike I was persuaded by opinions so I was looking for a 200, but I couldn't find one. So I bought a 250 and was pretty happy with it.

Here's 1 bike in a Berlingo.

I'll take a couple of photos tomorrow, and post them back here asap.

Usually the route makes it easy to stop off at your van between laps. On a warm day you may want to strip off a layer after the first lap. Your bike should do a whole trial on a tankful, unless it's an unusually long lap. Some people carry a bottle of water with them, or wear a camelbak. Others just grab a drink as they pass their van.

I use a 2003 Berlingo car to carry one bike. The roof is the same height as the van but I suppose the lining reduces clearance a little bit. Certainly my roof lining is looking a bit the worse-for-wear these days. When I was looking to buy a cheap van I found that the Berlingo car was somewhat cheaper than the equivalent van. I use a folding ramp to load and unload, which makes it very easy. Especially since I bought the EM which can propel itself up the ramp (no pushing!).

There's something for everyone at Fry's Bottom. You definitely don't have to tackle anything you think is beyond your ability. I believe Zona1 is now closed. If not, it will soon.

Personally, I think the Montesa looks more cool. And I was never aware of any sort of rebel image attached to Bultaco.

After my previous post, I bought a secondhand ePure Race too. In light of this thread I changed the oil as soon as I got it. There was only a tiny bit of fur on the drain plug.

Personally I would want a bit of practice under my belt before entering. But if you do enter and have a go, remember you can always do a section but miss out a bit if you don't like it. You'll get a 5 and just go on to the next. Quite a lot of clubs run a "Gentleman's route" or green route where you just go through the begins and ends cards and do what you like in between. Ideal for a raw beginner.

No, he was out in the car park changing a split diaphragm. 😆

It still recall the comment of an SU engineer many years ago, when I was waxing lyrical about twin Webers. "Anyone can design an hole."

If you're concerned about them starting too fast, hold the ignition lanyard and walk beside them. Then if they do shoot off with uncontrolled acceleration, you'll pull the lanyard off and stop the engine.

If you don't have any sort of retainer for the pads, they could be moving or twisting in the caliper and jamming against something.

Standard fuel is changing from E5 to E10 (ie up to 10% ethanol). Some people have concerns about the effect of ethanol on seals, O rings, etc. Premium grade fuel will still be E5 so use that if you have any doubts. Before I saw the (electric) light, I always used premium in whatever car, kart or motorbike was my toy-of-the-moment. It's only a few pence more, so why take any risk?

One washer wasn't enough. I've now added a second washer and swapped the M8x12 screw to M8x16. It's now much better than standard.

Some people advocate dragging the brake to get it really hot, and then throwing cold water over it. Personally I would take out the pads and rub the friction surfaces on a piece of 180 grit wet'n'dry. Then run the wet'n'dry on the disc. Then clean both with brake cleaner before reassembling.

And an airbox that doesn't hoover up mud, water and leaves. On my Fantic 200 I cleaned the air filter about once every 6 or 8 rides. On the Beta, every time! And a notch on the bottom right-hand side of the airbox so you can put a bleed nipple at the highest point in the rear brake hydraulics.

The propstand on the ePure holds the bike too upright so I have found I have to search out a low spot in the ground to place the stand on when parking up. It's a bit of a pain in the posterior so I went looking for a solution. Now I've put a washer under the inboard fixing to the swinging arm. It seems to be better in the garage, so I'm hopeful for the trial tomorrow. If it turns out to be better but not enough, I'll try two washers but that will need a slightly longer screw as there isn't a lot of thread engagement. Tyre clearance is also extremely tight. I don't know what can be done about the spring/tyre clearance but I've cut off the redundant spring lug and that definitely helps. Before, during and after photos below. The photos also illustrate the crappy quality of the paint. This is an 8 month-old bike! But I suppose that's down to Sherco who supply the stand, and not EM.

Absolutely agree. Though my top preference would be a map specifically for super-slippery stuff. Alternatively, a means of deleting the red map altogether. So one push would take you from blue to green. I'm sure I could find uses for that mid-section, but the thought of accidentally giving the button one push when I intended two gives me the willies.

Agreed. An extra inch in the wiring would be good. However, it does go lock-to-lock without pulling on the wire so I suppose they would say it's just right.

It doesn't have water in the display, does it? Mine picked up a little bit of damp, which started as condensation on the inside of the screen, then went to total non-function, then dried out a bit and the display came back but permanently on 100% whatever the battery state was. Based on my old and new displays, EM appear to have altered the way the wires come out of the potting resin to try to reduce cracking of the resin and consequent leaks.

As dgshannon said, there is no engine braking. You can get a fixed regenerative braking button which plugs straight in. I've been told that provides braking roughly equivalent to engine braking on a petrol bike. I'm still making up my mind whether to get one.