trapezeartist

Every bike has a weak spot. Personal experience is a more measure of the reliability/durability of anything as complicated as a motorbike. If a particular item has a 10% failure rate, 90% of owners will have no problem and say the part is good. The other 10% will think the item is rubbish. Making wild generalisations on such a small sample size will not get you far. On the other hand, I once owned a Hillman Imp for a short while (yeah, I know!). That car worked it's way through every problem the Imp was know for, and then started making up new ones itself.

It's got a red anodized engine oil plug! I'll go and put my order in now!

I've just changed from a modern seat-less bike to a twinshock with a seat. Sitting down on a bike feels really weird.

That's true. Just ask Fernando Alonso.

Good point Dabba. You don't have to take it off completely like I said, although I suspect in practice the spring preload will generate too much friction to allow rotating of the top relative to the bottom.

It's been fitted back-to-front. You'll need to take it off and turn it 180deg. Then it will be easily accessible in future.

Here's a vote for Andy Kelley. Top man.

It would be nice to think that the factory have learnt from their (apparent) past mistakes. But who knows?

That seems pretty straightforward. I'll try that. That's a nice looking bike Sam. I see you've got rid of that rather pointless toolbox. I'm tempted, just to make cleaning a little bit easier. I'm never likely to put anything in it. Do you have a protector for the swing arm pivot? The chain is being a little bit unkind to the paint on mine.

I've been used to using my hand to engage neutral on my previous bike. The Fantic just seems to go one step further and even by hand it just keeps going from 1st to 2nd to 1st to .... OK, it's not the biggest problem in the world so if I can't cure it I'll live with it. I found out from the previous owner that the gearbox has 0W30 in it. That sounds a bit watery to me so I might go up to light gear oil. I paid a fair bit for the bike but not so much that I feel ripped off. Anyway I can't reveal the sum in case my wife sees this thread. What is the "chain link clutch lightener" mod? There's no bit of chain anywhere in the system so I assume I haven't got it. Actually I find the clutch effort to be pretty good. One finger is a bit hard-going but two fingers is fine, and I don't think that reduces my control on the handlebars significantly.

Yes, the spacer is a substitute for the speedo drive but what happens on the right side doesn't affect wheel location as the stepped part of the wheel spindle just finds it's natural place and is then clamped in the fork leg. I've confirmed with Bob Wright that there shouldn't be a spacer on the left; the brake backplate just bolts up against the fork leg. I'm wondering if someone in the past history of the bike has modified the backplate to move everything over a bit, though I can't think why. At the moment my plan is to insert a washer between the backplate and the fork leg and bolt it up that way. A standard Form A washer is 2.5mm so that will get it just about exactly in place. Unfortunately it might leave me a little bit short of thread on the end of the spindle. There seems to be an internal thread in there though so I may try putting a set screw and washer in the end as a precaution. Thanks maggar. It would be helpful if you could have a look for me and tell me what yours looks like.

When I went on a trials experience day last year (just to make sure I really wanted to do it) there was a guy in the group who had never ridden a motorbike before. He got on fine, and he was your age or probably a little older.

Working, yes. But I don't know whether the wheel was offset then, and I just didn't notice.

I just bought my Fantic 200 and came across my first little difficulty in the garage today. Having done a very muddy trial the other day I took the front wheel out to check the brake and clean all the crud out. On reassembly I put it back with the spacer on the right (see bilco's post above) but the wheel is not central. The rim is about 3mm offset (30mm clearance to left fork leg and 36mm to right). Also the clearance between the brake lever and the fork leg is only about 2mm which seems uncomfortably close. I'd already worked out that the spacer is a substitute for the speedo drive (as bilco's post). On the face of it, it looks like the RH spacer should be smaller, and there should be a small spacer on the left, but that doesn't agree with bilco, nor does it seem a logical way of designing the bike. Any thoughts, guys?

But that list includes Haven Trialsport who, I understand, are no longer working with Jotagas. How reliable is that list?

That says it all really. At one point I was tempted by the Jotagas because I liked the look of them and I could buy an almost new one very cheaply. But there had to be a reason it was that cheap, and I decided I could afford to buy another make and pay a normal market price for it.

Strip the carb and clean everything with carb cleaner and (if possible) ultra-sonic. Check everything in there including float height. When you put it back, be sure that the rubbers to the air box and engine are properly seated and sealed. Try it like that. PS. Taking the carb off is a swine of a job. You'll need to remove the airbox, exhaust, the upper rear shock bolt, the ignition thingie on the right of the engine and the other ignition thingie bolted to the back of the gearbox. When you put it back together make sure that the various breather pipes are routed in a tidy manner. I've always had to use a ty-rap the keep one of them clear of the exhaust.

Never ever give an insurance company even half an excuse to wriggle out of a claim.

Hi Gwill. I've just bought one too, but I've bought one where someone else has done the hard work. I expect we'll learn together on here.

I seem to have slight cold stick but I can free it by rocking in gear. It's not nearly as extreme as my modern Beta. I also have difficulty finding neutral, but that's made worse by having the lever in a position where I can't brace my heel against anything. On the other hand, the clutch feel when slipping it around a tight turn is beautiful.

Thanks a lot, grib. That's very helpful. Your 66:1 ties in with my preliminary plan to use 80ml to 5 litres so I'm happy I'm doing the right thing. Light gear oil or ATF? Hmm, it's all down to how the clutch feels I suppose. I don't know what I've got in there at the moment but I think ATF would be fairly obvious if I let a little drop out of the level plug. The parts diagram and manual are really useful too.

Yes, Jaime's name did sound like Hy-may in the clip I just looked at, but that video was in Euskera (Basque) and Jaime's comments were being voice-overed into Euskera. I don't know enough about Euskera to comment on pronunciation but I've heard plenty of Spanish spoken by people from the Basque country (and Cataluna, Valencia and Andalucia) and the back-of-the-throat sound is always there. But all of this is by-the-by: I was very impressed by the look of the Jotagas, but they have failed to convince enough people to part with their money. It's always going to be an uphill task to establish a new marque and while everyone seems to admire their engineering, other aspects of the business have failed to make the grade.

Me too! And just to play safe, I bought it myself.

No offence taken. We're both singing off the same hymn; there was just a bit of confusion. Eh? Me parece que tomaste demasiado ron, Sr Oni.