trapezeartist

I'm not that desperate. The hub, basket and tabs are all in perfect condition. Plates are flat. I didn't know about the plates being directional I'm not quite sure what you mean by round side and sharp side but I'll have a look. I might have a go at sanding the friction plates as well, to see if I can clean them back to fresh friction material. And before all that, I'll try pumping the clutch to see if it is a hydraulic problem. That will be easy as no disassembly required to test it. I'd love it to be that, but judging by the way all the plates came out last time almost glued together, I'm not hopeful. Perhaps this confirms that new friction plates could be my solution. Sherco v Beta is probably just a dimensional difference rather than material, I imagine.

I've done the "Beta clutch fix". I've roughed up the steel plates with P80. I've changed the oil to 10W40. Still I have bad cold stick, and worse, the clutch is quite draggy for the first five or ten minutes so I have to do a lot of riding around to get it fit to use. The only thing I can see left to try is to put in new friction plates. At the moment all the plates are the same 3.0mm thick which I think is standard on a 4T. Right? So the possibilities are New set of six 3.0mm plates Some new "thin" plates as on a 2T. Would they fit? Would it help? A new set of Surflex plates. Any better? Any different? I'd love to hear some opinions before I make the next decision as I'm getting a bit bored with taking the clutch apart.

Interesting. I'm wondering if there is a different friction material in the thicker plates, which might be the cause of sticking. As my 4T has all thick plates (I assume this is correct) that might be an explanation of my problems. I think I remember reading somewhere that "thin" plates are 2.7mm and "thick" ones are 3.0mm. Can anyone confirm? Certainly my plates measure 3.0mm.

Similar to my experience, whitevancam. I did the glue-removing bit and found the tabs were already good so there was nothing to do there. It made no real difference: still suffering cold stick and dragginess for the first five minutes of riding. I thought maybe engaging neutral with the engine running was marginally better but I may have just been kidding myself. I spoke to Lampkins and they advised roughing up the steel plate and changing to 10W40 oil (mine's a four stroke so my choices are more limited). So I took the clutch out again, wiped off all the oil I could, attacked the plates with P80 wet'n'dry to get a 120 deg cross-hatch, washed with paraffin and reassembled with plenty of oil. Then filled up with 10W40. I tried the bike again today and was disappointed to find there is still no change. New clutch plates?

Have a read of this thread, mink_man. The last few posts will clearly show the difference between tyres that grip and tyres that last. It was something I hadn't really considered before, although you only have to put a thumbnail into a proper trials tyre to see how soft it is. Or try pushing the bike around when the pressures are set down to trials pressures. It's pretty obvious that riding at any speed is quickly going to generate a lot of heat. Although I'm no expert, tyres seem to divide into three groups: Proper trials tyres. Very soft compounds. Made by Michelin, Dunlop and IRC.Lots of people have a favourite but there is no clearcut "best". Trail bike tyres. Pirelli MT43. Not competitive for proper trials but apparently good for combined road and offroad. Cheapo Yoki Toki things from unheard-of manufacturers. May be reasonably good or may be a complete waste of money. My experience with a set of cheap kart tyres a few years ago was definitely the latter.

Try sitting backwards. Then the gear lever and brake will be on the right side for you.

I had exactly this problem on my front brake when I first bought the bike adjusted the brake too tight. Inevitably it threw me off within two minutes of starting riding.

It worked for me. I put a tape measure around my head, and according to the size chart that makes me a Medium. So that's what I bought and it seems fine. I still can't get over how light the helmet is, having been used to wearing a full-face that must have been at least double the Airoh. Whether that amounts to anything at all in real terms, I wouldn't like to guess.

Welcome! I too bought a 300 4T as my first trials bike (well, the first for 47 years, which amounts to much the same thing). Be warned, it feels a bit of a handful at first, but after a while it stops trying to kill you and just settles down to be ambivalent as to whether you die or not. I found a couple of things helped me first off. A slow throttle, which is not the same on the 4T as the 2T. The Amal 80/200 is the thing to get. Also get the carburation right and make sure the idle is a tiny bit faster than you might think. That way it comes in with less of a kick when you crack the throttle open from low speed. Two trials in and I'm loving it. I hope you will too.

Given the reference to 475ml, I assume you're using that in a 2T. I have a 4T and the same oil has to lubricate the engine too. That makes me very reluctant to move away from XW-50 because of the possible effect on engine lube. I'll give one of those a go, I think. From you comments, the Ipone looked like the no-brainer until you slipped in the bit about clutch control. I need all the clutch control I can get. Perhaps it will come down to easy availability. Thanks.

I have two factors to consider: Oil grade. Most oil companies make a 15/50, which is what Beta recommend. I'm just wondering if I could get to 10/50 in order to reduce cold viscosity with no change to what happens when it warms up. Other differences outside of the official grading. Whether Company A puts something into their blend that would make my clutch better than Company B. Total guesswork and wild, unguided experimentation. In either case, to carry out a valid comparison I should totally clean the contents of the engine and gearbox between oils, which realistically isn't going to happen.

Full marks for trying. I'll look forward to your test report. More than that: tell us when it arrives and I'll suggest a few points I'd like to see covered in your test report. They've mentioned two materials (very vaguely) that are supposedly inside the thing. But that gives no indication of how they get from "noble metals and ceramics" to "ionised air" to "more torque". I've got a bit of noble metal permanently wrapped round one finger, and our kitchen cupboard is full of ceramic. So what? None of this is a dig at you, klonheadd, but the more we discuss this, the more aspects of it I find to be sceptical about. Now I'm off to see my homeopathic practitioner, followed by a bit of reiki and some crystal healing.

pschrauber. Your wonky arithmetic doesn't affect the logic of what you say . (33 x 0.25 = 8.3)

Thanks lotus54. 15W60 suggests that the oil viscosity will be the same when cold but greater when hot. While I can appreciate that other factors in the Motul oil may be beneficial, I don't think the grade change is going to help me. If there was a 10W50 I might be tempted by that. Motul do a 10W40 but I would be reluctant to go thinner at high temp. Anyone else got any suggestions?

I didn't see that bit. It's still pretty vague and evasive. Making a bigger effort to avoid Trades Description and all the rest of it. I'd love to know what my "natural frequencies" are though, and how a hologram would have any influence on them. It's claptrap, but at least it's slightly more sophisticated claptrap than this ionising whatchamacallit.

Science and technological improvement is one thing. Dodgy claims with no scientific explanation are another. Where are the power and torque curves to support the claims? What are they actually claiming anyway? Ionising air lets more oxygen into the engine. Is that more oxygen for the same mass of air? In which case, their gadget has made oxygen from nothing. More oxygen because a greater mass of air is going in? How do you link that to ionised air? I'm all for being open-minded about new developments, but I not going to be so open-minded that my brain falls out. It's a shame those unprejudiced trialsworld testers didn't publish some objective data, or open up the gadget to see what was inside.

Interestingly, the Mojo website doesn't seem to make any outlandish claims. It's just a trendy bracelet worn by various celebrities.

I had another little practice session yesterday and did a trial today. Bad cold stick both times, and even a bit when I started up again after I got home (so just a couple of hours of standing). Clutch drag is also there for a few minutes after the first start of the day (even in 3rd gear). So for me, I'm afraid it's not been a success. Perhaps I'm using the wrong oil. It's Silkolene 15W50 fully synthetic. Any suggestions for something better?

Sounds like snake oil to me. Remember those magnets that you strap around a fuel pipe and get more power and better economy? Car manufacturers have been falling over themselves to fit those, haven't they? How does ionising the air (even supposing that the thing actually does that) get more oxygen into the engine? And if you're getting more oxygen, what carburation changes do you need? Trialsworld seem to be impressed, but I'll be kind and say they "saw" what they were looking for. Perhaps the tester normally rides with his wallet in his pocket, and the extra performance came from having lightened it by 250 euros (plus VAT).

Nice trailer!

Panic over! Somehow the idle screw had got turned out a huge amount while the carb was on the bench. (Now who should I blame for that? ) Today I just wound the screw in a lot (lost count of the turns) and I had an idle, albeit too fast now. A few minutes to adjust it down to a nice level and it's all good to go. Feeling happy again. On the subject of the hot start thingie, mine won't stay out on it's own anyway. As I wear the cut-out lanyard on my left wrist, it's quite difficult to pull out the hot start, get my right hand back to the throttle and kick it over before it's popped back in. But it's rarely needed and then only momentarily, so it's not a significant problem.

I may not really have sufficient experience to speak definitively, but I get the feeling the Montesa is the iPhone of trials bikes. High perceived value, very expensive, loyal customers, a bit behind the competition. I shall now put on my tin hat and go and hide.

Right. I put the screw in with thread sealant. It stopped the leak. It also stopped the engine idling properly. It seems to be ridiculously lean on idle. Basically it won't idle, and pops like crazy in the exhaust as the revs fall back from a blip of throttle to stalled. I took it all apart again, and at first I thought the idle jet was blocked (I couldn't see light through it). I blew threw and it cleared so unfortunately it was probably just a little petrol hanging around in there. I've turned the idle screw up about a turn and a half and it still won't run. I'll try some more tomorrow in case I can finally sort something. It's a pain as I should be doing a trial on Sunday. But the good news is that I am getting pretty good at removing and refitting the carb.

According to Gloucester Police, the bikes stolen were: Sherco 2014 250cc Sherco 2016 250cc Sherco 2016 300cc TRS 2018 250cc Beta 2017 250cc Beta 2010 250cc Beta 2018 300cc Montesa 4rt 2005 TRS 2017 Gas Gas 2005 280cc Oset 2017 16.0 Racing Oset 2017 20.0 Racing Jitsie Varial 20" Jitsie Varial Mini A large selection of Wulf Gloves and £500 in cash was also taken. To lift this much, these must have been "professional" thieves. Please, everyone, if you are thinking of buying any bike that fits the above, check the provenance very carefully. If in doubt, contact the police on 101 and quote Incident 65, 31 Oct. For the good of everyone, not just BVM, these scrotes must be dealt with.

The taper is in pretty good condition, but I just think that trying to prevent petrol leaking past a metal-to-metal joint is taking optimism to an absurd degree. I've spoken to Beta UK and BVM and no-one seems to know if there should be an O ring. I'm just going to dollop some thread sealant on it and be done with it. I can't see that I'll ever need to undo it in the future, though it should still be possible with (perhaps) a bit of difficulty. The carb has breather tubes all over the place but none going into the area of the drain. That's another interesting little conundrum with this carb installation: keeping all the plastic tubes away from the exhaust.