trapezeartist

I felt somewhat the same. That was for a new fully-fitted bar with a model-specific electric kit. If I had chosen to go that route I felt it was safest to have the pukka electric kit because modern car electronics are very complicated (and very expensive to repair if you blow something up!). If I was putting a bar on an old nail I would have bought the complete kit on eBay (new, unless I happened to stumble across a good s/h one) for £70-£100. I would have fitted it myself and scotch-locked the trailer electrics into the main loom.

Sorry. I haven't got the bike yet. Having checked measurements though, I reckon I'll need to remove the small rear seat completely, then tuck a wheel into that corner and put the bike diagonally across the space. That looks like it will work with a decent safety margin on the measurements.

I worked my way through all the options before actually making a purchase. I started thinking about a trailer, because I've always had a bit of a passion for trailers over the years. But I don't have room to store one conveniently so it would have to be a collapsible. So that was going to be over £300 for a Dave Cooper (unless I was really lucky and found one secondhand). Then I was quoted £500 for a tow bar for my car . So that was going to be £800 in total and minimal residual value. Then I considered a rack. Same problem with the cost of the tow bar on the car, and the racks I've seen look pretty flimsy. I helped someone load up one day. Once it was on he patted the bike and said something to the effect of "There, that's all nice and secure." It actually flexed something horrible. So I came around to a van (doubling as a second means of transport). I was only planning on spending £1000 or so and everything I saw was awful: high mileage, diesel, battered outside and filthy inside. Finally for £900 I bought a Citroen Berlingo van. It's a petrol, clean inside and out, and "only" 98k miles. I've now been using it for about a month and I'm very pleased with it. It's far from a luxury motor, but it does the job.

Strictly, I suppose you could be liable to an "insecure load", if the bike isn't secured properly. But that would be no different to carrying a load of wood, or boxes, or whatever. I have a Berlingo (same platform) and that has six load-securing points so tying the bike down safely shouldn't be a problem.

Yes, I know they're used but it really is not good engineering. The various suggestions of annealing copper washers seems good, especially if getting some new ones is going to be a lot of trouble (it's not a lot of expense). After heating, the annealing process requires the part to be cooled slowly, so definitely air cooling rather than quenching.

I've never liked the use of banjos on brakes. Best kept for low pressure applications. But if you have to keep it, putting PTFE tape on the threads won't do anything because the thread has nothing to do with the sealing. I don't much fancy fibre washers on brakes either. Have you checked the four surfaces that the two washers bear on? If there are any scratches there, that could be the leak path. Also new copper washers may help, especially if you don't know the provenance of the ol ones. The copper work-hardens.

What have you done to soften the power?

£117 was what he told the long haired chief of staff.

I am reliably informed that no-one has ever been successfully sued for making an effort at first aid, no matter what the final result has turned out to be. The point is, is it better to try and possibly fail, than to not try and certainly fail?

Carbon isn't abrasive. It's a dry lubricant. Have you never rubbed a graphite pencil on something to make it run more smoothly?

"Pinking", "knocking", "bag of spanners". I'm just wondering if you actually had zero squish clearance to start off with ie the piston was hitting the head. In which case an extra 0.9mm of clearance may be a little excessive, but not much.

Oddly enough (or maybe not) it's the same seller for both the bike and the tank.

One high tide? Most places get two of those every day.

Once we've towed you out into the Atlantic I suppose you'll be able to do that if you want. Don't you think the fish woman is missing a trick with her referendum stuff? All she needs to do is extend the referendum to all the UK, and then she should have no problem at all with getting a majority for Scottish independence.

So the clearance is 0.9+(whatever it was before). That's at least double what I was using on my kart engines. And I used to adjust the squish with paper gaskets on the cylinder base.

I recall when 5 star was being phased out. I went to a lot of trouble for a while to go to a place that still sold it, then finally had to fall back on 4 star. It made no difference when I changed. I have always run my competition engines on the best pump fuel available, choosing the best just as a small safeguard that only costs a few pence anyway. Money spent on exotic fuels will always be better spent on more frequent new tyres (unless you already put on new for every event).

Very nice. I like a nice clean design. I can never understand why people want to plaster a bike in free advertising for various companies. Personally I would have skipped the DID stickers on the swing arm and the stuff on the fork sliders too.

I'm surprised that a small squish clearance was causing the problem as I've always worked on the assumption that squish clearance should be small. what did you start with? And what have you got now? The bike's looking very handsome, by the way.

Horrible weather round here. Wind about F5/6, had to wear a fleece outside and right now I can see a cloud over there beside the sunset. I'll get my coat .......

Not in the northern hemisphere, they're not.

Too early to say. I'm hoping for somewhere in the 30s. Plus the benefit of no rattling clanking diesel in the front. Plus the warm feeling that I haven't asphyxiated any small children on my way to a trial.

Well, in the end I bought a car version of a Berlingo. Far better condition for the money than any van I saw, and a petrol to boot! Now I just need the bike to put in it.

Sorry, no specific knowledge of Ossa MARs. But from my recollection of the period, NOTHING was polished. All bare aluminium had a smooth matt finish. If it didn't start that way, it certainly ended up like that after a generous dollop of mud was rubbed into it. Polishing the skid plate? Hell's bells !!! PS I would have thought that aluminium mudguards would be correct for 1973. In which case it is mandatory to have a set of creases just behind the rear frame mounting. The generally approved method is to loop the bike on a big climb, thus bending the mudguard up to vertical. Bend it back down to the normal position and you'll have it just right.