trapezeartist

Try http://www.gasgasmotos.es/en/manuals.html The manuals I've looked at there have the service intervals near the front and the torque settings near the back.

Far more important than the colour-scheme, I like it for it's design: I like the frame construction, I like the forged swinging arm, I like the offset rear spring/damper (creates a lot of offset loading, but everything is so stiff I'd be confident that it is "good enough" (oni nou )). The real proof would be in the performance though.

That age-old design conundrum: is "good enough" good enough? As a returner to trials I have no direct experience of the GasGas kickstart: someone complained about it not being good enough. I looked at it purely like I would look at any new design and commented on what I see as the potential cons. If the known problems with it don't correspond to my hypothetical criticism of the design, I'm happy to accept it as "good enough".

If you're adequately hydrated, consider the headaches may be due to tension in the back of the neck (you spend a lot of time with your torso leaning forward and you head up). I used to suffer similar. Solution: take a paracetamol before the headache starts.

I quite like it, insofar as it matters at all. Quite an interesting bit of two-colour trickery at the steering head.

I'm not convinced the design is OK. The fine serrations need to be held to very close tolerances, and even then, a steel shaft in an aluminium body! If it has to be steel and aluminium, I would prefer to see a slot and pinch-bolt.

What's the difference between a TXT and a TXT Pro?

When I came to photo 3 I expected to find a micro-model resting on the seat. Now that would be cool

There was one of those (or something very like it) at the last trial I observed on. I was intrigued, but by the time I had packed up my section and got back to the car park it seemed that the bike had gone home. Despite looking like a Honda 50 engine, it seemed to have enough poke for the modest climbs on my section, and it sounded nice in a 4-strokey sort of way.

Although I've done some pretty awful things to iron liners in the past, using emery cloth, I wouldn't do it to nikasil. And I'm not sure green scotchbrite is much better. There is a white scotchbrite which is described as "non-abrasive" but I think that must mean "less abrasive". I've never used it, but I might be tempted to try it on the marks left from a piston seizure.

Very interesting. Thanks.

I'm not sure what a ball hone is. Is it one of those things that looks like a bottle brush with a little knobble of abrasive on the end of each "bristle"? If so I wouldn't use it on a 2 stroke cylinder as the balls will go into the ports and possibly round off the edges.

TYs seem to be the frames people modify the most. I'm still trying to come to grips with all this. Looking at your photo it looks like you have also cut off the rear frame loop and the bit under the engine. Is that right? I worry a bit about removing the rear loop in case it allows the rear suspension pickups to clap hands a bit. (Any comments, anyone?) What was involved under the engine? New, thicker, bashplate? Any other extra brackets?

Obviously the piston has nipped-up at some time. It's worth cleaning up the scoring on the piston with fine emery and see what it's like then. As for the bore, you can still see the honing marks at the bottom below the ports so I would guess the bore is generally good, especially as you can't detect a ridge above the top ring. I would clean up the bore with a soft, fine abrasive and see how it looks then. Not sure exactly what to use as I've never done it on a nikasil bore.

Probably doing about 15,000 rpm, though we didn't have rev counters in those days. I worked out the mean piston speed once and it was crazy high. Added to tiny narrow bridges in the exhaust port which wore quickly, and that was the reason for the frequent rebores.

It was an Upton Manx (using Komet internals) that came unstitched due to the big-end failure. I did subsequently use both Parilla and TKM. They were all ridiculously fragile motors. Thankfully the world has moved on.

If it's any consolation, when I was karting in about 1980, piston rings lasted 1.5 hours, it needed a rebore and piston at 3 hours and a big-end at 6 hours. There were some alloy-caged big-ends that were only good for 1.5 hours but I didn't know that. You can guess how I found out.

Quote from the Amazon page: "Smallest meter available (19 inches x 1 inches x 59 inches)" That might prove quite tricky to fit on a bike!

Great value and quality (I would imagine). Shame about the colour.

Could it be that the engine appears to idle at 1800 rpm because the engine produces a spark every 360deg even though it only needs one every 720deg? I know old Hondas like my CD200 work that way. Perhaps the modern Honda in a Montesa does too.

And if you have any doubts over the cleanliness of your fuel you should be filtering it as you pour it in the tank.

I hope I didn't come over as grumpy. I wasn't saying that the riders were insincere; just that the multiple thanks sounded insincere. I'm totally happy with the friendliness-factor in trials (and every other sport I've been involved in).

Oh good, a Yank. I can offend you too. Easy target! (There I go. Done it already.) But thanks for all the advice, guys. I'll have to draw a conclusion on the frame breaking issue, and for the moment I'm going to conclude that it probably only affects a few examples. As I'll be buying something several years old, I suspect that if no-one else has managed to break it, I probably won't either. I have to say that having looked around a couple of GGs at a trial earlier in the week, the welding was pretty ugly. By way of contrast the welding (bronze welding probably) on a Whitehawk Yamaha was absolutely beautiful. I just had to stand a gaze on it with awe.

Thanks, All. Broken frames are mentioned again, like in my GasGas thread. However if I bought say an '09 it will be 7 years old. If no-one else has broken it by then, I don't think I'm likely to.

May I offer a slightly different angle on this? As a returner to trials after half-a-lifetime, I am pretty much a newcomer. Until I get a bike of my own I'm attending trials and observing. I offer myself as an observer in order to help, learn, get involved and because I enjoy it. I don't observe in order to be thanked, paid a few quid in petrol money or given a cup of coffee. Last Tuesday I observed on a trial, and a seriously chilly day it was too. On the last lap I would guess about 80% of riders said "Thanks for observing." Exactly those words, every time. When it's repeated over and over it starts to sound insincere, no matter how sincerely it's really meant. I didn't feel any better towards those who said it, or worse towards those who didn't. Perhaps it's just me.