turbofurball

If you go on ebay you can order a pitbike brake hose by length very cheaply. They work fine, just make sure the angles at the fittings match to what you need.

Wasn't that back before they had the manual clutch?

It's a trials bike with a couple of tiny modifications to make it nicer for trails, not the other way 'round. They're a good bike for mortal human riders for trials in general.

Damn, sorry to hear about this Fingers crossed it crops up on Gumtree or ebay or something

Well put, I hope everyone has happy and healthy holidays wherever they are (and gets to go out on their bikes )

Old type paint stripper would probably do it, worth trying acetone as mentioned above or new-type brake cleaner first though since they're less toxic. Regarding the pinholes, if patched with epoxy you run the risk of getting more rust under where it's applied and ending up with a bigger problem - IMO it's worth properly welding if you have the option

Given your weight, experience, and locale, any ~2000 or newer 250 2 stroke from one of the main manufacturers would be good (Gasgas, Sherco, Montesa, Beta), with a slow throttle. Usually I say always start on a 125, however on mountain trails they struggle with anyone over 200lbs on a long climb. Condition is more important than age (eg. my '99 Sherco is in better condition than some 2 year old bikes) but be prepared to do a full top-to-bottom service on any used bike. Buy carefully, there's a lot of ragged-out heaps for sale. With your height you might want to get taller bars rather than bar risers, just bear in mind that you may have to get longer hoses and throttle cable if it's by more than an inch or so ... you might need to experiment here, different things work for different people! One last tip, remember that trials bikes have a limited range, if you want to go deep into the mountains you might want something like a 4Ride, Alp, or Pampera instead

Don't get me wrong, it's not a perfect substitute, but the wheels will pull you in the same directions

Regarding turning on hills, the biggest thing for me was learning to lean the bike rather than myself, and how the bike will naturally pull in counterintuitive directions sometimes ... I cracked that by going out on my mountain bike and using a bit of smooth railway embankment to practice on

One tip, which really helped me early on, was that I asked my local club for a bit of help getting started and they asked an experienced (and willing) member to "babysit" me - they watched me in the sections and gave lots of advice, and I got to see how they rode too

Yeah, apart from the lack of a seat trials bikes are like Easy Mode for single track

Yes, but it can't be modified

They're overdue for an electric bike at an achievable price ...

Get a slow action throttle throttle tube, work on your throttle control, consider getting lessons. The problems you describe are exactly why I often post here recommending starting on a 125 ... BUT, you already have a bike that works ok so at this point stick with it - trials is hard, hence the name. If you can master beginner routes you'll already be a better rider than most people out there green laning

I'd like to be able to like this post more than once - I couldn't say it any better myself

Well, unless the bikes bent it should still ride fine, would be a good thing to negotiate the price down on

About the same here, and about 1 liter every 2 hours if I'm just out trail riding with my other half (she only pootles along off road)

I do seriously think it would be really good, have a catering van do bacon sarnies and cups of tea, break out the wellies and bobble hats, etc And although not quite period correct it's possible to get safe helmets that look '70s style reasonably cheaply ... I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a nice '80s outfit that matches my bike, should there be room for a twinshock revival trial too ...

Seriously, there's routes there suitable for kids on 10" Ossets, lol

It's really nicely laid out, there's lots of separate areas through which one can find different routes for different abilities so you can circle around one bit a bunch of times trying different things or do a bit of a tour. Always have a good walk around anything before trying it, and maybe ride through in a very easy line to begin with because things look a bit different when you're on the bike. There's one pit, however, that can be difficult to get out of when muddy, so keep an eye out for that (though if you do get stuck just ask for help, everybodys friendly!)

Exactly, and you need a guy in tweed with a big mustache to record the marking. Seriously, it would be a lot of fun to dress up in early '60s clothes and go watch, get some hipsters to break out their super 8s to film it, and TTSpud could get competitive if he wanted to be - win-win

It's hard to adapt to a changing world, and harder still to accept something loved is moving along with it, when the driving force behind those changes is a community you're a member of. Maybe what TTSpud needs, more than a rule book, is to form a historic trials recreation society - like battle reenactment, only with less pikes and more bikes.

Now I'm wondering if there's a neat way to press them out in one go without breaking anything

For reference, it's normal to skip using 1st gear altogether unless doing very technical stuff