section swept

Crikey, as I step outside the hotel I wouldn’t know which way to look first?

Should be just about done by now and ready for the custard?

It does look good though, all three bikes look good and really interesting?

Should have said ‘hello’...Happy Christmas to you. I know Littleport reasonably well from my boating days on the Great Ouse. Ely used to have a good Marina but its ages since I have ventured to there. ??

Water cooked eh.....how long do you cook the engine in water for? Steam lovers.....can you see any trials bikes in this picture?

Manufacturers secret......sssshhhhhh! If you publish those specifications, then they will be copied straight away as you can’t patent measurements. All that hard development work only to be found repeated on the oppositions bikes.

So you buy a bike that suites the tow ball load.....we’ve been here before....?What if the bike doesnt suite you and your riding style? No one seems to question the tow ball load bearing when they hitch up a trailer or caravan, boat, horse box, trailer with another car on it. I would be more concerned with the structural integrety of the vehicle and the tow bar fitting. The fifth wheel trailer coupling on a lorry is not much bigger than a toe ball and look what that has to deal with! Safety Factor.

The ECU is telling you there is a fault needing diagnosis, you wouldnt by pass limp mode on your car so why do it on your bike?

If you are using a good and reliable engineering/machine shop to rebore your barrel, they should have a pretty good idea on clearances. You didn’t look very hard either, TY Trials have all the details on their web site for Woosner oversize pistons.?

10 4RT’S ar work! What line of work are you in....trials school....forest ranger....??‍♂️??

The year....1967. The location....a council estate, somewhere in Hertfordshire. Next door nieghbour was a gas fitter and ran various bikes as his transport. The bike a new Sprite Trials fitted with a 37A and Sprites expansion chamber exhaust with tail pipe ( this was the standard fitting) . Morning 1 push bike out of shed, strat bike up in the passageway between each house.....face at window with look of thunder...” turn that f#*~ing thing off” ...leap on bike and cladang..bang bang..cladang..bang bang my way down the road toot sweet. That evening when arriving home, next door neighbour in his shed, comes out....”that dammed thing is so noisy, you woke me up. Can’t it be quieter?” Morning 2 push bike out into the street, start bike up ...cladang..bang bang etc.Look up only to see curtains pulled back and neighbours face as black as thunder...remember this is a bloke that runs bike himself!! Ride off sharpish like. Get to work, remove tail pipe and start to work out how to make bike less noisy. Cut two slits in the top side of tail pipe, cut two more in underside but staggered. slip in sheet metal strips so exhaust gas has to work its way down, up, down, up and finally out to atmoshere.....refit tail pipe..start bike...hmmm sounds quieter?. Morning 3 push bike out onto street...start bike....wince a bit...look up....face at window?and?sign...result. Saturday afternoon, go to Val-U Motorcycles, Luton. Buy alloy square barrel, piston and exhaust (which they take off a DOT trials bike in the used bike showroom) wallet lightened by £20 ( a lot of dosh in that time). Fit piston and barrel etc to Sprite and mount exhaust with twin outlet pipes from flat shape silencer box. Monday morning push bike out onto street, smirking as I kick my now (supposedly) more powerful but hopefully quieter Sprite into life.....muffled two stroke noise from tail pipes...no sign of nieghbour...get halfway across estate and bike getting slower and slower....push bike back home...head off...barrel off ?cylinder bore deeply scored and plated bore resembling a crinkle cut chip...piston knackered and rings shredded. Nieghbour comes out shed to see what I‘m up to....takes one look and I learn an expensive lesson...don’t put chrome plated piston rings in a chrome plated bore? I was so annoyed that I threw the square barrel, piston and exhaust ( flange fit nor screw) in the dustbin and refitted the iron barrel and dreaded expansion chamber exhaust. As I was an apprentice mechanic and still learning my craft, youth enthusiasm or stupidity call it what you like didn’t register that those parts now binned could have been salvaged☹️Lesson learned!

Car wash looks a bit well used. At least you can still see the bike!

Winter jetting....off to sunnier places.?

Could be that as you ride you increase the clamping force of your right hand and this intensifies the muscle cramp and hence numbness. Enduro riding, trying to maintain speed and holding on while traversing undulating going leaves little chance to concentrate on throttle control, so you stick out your index finger to cover the brake lever, do this for the clutch as well and you will find the numbness abates. I have found this a very comfortable mode for road riding long distsnce too! Most riders do this and it tends to relax the hold on the bars and improves feel through the bars.? You only use all of your fingers to grip the bars when really going fot it!

I seem to remember that the ‘works riders’ travelled light and fiened any need for extra waterproofing, unless of course you were wearing Elgrin stuff. The favoured option ( I’m going to show my age here) was to find a fertiliser bag and with suitable holes cut you slipped a polythene bag over your head popped your arms out each side and heypresto instant waterproof covering. Pah to your Goretex yet to be invented miracle material.

You are only as good as you can get....the fact someone else wins is not an indication of their ability, just that this time they were more lucky than you....next time!

Despite not knowing Richard Thorpe or PJ1 as he was known on TC it is a great shame that another fellow competitor has been taken from us by such an evil desease. Long may his memory as an enthusiast and fellow rider be remembered. Our past is only that which a few remember, but he will carry on with the pictures and remarks of friends and fellow riders as history carries those memories forever onward. Rest in peace and ride forever......

Such endearing qualities in your reference to her who must be obeyed. No saucepans as a big present this year then!

Come on you Enduro riders where are your stories, competition input and technical issues!

Told you so!

Looks like this lots been soaked and left to its own devices. It pays not to mess around skirting around the edges hoping someone will suggets the ‘ultimate fix’ without pulling the flywheel. I dont know why this is as pulling the flywheel off is relatively easy. There are companies that will supply all that you need, some of the original compmonents may be restorable but Id look at new items. This story could have been much shorter if you had just got on with the real job and pulled the flywheel......sorry that sounds a bit stern, but that was whats needed to sort the issue??

Just need a good Brexit plan and all will be sweetness and light! So fed up with beaurocracy in all forms that it just pushes those with good intentions out comletely and leaves the greedy and self promoting to bath in the opinionated aftermath.

But you see you make the numbers up and the winner is that much further infront of you.....but without you crashing down to earth the winner has only themselves to beat! Without you they would be just finishers.?

Without runners up there would be no champions?

This is exact.y what happens to one who is smitten with their sport, no compromise. You carry on as you are, 125’s rule if you feel comfortable. A 250 is just a bigger piston covering the same ground?? Useless and useful content always available 24/7??‍♂️??‍♂️?