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Move to a warmer State. I’d be guided by the manufacturers recommendations as they know best for their product. The plus side of removing the battery from the bike means it’s less of a target for thieves. The other plus side is that your battery will be easier to look after out of the frame, so the bike stays in the garage all wrapped up in blankets with a few dehumidifier blocks as well. The battery you can keep in the house somewhere safe and warm near a power point for charging...preferably where you can vent to atmosphere safely. We all tend to charge phones, hoovers and other battery devices in the house without a second thought so why not your bike battery. ?

David Silver Honda Spares

Hello Fullofdays, are you not riding as well as your son. ?

Hi Spencerphoto, bet you caused quite a stir turning up with a spider face hugger and a snake wrapped around you!? Without guys like you recording what guys like us get up to with our sport, there would be very little to get enthusiastic about?

Ah stickers, where oh where would we be without......stickers. With a new design of sticker on a 2013 machine people will think it’s a 2020 bike, but they won’t be out until at least mid 2019! So when you vector in you’ll be easily confusing us.

Engine number and contact your nearest knowledgeable dealer...google will do that bit for you?

A shark fin would be a nice looking trinket or bit of bling on a Trials bike, some bikes do wear them from new but they are considerably smaller and more flat. A shark fin as used in road racing would probably be wiped out in the very first section. The gearbox sprocket could also be considered as a toe masher on some bikes where so much of the original casing has been removed to prevent mud clogging etc. Some rear brake pedals serve a dual purpose and deflect any itinerant feet from ending up as pulp in the chain. The shark fin is there more to keep trailing feet from being mashed by the chain and rear sprocket as in Super Moto and other fast sports. Trials being slower and the rider being more about balance and not so much about broad sliding. It’s surprising that more attention is paid to the riders head gear than a thrashing chain, those bike catchers when a rider bales off are really brave. It’s only when you come to road use that a chain guard is even mentioned. If your Fantic has all its chain tensioner sand guides in place there should be no real problem. Now wait for the deluge of posts saying otherwise.?

You can be quite forceful when replacing just the odd spoke or two, when they are new their quite strong and will take a bit of flexing before they bend...which is what you don’t want. I changed four without loosening or removing and that was with a much earlier hub where the spokes entered from both inside and outside the hub flange. A little oil where the spoke contacts the hub works wonders. As your hub presents spokes that block the entry of a replacement in the adjoining hole in the hub you will need to remove or at least have the blocking spoke very loose. Just be careful on tightening up the new and old spokes, use thin oil on the threads to help and tap tune tighten so that all spokes ring the same?

Sounds as though you have some excessive wear in the casing, as the shaft is harder there might only be negligible wear on that, but check for wear in both case and shaft. The case could be bored out a small amount and a sleeve inserted as an interference fit. Simply Bearings and other suppliers can provide you with a suitable sleeve/bush or you may know someone that can make one for you, although one from a supplier shouldn’t be more than a few pounds. While you are checking the shaft make sure it’s not bent, it only needs to be a tiny bit out to mess up any oil seal. Check the parts manual if you can, I’m not sure if there should be a washer on the inside of the shaft to help prevent the oil deluging the seal.

Oil in any enclosed space being thrown, splashed about by centrifugal force and heat introduced into the equation and oil will try to escape from the smallest of gaps including worn bushings and pivots. When you look at properly designed gearboxes etc very often a splash shield, oil slinger or guard is included to prevent excess oil splatter overcoming any seal or shaft bushings. As a suggestion, have a look at the oil filler plug, does the thread go down deeper than the thread in the casing, if not this could be the reason for the oil trying to come up the filler. It’s not a pressure problem that you have it’s either too much oil and too much splash, you wouldn’t build enough pressure up in a few seconds as you say before the oil came out of the breather hole that is too close to the casing to be effective. The bike was ok before you dumped the oil so lookmsgsin at the quantity of oil you are putting back in?

Cutting the headstock can be one method to alter the steering head angle, however you need to have a good knowledge of what you are doing and the correct methods to employ. Welding back to the frame needs to be done by a competent operator. Quickening the steering is the reason for this mod and I would doubt its needed when you can as pjw123 suggests replace the yokes, this gives you the option to return the bike to standard. There are lots of people cutting their frames and altering this and that but it looks to me like it’s a fad thing as you don’t see these people getting any better results maybe a confidence booster in some cases. Another way to quicken the steering without massive metalworking is to just fit slightly longer rear damper/spring units or move the locating points ( a bit more complicated then it seems. Road bike riders often raise the forks at the front end ..actually sounds daft but the forks are raised up through the yokes by x amount of mm. As you are an advanced member you might already know some of this, but you have a very good handling bike as it is, assuming it’s in fine fettle and may just benefit from reappraising the initial set up and your riding....no disrespect intended here...? Over to the ‘head mods’ dept.?

Those linings will be very good a provide a brake that actually slows you down rather act as a useless appendage. Have a look at DK (breakers) they have three early Bultaco front wheels for you to inspect on their web site, smooth hub, ribbed hub, full width and a clue as to the original bike they came from?

I wouldn’t think most owners would have the mixture screw ‘roughly’ set, more like as close to perfect as possible. You need to have everything nicely warmed up and the air filter clean and the throttle checked for free action, better the bike is ridden to get it to normal heat. With bike held upright, not leaning on side stand or against a wall and the engine idling move the mixture screw a tiny amount in ( imagine the screw as a watch face so a tiny amount would be from say 12.00 to 12.05) now listen to the engine and next move the screw the same amount but out. Do all adjustments in slow precise movements, no wild twiddling ...you’ll get lost and upset the engine. Note the engine idle and sound, using this method together with the idle screw you should be aiming to achieve the smoothest, slowest and consistent engine idle. Once you have this it is a matter of personal preference if you want to have the engine idling a little faster, in which case adjust the idle screw only to increase the idling...do not alter the mixture screw. When you blip the throttle you want smooth transition from the idle jet through to the main jet ...clean carburration in other words...as most trials bikes are ridden at slow speeds in sections apart from climbs and jumps etc you want the engine to be as jerk free as possible. Just setting the carb to someone’s “mines on 3/4 turns” is not necessarily what your carb may need it might be close but not perfect?I have assumed your bike has a Keihin carb...although most carbs are adjusted in the same manner. These bikes are good and have plenty of urge right across the rev range.?

As you have made a hole in the oil filler, the shear amount of oil that will be thrown about by the gears etc will soon flood that hole you made. Here’s a pic or two of what’s needed. If you removed the filler plug and ran the engine obviously there would be loads of oil being thrown out, your breather hole just reduces the amount trying to escape. With a plastic pipe routed up and into the frame or somewhere where water is unlikely to get into the pipe. You might see a small amount of oil but it will just sink back into the clutch case or gearbox as you will see on my bike. Changing the crankshaft oil seals is still a very good idea. The breather might just be a tiny hole drilled into the highest point of the gearbox or clutch casing. Any air trapped in the box when being used will heat up and expand, to some extent so to the oil. This pressure (positive) will need to go somewhere so usually it will escape from the weakest point IF the original breather is clogged up, this escape could be the clutch pivot shaft, gear change shaft seal or out put shaft seal. This is a common problem that affects all types of stuff from bikes to cars to trucks etc. The worst effects are from a blocked engine breather where the gas builds up and saps engine power (4T).

And the fault was?

Woody, apologies to you I was convinced my M80 front hub was not full width, of course it is. Realised when I referred back to my photo files....there it was all nice and full width??

My M80 is a1972 and has the full width style hub, except the drum is cast iron lined and the bearing housing is heavily webbed. It also has Arkront rims. Think the full width hubs were pre 73/4 fitting. Reckon your close at Pursang or Alpina

Mick.

Much longer dabs!

Try this....lay the bike on its side to give you the best access and line of sight to the selector detent plunger....the part you inadvertantly removed.....you are not alone in this, many people (who should know better) have performed this er cock up! Mainly car mechanics who think they know everything who sound very surprised when they realise they’ve just released the reverse gear idler pinion or mechanism. What you are going to try and do is put your gear selector mechanism back to the position it was in before the aforementioned hiccup. With the detent nut removed, carefully extract the spring and ball bearing. I am presuming that the gear box was in neutral at the time of causing the problem. Gently move the gear-lever up and ensuring that you can see into the hole vacated by the detent plunger, now move the lever down, only enough for you to register movement say no more than 4-5 mm. Now look carefully at the selector drum (the bit you could see inside moving). Push a small flat bladed screwdriver into the first recess on the selector you can see. Gently feel the movement on the gear-lever. If you move the lever you should feel some pressure on the screwdriver. Hold the lever in the mid position ( this where you felt the pressure on the screwdriver) now remove the screwdriver and look into the detent hole, you should be able to see the shift cam (selector cam) notch for neutral. Insert the bearing spring and detent retainer bolt with washer and tighten fully home. This ensures that you have everything back in place. Try the gear lever movement gently, if it is still excessive then you may have to gain access to the gear selector mechanism behind the casing where the gear lever shaft comes through. There was a problem with the two pins that sit in the cam, tiny metal particles ( the sort any gearbox generates) can make the pins sieze in and not do there job when a gear is being selected. This needs the pins freeing and the holes easing out as the tolerances were too tight. This is the cause of many owners saying that their bikes selector moves through a larger degree than normal on other makes of bike. Of course you may be lucky and find that it’s just the selector mechanism behind the case that has either broken the selector return spring or slipped it off the locating post. Either way if you study up on the workshop manual you ought to be able to figure out the fault. It was ok before so it can’t be that difficult. I hope my longish suggestion helps you rectify the fault....it’s always difficult to diagnose at a distance.??

Lion cage with nothing round your neck is far more entertaining, if you’re lucky you’ll get a nice wet slurpy lick before being chewed to bits.? Diesel engined vans like the Vito have had injector issues, the injector seat sealing washer burns through ( minutely) and allows burning gases to blow up the side of the injector which causes carbon build up and seizes the injector into the cylinder head injector space. Not helped by the fact that on some the rain water gets into the injector head space and rusts the injector body to the head. There are guys in the UK with all the specialist equipment just doing this repair alone. You can tell when a seals blown by the clicking noise that it makes. Be aware of this issue before buying, the seals cost peanuts but the tooling required to re seat the injector and/or replace the injector with new can be very expensive.

Beta or Scorpa would be my immediate choice but a lot comes down to condition and all the points raised previously. Both are relatively tough and not that difficult to work on. Scorpa has a Yamaha based engine and some will recommend this make due to strong motor. Jotagas in the minority, not so many showing up, they are now known a JGAS and build good quality machines and electric bikes. You might like the Jotagas but check out spares and instructions. A friendly warning, rear suspension can work out to be very expensive if you need to replace worn out damper units. Rebuilds can be dear if a serviceable item. At the end of the day sit on the bike, ride it if possible. YOU MUST test that the engine starts from cold, if the engines been warmed up be suspicious, keep the seller talking long enough for the engine to cool right down. Start it up and listen for excessive noises such as piston slap/rattle, the motor should rev up crisply, the clutch may drag when cold, this is not a bad thing as many bikes suffer this issue, but it should clear fully when hot. Ensure all the gears are there and working. Listen out for the cooling fan cutting in and cutting off. Hold the front brake on sitting astride the bike, put a finger next to the steering head so that you can feel the fork and the frame, rock the bike back and forth, any play means either strip and clean or readjust, the head bearings could also be worn...usual on many bikes... negotiate money off. If the bikes registered for the road, you don’t necessarily need lights but that restricts you to daytime clear weather riding you will need a working electric powered horn and speedo. Bulb type horns are allowed for pre-73 bikes...in case you go twin shock.

My M80 has a lot of reinforcing webbing cast into the hub, yours doesn’t. Everything in your photos points to early Bultaco...late 60’s to early 70’s. Brake shoe spring doesn’t look right (I could be wrong). Brake drum looks as though there is no cast iron lining, my M80 has this so your wheel may be approximately 74 on and possibly a Pursang component, I think the wheels are all the same but the wheel spindles may differ.

If the flywheel has come loose it may well be touching the inside of the flywheel cover, that’ll make a hell of a noise. So as crash monkey says check those rivets as well as the centre nut.

Well obviously you need a CJM 280? Budget, your DIY ability and preferences for either 2T or 4T. There is a wide choice of very capable machinery and you would do no worse than to check out TC Classifieds for a worthy first bike, in reality a Beta, or Sherco would be a good bet, but stick with a 250....don’t run before you can walk...Once you’ve decided on engine type go for the cleanest, best maintained, well documented and genuine bike. You may have a full bike licence so might want to go for one that is already registered for the road. Do your research carefully, it’s a buyers market out there and the ? is king! Private or from a dealer compare prices and what you get for your money. If the bike has done the SSDT check it very carefully, but then again some bikes that don’t get used much can be just as bashed about. Take someone knowledgable when you view your choices. A good way of getting a good bike and making friends with like minded people is to join a club and then ask the members, you might even consider the twin-shock class as a less dramatic entry (return) to trialing. Whatever you do have fun and enjoy the whole experience?