For my two pennies worth.....the pace of life (up until Covid-19) has crept up steadily so that few have the time to turn around and travel hither and thither to ride in a trial. This after a working week involving travelling back and forth covering quite substantial distances. Then there’s family time and the commitments that go with everyday living. No wonder then that trials are suffering reduced entrants. As some have already said the difficulty of the sections and chances of injury are increased with level of severity such that riders are selling their bikes and kit, changing to another less stressful hobby. The older competitors closer to retirement or with more sedentary jobs head for the less threatening and more ridable, less acrobatic and less athletic pre-65 and twinshock events. Witness to this is borne out by the seemingly endless increase in older machinery values whilst the modern stuff has a rapid depreciation. Something else that is just as telling, there used to far more trials taking place in the UK during the 60’s and 70’s along with more works or supported riders. With no British bike industry to speak of any more with no trials or competition models manufactured (one off’s excepted) is it any wonder the sport is contracting. I can’t afford to pay the price of a new machine just to risk throwing it and myself at some virtually unridable courses and end paying for replacement parts or injuring myself. You might say the same about a twinshock or pre 65 bike but then the courses are less threatening. There has been too much change to the sport, spectators don’t necessarily want to stand about watching failed attempts at some impossibly hard section, they can go to an indoor trial for that and watch the circus acts. The average rider doesn’t spend 4-5 days training in the gym and on the bike, hold down a daytime job or have the luxury of limitless bike parts/bikes. So thats my take on the current situation, a personal opinion aired.
TRX bui lt in or near Hull using HMP inmates to produce frames with a Russian engine , aimed at the schoolboy trials market...almost bought one until i checked the history.
That TRX might be RTX already mentioned, well it has been a long list.
I will be getting the stock air box. I was the trials master at our February event. While Iwas just minding my business busy at the scoring table an older gentleman walked up to me and asked if he could show a bike. 5 minutes later he pushes up the 348 and a few minutes later it was mine. The bike had belonged to his neighbor most of it`s life. He was a Harley builder and for sake of ease tossed the air box and put on the cheap filter. If I keep her she will spend the rest of her days a trophy Queen in my office with all the wall junk I have from 50 years of competition. By the way 294 miles on her and not a scratch on the frame.
The RL appears to have an incorrect tank, not just because of the colour but because the nose of the tank usually has longer front pieces. The one fitted doesn’t appear to fit, going from properly the picture.
Take plenty of tools with you because when you drop the bike it will most likely get swamped and try to drink loads of sparkling river/stream water. You will need the tools to extract water. You probably carry some tools any way. If you should happen to ‘lose it’ if you can hit the kill button or yank the lanyard to stop the engine running and trying to turn itself into a water pump, so much the better. If you are riding in an organised trial....(unlikely at the moment).... the water sections should not be too deep but rocks will either be smooth or have weed or lichen like growth that will be very slippery. To ride the rock or rocks aim to place the bike as squarely as you can to the rock, lifting the front wheel in plenty of time to touch down on the top of the rock, then throw your body weight forward and use the throttle gingerly to pull the bike over the rock. When its a collection of rocks try to pick a route that allows you to face each obstacle squarely, with rocks you shouldn’t really approach off angle as the rock will deflect the front wheel off your line.....potentially a bike drop problem.
As the carb kit comes from a ‘Cub’ specialist, I would have thought that the set-up should to be close for good carburation. A lot may depend upon the state of tune for a particular engine. Certainly as the carb is new a thorough check of the internals would not go amiss....no disrespect to the suppliers. What air filter are you using as the type of filter can have an effect upon fuel mixture. Another consideration, not all engines of the same type are equal; so what suits one may not be the ideal for another. Thai-ty’s suggestions are the way to go, in the first instance. I have to say that I find the Mikuni carb to be longer lasting than Amal....having been brought up on a mixed diet of various Amal types, I found they tend to wear quite quickly. I run a Mikuni on my 348 which had been run by the previous owner with just a wire mesh for a filter and no air box....having made an airbox of sufficient air volume and a dual foam filter element to run with filter oil (the sticky stuff). The jetting had been altered to suit the no air filter and altitude (bike was in USA) with a much larger main jet and different from spec needle and larger pilot jet and in the UK it ran quite rich....as you might expect. Returning to standard jets and needle supplied by In Motion the bike ran much sweeter, very crisp off idle and no hesitation on throttle blip, no staggering or hiccuping and consistent idle. 2T and not 4T I know but I hope there is some useful info to help. In my experience some Cubs tended to spit back and cough when snapping the throttle open, but as you describe the front pipe discolouring I would say this is normal especially if running the engine in a shed i.e. bike stationary.....its going to discolour unless you have a twin tube exhaust (unlikely). Potentially the float level could have changed due to in transit bumping in the post. Is the engine aTR20 with higher comp. ratio and lower gear box ratios or is it a road orientated engine. The front pipe should end up with a blue band next to the fixing clamp changing to golden partway along the bend and then chrome unless your front pipe is stainless, the colour will be similar and indicates normal running.
I would suggest that at 100 (this is the standard across the Cub range and 90 also speccd) the main jet is not flowing enough fuel and the weak mixture is causing the discolouration you describe. Try a 105 or even 110 but raise the needle a notch first to see if any improvement can be observed. What bore is your Mikuni carb VM 20 or VM 22 ? Either way I would be very interested in how you get on...maybe your father is looking down wishing you success, whatever enjoy every minute with the Cub ?
The decals on the tank/seat unit might indicate the bikes age as 1978. The manufactured year dates are not to clear on the websites. I have a 1976 348 Malcom Rathmell Replica but it could easily be a 1977. The MRR was only made for one year then the signature was removed from the seat/tank unit, but reintroduced at some later stage....just to add confusion. I am no font of knowledge on this but for registration purposes contact the Montesa Importer in the UK and ask if they will supply you with either a dating certificate or letter of confirmation as to the year of manufacture.
I see you or someone has moved the footrests down and back, neat job! Watch that kickstart....you can knock a hole in the crankcase if you swing the kicker too far round.....check out on this website. Enjoy your 348 it should pull like a train and be quite spritely on the road too!
Could be that there are far more Olhins than Reiger units out there world wide, on all types of machine, apart from two wheel products. Hence there is more criticism of Ohlins, possibly for faults or issues reported by whatever means, whereas Reiger with less units out there would appear to have less issues when compared to Ohlins. So as an example Ohlins with 400 units and Reiger with 200 units and 10 reported faults or inadequacies in performance, Reiger looks better when in fact the Ohlins is better.
As most new trials machines look very similar, if you stripped all the identifying decals (‘stickers’) off some of us might have difficulty in identifying (apart from paint/plastics colour) each make. Most bikes will ride the same i.e. like a trials bike, so maybe the riders abilities, weight, riding stance, physical performance and to some extent age and balance should be considered. We don’t all rush out and change the suspension on our cars, vans etc. because most of us would not have the technical ability or experience to relate what was happening during a test drive or during normal motoring. If you have have seen an experienced rider (race driver to) of any bike sport check their suspension before riding to test or race, you may have noticed that they make the front and rear move (bounce if you will) even though they have spent many track hours testing various settings, even changing tyre pressures. They do this because, apart from a safety point of view, they now that temperature change affects suspension performance. Anyone who has done a track day will be aware that suspension damping ‘goes off’ the more the suspension is worked under acceleration, braking, rider input and track surfaces. So comparing the action of two different dampers (shock absorber) will be like chalk and cheese. Unless you use the same bike on the same section, with the same rider in the same kit at the same bike suspension set-up or use a sophisticated test rig. Look at the average trials rider, most will have different riding apparel. Most will be different weights and of vastly differing physical stance and fitness. A fair test of one type of damper (shock absorber) in my view no! On the traction point, tyre types and pressure differences need to be considered along with section surface i.e. slushy mud, clay type mud etc.
Too many variables, so I’ll be sticking with twin shock and cheapo suspension. When all the product sponsorship vanishes, so to will the sponsored riders perseverance with the equipment they have to use.
Theres just something about a ‘special’ maybe its character or just that its not like all the rest! There’s an idea, forget all those classes, easy route, hard route etc ...just have a ‘specials’ route.
Don’t forget the staircase, this provides a good practice zone, I have three floors to go up (and down) but it does take it out of the plaster. You may need to cut down on handle bar width.
With no dealers and no one riding trials you are going to be hard pressed to compete. Heaven only knows after the Covid-19 just how many trials dealers/manufacturers will be still in business. A number of options are, find a dealer that will sell you a bike and spares in the current situation.....doubtful. How are you legitimately going to find and buy any bike from anywhere? As you ride already balance and technique will more than likely quickly develop the more you practice trials. You should go for (according to your funds) something that has been well cared for, is reliable and easy to ride. As you have MX experience you will know which MX bikes are most likely to spit you off the back or try to rip your arms off. So its the same thing for trials bikes, but as you cant test them you will need to do your research carefully. In your situation I would be looking very favourably at a Beta or Montesa with in my case a 2T engine. Hope you work it out and get something that you grow to like. Check out the reliability and issues on this web site.
Crankcase (crankshaft) oil seals leaking allowing crankcase compression out and air in causing erratic or no idle and hesitance on initial engine revving/ acceleration. And as already mentioned weak ignition spark....possibly both faults likely..
To pass some time try bpvideolibrary.com and type trials in search bar. Classic BP videos from 60’s. Trial and error, champions on two wheels and six days in Scotland.
Could be that when a rider costs up each event that they compete in say transport, fuel and food etc, say a nominal £30 for something local. Obviously the further away the event the costs increase. Now from the point of view of the observer, travel, parking fuel and food. Plus having to stand in one place and observe fairly (section) while all the riders go through. Comfort breaks, just taking the weight off and obviously toileting, where is that going to happen, for a rider its a little different they can just pop off into a secluded area....the observer can’t just disappear for however long it takes. Weighing that up with the similar travel costs for an observer to get to the event £15-£20 from the club even with a food voucher thrown in is not really offsetting an observers investment (not everyone likes burgers or to eat food from a vendors van. Weekends too are important for the social aspects of family life as opposed to standing about, wet, cold and watching someone else have a good ride, fun and enjoyment.
The idea that each club rider should perform observer duties so many times a year sounds like a positive suggestion. Last time I volunteered to observe by responding to a request the organiser never even bothered to acknowledge my offer. So I unmade my planned Sunday absence from family life and stayed warm-and dry in the comfort of home.
The number of routes and the severity of some sections makes observing a bit tricky, with riders jostling for a view of the same section very often obscuring the observers sight of the rider under observation. Another reason for a lack of observers perhaps.
Hi all, I need some help please with assembling the forks on my Beamish. It's been quite some time since I took them apart so my memory for the position of the parts is faint, The drawing of the forks on the Beamish owners club differs from mine so i'm uncertain as to the position of all the parts.
I'm hoping someone on this forum has pictures of the correct assembly for the parts in the picture I have attached. my main concern is for the position of the small springs on the damper rod. Thanks in advance. Phil.
Much to clean to re assemble, put them in a show case and hang it in your living room.? You could try Just Bearings...involves a bit of looking through but usually very helpful.
The 250 is more ‘peppy’ than the 325, this larger engine has much more pulling torque and in my opinion is easier to control. The porting obviously will have an effect upon engine response. Mine was an ex Comerfords bike and was really soft and easy to ride, where as my mates 325 was a bit of a handful both the same model bike but chalk and cheese in the tune department.
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Your uncorking parties must be interesting.
Is this Forum actually about Trials?
in General Trials Talk
Posted
For my two pennies worth.....the pace of life (up until Covid-19) has crept up steadily so that few have the time to turn around and travel hither and thither to ride in a trial. This after a working week involving travelling back and forth covering quite substantial distances. Then there’s family time and the commitments that go with everyday living. No wonder then that trials are suffering reduced entrants. As some have already said the difficulty of the sections and chances of injury are increased with level of severity such that riders are selling their bikes and kit, changing to another less stressful hobby. The older competitors closer to retirement or with more sedentary jobs head for the less threatening and more ridable, less acrobatic and less athletic pre-65 and twinshock events. Witness to this is borne out by the seemingly endless increase in older machinery values whilst the modern stuff has a rapid depreciation. Something else that is just as telling, there used to far more trials taking place in the UK during the 60’s and 70’s along with more works or supported riders. With no British bike industry to speak of any more with no trials or competition models manufactured (one off’s excepted) is it any wonder the sport is contracting. I can’t afford to pay the price of a new machine just to risk throwing it and myself at some virtually unridable courses and end paying for replacement parts or injuring myself. You might say the same about a twinshock or pre 65 bike but then the courses are less threatening. There has been too much change to the sport, spectators don’t necessarily want to stand about watching failed attempts at some impossibly hard section, they can go to an indoor trial for that and watch the circus acts. The average rider doesn’t spend 4-5 days training in the gym and on the bike, hold down a daytime job or have the luxury of limitless bike parts/bikes. So thats my take on the current situation, a personal opinion aired.