bikerpet

I can't answer your question, but I used to remove the airbox cover screw and tape the cover semi-permanently to the guard, then use cable ties or nylon bolts at the rear fasteners so the guard could pop off without breaking. Effectively I converted my 2017 & 2020 Evo guards into ones similar to your 2010. I found it no problem to just lift the guard and change the filter and far preferred not breaking an expense guard in crashes. Going to a new style guard might not necessarily be an upgrade as much as a downgrade in my view.

I reckon they all put something so they smell other than burning oil - they've all got distinctive smells, just that Putoline try to market theirs. In Australia so our fuel is different to yours, but 95 octane bowser petrol. What nearly everyone here uses. Some people use 98 octane, but weirdly that often doesn't run as well as the standard 95. Exhaust packing seems pretty good - I had it out just a few weeks ago when I belted the exhaust cap off.

I went to start my '21 TRS RR 300 (120 hours engine time) today and found it was jammed. Weird, as it was running fine yesterday right up until I stopped it and put it away. I'd just checked the coolant the day before and it was still correct level so I was comfortable it hadn't cooked from lack of water. I also knew 100% that I had oil in the fuel - 140ml to 13L as I've used all along. I had heard a slight and intermittent rattle for about the first minute while it warmed up, but couldn't identify where it came from. I tried the screwdriver to the ear trick over parts of the engine and it didn't sound like it was coming from anything I listened to. I pulled off the clutch side and could find nothing wrong there. The clutch basket rotated freely on the tiny bit of play in the primary gears, so it wasn't the clutch or starter gears, and the gearbox moved fine when I pulled the clutch so it wasn't that. Took off the magneto cover and there was absolutely zero movement on the flywheel. So I figured it was crank or piston. Pulled off the head and there was a lot of glaze/varnish - not sure the correct term for burnt on oil? Hmmm. I decided to put a socket on the crankshaft and see if some judicious force would move it. It broke free reasonably easily so I moved it to bottom of stroke. Looking at the circumferential lines I'm thinking maybe the varnish hardened up when the bike cooled and stuck the rings to the barrel? I got in there with a plastic scraper and cleaned a fair bit up, then more with a Scotchbrite and some contact cleaner. It came up virtually good as new, not a scratch in sight and nice OEM hone marks. Hooray. Also cleaned the carbon out of the head and piston top. Nice and shiny again. Put it all back together and it started and ran as well as ever. Phew. It had the same rattle for a couple of seconds after it started, but then gone. I'm tending to think it sounds more like something external than internal, but that wouldn't go away as the engine warmed up. Odd. I'll do more investigation when I hear it next, if I do. I'm a little nervous about that. I'll probably pull the barrel off and give the piston and rings a clean once I've ordered a gasket & O-rings - I've got a trial tomorrow so wanted it back together. So I'm wondering a couple of things: I've been using Putoline Trial, which I've previously done hundreds of hours on in Beta's with no issues. But now I'm wondering if Putoline is known for gumming up the works? Is this a "thing"? That rings stick to the build up in the cylinder when it cools. Or should I be looking deeper for a more significant cause? I wish I'd taken a photo before reassembling, it looked vastly better than this! Thanks for any enlightening comments.

I believe you can fit 10 / 61 gearing. Should help everything except top speed, & who cares about that, just enjoy the scenery a bit more.

I can't comment on the E-Pure directly but I've got decent experience with e-trials with clutch, various weight flywheels and tickover. If you're set on not using clutch then I'd say go for it, take off the weights. It should make throttle response snappier. The trade off is that you'll also have less drive inertia to carry up banks and steps so you often have to maintain a trailing throttle to complete the climbs, that demands some fairly sensitive throttle control. On e-bikes any throttle application has the disadvantage that if the wheel slips, even a little, then it tends to instantly spin up. Tickover is totally pointless if you're not using clutch, in fact I think it is a disadvantage. However ... if you use the clutch at all then it's a game changer. It is way, way harder to coordinate going from zero revs to "enough" revs for effective slow speed creeping. Most e-bikes have a slightly slower response spinning up from zero rpm - it's tiny, but combined with the added delay of adding throttle to get it started it is really noticeable and frustrating. If you're using clutch for any accelerating maneuvers then tickover and a heavy flywheel are absolutely mandatory. My observation of the EM is that it has far too high a gear and too little flywheel inertia for really effective launch off clutch. I'm not talking huge splats, even relatively modest ride-up and zaps are let down by the lack of effect. As Konrad said, it's like riding an ICE bike in 3rd (or more like 4th really) gear all the time. Try measuring what gear gives you 60kmh top speed on your ICE bike then try riding sections in that gear. Electric bikes get away with it because they don't stall and they've buckets of torque at low RPM, but it doesn't make it equivalent to using a lower gear. Stuck throttle is stuck throttle whatever the engine. It's always likely to end badly.

Beta 500mm tip - tip x 350 +/- to top of peg TRS 480mm tip - tip x 350 +/- to top of peg My guess is GasGas are a whisker narrower again, but I recently sold my GG.

Another option for real beginners is to just wind the idle up and disconnect the throttle cable completely. They learn to use the clutch to control power right from the start, so when they get a throttle in their hand it's already automatic to pull the clutch when they want to "stop the world, I want to get off". A throttle stop helps at step 2 and could avoid the posting of a lot of YouTube videos, thereby contributing to reducing global greenhouse emissions. 😁

Perhaps the deafening silence is indicative of Scorpa ownership levels? That of itself would make me consider the brand very carefully - more common bikes are usually easier to get parts, easier to get advice and may possibly get the inevitable bugs worked out earlier simply due to statistical likelihood of the issues recurring often enough for the factory to find it worth fixing. I know here in my part of Australia they are rare as hen's teeth. A side note - I rode a '22 Vertigo for the first time yesterday. Such a different feel to the TRS. Reminded me more of my old GasGas, except new and a real tractor engine down low. Far more "planted" front end. I reckon I'd likely drop less points on this than on my TRS to be honest, but I wouldn't swap simply because the TRS feels so very much more "playful" (both I and the Vertigo owner said exactly the same thing). TRS feels lighter, hops feel far easier, spins up quicker ... just all around more lively. Last year I spent around 94% of my time playing and 6% riding events - it's a no-brainer to me to ride the bike that gives me the most enjoyment for that 94%. Cut off most of the hook that clips to the airbox so it can unclip fairly easily, use cable ties or soft plastic pins in the rear mounts and replace the front bolt with a nylon one (sometimes I even put a small saw cut under the head to ensure it snaps). Then the whole guard just pops off without damage when you loop out. Keep a couple of spare cable ties poked into the bar pad or somewhere.

First be sure the lever is setup well. I'd adjust the lever out as far as you can comfortably reach, then ensure there is a couple of mm of totally free play before the pin starts to push the piston to ensure the fluid can return properly. If there's still the same drag I'd be trying some different oils. If Sherco call for Dexron 6 as cascao says, then try that - the factories know their bikes. I have found Putoline N-tech Trans GP pretty good, but I'm sure Gro and all the other common trials oils are good too. Putoline GP10 has a low viscoisty index, so it's viscosity will vary a lot between hot and cold - ignore cold drag and make sure the bike is well warmed up before checking the drag. Your "swarf" comment is concerning. If it's superfine powder / smooth paste then it's fine, probably just wear from the clutch plates. If it's actually swarf that feels gritty or worse then there's a problem that needs fixing ASAP. 75W gearbox oil is completely different from 75W engine oil. Why on earth they'd use the same rating numbers for a different rating system is beyond me! Setup to confuse people. GP10 75W oil has 100C viscosity of 5.5. Typical ATF Dexron 3 is around 7 - 7.5. So the GP10 is actually considerably lower viscosity than the ATF DIII.

I can't comment from experience, but I've heard Sherco, Scorpa and TRS are the three snappiest motors. That can be good and bad. I love my TRS response, but it does make really smooth throttle control in slippery conditions a bit harder and it stalls a little easier than my previous Betas, I suspect mostly due to the Beta flywheel being heavier. Good clutch control solves both. The advantage, from my perspective, is that the throttle timing window is a bit bigger. The TRS build is, as everyone says, excellent. Very few annoyances at all. Little details like the built in frame guards, easy access to the linkage bolts, tidy oil drain etc. This is worth a lot in my book. I once had a 13 Sherco that was the exact opposite, nothing seemed to be well detailed, the quality control was nigh on non-existent and I was constantly annoyed by little (and big) things that weren't right. When it was running right it was nice enough I suppose, but that felt like the outlier. TRS handling is really good I think, although it does seem to reward good technique and somewhat punish poor. My riding stepped up a notch as a result. It rewards a rearward weight bias and punishes you if you move forward over the front. Some people talk about the TRS pushing the front more in turns, I find that tendency a little if I am too forward, but move back again and it just floats over and through anything. I have the RR and the suspension is fantastic, it just does what it should without any fuss and again, I feel it really rewards good input. I feel like the TRS is slightly louder than some bikes - some people love the sound, I'd prefer silent. Compared to the Beta the TRS has slightly more vibration - not a big deal, but it is noticeable. Not quite a straight answer to your questions, but maybe it helps in some way.

Today I let a young fella take my Evo 300 for a ride. I thought I should probably try to tame it a little to help keep both bike & rider in one piece. I knocked up a throttle stop for the Domino as I've done in the past. I haven't seen any details about this tactic despite lots of threads on taming 300's. It's not going to smooth the bike out like a flywheel weight or low compression head, but at least it does put a bit of a cap on just how out of hand things can get. Certainly limits the impact of whiskey throttle. Inside the Domino's there is a gap around the cable track that's big enough to fit a strip of plastic. That strip can be cut to any length to limit the throttle rotation to whatever you like. I make mine out of a bit of 40mm PVC waste pipe. Cut off a ring that's a fraction narrower than the cable track section of the throttle tube. Cut that ring into a segment then use a heat gun to soften it a little. Wrap it around the throttle tube and let it cool. Put the throttle back together and job's done. Just tweak the length of the strip to adjust the stop. Takes a few minutes to make, a couple of minutes to put in or remove and can be easily trimmed back progressively (scissors or tin snips) as the rider improves. It's surprising how little throttle rotation you need on a 300 for someone starting out!

I'm cheap & hate touching the chain more often than absolutely necessary, so my routine is based on longevity of both chain and lube. When I change gearbox oil (10-12 hours usually) I pull the drain out after the ride and let it drain. As it drains I remove the chain and drop it in a container of dirty old chain cleaning petrol to soak. Then I go do whatever the rest of the day lends itself to. Next day (or thereafter) I remove the chain from the petrol and rinse it in a little fresh (which then gets added to the dirty old stuff). Hang it up to dry. I have an electric frypan with Putoline Chain Wax in it. Plug that in and let it warm up (low simmer temp). Drop the chain in. While the chain soaks I refill the gearbox and replace the air filter (I rotate two or three filters). Pull out the chain and hang it to let it drain back into the frypan. When it's cooled enough to touch, wipe off the remaining excess with a bit of old towel. Refit chain and ride for another 10-12 hours without looking at it. My current bike has 120 hours on it and I've moved the adjuster about 1 click (it's a TRS so a turn or so on the adjuster). I flip the front sprocket when it shows signs of developing slight hooking, then replace it when that face starts to show signs of wear. The rear sprocket usually lasts 1.5 - 2 front sprockets. I know this sounds like a bit of a rigamarole, but in reality it's very quick & painless. So much less time consuming and less of a nuisance than stupid spray cans that go everywhere except into the inside of the chain. I'd never go back to spray cans, and all the oils I've tried in the past were messy and like magnets to grit. The overnight soak completely dissolves the old wax so a quick slosh in clean solvent gets it sparkly clean. To my thinking getting the chain clean is at least as important as adding more lube - seems pointless to me to add clean lube to a gritty chain. A squirt from a spray can, even a big squirt, just doesn't seem to me to be an effective clean. At worst it makes the outside a bit cleaner, lulling you into a false sense of security that the moving parts are clean when they aren't. The time spent letting the wax heat, soak & cool is about the time it takes to fill the oil & swap the filter, so it's virtually no time cost. Removing and fitting the chain takes under a minute. The Putoline wax is a great lubricant (WD40 was never intended as a real lubricant), lasts ages and doesn't fly off. The key is buying an old electric frypan from the Op/Thrift/Secondhand shop, I think I paid $1 for mine some years ago. And having a process that allows for letting the chain soak - you can clean it quicker by agitating it, but that's time wasted for me. A tin of wax lasts a very long time - I think I'm halfway through my second tin in maybe 6-700 hours riding. Maybe my third tin? Not sure. I will add that I also like the Putoline N-Tech Trans GP oil too - it's cheaper than almost everything else comparable except ATF, and I find shifts start to feel pretty ordinary with ATF by the end of 10-12 hours whereas the Putoline still feels good as new. It's specs are significantly better than most ATF for our use too - low viscosity, pretty high VI, and the acid test is that the clutch feels smooth & predictable with hardly any drag.

Another +1 to the clutch vs throttle. Think of throttle as "available power" and clutch as "applied power". It's no problem to have an overabundance of available power if you just don't apply it. If you speed up the throttle you'll be in a world of trouble when traction is poor, unless your clutch finger is really, really good. With the massive flywheel trials bikes have, the motor can only accelerate at relatively leisurely rate. Snap your throttle wide open and hold it for a couple of seconds and note how the motor just keeps winding up, then note how long it takes to wind back down again. Compare that response to any of your racing bikes - chalk and cheese. So you're never going to get faster acceleration than that even with a quicker throttle, and it's not really that snappy at all. A 300 trials bike is anaemic on all out power compared to a 300 just-about-anything-else, but torque is available and pretty consistent from idle on up. They're a tractor compared to a sports car. Go and try and get exciting performance out of a tractor by twiddling the throttle, not going to happen! But ease out the clutch on that tractor with a serious load behind it and things can get exciting as it proceeds to rotate about the rear axle. Similar for a trials bike in some ways - they'll never accelerate off throttle like an enduro bike for instance, but feed out some clutch with some RPM on and something's going to start rotating - the wheel if it can, the bike if the wheel's hooked up. That can certainly get exciting! Once you get the idea of using clutch to control power you'll start thinking every throttle is sluggish! Clutch response can go from zero to 100% in milliseconds, faster than you could even think about twisting a throttle.

Nod did I say you did. But you did say: which does imply that full throttle is going to give Max. traction. Great, carry on using it. But bikes & technique have moved on a bit over the past 50 years so possibly there's better ways to tackle some things. I get it if you're happy with what you're doing & it works, you've obviously had a long time to refine it. But just because you're an engineer & your technique works for you doesn't mean there may not be another potentially correct analysis. In fact claiming "engineer" status does little to support your assertion - civil, software, electronic, structural; there's a lot of engineering disciplines with little or no relevance to suspension function. You may well have all the knowledge & experience to truly analyse this, but I've seen so many people say "I'm an engineer" only to discover their engineering is in a totally irrelevant field, or that they call themselves an engineer because they work in an engineering machine shop. Yes, I'm naturally sceptical.

Sorry, no gentle way to say it, but you are absolutely, totally wrong with this. Watch & listen to some good riders tackling big obstacles. Its abundantly obvious that the throttle is closed or dramatically reduced during most of the climb. You'll hear big rpm as they set up, then as they launch the noise falls away dramatically. At the top there is often an increase in rpm again as they ensure they've got power on hand to fine tune the last bit of the climb. If you can watch & listen in slow motion you can hear individual ignitions of the engine and you'll really understand what happens. Forget about about your squat/anti-squat ideas, that's going to take you nowhere in trials. What keeps the tyre on the obstacle is the rider. If you can find a good trials coach, spend some money and save yourself years. There's a lot of pretty ordinary coaches out there (plenty who can ride, but can't teach), so do your research. If there's no one near you, take a look at neilprice.com its far the best online coaching I know of.

I'd suggest you work on altering that approach. Get off the throttle as the back wheel hits the obstacle. You destroy traction when you drive up things on engine power, the slightest skid & the tyre quickly spins up and you stop. If you drive up on a trailing or closed throttle the tyre will never spin up. It might still lose traction, but it won't spin. This is where riding on throttle alone is a dead end. You have to learn to ride on the clutch in order to be able to adjust power & acceleration quickly enough. If you ride in to an obstacle slowly (as is common) then you simply can't build enough inertia to climb a larger obstacle power-off with throttle alone. But if you learn to build plenty of RPM & then control the power to the wheel with clutch then it's easy to have ample inertia in the flywheel to get you up big steps even with throttle closed. Throttle = available power Clutch = applied power Oh, and chain tension squats the bike more, not anti-squat.

Oh well, sounds like I just get used to it then. I rode about 300 hours last year so that's around 150L extra fuel from what I've seen so far - nearly $300 extra in fuel costs and 360kg extra CO2 emission. The first black mark against TRS I've found so far. I might block off the overflow and see if I can notice the difference.

I find my 300 RR uses fuel noticeably faster than my previous Beta 300. The Beta was a bit over a liter an hour for my normal riding. The TRS is closer to 2L an hour, although I've not yet done a really accurate test over 10-12 liters. There's usually some overflow, but I had what appears similar spillage on the Beta too. I had the carb out for clean a little while ago and the floats closed at what looked right from past experience, but I didn't measure as I had no reason to at that time. Anyone else find them a bit thirsty? Or should I be searching for a cause?

I'm fairly new onto TRS after GG, Sherco & Beta. Nicely built, everything "just works", great traction ... what more can I ask? The "sketchy front" thing I believe is just that it feels different to, say, a Beta. It maybe doesn't feel quite as solid at the front as some other bikes, a lighter front end probably, but if you just ride it with half decent technique it does exactly what it should. It's only when I get a bit out of shape that it heads off line, and every bike I've owned did that. Maybe it's a little less forgiving of poor turning technique, but that's offset by how easily it gets rear wheel traction. I vastly prefer the build quality to what the Sherco was like, personally I'll never buy another. The GasGas for some reason always felt a bit fragile - kick start quadrant failure, shift selector failure requiring full split to repair (older model), exposed radiator (again older model). Beta is well built and reliable, but the TRS suspension is so much better. The TRS feels snappier than the Beta, but not as good at tractoring along. I can see TRS & I having a long future together.

Looks like the 2023 RR gets a new bash plate that extends over the peg area more. The R retains the old one - maybe running out old stock before they change all models to the new plate? '23 RR part no. 01038TR100 Skid plate ONE II Others part no. 01031TR100 - there seem to be a couple of versions of the same part number, one with "grooves" (longitudinal ribs) on later models and one without.

I've read that grease or anti-seize should go onto the chain adjusters asap to prevent seizures. I've found my boots rub the left side of the airbox badly, I've tried "helicopter tape" but it wore through quickly. I've now taped 1.5mm rubber sheet over it. The ridges on the top of the rear guard proved a bit vulnerable - I've heli taped them now. The scrivets holding the back of the guard fell out fairly quickly so I've now put thin cables tie retainers through them. The Australian importer suggests 91 octane rather than our crappy 98, and a 4 plug instead of the standard 6. Certainly the 6 fouled quickly, haven't had the 4 in it long enough to know how much better it is.

Good choice I reckon. The 250 should be a ripper. The 300 has well more than enough power!

As an aging mid grade male rider I enjoy the predominant trials media - the Trial GP, Bou, Raga, X-trial - but I actually learn much more from watching the top women. Sadly there is just a tiny fraction of the coverage given to them. I find the women ride just as skilfully, but without the pure strength and without the high level of risk. That's much more akin to what I might strive for rather than the antics of the top men! I can actually learn useful technique from them. So I think the sport is doing a big disservice not giving better, dedicated coverage to women. And that's not even considering the equity, growth opportunity etc. It's similar in 125cc class too, I wish more people videod those classes - so much more relevant to most of us. So if anyone knows of good women's trial media, please point us at it!

put a crate or something either side of the bike so you don't have to step up, step down, step up, step down. Makes it heaps easier to keep at it when you're starting out. rest the front tyre on something to the side. Can start with a wall and progress to just a little pebble. It's surprising how something quite small can make a big difference. A bit of 2x1 timber can be a lifesaver, or a brick. Turn onto it to get your balance, then turn the wheel off it. Don't focus on how long you can balance, get balanced then do something from which you have to recover - turn the bars the other way, close your eyes, anything. Balancing for minutes is pretty useless in a trial, but recovering your balance is essential. Focus on balancing with turning movements of the wheel, not so much rocking the bike. Both are useful but turning the bars is more fundamental. Weight forward gives corrections more "impact", weight back is more stable once you've actually got balanced. Play with it. For a long time. A really long time.

I just responded to a similar thread with this comment: avoid the yellow & blue Sherco with rear tank from around 2013. Absolute piece of rubbish. Frames crack, steering stops don't so the frame tubes get crushed, various parts were made in the local handyman's back garage (or so it appears) ..... Just don't.