ChrisCH

For a load bearing task I agree with the tow bar fitter - go for a fixed flange bar. Detachable bars are designed to take a pulling load. The Oset is lighter than a full bike but you are probably near the nose weight limit with the Oset and the rack.

Aspen is a trade name for a brand of alkylate fuel. https://www.aspenfuels.com/knowledge/knowledgebank/what-is-alkylate-petrol/

Ethanol is not a vegetable oil. It is alcohol. If you remove ethanol from the blended pump fuel you change it to an unknown which may be OK or it might screw up the engine. Not wise IMHO.

Aspen seems to me to be "A Good Thing" (I agree about the fumes jon). The problem for modern bikes is it is only 95 octane. There is a "racing" version but I cannot see it advertised in the UK. Demon Tweeks have a non Ethanol 99 fuel "R Racing" thirty quid for ten litres.

Very true. Crazy that people wanted to pollute the air with lead just as an upper cylinder lubricant. The one hard fact seems to be that ethanol absorbs water and this can cause some issues. I think the OP was right to ask for more feedback as the Yam is an older bike and they seem to be the ones affected if one accepts the anecdotal evidence. The problem with older equipment is that some of the fuel related parts will be after market and so people will have different experiences. Replacement fuel lines for example or carb parts, inline filters etc. Two people with "the same" bike will have different experiences. It is essential that the actual material is known not just "rubber". Needless to say the companies that make and sell additives and Aspen fuel will be keen to find fault to promote their products. Needless to say some of the "ethanol safe" labels might not be 100% true either 😁

You can find plenty of data if you look. The chart here: https://mykin.com/rubber-chemical-resistance-chart-3 shows different rubbers' suitability with many chemicals including ethanol. The key ones are nitrile and butyl which are common rubber compounds for O rings. Neither show satisfactory. However there are plenty of others that score well. I can only conclude that some things where people report issues (like garden equipment mentioned above) must have the cheaper compounds. Millions of cars and motorcycles all round the world seem to be OK.

Ignore the doom mongers - the problems with ethanol come from its ability to absorb water. It has given some problems with fibreglass tanks but other than that it generally is OK. Older bikes are 'problematical' only because they were built pre-ethanol and the manufacturers did not take the future in to account. So "to be on the safe side" manufacturers tend to say "no" so as not to open themselves to any claims. In theory the water absorbed could be an issue (especially if the bike is in a damp shed). The water reduces the octane rating. "Super" is only E5 if you are at all bothered. My lawnmower stands all winter (in a damp shed) and still starts first pull in the spring. I think this issue is rather exagerated a lot by the tin foil hat brigade.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255293701755?hash=item3b70b0be7b:g:H2QAAOSwR7hhxNjf

I also enjoy the TRS280 and when I ride the wife's Beta 250 it is gutless by comparison. The extra power makes it so easy to climb because you can climb nearly anything with so little throttle. In soft muddy conditions you might need the clutch and a higher gear but I find a low tyre pressure is OK. I am not any where near good enough to "need" the power and still working my way up to obstacles over about 60cm - that is about my limit now. The 280 is often described as "intermediate" but I find it OK and I am more "Noddy".

What tyre pressure are you running? My 280 is powerful enough to break the traction easily in wet conditions. I am lazy and often do not bother to check or adjust the pressure but the difference between (for example) 3psi and 7psi is huge. The missus has a Beta 250 and an IRC rear and it copes well with the poor surfaces. My Michelin loses pressure and so I tend to pump it up a little too much to compensate and (as I am lazy) often run a bit too high. I am not sure that such drastic measures as a change of bike should be needed?

Putoline Nano Trans

I am sure you will master it quickly. Firstly just one finger on the clutch? It is the #1 control device - not the throttle. If you are used to road bikes it is a bit odd at first. Second do not rev the bike very much. A 250 two stroke is powerful enough to do most things without a lot of revs. Listen to the engine tone on this -

We started with a (shared) Rev 3 250 and my missus used it all the time so I had to buy the TRS. We upgraded the Rev to an Evo soon after. The big difference I noticed was the older Rev 3 needed fork compression to de-weight the front compared to both the newer Evo and my TRS. The Evo is lighter and more nimble but the Rev is not a bad bike. A guy at the club has one and rides well on it (far better than me). You need to slip the clutch a lot on a trials bike. If you pop it then the front wheel will lift and if you are not far enough forward it will spit you off. My TRS spat me off a few times when I got it as it was so much more powerful than the old Rev 3. You don't need much revs most of the time if you are not climbing a steep slope. Even then slip the clutch to keep the speed under control. From your description I would say persevere. If you can control a big road bike you can control a little trials bike. My missus still struggles with the clutch (she has a Ducati Monster for road bike) and that, plus a lack of confidence are her issues. Both Betas have spat her off at various times and this is the heart of the confidence problem. If you pull in the clutch the bike will not spit you off the back. I really doubt an old bike (with a cable clutch) is going to help you much if I am honest.

This subject is one that gets a lot of people arguing but is actually quite easy to research. There are a lot of published O ring compatability charts, one that covers pretty much everything including ethanol is here: https://www.allorings.com/o-ring-compatibility One problem is working out what the material is if you do not buy the O ring from a specialist supplier and get a "standard" O ring. There really is no such thing as "just rubber". As you can see there are two types of Viton so the above comment is correct for one type not the other. The shift from E5 to E10 is not really that significant so if the bike was OK with 5% it is probably OK with 10%. The compatability charts are for 100% of the selected chemical. People also overlook the many other chemicals in petrol because there is a lot of nonsense being promoted about E10 by the same sorts of folk that promoted nonsense about the removal of lead from petrol. O rings are generally pennies but the problem is where to buy just one and whether or not you believe the eBay seller or bike shop as to what material it really is.

These guys can make them if you cannot find ready to go https://www.feked.com/wheels/wheel-spokes/universal-spokes/

Get an electric bike and it will solve the noise issue and let you ride as much as you want. The other ICE bikes are just as loud if you gun them.

http://81.139.49.104/news/2010/3/toni-bou-talks-about-his-impending-trip-to-scotland/

Do what suits you best. During the lockdown there were closed to club events so being a member of more than one would have got you more rides. I think a lot of that has relaxed now. Our club also had a physical distance limit (also gone) so multiple membership would have not been such a big deal. Personally I would support the club that you like and enjoy and where you get on with the people. My club is really good and I try to support them as much as possible. Some of the good riders (that group does not include me I might say) are multi members and are bothered about scores and so on. As an ACU member you can enter other (open) events so not a big deal. If you join more than one club then more than one club gets your subscription fees. I am sure they are not going to mind that 😁

Acu website is first place to start. https://www.acu.org.uk Clubs near you but you are at the junction of three regions so a bit complex for the nearest. There used to be events at Barnack when I was a lad but no idea if that venue still used.

I used to dabble a bit in my youth and was equally bad at making money and also rather too honest I think. I had a Greaves Scottish at one time which I bought for peanuts with a 350 triumph engine in it. I split the two and got about 20 quid for the rolling chassis IIRC. I dread to think its value now.

A lot of breakers back in the day were not 100%. I remember the commonplace "frame with V5" on eBay for sale at about twice the price of a new frame from the manufacturer. I think the likes of Datatag and so on really began the decline of that, but probably the engineering improvements that made secondhand parts much less profitable. Breakers had the problem everyone wanted the bits that you broke in a crash and all the bikes people wanted to sell had been crashed. Some scrote stole my XL250 and Norwich Union gave me virtually nothing for it as it was old. They fetch 3 grand now. Humph. I bet it died going round and round a field somewhere with a halfwit riding it. I had just got my GPz 750 back after it too got pinched (living in London then). The Kawa had done 7 miles or so and in that time they had bent the forks somehow. They got caught and a slapped wrist. The "victim support" people contacted me and I asked for the details of the thieves so I could sue them for the uninsured loss (car hire and so on) but no reply. Not much "support". I guess trials bikes are not worth enough to be a major issue, particulalry when you look at new sports bikes. Top end Ducati now 13 grand plus and a grand a year service costs. Phew. I will stick with my old Suzuki.

Yes. It just isn't normal practice here. I doubt it is any more of a real problem than theft of cars or other machinery. Trials bikes are cheap compared to a tractor or a combine. Getting all the importers to register new bikes on the voluntary database would be a good start.

Fair enough, as you well know we do not have an ID card in the UK. Short of mandatory registration I am not sure there is much one can do as things stand. (well here anyway)

I am sorry but you are missing the point. The only way to know if the bike has been stolen is if the dealer sells it brand new. A secondhand bike has to be recorded on a database from new otherwise it can be a stolen bike. If I steal a bike and use it as trade in the dealer then sells that bike in good faith. The new scheme that b40rt kindly provided a link to is what is needed. Of course it is also very easy to register a stolen bike on that scheme and for it to be sold with the registration. The registration needs to be mandatory for all new bikes and then in 40 years time there will be virtually no opportunity to sell a stolen bike. In the meantime we all have to do the best we can - which is more or less nothing.

Yes, it is a vast improvement on nothing. Whilst it remains voluntary it will be limited in its effect. It also needs promotion by the dealers so that there is some sort of registration. If it were done automatically when new then in time all bikes would be on the scheme. Also another benefit would be the ability to check the HP status.