jaylael

That's right Fantic fans. I just spotted the entire dealer stock of Fantic parts up for bid on E Bay USA. Just search Fantic Trials and it should pop right up. Looks like Everett Powersports is dumping what is left of the Fantic stuff. Probably alot of great stuff there. Cheers

Charlie, with that telecaster guitar and leather pants you must have the ladies crawling all over you! Nice sounding band. Looks like fun.

Google search decal application. Lots of companies have decal application step by step guides. The gist of it is use a hair dryer, mark your corners lightly with a pencil before you peel off the backing, once it is in position on one end, carefully peel the backing and roll it away as you massage the decal from the center to the edges, working your way from one end to the other. On a rear fender I think front to back would be easier. The heat from the blow dryer should make it easier to bias the decal to where it is centered, and aid in massaging out the bubbles. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Hello there Mr. Lawson! Nice to see you here. Looking forward to hearing more from you. I'll have to check out that trials article. For those of you who are not familiar with Mark, he was one of the key organizers of the 1976 USA world round. Thanks for that Mark.

"And yep, those of you that know my dad can attest, he then got on his bike and left.... Still remember that and hope I never give my kids that feeling." Alan, this is what makes you such a great dad! "I am going to REALLY impress the Lovely Ms. Caroline.... Ride up to her on my TY350 and pull this great near vertical nose wheelie right at her feet....." I think it must be dangerous to be a good looking woman at a trial. Great stories all of you and I cannot wait to hear some more Clive I'm surprised you found the strength to leave the Grateful Dead concert. Hippie chicks rule.

Since I have been busy building yet another Hodaka trials bike, I am thinking a bit lately about my first trials event. It was spring of 1972 and I was an awkward 13 year old. I had just recently gotten my first trials bike, a 1964 Hodaka Ace 90 trials special, which had been built by Whitey Hartman. Though I had been riding my little Honda mini Trail 50 for about one year, I had never ridden any sort of trials bike. The lowly Hodaka had been in the hands of at least two owners since my Uncle Whitey had built a trials bike out of it, and it was quite a bit worse off by the time I ended up with it. The poor thing had a badly bent frame and seemed to leak oil and goo from just about everywhere. When it ran, it ran very badly, fouling spark plugs at an amazing rate. I pushed it more than I rode it those first few weeks of ownership, yet I was as proud as anyone could be to finally have my own "real" motorcycle. The first trial for me and the poor tired old Hodaka was a local club event in Northeastern Washington state, near the city of Colville. There were probably about 12 riders, most of which were novices who really had no idea what trials were. The better riders rode Jawa machines which although very ugly, were super trials machines to ride. Very good running engines with loads of torque and lots of flywheel effect. One of the more memorable moments of this trial was the mud bog section out back of the property, which used to be a common thing back then. Basically it was about one foot deep at the edge and got deeper fast if you ventured away from the edge. I tried to gain as much momentum as possible while staying close to the edge of the mudhole, but it was just too deep to go forward. The last thing I remember was the mud swallowing my motorcycle until all that was showing was the right hand throttle and front brake lever sticking out of the black mud. Despite my wanting to appear tough and all, the first thing I did was break out crying. I was so upset because I thought my wonderful bike which I had dreamed about for years was history, and I was a sensitive thoughtful child. It took me several minutes to regain my composure and set about dragging it to the grassy edge of the swamp. Much to my amazement, it started up with very little fuss, and I even finished the event. At the bottom of a huge box full of old trophies, I still have the award for second place expert.

The way I understood the queen's english, Muppets are non entrants at Trials events, who plug up the routes, usually on enduro bikes. Sometimes these Muppets are also referred to as "Green Laners" We Americans aren't that anyway. "The other side" does seem to have a nice ring to it.

Um, I have a red Gas Gas Pro with a rattle in the gearbox, which goes away when you pull the clutch in. What's that sound like?

Just after the 1976 US world round at Gold Bar Washington, a good friend of mine bought Vesty's Bultaco. It was the most special of the 1976 Bultaco team bikes. Among other mods it had a special frame w. steeper head angle, different skid plate with slots instead of round holes and allegedly a 340 cc displacement allthough this was never confirmed. The biggest visual difference to a production Bul, was the "Sunoco" stickers on the tank. My friend Rich Hilbun rode that bike for another season or so and it was sold to some tire kicker who never rode it. Wonder where it is now? JL

The only photo I have is from a newspaper article that was done about me campaigning the nationals on such an "outdated" bike. I could scan it and submit it. I will need some time to accomplish this. Also will need clearance from Andy to submit photos as I am locked out by some sort of electronic wizardry. One thing of interest was that I had a one piece trials suit made by Kawasaki, just like Don Smith and probably a few others. Also rode with rubber wellies. (weird old timey trials boots) God that was a long time ago. There was no clutch work then, just ride on throttle.

It's on the side of a baby bottle. Since I don't have one handy, I looked it up on internet. 1 us oz. = 29.57 cc so 6 X 29.57 = 177.42 Does that sound right? Maybe just get a baby bottle. JL

I rode a 1975 KT 250 in the 1982 USA nationals. It was radically altered to more closely match SWM specs. The mod'd one had a single square downtube in font and no tubes under the engine. The swingarm pivot was moved forward and the rear shocks more vertical. I fell in a huge water hole on the loop at Whitefish Mt. and sucked her full of water. Managed to get her dried out and ended up 15th place or so. Bernie was there and won with ridiculously low score on a SWM. The engine had a one inch thick flywheel weight added. Great bike once it was altered.

Six ounces of ten weight per side. JL

Jay is telling you to make sure a suitable steering head angle is retained when you start fiddling around with the height of the rear of the bike (changing the height of the front or the rear of a bike changes the steering head angle). It is usually possible to achieve the ideal steering head angle when you do shockie mods without doing any mods to the front part of the frame. Brilliant explanation! Exactly what I was trying to say. JL

The most critical point to consider is the effect on steering head angle. I set mine to 24 degrees with an angle finder, which are available at most hardware store very cheaply. Once you have set the fork angle to 24 degrees, the shocks get mounted where ever the spring rates and length of the shocks dictate. The fork angle is ten times more important than shock configuration in a good working trials bike. JL

Just received news that yesterday, American motocross hero Marty Moates apparently commited suicide. No details are known at this time. He was a USGP winner on a LOP Yamaha, and in the seventies was a contender in select european races on OSSA GP III machines. What a shame. I guess now Jimmy Pomeroy will have someone to practice with.

In 1984 I used to ride a Cota 350. One time after refitting the front wheel I forgot to tighten the pinch bolt and the first big load on the front end, it snapped off the top part of the pinch section of the fork leg. A lesson learned is to be darn sure you tighten the pinch bolt after refitting the front wheel. Yes, it is a very nice bike. I think those are one of the best twinshock bikes ever built. JL

Silkoline comp 2 pre mix at 40-1 with pump premium. The air cooled bikes need more oil or the rod bearings tend to go out or piston siezure. Technically that's too much oil for the modern trials bikes, but I run all my bikes (and chainsaw, weedwhacker etc) from the same can. I tried race gas and the 2 stroke Mont hesitated in cold weather. It actually flamed out on a big climb and caused a crash. I recomend using race gas only when the weather is HOT.

Steve: I had a chance to buy one from Montesa West in 1985, and brand new the shifter shaft was snapped off by a test rider before I got there, and the shaft was un obtanium at that time. I would strongly encourage you to drill the shift lever in a way as to make it more fragile than the shaft. Oherwise in a minor crash into a rock or anything the shaft snaps off very easily. Good luck with your awesome twinshock bike! It so cool! Also be very very careful with the fuel tap where it is glued into the gas tank. If anyone gets to carried away with those threads as in overtightening the petcock, it with bust out with alarming ease. JL

Last summer on a trip home from a motocross race in Washington state, I happened to be watching in my rear view mirror at the exact moment and saw a man and a woman high side a big Harley Davidson onto pavement at 60 mph with no helmets on. You can imagine how those dew rags protected their skulls. I can't get the picture out of my mind. As a result I personally think anyone riding a motorcycle should always wear a helmet.

I think that is our former TC poster, ktm96duke, If so one of those Italjets is the one I sold him , and he stiffed me for something like $375.00 in unpaid freight charges. I hope (If it's him) that he gets what's coming to him. The feedback seems consistent with our guy. Good luck to anyone who tries to deal with this jerk.

I like everything about them but the price. $27,000.00 for the cheapest used one around. The price of some houses. I just think that US automakers are missing the boat. There are 500 different models to choose from and none are suitable really as economy trials vans. Thinking about hunting down one of those used Toyata mini vans they used to make in the late eighties.

Nigel: I am so envious of these European Vans! We yanks are stuck with stupid Ford, Chevy, and Dodge vans. The mileage on them is so bad it costs $50.00 for gas to drive them 100 miles. A weekend trip to say Spokane, Washington in my Dodge van takes easily $200.00 in gas I am so frustrated by the situation I am ready to take the torches to my 1993 Geo Storm and try to make it into a mini-mini van so I can haul my bike to practice. The cost of driving american vans is absolutely outrageous! They all need crushing at the scrap yard! I don't understand why we can't have decent bike hauling vans here in the US. Believe it or not on this front you guys have it made over there. JL

Jim Pomeroy was a wonderful guy and a great friend. I miss him alot. We had spent two weekends prior to his death visiting, drinking and telling stories until late at night, at the Burnt Ridge MX. I also got a chance to race against him twice, the final time at Mid Ohio in the Hodaka race. One time at Alderdale, Washington, I had gotten a monster holeshot and proceeded to roost the holy living heck out of him. He was laughing about it still. What a great sport he was. He just congratulated me and said, "Good Job!". Never had a mean bone in his body. I NEVER EVER heard that man swear, not even once. Enclosed is a photo from the day I roosted him, early on. He caught up to me at least three times was rebuffed with a serious roosting each time. At Burnt Ridge he told me he finally had to take off his goggles, and was just soaked in mud. . He just laughed and laughed about it. He was just so nice. I think a lesser man would've been mad about it. I was prepared for his revenge at Mid Ohio, but it never came. The Hodaka he was riding lost third gear at about lap 4, so I went reluctantly cruising by. I think I was more disappointed than Jim. Try these links for some interesting stuff about that day Jay L. The web page with pic of Jim and meMy story about racing Jim Jims last race.