jon v8

What a shame... I didn't have anything to do with my entry because my original minder entered and paid for me.Hope you didn't drive too far,seems to me that the whole deal is very lacking in organisation in terms of entries,parking and results. Twas a good trial though,and the weather held off better than the forecast said.

Brilliant day out,really enjoyed it - AJS went well. Some of the sections were quite tough,but I like mud so was more than happy ! Andy Roberton is absolutely on fire - to finish on a single dab was a cracking ride. I swapped minders after the Weighbridge group,the second minder was a lot better looking.... Seen any results ?

A working kill button is a good idea too, I tried to shut down a screaming Fantic for a fallen rider yesterday,no kill button.Luckily the throttle shut down after yanking the bars up out of the dirt. Be a shame to wreck a healthy engine just cos you cant stop it...

I pretty much ignore what the ad says,if its bike I'm after I just assume its going to need work and make an offer based on what I can see.What some folk regard as being "Fully rebuilt" is worlds apart from what the actual bike is like.

Found it ! The standard Teikei Y26P carb is shown as having a #110 main jet and #48 pilot jet. This is for a TY250N about 1986.

Well because I'm sat here bored out of my skull slowly recovering from bronchitis,I thought I'd report on my recent engine rebuild job on my rigid 350 Ajay. I've only done one trial on it since the rebuild,the Golden Valley March Hare,but a good amount of practicing and gentle running in around the lanes. I'm pleased to report that it was worth the effort,the engine starts and runs a treat,pulls like a freight train on a whiff of throttle and idles like a Burrell steam engine.... Another nice bonus is the vastly reduced vibration through the footpegs and bars when at cruise speed on the road - its much smoother.So the dynamic rebalancing of the crank has certainly worked,its a really nice engine to use,and the reduced vibration must mean the engine is not fighting itself,just making power to turn the crank.I probed the exhaust a few days ago when I was testing a Range Rover,and with a very small adjustment of the air screw it sat happily idling at 4.5% Co and 275PPM Hc's the Co is as lean as I'm happy to go and the Hc's mean the combustion chamber is doing a good job of burning the mixture.To be much better would mean an exhaust catalyst..... The coated piston seems to be settling in well,on building the engine it turned over very smoothly,I measured the bore and there was less than 1/2 a thou difference anywhere I checked it.This might seem a strange thing to say but my neighbour brought round the barrels off his pre unit Bonneville for me to remove the tappet blocks.It too had just been rebored,so I measured it out of interest and there was up to 3 thou difference from each side and up and down each bore. Finding a good machine shop is hugely important for good results.... When I finished putting it back together it fired up first kick,(Which is always a good sign) and felt crisp. I'm sure a big part of the good starting and rock steady idle is the quality of the mag rebuild which was done by Paul Lydford of APL magneto's,he is a true craftsman,cheers Paul - absolute top job. I'd also like to thank Steve at AMC classic spares for helping me to sort out the mish mash of junk my engine was built from,it spans late 40's,( Alfin barrel) to mid 50's,(Crank) and a load of other stuff in between.With his knowledge and excellent stock he supplied 100% correct parts first time. I've no idea how much the crank balancing would normally cost as it was done as a favour by a good friend,which will be repaid in firewood.I can only say that when I get around to building my short stroke Ariel 500 I'll be having that done too,as my current long stroke 500 is like a jack hammer on the road. So now I'm looking forward to riding the Cotswold Cup and Sam Cooper trials,see if I can keep up with Andy Roberton.

I'd take the leg to a trusted engineering shop and ask them to put thread inserts in,They are an effective and permanent repair - but must go in square to the original hole,which is not always easy to do.I used to use Cross inserts till they stopped making them,now use Recoil ones,just as good. Cant help with carb data at the moment,I have a genuine Yam shop manual for TY mono's - just cant find it....

Is the float height set at the correct level in the carb,sounds like the fuel level in the chamber is too low to get pulled up the jets.Make sure the carbs is 100% correct in assembly and settings before worrying about crank seals etc.

I got a set of these; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220908319606?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Not cheap,but they run at battery voltage and don't need the horrible ballast resistor in the dash that the originals do.12 seconds heat and its away,no white smoke,just equal power on all 4 cyls - total transformation. I've got a day winching trees with the 990 DB and 3.5 ton Fransguard winch on Saturday - no heater plugs needed,the AD4 47 DB engine is an excellent cold starter...

I've recently done the Golden Valley March Hare which is around 40 miles,which was plenty on a rigid which does about 25mph on the road.Had the weather been better,ie not peeing down so hard you had a job to see,it would have been great(It was great anyway).For me the countryside and views are a big part of the trial,the March Hare is brilliant in this respect. On a twinshock like my TY which would be faster and more comfy I could have gone miles more,I guess knowing your likely entry,riders ages and type of bikes would help to decide how far to go. Good luck with it,I know how much work it is to do it properly.

I don't care what anyone says - Bloody Cubs are a nightmare,full stop. If you want to enjoy riding a trials bike rather than constantly spannering it, then a TY Yam or your Beta is a far better bet. I do tractors too,1941 Standard N with a 5 ton Hesford winch,there are also a couple of DB's - red 990 and white 885. A very good friend next door has an IH 414 which I look after too. Recently fitted some Bosch pencil glow plugs which work at battery voltage - cold starts after 12secs every time ! They fit many of the indirect injection IH's,so will transform them too.I'll look up the part number if its any help to you.

I did think that Andy,we are gluttons for punishment ! With the carb I'm finding the little EFI unit I have hidden inside the mk1 Concentric on my AJS works a treat.

You would be hard pushed to find a better ambassador for trials than Mick Andrews.

Depends which answer you are after.Look here for the Wiki answer; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_as_a_March_hare Or in terms of the actual trial,its an event put on by the Golden Valley club early in March which is approx 40 miles in length taking in many very old sections in beautiful Cotswold countryside - all aimed at the use of classic bikes. Its a brilliant day out.

I'd like to thank the Golden Valley team and their observers for the excellent March Hare yesterday.A massive amount of work has been put in,which isn't over yet.The number of fallen trees they had to clear was way beyond the amount of work they would have expected to do. At times it rained so hard it was difficult to see where you were going - that's my excuse for apparently missing 2 sections... But that was my fault,nobody else to blame for that. Running a road trial involves a massive amount of paperwork and organisation with various official bodies,many of whom aren't very helpful or see any sense of urgency.Then all the landowners have to be dealt with,including those who own the tracks in between the section groups. So spare a thought for those who made it happen,its a great undertaking compared to the single venue club trials I run,and often that takes more time and effort than I would like.

Just remember the Post Office don't need them anymore...

Oh,OK - I don't do Faceache,Twatter or Evo MX.... Glad I didn't go then,at least my AJS is back in one piece and running.

As above really,I didn't go as I have far too much to do in the workshop - spent the whole weekend in there.... Anyone got some good pics they can post up ?

A while ago I chatted to George Greenland about using unit BSA motor's. He uses a Kawasaki Z1000 piston to run them at about 280cc.He says they go really well at this bore size,plonk AND pick up better than either the standard 250 or the 350cc B40.They also last well,the Kawasaki piston and ring sets seal well and don't burn oil etc. He also talked about a mod to the gearbox to make the shift into a one up,three down pattern - good in deep ruts where you don't want the box to get knocked up a gear,but changing down one wouldn't be quite so bad.I seem to remember he also cut large holes into a gearbox casing to view the cluster as an assembled unit.I think he found that most of the selection or reliability problems of the earlier boxes were down to poor machining and too loose tolerances.It may well be worth getting the cases machined accurately to accept the WD gears,for better selection and ratios.

I cant be bothered to read through the whole thread as most,if not all of it has been done to death before.There are trials where you can ride a basic rigid,you just have to look around and find them.Close to me are Golden Valley and Somerton Classic,both run a gentlemans route where often its not much harder than a flat field.My club,Bath Classic are also introducing the same thing this year.Before trying to introduce new trials or extra classes maybe you need to concentrate on your riding ability and make sure your bike is nicely setup - so it will give its best. The other suggestion is not to be too wrapped up in trying to win,why not do as many riders do and work out who has similar abilities/bikes to you and pitch yourself against them.You can do this privately or have a fun bet amongst the others to see who has to buy the tea and burgers etc... Friendly banter like this is commonplace in our trials,(Bath Classic don't have awards) and is a big part of the day for the vast majority of us. - In other words,just shut up and ride ! Trials,esp pre65 is fun, I REALLY enjoy it,if you don't maybe its not your ideal pastime.

Excellent,there are some good banks in there,nice and slippery ! I'll get there if I can.

Same here,have been going to them since 1985,always very helpful,massive stock and a postal service that couldn't be better - lets hope someone will take it on.

Shame we didn't get to catch up Gautrek,but there is always next year ! Hopefully my AJS will be nicely run in and ready for a good thrashing up those big hills.... BTW the gearbox in the pre unit Triumph is from an Ariel Arrow.The bike belongs to the Hand brothers who have only recently finished it.Has to be the most compact pre unit Triumph ever built.Steve and Roger are excellent engineers,that bike is one in a long line of bikes they have built,including complete frames,hubs,fuel and oil tanks etc. True trials enthusiasts,and both are very good riders too. Amongst all the other very smart and interesting bikes there,one that caught my eye was a rigid Triumph TRW with an all alloy engine - looked and sounded fantastic.There is one I see ridden in Golden Valley trials that is very similar,not sure which I'd like to own/ride most,one of those or a TR5 with the square barrel generator type engine.Either would be a real treat.

Are you using the woods ?