jon v8

I quite agree,I do everything I can think of to encourage pre unit and rigid bikes to come to Bath Classic trials,and we do get quite a few.But you are right,where do they go the rest of the year ? I wonder if some of the riders think that other classic trials might be too hard - or perhaps too easy ? I don't know,but there were some cracking bikes at the Talmag,good to know they are still around.I guess all we can do is to make riders as welcome as we can,and keep the sections sensible.

Well I have to confess I gave up after 3 sections of the second lap.Being knackered and soaking wet I can cope with,but by then I had no brakes at all,the sand and water had taken out both brakes.I wasn't worried about about the back brake,but most of those hills at the Talmag have sharp turns at the bottom - you need at least a working front brake.... Excellent trial though,and the best selection of proper bikes I've ever seen in one place. I'll go again next year,better prepared now I know the score.

I dont do polishing.... I've even left the welds to go rusty where I rewelded the top yoke a while back. I treated it to a new plug,engine oil change and replaced all the missing nuts and bolts.

Yep,what number are you ?

Yep,it is - I'm going to give it a go for the first time,dont think Len Hutty has much to worry about !

Ask Greeves - Why don't you actually show some respect and end your rude and frankly pathetic attacks on members of this forum.The little technical input you have made shows quite clearly that your knowledge is limited yet you profess to have "a lifetime" of experience. I have had to deal with individuals in business who have shown a similar know it all attitude - without exception the experience has proved to be of little use.These people have have just made me to decide to look elsewhere or to develop my own experience. As for suggesting I have a "gaggle of hangers on." I don't,what I share with other members of this forum is an interest in in trials,and an ability to converse with others without being rude,aggressive or patronising. Andy,this is my last word on this thread,I think its a shame it has gone this way.I had hoped it might be a useful discussion or future reference point for P65 bike builders.

I've already told Deryk that I'm up for a copy,in whatever format,but to hoping it helps persuade him to go ahead,count me in on here.

What an outburst ! I've never seen anything like that before.... You clearly have no useful contributions to my question,and by the way hand scraping bearings - esp if its done properly is a very accurate way of sizing a plain bush.Which you ought to know. If you cant help yourself from being rude and unhelpful I suggest you say nothing at all - you are not endearing yourself to anyone,nor contributing anything useful to the forum. Anyway,I nearly have all I need and I'll post up how well it works when its up and running.There is plenty to do before that happens - The gearbox is also apart for a couple of small repairs,I need to make the new clutch fit and get one fork leg chromed/reground before fitting new seals etc.Couple of evenings should sort it !

Not for long,the crank is ready to come back for me to build up and true.Need some enthusiasm to get on a prep the "new" crankcases,scrape the new timing side bush to size etc... Entry forms are out for the Golden Valley March Hare,need to get on.

Scot, your first pic is of Craigs Kato - the red frame one,thats his wife sitting in front of the van.

Craigs Kato is a lovely little thing,and goes very well.I cant remember how much he said it weighs,but I remember thinking it was closer to the weight of a mountain bike ! I'll take some photo's next time I see it.

I think you might be right,the hub looks bigger than a standard TY,I've also seen a tls hub used from a YZ too,apparently an excellent brake. Certainly a nice looking bike,be interesting to compare how it runs with the longer pipe.

Funny how the pilot air screw turns 1/2 a turn anti clockwise too....

Very nice Majesty,whats going on with the front brake ?

Queue jumping is not acceptable as far as I'm concerned,but sometimes if its a big wide queue its easy to forget who you are behind.(My short term memory is rubbish) So I often ask who is next,before I move forward. What is interesting though is riders attitude towards observers,I often end up observing at our trials as we are often short. I reckon just over half the entry seem to be bothered with thanking the observer,not good really when you consider they have often spent 3 hours hanging around in the cold/heat/wind/rain etc.I think observers should be treated far better,not by paying them,(Trials is not about money,its about minds and balance to me) - but showing consideration and appreciation of their help.We feed and water our observers, and I have taken out hot drinks to them on particularly cold days. The consistency of having an observer at each section cannot be matched in any other way.But to convince some club members to give up a ride once every two years to observe,(And get a free ride next time) is not always easy....

He is fine,just spoken to him.The fire didnt get too close,but his house stinks of smoke and it was all a bit scary from what he said.Luckily the trees which were overhanging the house,(He only recently bought the place) have all been felled.I understand one bloke has died and four people are still missing.You can only feel sorry for them,their families and the owners of the 46 odd houses that have gone this time.I know bush fires are common in parts of Australia,but having seen the damage it does I find it hard to comprehend.I'm also very much in awe of the resilience of people caught up in it. Nature still has the upper hand.

Blimey Mr Greeves,last night at 11pm you thank me for a considered response and go on to say you would give more info later on....(Clearly I have not responded since then) You come back this afternoon with more of something,not anything to do with practical experience of changing balance factors for trials use.Nor have I misquoted you,I think you need to re-read your posts. I wasn't aware of any trials going on in the west country today,do you mind if I ask where you rode ?

Welcome aboard,hope you enjoy the forum,theres usually plenty going on.Hope you are not suffering the fires like WA is at present,my brother has just been evacuated from his property in Chidlow.I don't think he even knows if his house has been burnt or not.

Mr Greeves, I think this has gone far enough,I clearly don't know it it all or I wouldn't be asking what I thought was a reasonably sensible question.I have followed ALL the answers on this thread and apart from having to ask my wife about the Bridget Jones diary bit I think I have grasped where everyone is coming from.If I mistook your post where you stated you didn't like the manner of my original post,(Which I took that you meant was rude or inappropriate) then I apologise. I don't think I suffer from low self esteem,none of my friends or relatives have ever suggested that this is the case. Mr Morley's book is one of the only practical guides to riders using old bikes now,I rarely believe all I read - another good reason to ask my original question,I've already chatted to my riding mates and apart from one who checked the balance factor statically on his Norton 500T, nobody seems to have much practical experience.So,maybe now you can see why I thought it sensible to ask a wider audience. Seeing as you have rubbished most of the posts on this thread perhaps you could tell us why you think dynamically balancing a single cyl crank is such a waste of time,what your own practical experience is,and what has led you to become so cynical by your own admission ?

Mr Ask Greeves,I don't need a lesson on how or why crank balancing is done,I rebuilt my first bike engine at the age of nine and have been playing around with with bikes since then.From the age of 19 I've earnt a living building,testing and doing warranty work sub contract for two major diesel engine producers.For the last 20 odd years I have run a garage specialising in all Land Rover products from 1948 to present day.So I should have by now a fair grasp of basic engine theory.What I asked for in my first post was opinions from people with ACTUAL experience of altering balance factors for trials use.I was not name dropping either,I mention Don Morleys name as most people on here reading about P65 stuff will have read or know about his book "Classic British Trials Bikes". For most of the different marques he states the biggest improvement to be made to improve low speed running is to alter the balance factor from usually 70 back to 60%. I cant see why you think my original post was in any way rude,it was and still is a genuine question.You clearly don't have any experience in this,or I would have hoped that by now you may have told us all its a good job or a waste of time. Having it done dynamically is being done as a favour,which I will return with firewood,its being done by a very good friend who has done many single cylinder cranks,but none for trials use.So he is keen to see how well it works too,this is how knowledge is built... The advance and retard lever will be fully functional as the Lucas mag in the attached picture will be providing sparks.

Yamaha TY175.

Deryk, I wonder what Hugh Viney would make of the modern tyres we have now,the IRC ones we use give amazing levels of grip,even with the 8 or 9 psi in the back of my AJS,grip is hardly ever problem.In fact I can often get it to grip where modern pogo sticks fail.Does any film exist of Mr Viney in action - it would certainly be good to see. I'm too young to remember anything before about 1973 in terms of trials,but I can well remember Martin Lampkin riding the Knut and getting his autograph on a piece of old paper fertiliser sack.He and two other riders then did a 100 odd yard wheelie up a muddy bank away from the section - an amazing sight to me and my mates ! As others have said,please keep posting your stories and pictures,this forum is more interesting now than it has ever been.

I ignored your first answer to my question as it came across as rude,and offered little or no practical help.Seeing as you feel the need to have another shot at me I have to ask is this something personal - have I marked out a section you couldnt clean,do you not like "youngsters" riding "proper" bikes ? Perhaps you could enlighten us ? But to answer a couple of your comments,no I wont be using a Carillo rod in my AJS,it all as standard as it can be - just the piston is a modern,slightly different type.Secondly,fitting the wideband sensors to the Alvis is a VERY good way to spend money.The owner is currently paying for 2 dyno sessions a year where he has to go by what the garage do in terms of tuning.The cost of the kit including sensors etc is less than the 2 dyno sessions.With them fitted he can then do live tuning or data logging after each sprint or hillclimb.And guess what the bloke who keeps beating him has fitted to his car ? I cant see what you have against using "modern technology" on old engines,the way we can literally see whats going on in live data,then go back over it is reaping huge benefits in power AND reliability.In drag racing for instance, tuners are getting way more power from the same engines than they were 30 years ago.Nothing has changed in the engines,just the way they are monitored and then tuned.The Alvis has benefitted greatly from the use of an oscilliscope to sort out its igntion system.Why would you not want to make an engine run more smoothly,reliably or make more power ? Do you think Hugh Viney would have shunned test equipment like we now have ? You cant be too against modern technology or you wouldnt be on this forum in the first place. Looking around my workshop this morning,its pretty full of customers bikes and a 4.4v8 Discovery 3.The oldest bike is a 1938 Triumph Tiger 70.So plenty to do.I do no advertising - at all,not even business cards. Have I lost it,do I need a boot up the back side ? Tell me,what am I missing ? Some sensible crank balancing tips would be a start.

Agreed - a rich mixture will foul any plug,the situation will be made even worse by a poor ignition system.

He should be there,I'll be crashing around on "Ted breffitt's" Norton,saving my Ht for the Talmag.... Sorry,I don't know if Paul Jackson is still making frames. I've got an original HT springer frame in for repairs, I guess you could make up the dimensions for a rigid rear from that ?