feetupfun

It takes me nearly a year to get a new bike going to its full potential so for me there is no way I would want to get a new one every year even if it did make economic sense (which it doesn't). Here the resale value of a well maintained trials bike which starts out at $9000 goes down about $1500 after one year and then goes down $1000 for each year after that until it gets to about $3500 where the value is mainly determined by condition of the bike.

Hi Nitjay The whining noise is just one of the good reasons to have the Yamaha engined Scorpa. The whining sound you are hearing is produced by the straight cut primary (crankshaft to clutch) drive gears. It is usually loudest just as the clutch is engaging under load. Many other bikes have angled gear teeth in the primary drive to prevent this noise. I personally reckon the sound is very cool because it means that the crankshaft and gearbox is free of axial loading and less of the motor power is being lost in that part of the transmission. There is absolutely nothing to worry about from this noise. The motor in the SY250 is actually quite mild as far as primary drive noise is concerned. My 1976 KT250 has the standard straight cut primary drive gears in perfect condition and is so loud that spectators can clearly hear the whining as I ride past. If you are seriously into the mechanical noises of your bike, do this noise test: Warm the engine up fully and ensure the clutch plates have let go. With the bike stopped and motor idling, listen carefully as you shift into neutral. There should be a change in noise (gears rattling but nothing to worry about). Again listen carefully as you then pull in the clutch. There should be another change (clutch plates rattling and again nothing to worry about). You sound like just the guy to enjoy that sort of thing. You aren't the only one into motor noises. One of my favourite videos is a local club production which has a great sound track including the primary drive whine from a Yamaha TY250Z (same engine as yours) and a KT250 as they ride past in sections.

A recent post in this forum mentioned that John Shirt had success with improving the fork action on TY250 twinshock forks by using smaller oil holes in the damper rods. My TY250B and TY175B both have TY250 twinshock front ends fitted with B&J Racing springs but otherwise are standard. The B&J springs made a great improvement in the fork action of both bikes but they still don't seem to be as good as well set up Spanish bike forks of the same era. I weigh 88kg and use 5WT in the 175 and 10 WT in the 250. Oil level in both bikes is 125mm from the top when bottomed. Does anyone know the size and location of the holes that worked well for John Shirt?

Firstly are you sure that larger pistons are not available. Genuine Yamaha pistons go to 1.0mm oversize. Other brands of piston larger. Resleeve should be able to be done in the US and cost about $200US to $250US (parts and labour not freight). Costs $300 to $350 Australian done in Australia.

Those of you who store your bike with the clutch disengaged (lever pulled in)are increasing the sag rate of the clutch springs. This is like storing your bike on the trailer with the forks compressed. The springs will sag faster than otherwise. For bikes with hydraulic clutches, it may also have a negative effect on the hydraulic seals. The Alan Bechard clutch plate freeing technique mentioned above is by far the kindest to the bike's internals overall.

I am old and heavy too and ride both twinshock and modern and do find that when practicing, I get tired faster on the modern bike. I suspect that riding the modern bike is only more tiring because I tend to practice ride on terrain that is more severe. On a twinshock I can ride for hours mainly because the type of riding is less physical. For any given trial though, riding the same lines for the same number of laps, the modern bike is less tiring than a twinshock, no matter how good it is (and SWMs are very good) to complete the trial. The ergonomics, light weight, light controls and being able to leave the engine running all day make the modern bike easier when everything else is the same. I hope this helps

I'm a Rev 3 rider and I put up with the original stator failing because: 1 The original stator has now been rewound locally by a place I trust to have done a much better job than the original and it didn't cost much. 2 Beta Rev 3s are great to ride ie they suit my riding style. 3 It is better to ride a bike that you know has a couple of easy to fix problems than to ride one which has many hard to fix problems. If your Gas Gas has been reliable and you like riding it, why do you want to change?

I know these sounds too simple but I have seen both happen a few times so here we go. Step 1 Pilot jet blocks somehow. Step 2 Owner takes off carby including fuel supply hose with filter attached and cleans out pilot jet. Step 3 Owner refits carby and fuel line, this time the filter is installed opposite direction to previous. Step 4 Pilot jet blocks soon after from junk washed out of filter. Optional Step 2 Owner takes off carby leaving fuel hose and filter attached to fuel tap. Junk enters fuel hose while carby is disconnected. Step 3 Fuel washes junk into float bowl after reassembly. Step 4 Pilot jet blocks again. Another mode of pilot jet blockage: Junk gets into the pilot jet via the pilot air hole in the carby bellmouth (usually when the carby is being reinstalled)

I'm still not convinced from what you have written that there is something wrong with the jetting and I don't want you to go on a wild goose chase. The four local completely standard 348 Cotas in my area all perform very similarly and all have lots more low and midrange torque than a TY250 twinshock (434 and 493). If your 348 is actually capable of being ridden and continuous running yet won't even lift the front wheel, there is probably something else wrong other than the carby jetting. Because you have told us that you have the ignition set right, replaced the crank seals and the compression sounds OK, I'm assuming you have not checked the following other possibilities for problem sources: Blocked or otherwise restricted exhaust pipe/exhaust port Restrictive air inlet/non-standard airbox/incorrect air filter medium Leaking air hose between carby and barrel Incorrect port timing ie a ported barrel or a barrel from an MX or enduro Montesa or the piston skirt shortened at the back. PS Are you sure you have not set the timing 1.8mm after TDC rather than before TDC? PPS 80:1 synthetic oil ratio is quite extreme for an air cooled bike. I would suggest somewhere between 30:1 and 45:1 David

If the 348 runs reasonably smoothly at most throttle positions and RPMs with your new VM26 carby, the problem you have with your rice pudding is probably something other than the carby jetting. If the jetting is wrong, it will run either rich (4 stroking and lots of exhaust smoke) or lean (flat spots and pinging) or won't run at all. The rice pudding description is not enough info to go on. Is it a standard modern off the shelf VM26 carby bought from Mikuni? Is it an OEM Mikuni VM26 ie made for a 1970s Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki? Is it a modern carby jetted for a Beta reed valve trials bike? They are all VM26 Mikunis. You can look up the standard jetting for a VM26 from the Mikuni website. If you want more help, please give more info about the symptoms and the type of VM26.

Johnnyboxer Those pegs on the bike in your post look exactly like the ones I bought from Sammy Millers and mounted on my TY250B. I think they were called "universal folding footpeg kit". They are quite good to ride with but the plating is a bit thin in places. David

Your symptoms are typical of a clutch that drags slightly. Question 1 Has the problem developed over time, or did it happen suddenly, or did you just buy the bike and have no history of the bike's clutch action? Question 2 Do you have wide experience of different bikes clutches to judge if yours is abnormal? I only ask this because there are not many trials bikes that can easily select neutral with back wheel stationary and the motor running. If there really is a problem with your clutch, you will need to take the clutch cover off and do some visual checking of the clutch. Check 1 Watch the pressure plate as you pull in the clutch lever. To avoid clutch drag, the pressure plate must move evenly ie stay parallel with the plates. If it moves away from parallel, you may have a problem with the springs. Check 2 Find out how much the pressure plate should move with the full travel of the clutch lever and check how much yours moves. If it not moving far enough, the bike may have the wrong clutch lever and/or mount assembly giving not enough travel of the cable. Another possibility is a problem with the mechanism that converts cable movement to clutch pressure plate movement. Check 3 If all this is OK, make another posting saying what you did find and I will suggest what to do next.

Competent auto electrical workshops are usually able to rewind Rev 3 stators successfully and where I live it costs about half the price of a new stator from Beta. Rewind cost is approx $150AU ($110US). David Lahey

Jackman, B&J Racing in the US sell wider, lower and further back footpegs for the TY250 twinshock but not as low and not as far back as on the TY in this thread. Mine are similar in size and location to the B&J footpegs and for my size (5'10"), are perfect with the standard length swingarm and handlebar mount position. David Lahey

Be careful when adding additional preload to TY250 springs because they are close to coil binding when fully compressed with standard preload. Better springs than Yamaha springs are available for twinshock TY250s from B&J Racing in the US. They have a higher rate, decent coil spacing and work brilliantly together with 5WT and 10 WT fork oil for my 88kg. The 5" oil measurement technique works very well and when done properly is more accurate for keeping both sides the same than measuring the volume and assuming that both sides are equally "empty" to start with. It's a good idea to do a travel check after fiddling with oil levels and preload. To do this fit a cable tie on one fork tube above the dirt scraper and with the caps off, move the forks to full compression position ie metal to metal. Measure the position of the cable tie from the lower fork clamp. Then get the bike ready to ride and slide the cable tie down a bit and go for a ride where you can really load up the forks ie a decent drop off. If you aren't getting the cable tie back to the position it was with the caps off, there is something unnecessarily limiting your fork travel. The problem may be that the fork oil level is too high in one or both sides, or the springs are coil binding (coils are touching together).

I haven't seen the pawl on an Easy but most bikes I have worked on do have an adjustment that can change the resting position of the pawls. Please look for these things: Does the shift shaft (that the shift lever fits onto) move completely freely? Sometimes they get a bit bent and the action becomes too sticky for the spring to centralise the shaft position reliably. Is there an eccentric screw or bolt that the spring rests on? This is what some pawl centralising adjusters look like. Is the shift drum indexing plunger and spring working properly? If the shift drum isn't being held in the right place, the pawls will appear to be offset.

If you are asking about the SY250 Scorpa, look for bending and cracking of the clutch actuating lever arm on the gearbox. I've seen a couple of these bend beside where it is welded to the vertical shaft.

Yes Mark Fred Carter in New Zealand makes replica KT250 handlebars. They are chromed steel, well made and are just the thing if you want bars that have the rise as deep as they were in the mid 1970s. I have a set on my KT250 and am planning on also putting a set on my Sherpa M49 as they are the only trials bars I have seen with the correct rise for that era. http://kawasakikt.tripod.com/FREDKT.html David Lahey PS do you want a photo showing what they look like on the KT?

It's always hard to give jetting advice over the internet. If it is the idle mixture screw you are calling the fuel screw, it will not hurt your bike to ride it with it at non-ideal settings unless you are using the bike for high speed road riding. If you are using your Gasser for trials type riding, the worst you will do is cause your plug to foul if you leave it idle for ages with the idle mixture too rich. I suggest you set the idle mixture screw where the bike runs best for you and your fuel, oil to fuel ratio, altitude, temperature and humidity and if you like the motor to idle or die on closed throttle. A good guide if you like to ride with an idle is (with the bike in neutral) to slow the idle using the throttle slide lifting screw until it is running very slowly, then set the idle mixture screw setting to give the smoothest idle. Not the fastest idle, the smoothest idle. You should hear the motor run lumpy when it is too rich and run unevenly like it is running out of fuel when it is too lean. See if you can get it right in the middle of those effects with the idle mixture screw. When that is done, increase the idle speed using the throttle slide lifting screw until it idles at the speed you want with the bike in gear and clutch pulled in. Unless someone has fiddled with the pilot jetting or there are induction air leaks, the idle mixture screw setting you end up with should be close to the standard setting as recommended by the manufacturer ie if the standard setting is 2 1/2 turns, you should end up somewhere between 2 and 3 turns.

If "twinshock" class had a date cutoff of 1981, I suspect that there would be few SWMs and Fantics competing. In a pre-81 class I suspect that Bultaco (and Montesa) would be quite popular. We need to compare apples with apples.

I notice that there are lots of mentions of mid 1980s SWMs, Fantics and Hondas but no-one seems to say much about the Cota 242. I didn't ride between 1980 and 1988 and so have little first hand knowledge of what was popular in that era and why. Can someone tell me why these bikes are not popular in Twinshock Class nowadays? Did they have any redeeming features?

The top "overflows" are vents. Fuel will only come out them at extreme angles ie if the bike is lying down or upside down. If the float needle valve really is sealing properly, you may have a split in the overflow tube (the 3mm diameter brass tube that sticks up through the bottom of the float bowl and has a nipple under the float bowl) The split may be very hard to see. Depending how you are doing the blow test for the float needle, you may not have eliminated the possibility of the float level being set too low. If the overflow tube is not split, check the float needle a different way ie by connecting the carby up to a fuel source with the float bowl off and very gently lift the float arms to replicate what the floats do then turn the fuel on.

Just tried again. Worked again for me. David

Its working fine today Mike. I've just tried David

My Falcon Classic steel bodied shocks are 340mm eye to eye and 100ml of 10WT fork oil per shock works fine. I found that if I used 5WT fork oil there was not sufficient compression damping. If your bodies are shorter you may need a different oil volume (to provide the correct gas space). To work out how much oil to use I measured what came out the first time I changed the oil (none had leaked out). I don't know what the standard pressure is meant to be but I have found that anything between 40psi and 70psi works fine.