feetupfun

bisby is on the money. Montesa, Bultaco and OSSA (and countless British bike) kickstarts drive the motor via the gearbox. Same reason why you have to find neutral to kickstart them (unless you want the bike to take off as you kick it over). The more modern arrangement is for the kickstart to drive the motor via the clutch basket

and this is what it looks like nowadays

I know my series 1 M49 Sherpa T was sold new in Australia and had some bizarre modifications done before I bought it. The rear frame loop had been bent downwards to allow the fitment of a seat that looked like it was from a Bultaco road bike. The footpeg mounting location was used to bolt on some large pieces of steel strip which were mounted horizontally and supported a set of footpegs well forward of the normal spot, and a set of footpegs well to the rear for the pillion passenger. They had fitted Gas Koni shocks with stiff springs (probably to stop the rear tyre hitting the lowered rear frame loop). The super low rise but wide handlebars I had not seen before, but made me think of speedway handlebars The paint scheme was reminiscent of a mid 1970s Pursang, and was applied on top of about 4mm thickness of spray putty, which despite the thickness, was not effective at holding the fuel inside the leaky fuel tank

What use would closed loop control be on a trials bike anyway? Fine on a car or on a road bike, but on a trials bike, the motor would never be at a single condition long enough for it to go into closed loop mode

In OZ that model Cortina was available with the 2 litre SOHC motor which I imagine is what was in Don's car, and they also sold the same model Cortina with the Ford Falcon 4.1 litre cast iron in-line six, which most definitely handled worse

would wear out rear tyre, chain and sprockets pretty fast, and can't reverse car if required

Another thought is that if you want to make the change to right foot braking, you can still use the nice RH shifter. No probs doing both jobs with the same foot and nothing to get in the way of the kickstart. I know of a few people riding late model Sherpa Ts set up like this

Looked in my log and found that I'm running 13/52 and very happy with it

gearing needs to be lower/slower than standard for competition. I use standard rear sprocket whatever that is - probably something like 52T - and 12T or 13T front with 428 chain. I will look in my log tonight for the sprocket sizes. Standard gearing is something like 15T front from memory and is great for highway cruising You should be able to run 520 chain without clearance issues, and it is probably a good idea to go for 520 because 12T or 13 T fronts for 428 chain are hard to find

The standard pipe will come off without having to undo the motor mounting bolts or the cylinder head - however there is a knack The carb to cylinder connector is a common failure I haven't ever touched the rubber swingarm bushes, but if I wanted to take them out I would just burn the rubber and cut the outer sleeve to get them out. There's a bloke from the US called Michael Moore who wrote a great story about his KT that he was fixing up about 10 years ago. Michael didn't like the rubber swingarm bush idea and made a metal to metal setup and explained how and why he did it the way he did. He also experimented with different exhausts and explained how he went about it. From what you say it sounds like you like to have things completely standard so probably wouldn't suit you. In case you are interested, you may find Michael's writings about his KT on Trials Central forums. You won't need a decomp to start it - they are a pussycat to kickstart There's a bloke in Australia was making replica KT taillights a while back. They look like TY taillights but are different in detail. He bought my original light to copy from. haven't heard from him for a while The three position clutch levers are rubbish. A good quality clutch cable is a benefit. Some people use the clutch cover off one of the KX bikes to get a better clutch pull. Getting the fork action sorted and the rear ride height right is important for getting the steering to work well. High rise bars (like they had at the time) are a good idea with the standard footpeg position Good modern shocks have a much better action than the original KT shocks, but if you want to keep it original looking, there is no such thing as a shock that can't be rebuilt Original KT mudguards are moulded plastic, not sure what you mean by "beaters, learning and dumping a lot"

and seven KT250s at a trial (it was pre-organised to get as many KTs together as possible)

and a recent photo of the same bike

here is a photo of my KT taken in about 2003

the "tripod" Kawasaki web page forum went quiet on KTs many years ago when people started using Trials Central and Trials Australia forums for their KT info

Apart from the one damaged lid stud on your airbox,it looks like standard KT Your frame is standard KT behind the shockie mount. The standard seat brackets attach where the brackets on your seat attach I'll have a look in my parts book to see what you are seeing

The Uniflow air filter elements that are sold in the UK are made in Sydney, Australia. They used a KT airbox of mine to design that filter. Fred and Deb KT parts also sell those filter elements. I use them and have no problems. I'll have a look at your photos now.

Here is a bloke selling KT parts on eBay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/KT-250-TRIALS-BIKE-1975-spoke-nipple/111384273025?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140106155344%26meid%3D949a886809fa402c85c3d0d57f0c73c4%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D20140106155344%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D281529908872&rt=nc I'll have a look at your photos soon

Hi Tim I'm one of the KT folk. I have one of my own, and have helped a few people with theirs. I've ridden mine quite a bit over the past 15 years and experimented with lots of things to see what effect they had. The carb is a popular item for use on other twinshock trials bikes so it's not unusual that it is missing The airbox boot shrinks and goes hard with time and new replicas can be bought from Fred an Deb's KT parts in New Zealand. They also have lots of other hard-to-get replica parts for KTs http://kawasakikt.tripod.com/FREDKT.html I don't know why the seats disappear. I have given a couple away to people whose bikes were missing them but have no more left. Front sprockets for 520 chain are available from http://www.tytrials.co.uk/trailandtrialsuk/cat_28895-3-Kawasaki-KT250-Parts.html Rear sprockets are not as readily available, due to being dished. A flat sprocket from Talon with spacer and recessed head fasteners will work. Some people have made sprocket adaptors to allow the use of late model KX sprockets but the last time I saw these being advertised was years ago. What parts look different to the parts book?

Why it works is because the air going in and out of the little hole in the decompressor causes the motor to do work on the air.

did you have to change the jetting to suit the Aspen fuel? I friend of mine tried using ELF "indoor" fuel in his trials bike and the bike required rejetting to suit

You are getting current flowing through the condenser when the points are open, which is normal. Just look for the light changing in brightness as the points open and close

quite amusing, but I'm pretty sure that was no standard Harley motor

Larry yes 12 gauge spokes are fine in principle for steel spokes on a trials bike. It is the quality of the thread forming on the spokes and in the nipples that can be a problem with new spokes

The wires around the spoke crossing positions are to prevent further damage due to a flailing spoke, should a spoke break. Cable ties are also used for this purpose.