social climber

Tempting fate a bit having an ambulance as transport to and away from a motorsport event? get the sirens and lights going though and you could cut your queing time by hours!!!!

I have a 93 climber with the purple tank and yellow shrouds. I've had a bit of engine trouble with mine as well. Firstly, I cleaned out the carb and saw that the balancer pipe was all perished. I assumed this had to be air tight and replaced it with a new piece of hose. After this it was an exercise in madness trying to set the float level so that the petrol wouldn't puke out of the overflows and still start. Eventually a friend of mine who works at trials bikes for a living put me right and put a small nick in the pipe and reset the float level for me. Voila, running spot on. Make sure therefore that all the passage ways in the carb are clear, not just the jets. This past w/e, I took it out for a practice and it would fire for a second or so, then die. It had been running fine when I had last had it out a week before at a UC Trial and hadn't been tampered with since. When I checked the plug it was sparking fine. After arguments with my dad I eventually took his advice that the plug was at fault and changed it for a new one. The bike ran perfectly after this. So just cos a plug sparks at atmospheric pressure. doesn't mean it will in a compressed environment. Just my tuppence worth, might be no use, hopefully it will be.

Dougy cleaning section 7 on sunday was the highlight for me!! Absolutely awesome!! Made the big climb look easy, just to highlight the gap between the stars and us mere mortals on the local C+D routes.......

I just bought one of these before I entered the Sandown trial outside belfast on 20th of March. It was a horrendous day, really windy and wet, but the jacket kept me dry and relatively draught free ( I say relatively cos it was windy enough to blow the visor clean off my helmet, I was bound to get a draught from somewhere. These jackets are made of a medium weight cordura so they are not too heavy, and look like they will take a lot of punishment. They have a mesh lining for comfort and two poppered pockets ( not very secure though...) and I found it had more than enough freedom of movement for riding the sections. I would even ride an enduro in this cos it's cut quite large and there would be plenty of room for chest / elbow protection under it. Best of all, it costs 25 quid from BBBikeshop. Have a look, http://www.bbbikeshop.co.uk/acatalog/Cub_C...de_Jackets.html I think it's a definite alternative to Lycra for some of us with a more 'muscular' frame.

Call me old fashioned, but what about a simple cheque or money order to an address?? Thats how I deal on eBay all the time.

I was at Bangor Co Down last year, and some of those sections were every bit as spectacular as any indoor section. I also believe that the skill involved outdoors is much greater as indoors they don't have to deal with mud!!!! ( I f ing HATE mud....). Also the uniformity of the surfaces indoor are bound to be easier to anticipate than, for example, a stream bed where rocks and obstacles are unseen or moving around under the wheels. Finally, indoors you don't have rain or wind to deal with. Drumkeeragh forest at the w/e was a nightmare. So windy it blew the visor right off my new lid!!!

I don't know abou the rest of you but I don't see any benefit from one pair to the other, as I'd only wear them moving between sections. i would never wear them in a section as I find them distracting and mess up my peripheral vision I have a pair of oakley 'O' Frames I borrowed and 'forgot' to give back... They do the job I suppose....

My brother is a mechanic for the electricity board here in Belfast and has to deal with landys every day, in all their shapes and forms. A common misconception is that because of the aluminium body work they don't rust. However, the chassis is steel and isn't galvanised at that, so rather than a rust spot on a wing, you get a hole in a main structural member requiring pretty heavy duty welding. And this isn't on old junkers found on a hill farm somewhere, this is on machines about five years old. Other problem areas are shock tops, CV joints and track rod ends, which the brother says have to be replaced on each landy at EVERY M.O.T!!! Add to this a trade off of crap road manners or crap fuel economy!! Someone told me that 75% of all land rovers built are still around, Probably in a garage somewhere waiting to be fixed or welded...... Hi-Lux 4x4's definitely rule the roost.... Just ask jeremy clarkeson!!

Thanks guys, That will be a lot of help. much appreciated.

Hi All, I recently purchased an Aplilia Cimber 280R. The guy I bought it off said it had been lying for about 4 months and even though it started first or second kick hot or cold I decided a carb strip and clean could do no harm. Seems my ham fisted re-assembly bent the brass arms that close the petrol valve, meaning the petrol p**sed all over the place when I turned on the petcock and the bike now won't start for love or money..... It has a Dellorto PHBH26 carb in it and I was wondering A) what height should the float level be set at and, How do I measure float hight in the first place? I got it to the point that the bike would start with the choke on, but would not run with it off, so I think I may have gone too far in my efforts to fix it and made it run lean...... Help please!!, and thanks in advance.....

I forgot about braces.... Get the good ones with the solid support on the inside and outside, as the neoprene ones are really little more than a warming aid...... Oh, and I was being gracious about the rugby but what the hell, Ireland were great!!!!! oh happy days!!!! Triple crown here we come ( assuming we don't balls it up against the scots again...)

Your riding days are definately not over with this. I had it done to repair a rugby injury and not only am I still riding bikes, but I'm still playing rugby to a decent standard as well, and rugby is on the whole, a lot more punishing on the joints than riding a bike.. ( no arguments please unless from someone who still plays in the forwards AND rides bikes) The only thing I would say is not to rush back into riding again. Wait until it is at least comfortable to run or go to the gym on, as any damage sustained during the healing process will set the recovery back a lot longer. Also, you may find that it takes a while to get confidence back in the strenght of the joint, but one too many fives in a trial will help that along no end. But don't worry, after the swelling and pain go away the joint should be as good as new.

I'd love to know how much that thing weighs cos looking at the cycle parts, the brake disca and spockets all look light enough to have come off an MTB. Probably wouldn't be the ticket for the six days though, a portable generator might take up too much room in the old bum bag!!!!

Super Puma I think......... From Northern Ireland so have seen a few.....

oops, forgot that an engine is not a closed system and also forgot about thermal expansion....... My physics teacher would be so proud!!

In reply to bigfoot, Unless there are massive airleaks betwen the airbox and engine (which will cause their own problems...) the Volume of air ( lets say gas to avoid arguments over air / exhaust fumes), through the airbox in a revolution of the engine, and through the exhaust for the same revolution,should be roughly the same.... To demonstrate this, run your bike with the airbox off the next time you have occasion to do so and put your hand over the carb intake to see the sort of suction it generates. In the U.S. where Public land access demands a DOT approved spark arrestor, the most common one was called a sparky, basically a metal tube made to slip over the end of the exhaust with a wire mesh screen inside the end of it.

Could this be the start of an Aprilia section in the bike specific forum?? I saw another post elsewhere here on oil ratios for a climber..... Do we have the interest?

Thanks t-shock, I'll be doing an oil change on mine soon so this will be usefull to know. Apologies to anyone I mis-led with my 1400cc crazy talk...... I got that info from a Japanese site that listed aprilia's from 1988 on, air and water cooled, and this site listed the same specs for all of them.... should have known really. As a side note, does anyone know where I could get short levers (brake and clutch) for this. The levers are madeby domino and I presume they haven't changed THAT much have they?

Glad to hear that theres a response to some points raised here...... however, none of them have been about my original query! Guys, I weigh 112kg( ), I NEED advice on suspension adjustment......

The limited amount of info I got off the web agrees that 1,400cc for the gear box is correct. I didn't hear any thing about the fork oil, but given that USD forks generally hold more oil I would reckon that'd be a ball park figure alright. As for an owners manual, I have had no luck yet but a guy on this list, Tim Seymour sent me this in reply to the same question..... "Its not easy to find stuff like that.I had to call my local kawasaki dealer who also do aprilia.They gave me the number of a dealer in Kent.I cant find his number now but kawasaki newcastle is 0191 2723335.They will give you his number.Ask for the aprilia off road bloke in kent.Other wise its almost imposible to get hold of any info off the web.Any Trials bike dealer near to you SHOULD help,but dont bank on it!" One of my mates is a specialist trials bike mechanic here in N.Ireland, and has a dealership for sherco's. The distributer he gets his parts from also used to sell the climbers so he reckons they'll still have parts. I'll try and get their name from him and see if this might help. Good luck

Hi all, I was on this a while ago asking for general info on the 1993 Aprilia 280R Climber (purple tank, yellow radiator shrouds). Now I'll be more specific. Looking at the forks, theres a couple of screws on the top and I was wondering what sort of adjustment was available on these forks and which adjuster is which? Theres also an adjuster on the left hand fork but not on the right. Which is which? Also, same question for the shock.........

At last, another climber on the list..... I only got mine recently and a friend of mine how owms a trials sales and service shop told me to use fully synthetic at 80:1 (65cc oil / 5 litres of petrol....) He also said that if you run semi synthetic the mixture should be increased to 75cc / 5L and mineral should be run at 100cc / 5L but he didn't recommend mineral in a modern two stroke anyway. Low revs on a trials bike could lead to the rings sticking with mineral oil. Hope this has been a help. Oh by the way, maybe you could help me? I've no idea which adjuster is which on the forks and shock. I wonder could you post me a description please. Thanks.......

Just shows how little I know, I thought the bike was a feather weight, but then maybe it is compared to a cota 349 and a maico 490 (my other wee girl....) Thanks for the info so far guys and please keep it coming.

Hello all, Although I've been messing around on a TY80 then an '81 Cota 349 since I was a nipper I've only just decided to get into competitions. I sent my membership to the Knock M.C.C over here in N. Ireland, bought some cheap kit off eBay ( new, but cheap..) and finally got meself a '93 Aprilia Climber 280R. I've trawled though this forum and NO-ONE seems to mention this bike. It is in great condition and in the two weeks I've had it it seems to pull like a train ( I weigh an even 18st - rugby player, not a completely fat B*****d. .). However, it seem that they weren't that popular as there sod all on the web about them. So, does anyone have any opinions / tech tips / set up advice? Any manuals floating about? I'd gladly pay a fair price for one if someone had one they weren't using. Thanks in advance for any feed back.