alan

never mind the bars.... that's a tubeless rim which means he probably has 32 spoke billet hubs .. we need to get a posse together..

I have played around with durafix type products without too much sucess. I think your best approach would be to recess the split slightly and fill the recess with the filler rod after thorough cleaning. Note all the videos show horizontal repairs where the filler rod is puddled in. if you try anything vertical the filler runs away! I would also be looking to see why the tank split in the first place. Is it mounted properly ? My experience with durafix type products is that it tends to crack especially if subject to vibration. my recommendation would be to have it tig welded, if the durafix type stuff doesn't work i think you willl struggle to tig weld it afterwards.

before i take the cover off, has any one experienced this ? when kicking the bike over the kick start lever does not return fully home. There appears to be a tight spot when it engages with the decompressor mechanism. is there a known fix ?

Surely a lot of this is down to personal preference, engineering ability, facilities to hand, and whether you are cash rich or time rich. you can get almost the same results by either spending a lot of time in the shed working on a budget, or go out and buy parts that someone else has engineered. the choice is yours.........

i dont usually like to go off topic, but i can understand the desire to keep bikes looking period, but why pick up on gaitors when there are things like bantams turning up with tanks and mudguards that make them look more like beta's (with gaitors) ?

Hi Jenny there is a guy on http://www.classicbikeforum.co.uk/index.php that goes by the name of hondaparts man, he works for a honda dealer, seems very knowledgeable and willing to spend a bit of time to identify parts, you could try a post on there. alternatively, you can either polish off the annodising or have the process chemically reversed if you can get hold of a gold rim. You need to have as good look at a secondhand D.I.D rims as they are notorious for corroding from the inside especially if they have been used in trials, You also need to check that the spoke holes have been drilled to suit your hub. The holes are drilled at an angle to suit the hub diameter and width, If the rim was drilled for use on a tapered hub (for example) the holes in the rim will be drilled at a different angle on one side of the rim. You can usually still lace the rim on but the spokes will bend at the nipple end. good luck

many thanks max and 4stroke

before i take the cover off, has any one had similar experiences? The cluch bites when the lever is almost fully out......which leads me to believe that the plates are badly worn. When the bike is cold it is fairly easy to shift gears and find neutral, when its hot it is almost impossibe to do either, which leads me to think that the drum is notched and the plates are dragging.... am i barking up the wrong tree?

the first lap is stop start as you walk the sections, subsequent laps can be non stop (if there is no queues!!!!)

you should also consider that the dellorto is easy to install (one piece rubber manifold from Armac or 3 piece from UPB) easy to set up, doesn't need constant adjustment,seems not to wear out to quickly and in some cases seems to use a lot less fuel....... Most of the guys seem to swap back to the dellorto after Scotland.

it equates to an overall reduction of just over 5%. if it is currently geared to do say 5 mph at 1000 rpm, changing the engine sprocket would only drop the speed to 4.75 mph at 1000 rpm. Depends how much difference you are trying to make, but 2 teeth off the gearbox sprocket would make a 10% reduction, if you then went up 5 on the rear wheel you would get 18% overall.

on a similar (but opposite)note, i was at a local club trial yesterday, the section involved half a dozen tight u turns weaving in an out of a small bomb hole. 3 routes were marked so there were flags everwhere. A 12 year old lad managed to turn too tight and without noticing went the wrong side of one of the flags. He finished the section thinking he had got a rare clean to be jeered by his mate for missing the flag and getting a five. He immediately burst into tears... the mature lady observer (not related to the lad), then chastised his mate before giving the lad a cuddle, wiping his tears and pointing out the flag he missed.......... now if we could only carry that spirit over to the grown ups eh

Borrowed from another site... the Hotel is not the Hanover any more tho.. Cawder Ghyll, Skipton From Settle, Harrogate, Ilkley on A65, then onto A629 signed Keighley, at next Roundabout LEFT for Skipton A6131. After Hanover Hotel take FIRST RIGHT over small canal bridge, then Fork RIGHT onto Cawder Lane. Go straight up Lane to start area. From Keighley, on A629 for Skipton, off A629, take A613I for Skipton, then as above.

I guess the glib answer is that it is only worth what some one will pay for it.. if you can find some one that has added up the price of the parts and wants to avoid the waiting time and the hassle of assembly you may get more than the cost of the parts. The problem i see is that more clubs are putting Armac cubs into the special's class. I seem to recall that a very nice otter has been on sale for ages at a price less than the cost of the parts.

from the look of his web site this guy seems to know what he is doing http://www.shedworks.net/index.html

no problem Ranspeed, if you are going to change the gear selector shaft there are a coupe of things to watch out for... As you remove the inner gearbox cover, the cam can fall out, if this happens the cam followers wil drop and the push rods will dis engage from the rockers.... its a cylinder head off job to get everything back as it should be.... I have found it easier to lay the bike over on its side, with the engine on TDC on the combustion stroke, that way there is no load on the cam and gravity is working with you. (you dont even have to drain the gearbox oil) , As you pull the inner cover off keep and eye on the cam and push it back if it starts to come off with the cover. good luck..

Sorry Mark.... but thats completley the wrong advice.. back fire thro Carb.. Excessively lean carburetor settings can contribute to backfiring. If the mixture is too lean, it may burn very slowly and unevenly. This condition, in turn, may result in burning mixture remaining in the cylinder until the beginning of the next intake stroke when it can ignite the incomming air/fuel mixture. Backfire in exhaust..... It is normal for many high performance exhaust systems to moderately backfire or pop when the throttle is closed from mid-to-high rpm. In fact, one should expect a well-tuned high performance engine to "pop" and "crackle" when the throttle is closed at high rpm. The popping is a result of the air/fuel mixture becoming very lean when the throttle is closed and the engine is rotating well above idle speed. Why This (normally) Happens: 1) When the throttle valve is in the idle position, fuel does not flow out of the main system (needle, needle jet, main jet). Fuel is only delivered to the engine by the pilot (idle) system. 2) The combined effect of the closed throttle and elevated engine rpm is to create a fairly strong vacuum in the intake manifold. This vacuum, in turn, causes a high air flow rate through the small gap formed by the throttle valve and carburetor throat. 3) Under these conditions the pilot (idle) system cannot deliver enough fuel to create a normal, combustible air/fuel ratio. The mixture becomes too lean to burn reliably in the combustion chamber. It gets sent into the exhaust system unburned and collects there. 4) When the odd firing of the lean mixture does occur, it is sent, still burning, into the exhaust system where it sometimes ignites the raw mixture that has collected ---- the exhaust then pops or backfires. 5) The exhaust must be both free-flowing and have an open exit for the popping to occur. Other possible causes: Air Leaks: Any source of fresh air into the exhaust system can create or worsen the conditions that bring about exhaust backfiring. The most common entry point is the junction of the header pipes and silencer. Even a small air leak can dramatically increase the intensity or likelihood of exhaust system backfiring. Lean Carburetion: While exhaust system popping may be considered normal, it is certainly made worse by an overly lean idle circuit. Be sure that your carburetor's pilot jet is the correct size and that the idle air mixture screw is correctly adjusted before looking for other causes of popping. Ignition: If exhaust system popping is very loud, irregular and accompanied by loss of power, then you should suspect that the ignition system is not performing as it should. If, for some reason, the ignition sometimes fires at the wrong time, then exhaust popping can become very energetic (loud). Look for failing high tension leads (plug wires), failing ignition coil and especially switches or connectors as possible causes. Ranspeed... what ignition system are you using ?

Greeves now own MP... http://www.greevesmotorcyclesltd.com/parts2.html#forks I am sure they will supply the seals, but from memory although the stantions are imperial (1 3/8" ? just under 35mm), the seal housing diameter in the leg is metric. I was able to source a stand Metric seal from the local bearing factor.

Pat in this month's classic bike there is an interview with Arthur Lampkin, he complains about paying

moto x /enduro boots generally have more armour and the sole and ankle is less flexible than a trials boot. in terms of protection, trials boots will fall half way between your road boots and moto x boots. If you are starting out your road boots will do, after that have a look at appleyards in keighley (i am not sure that the Leeds branch stocks trials boots)

hi, can remember roughly what the cost was.. new ones are available for sbout

hi Pat, were the Ducati bores plated localy.. somewhere like Stalybridge for instance.. or were they shipped from Italy? Charlie, At the risk of nearly going back on thread.. When i had my Serco ally barrel rebored, the liner had gone oval. The ovality was blamed on the uneven shrink due to the irregular shape of the barrel especially in the region of the push rod tube cut out.. nikasil bores might kill two birds with one stone...... and maybe open up a commercial opportunity... this time next year, me, you and Pat could all be millionaires...........

hey up charlie why not go the whole hog.. rather than fitting a steel liner, why not have the alumuminium bore nikasil coated ? Nikasil is a trademarked electrodeposited lipophilic nickel matrix silicon carbide coating for engine components, mainly piston engine cylinder liners. It was introduced by Mahle in 1967, initially developed to allow rotary engine apex seals (NSU Ro80 and C111) to work directly against the aluminum housing. This coating allowed aluminum cylinders and pistons to work directly against each other with low wear and friction. Unlike other methods, including cast iron cylinder liners, Nikasil allowed very large cylinder bores with tight tolerances and thus allowed existing engine designs to be expanded easily, the aluminium cylinders also gave a much better heat conductivity than cast iron liners, which is an important factor for a high output engine. The coating was further developed by US Chrome Corporation in the USA in the early 1990s (under the trade name of "Nicom"), as a replacement for hard-chrome plated cylinder bores for Mecury Marine Racing, Kohler Engines, and as a repair replacement for factory-chromed snowmobiles, dirt bikes, ATVs, watercraft and automotive V8 liners/bores. Porsche started using this on the 1970 917 race car, and later on the 1973 911 RS. Porsche also used it on production cars, but for a short time switched to Alusil due to cost savings for their base 911. Nikasil cylinders were always used for the 911 Turbo and RS models. Nikasil coated aluminum cylinders allowed Porsche to build air-cooled engines that had the highest specific output of any engine of their time. Nikasil is still used in today's 911s with great success. Nikasil was very popular in the 1990s. It was used by companies such as BMW, Ferrari and Jaguar Cars in their new engine families. However, the sulfur found in much of the world's low quality gasoline caused some Nikasil cylinders to break down over time [1], causing costly engine failures. Nikasil or similar coatings under other trademarks are also still widely used in racing engines, including those used in Formula One and ChampCar. Suzuki currently uses a race-proven nickel phosphorus-silicon-carbide proprietary coating trademarked SCEM (Suzuki Composite Electro-chemical Material) to maximize cylinder size and improve heat dissipation, e.g., on the engine of the Suzuki_TL1000S and Suzuki DL650 V-Strom and Hayabusa motorcycles [1]. Engines using Nikasil: Aprilia RS125 And Aprilia SX/RX 125 Armstrong MT500 - Rotax engine cylinder lining Chevrolet LT5 engine, designed by Lotus and used exclusively in the Corvette ZR-1 Chevrolet Vega 2.3l, and 2.0l Cosworth fours Citro

depends were you are... but paul jackson near Halifax has an excellent reputation is is good value for money other wise try central wheels http://www.central-wheel.co.uk/ a bit more expensive but also have a good reputation.