g4321

Thanks for the interesting replies - some I agree with, others I dont.. I found that the several coats technique works on two strokes sine the exhaust seems to be colder, on an air cooled 4 stroke this is a no no - the paint will crack if you have too much paint on the exhaust - certainly with the paint I was using. Preparation I sand blast the exhaust to bare metal and paint using the procedure the tin says. was using a 650deg centrigrade paint, all that was locally available for a while. I tried everything including curing the paint using hot air gun or blowtorch and in an industrial oven at around 150deg C but to no avail - I have come to the conclusion the paint aint hot enough _ it worked on two strokes well enough or too many coats spoils the job - the tins all say one good coat or similar. I have recently bought some PJ1 which is 816 deg C - I am hoping the extra temperature is the answer, I will let you know when I try it. (This was before Monty rose from the dead) I have also found some higher temp silver paint - 700 deg C which I will use on another bike - Sperex brand - this even says dont build up a thick coating. Gordon Why Honda never fitted a stainless pipe in the first place is beyond me!

I have recently 'freshened up' one of my TLR's, I went for powder coating the frame - not ideal since boots do rub through the coating and powder coating does chip. A nickel plated frame would be nice but would be cery expensive since this requires a lot of prep work. Other things I have done are modify swinging arm (well 2nd hand one from Ebay) to allow normal length shocks to be used. extend bash plate to protect casings when bike falls on side Lower compression using very thick base gasket - makes 250 run much smoother with less chance of stalling in sections - common mod for 250's reprofile inlet manifold to remove step between carb and head - dont know if it does any good or not! There are numerous other little things I have done over the years but I would recommend lowering the compression - opposite from what our friends across the pond do to their 200's. I am currently looking at modifying a Montesa 249 alloy tank & fibreglass cover to give me what I want at a reasonable cost - alloy tank and seat with slim profile.

Glad to see that Duncan Mitchell has been given a ride after all

Came across this on Ebay tonight - seems genuine P65 matchess trials bikes were 420cc with a replica frame and fibreglass tank - one word is wrong in the description - Genuine!

Monty Its taken you a long time to think up this reply - I originally put the message on in January 2005 ! No comment required

Did you check that the bearing is not worn? If the seal was changed and the bearings were worn it would still leak.

Mr B - Excess beer is not recommended for the Professional Athlete - then again alcohol has been known to dumb pain - perhaps after a loog day on the moor it might not bee too bad an idea. Is the rumour true that Miller Light or Coors are sponsoring the RAF team this year?

Ha anyone any suggestions of the best heat resisting paint to use on a TLR exhaust system. Have tried a few over the years but tend to find they fry off the exhaust pipe very quickly (silencers seem less problematic). Gordon

Disadvantage of 9t on front is more chain wear. Also plastic rubber on swinging arm wears more 10 front 44 back is roughly same as 9 39 Me I have settled on 9 44 - less stalling!

Check that the pilot jet is not blocked - and blow through all the airways again on the carb. The jets are very small as are some of airways - its unlikely float is out. The float height is easy to set / check - by rurning the carb upsides down - there are two flats either side of the float bowl, the height is set from here and should be 20mm (200 is different)

Bit of history here The 32cc Cyclemaster is a development of the original 25cc cyclemaster - more power and more speed! Just think 25cc of brute power - enough to make a 350cc SWM seem gutless?? Mine dates from 1955 (although I have some others a little earlier in age), they are all going strong after 50 years of abuse. Spares supply is excellent - virtually everything can be bought except crankcases & new barrels / heads - much more likely to keep Wonder who will remember SWM in after 50 years and how easy spares will be to purchase ? TTFN Gordon

How long are your forks and what are they originally from - mighgt work great on my honda!

Buying a dinosaur like an SWM would put anyone off buying bikes...............................................

The part next to the clutch is a centrifugal oil filter. the tool can be easily made from either an odd socket or a piece of pipe. The simplest solution is to use a pin punch or even a centre punch on the nut.

I tried a borrowed Fantic tank at weekend, as you say frame is similar at rear and tap is at correct side. Unfortunately Fantic tank is too narrow by approx 10mm at rear to clear frame rails. If I was confident that I could 'doctor' a plastic tank this would be an option, if the Fantic tank was glass fibre I would buy one but not confident that I could modify / melt the back of the tank without caiusing leaks. In addition the Fantic fuel tap interferes with the cam cover of the TLR250, using a straight pipe would work - make up a reducer and use original frame mounted TLR250 tap. Yours still looking! Gordon ps the other tank I fancy trying is a TY mono tank - either steel (easy welded) or plastic (same problem - modify easily without leaks). I a,m not too bothered about tank length since I would make up a seat unit from alloy / titanium or glass fibre to suit.

I tried a borrowed Fantic tank at weekend, as you say frame is similar at rear and tap is at correct side. Unfortunately Fantic tank is too narrow by approx 10mm at rear to clear frame rails. If I was confident that I could 'doctor' a plastic tank this would be an option, if the Fantic tank was glass fibre I would buy one but not confident that I could modify / melt the back of the tank without caiusing leaks. In addition the Fantic fuel tap interferes with the cam cover of the TLR250, using a straight pipe would work - make up a reducer and use original frame mounted TLR250 tap. Yours still looking! Gordon ps the other tank I fancy trying is a TLR mono tank - either steel (easy welded) or plastic (same problem - modify easily without leaks). I a,m not too bothered about tank length since I would make up a seat unit from alloy / titanium or glass fibre to suit.

I know there are one piece fibre glass tank / seat units being sold for the TLR200/250 at around

Well I have just came out of the shed after finishing off my TLR250 - now its a 'cheat' bike since it no longer has the std swingingarm but a modified one from a TLR200. How would this fit in to your set of rules? Rules are rules ! I rode this bike for several years in 'normal' club trials - there was not a route for twinshock or P65 and I still am thinking about a disc front end purely for safety, running out of control down steep hills is not fun with useless Honda drum brakes is not fun!

The rolling chassis is virtually the same as 200 TLR - Honda manual covers both bikes. Engine parts - cant really help much, Dave Silvers might have a microfiche - they have for most Hondas?

Why convert an RTL to twinshock? The RTL was the top bike of its day - you will enjoy a trial just as much on an RTL as you would the latest bit of kit - lets face it do you really need the latest bike to ride a trial. Some of the twinshock pundits would have you hung drawn and quartered for even contemplating such a conversion - be it an exotic RTL or common or garden TY yam. If you do decide to through out your RTL rolling chassis etc throw it my way, I would quite happily build a semi RTL to use either borrowing a TLR250 engine from one of my bikes or building up an engine from a XL125/185 starting point - I could dream I then owned an RTL!.

To really put the cat amongst the pigeons........... Golner Honda came out as a monoshock was originally a twinshock till Golner modified and sold it. - if owner converts it to twinshock would you have him hung drawn and castrated................... If someone does convert a converted twinshock back to twinshock please send me the mono bits as spares...

I had this problem for a while - I could never get a handle on why, tried numerous set up changes but to be honest I still felt it was miles ahead of IE6 or 7. Try a fresh install - this did help I have now upgraded PC hardware (and software) to Vista - no problems at all now - expensive solution but...

The question I would ask is why would Duncan need to be in the ballot - there are so many reserved places?

I can understand why he is cheesed off! Duncan would be unlikely NOT to finish, he makes a serious attempt at the vast majority of the sections. I for one am extremely surprised that he has not an entry. Duncan Mitchell is a rider who the majority of Scots would know and look out for when watching & seeing a TYZ adds a bit of variety to the entry - perhaps thats it - an old bike & not a current trials bike manufacturer

Pity to see a Scottish stalwart of the event missing from the entry list.