g4321

Is Duncan Mitchell from the Bon Accord club not riding this year?

The rider I am thinking of did ride in the MGP Senior in 96 - finishing 27th on a 750 Honda. The style & build of the rider in the photo is similar to who I am thinking of. I dont have a 1996 MGP programme to check his starting number. Am I correct?

Yes it is a distinctive sound - sounds just as good nearly 20 years from its first appearance on the Island. I am too young to remember the MV's racing or the Honda 6 (not I hasten to add CBX) but have heard these bikes on 'parades' at the island and they are impressive - makes the RC30 sound bland by comparison I'm afraid. Still I like the sound of my RC30! Loudest of the lot was supposedly the 2stroke DKW which was so loud it could be heard on the mainland - long before days of silencing. As a matter of interest who is the rider in your photo taken at ballaugh Bridge. I do not recognise the rider but have a suspicion who it is.

Sounds like its easy to change when hot - cases have expanded? I had the same problem with one of my 250's - I suspected it was due to the cases being tight on the gear clusters - I welded a minor crack on the cases and lapped cases flat to ensure a good seal (virtually nothing was removed), this in conjunction with an aftermarket gasket made the cases tight on the gear clusters. Not a major problem, just I could not change gear in sections. I stripped motor and checked EVERYTHING again - I knew I had put box back together properly and there was no wear on selectors & selectors were true (not bent). I built up box in cases without remainder of engine(no crank etc) and tried various gasket thicknesses - et voila Next time you strip motor check all shims are in right place and there is sufficient 'free play' in the gear clusters. If an aftermarket gasket was used this may have been too thin? Strip motor, check everything and try a wider gasket (or even slackening off case screws when on bench with only box in cases) If you find the same problem as I did its easy to cure.

This man has a little taste me thinks - perhaps I am biased here but I would NOT class it as THE best looking bike. Works MV 3's and 4's of the 1960's, Rotary Norton race bikes and the Britten all come to mind as the best looking race bikes of recent years. Then you can delve further back into history and look at things like Manx Nortons, Velo Thruxtons and G50/7R AMC bikes. Broughs and Matchless V twins from the 30's, possibly even bronze head Rudge Ulsters and and and..... Probably the RC30 is one of the the best looking Jap bike, or road bike from the 80's onwards. Most modern bikes look the same, park up at the TT and all you see are line upon line of similar bikes, park an RC30 amongst them and you are guaranteed to meet some admirers when you go back to the bike. Unless you are a bike fan it does not really draw a crowd, I get more interest when I park my Cyclemaster or Power Pak i when at home - something different to look at! Cant see the beauty in the majority of modern trials bikes (including Bultaco / Ossa / Montesa et al from the 80's), all bland looking, unreliable Italian or Spanish electrics. EVERYONE HAS THEIR OWN VIEW AND IS ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN OPINION - LIFE WOULD BE BORING IF EVERYONE LIKED THE SAME THING.

GOV132 HT5 Ariel - No contest AMC (ie AJS or Matchless 350/500) Works Honda RTL Honda TLR250 (well I am biased!) Honda Golner 250 (a/a)

What are your opinions of whether to go the powder coat or painting route on my TLR frame. The bike is in 100 bits now soits time for a makeover. Powder coating does give a nice finish but I feel is prone to chipping (from experience & different coaters). Paint is east to touch up.

Anyone any suggestions of a good quality (ie long lasting) exhaust paint? I've triad a few but none seem to last as well as I would like.

When were the first commercially available trials bikes with discs? No real desire for modern bike - My 'modern' bike is a Golner 250 Honda, this and my TLR is modern enough for me - RTL or CCM was (and still is) trials bike I really wanted but was too expensive and hard to find when I was looking for one. Wanted a 4stroke and Honda was only choice (P65'sexcepted) in late 90's. Great bikes, reliable when looked after, Jap build quality. Spanish or Italian trials bikes - dodgy electrics & poor build quality in my opinion. New era 4strokes are too trick for me - mainly because fuel injection cant be repaired without dealer assistance - the alternative of a Scorpa 125/145/175 feels gutless (lovely light weight though!) As you know for several years I was usually the only twinshock rider at Inverness trials riding the same sections as everyone else with absolutely no success but still enjoyed 95% of the trials. Only recently has the swing been towards twinshock/P65 friendly trials - this has persuaded me to dig the twinshock TLR out of the garage and start to make it a more user friendly bike - nothing irreversible I know as you do that even with discs front and back & even with a 30kg lighter TLR I would have no chance of winning anything. I am still looking for a disc front end - whether I fit this to my Golner TLR or my twinshock I have not decided!

Sorry John but I hope to upset you - I still want to fit a disk front end to my TLR. Dont know why there is such a dislike to modifying a twinshock trials bike, fir enough South of the border there are trials especially for twinshock bikes but North of the border you are lucky to get 15 - 20 entries in each round of the TS/P65 championship. Most of the time twinshocks are riding the same trials and sections as modern bikes.

Small sprockets are held with a circlip rather than the locking ring. Contact Gordon Farleys if you dont have any circlips you can use.

Excellent video clip - world champion at work. How well did 'kinell' do in lasat years world championship? - answers on a postcard........... Obviously the sections are a little easier than todays championship - 25 years bike development is a lot, same as the 1960's sections were easier than the 80's sections. But the best riders in the world compete in the championship & the best rider that year wins, could you have won if you were transported back 25 years on your latest Beta - be honest the answer would probably be no.

Supposedly your clutch will be more likely to slip, cars no longer have wet clutch engines and some modern car oils can be 'friction modified' or contain additives which makes the oil more slippy.

Easiest way is to visit the local camera shop in Fort Bill. they are likely to have a printer / CD writer set up and for a small fee they will download all your photos onto a CD. Its a lot cheaper than further memory cards. Also spend time and go through the pictures you have taken - heads missing, out of focus etc = delete = more space. Personally I don't bother reducing the quality of images - you will be disappointed if you take the ultimate picture and find you can only print it on a 6 by 4! Reduction in quality can be done when you get home!

The main thing is INSURANCE, how would YOU feel if some numpty riding in a trial rode into your priide and joy, be it a car bike, horse wife whatever. Then you come to exchange details and certian numpty is uninsured - well how deep are your pockets. Admit it you would not be happy - dosn't matter whether it is a trials bike, white van, bike or car Me I would not be very pleased - admit it neither would you. Some people I know would inflict a lot more injuries than the rider received in the accident. Sticking a tax disk on a bike is no big deal - its unlikley you will get booked if you can show your tax disk - eg back of number plate but VISIBLE. As for number plates, I am pretty sure that your average traffic officer, especially if they are bike cops will know the score with a competition bike - cars with stupid fonts and sizes are a different matter - TAX, MOT & Insurance are all related - one phone call and the police can check up, if it aint taxed it aint insured and the RIDER is liable.

Motorcycle oil is made for engines with a wet clutch - synthetic, semi synthetic or mineral oil. The above does NOT apply to bike oils.

TLR250 is borderline for clutch slip at best of times, same basic clutch was designed for CB125 Honda single. Try an oil change using any suitable road bike oil eg Rock Oil, Castrol, Putoline etc . The TLR does not need exotic oil, a normal 10w40 or 15w50 mineral, semi synthetic or fully synthetic will all suffice. I suspect that a new set of friction plates and springs will soon be required. - easy job to change, just make sure you get correct springs since 200 has lighter springs.

have a look at the Dakar website - impressive isn't it. - loses a little in the literal translation used but well worth looking at. http://www.dakar.com/2007/DAK/LIVE/us/600/index.html Chose the number of the rider you wish to follow and you are able to see his position on the special stage. Robbie is riding no 129, today's stage he finished 132nd out of 182 finishers in the bikes section - a pensioner ahead of 50 other riders - well impressive. He has made Eurosport last night and tonight. Fingers crossed for the rest of the rally.

I took the plunge and ordered a set of NJB Expert shock. I decided they were best suited to my purpose this time after speaking to NJB, Graham Guppy (who still sells Betors) and Sammy Miller's. The primary reason for chosing NJB's over Betors was the 12mm damper rod compared to the 11mm rod - I have had problems with my Falcon shocks bending before, hence the modification to using shorter shocks in the first place. The Falcons worked well before I bent them & service from them was excellent. I have tried a bike with NJB's before and was impressed - lets hope they work for me...... Lets face it a set of shocks from the front of a scooter would probably do me! At least with the NJB's I will finally have 'Expert' written on my bike or licence. Thanks for the comments

Great to see that Robbie Allan the 65 year old scot is still going well (ie still going) Robbie is well known to many of the Scottish riders. Keep it up

Are the Betors Graham Guppy is selling the same as the ones Sammy Miller sells? If so Grahams price is very competetive. Your opinion of the NJB Experts is interesting - I am tempted by these - the price is the same as Sammy Miller Betors but do the Experts have 4" travel - NJB website quotes only 3" travel for Clubman shocks. I have tried a 200 TLR with NJB shocks and they were nice. NJB Trickshocks look 'trick' but price is a bit more than I want to pay. I am not planning Falcons this time - the reason for the swinging arm modifications I have done is to allow me to use alternative shocks - for a long time Falcons was the only choice for a TLR250. I still have the original swinging arm intact with Falcons if I decide to refit. I would be interested to hear any opinions on Betors or NJB's - pros & cons. The other shocks rockshocks etc are outwith my planned budjet - in reality my skill level is such they would be wasted!

Planning buying a set of 14" (360mm betors) there was someone selling these regularly on Ebay (a business) - anyone know who it was?

I have been modifying a TLR200 swinging arm to fit my TLR250 (to allow me to use different shocks) and have come across a couple of interesting differences. 1 Swinging arm length - identical 2 Swinging arm spindle diameter - identical (I initially thought 200 was smaller diameter) 3 Wheel spindle is larger diameter on 250 - 15mm against 12mm (or 13mm) on 200. 4 Chain adjustment slots are longer on 250 - allows for more chain adjustment & shorter wheelbase (roughly 10mm difference) - just mill, grind or file the slots 10mm to the front of the swinging arm & buy or make smaller snail cam adjusters - the 250 slots stop 7mm from the snail cam 'pin'. 5 Chain Tensioner mount differs - the 250 is braced on the front, the 200 is braced on the bottom -this means nothing until you read the next bit! The 200 has 390mm shocks, the 250 410mm shocks If you want longer shocks on your 200 to raise the rear & sharpen steering the only modification you need to do is modify the chain tensioner mount, the bracing bar on the tensioner touches the frame tube if you try to fit (tlr250) ie longer shocks. Cut off the bracing bar on the tensioner mount and the swinging arm will be able to 'drop' further & 410mm shocks can be fitted. On the 250 there is a brace at the front of the tensioner mount. My plan is to attach new mounts on my 'new' swinging arm to utilise 360mm Betor shocks rather than get my Falcons rebuilt again. New Alloy Rockshocks would be nice but my riding skill cant justify the

Unfortunately the Shirt Conversion is a no-go on the TLR unless you are prepared to modify the forks (which I am not, essentialy the wheel hub is too wide for the tLR forks and the disk wont pass the mounting lug for the brake plate. back to the drawing board i guess. The locating lug is in a different position to the TY and i would have had to make up a new mounting plate but since the wheel hub is too wide I dont think I will bother.