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Bought my Cotton on ebay 18 months ago for £1600, seemed cheap enough, Rode it in the Clubman class in the Yorks Classic Championship series this year and proved competitive. (Good entries at their trials too !!) Now I've bought new alloy rims and electronic ignition because I wanted to not because I had to. Not a fashionable bike but I enjoyed riding it, and unlike my 'modern' bike, I think I'd get my money back, probably with enough interest to cover most of what I've recently spent on it. Have just bought an Ariel that will be less competitive but cost many times more As Woody says "They're as expensive or as cheap as you want them to be" For me it's all about the pleasure, the pleasure of owning, the pleasure of riding, the pleasure of competing.

Thanks Mick, I like them slow so I'll check the first gear ratio, then perhaps drop a tooth on the Gearbox output sprocket, I can experiment that way without changing the chain.

Have just purchased a 500cc Ariel and I'm wondering what gearing people are using. Currently its Primary drive 14/42, Final drive 16/48, gearbox described as standard GB47 It feels high geared to me (across the garden), just don't know how much to lower it

I spent a lot of time making sure that when there is an event at this venue, the calendar on this website shows an accurate map that you can zoom into and out of. Also the lat & long figures are there for online mapping or satnav. Does it not work properly? if it doesn't I need to do some more work.

It's always upsetting when you buy a second hand bike and find problems or potential problems but don't panic, a used bike is a used bike and will always have wear and reduced performance compared to a new bike. The effect of having no air filter is that abrasive media (mainly sand and dust) will have entered your engine in greater quantities than in an engine with a clean oiled foam air filter. This accelerates the wear rate in piston rings, piston, big end bearing, main bearings, little end bearing. Generally in that order. Note I said 'accelerates the wear rate' not 'ruins' However, I'm assuming you rode the bike before you bought it and were happy with the engine? In that case fit a new filter, oil it, and ride the bike, don't worry about problems that aren't there. Since you are based in Tyneside, I'm assuming you will ride North East Centre ACU trials. We do a lot of waterwork, on the 2 Shercos I had this meant a carb clean and air filter clean after every trial. Get used to it, keep a spare clean dry filter and it's half an hour to an hour maintenance per trial (when you wash the filter out it takes a couple of days to dry properly so you need a spare) Trials bikes are high maintenance no matter what On a used bike I'd be lubricating all of the suspension bearings straight away, then every 3 months, changing the fork oil and gearbox oil after a couple of trials, then every 6 months, but carb and air filter every trial.

I use the cheap ones off ebay for around £6, look for the double foam ones, they have a 'sock' of coarse foam around a more mormally textured inner filter, I oil them both but the sock catches 90% of the crud and crucially most of the water, makes maintenance simple and better filtration than the pleated cotton ones you can see straight through

'Till you have to kneel on it Ply up the sides, rubber matting on the floor, bike doesn't move around on it. Look for Horse Stable matting, seems to be the best value.

I've attached a map to the event in the calendar, you can zoom in right up to the garden centre entrance. Lat and Long figures for your sat nav too

Does the Honda share its engine / gearbox oil? If you like the smell, just put a tablespoon full of it in every gallon of petrol, tell yourself you are adding an upper cylinder lubricant and enjoy the odour. Won't do any harm that way.

2014A is fine but there are stronger alloys This has been discussed before http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/topic/35909-back-wheel-spindle-material/page__p__269520__hl__spindle#entry269520

Doesn't matter, it lodges 'in your head' You can make them yourself - I bought the correct alloy bar on ebay, though I didn't hollow them out, I did it because it's easier to machine accurately on a cheap chinese lathe than steel and doesn't need expensive coatings. Or you can buy even cheaper used road bike or trialsbike spindles also on ebay and modify them. Why would you make steel ones?

I recall you have a choice of different damping rates with these shocks, standard and extra light, which did you order? and what did NJB say to your complaint?

2 strokes running 'backwards' are not unknown, normally it's either a case of over advanced ignition causing the slow-idling engine to briefly stop then change direction and run retarded (loads of examples from pre war Scotts onwards) or intentional (Villiers engined 3 wheelers) It is, though, difficult to imagine how you'd bump start it backwards. unless you dropped the motor to a slow idle ...... as above. I'd try starting it normally and see how it goes, with the caveat that you should check the ignition timing ASAP, it's hard to 'nudge' a woodruff key enough to significantly alter the timing, but not impossible to shear one in which case the timing will change constantly once the flywheel starts moving on the taper.

Trailing front wheel spindle?

Try thicker grips, can reduce forearm 'pump'

Try a new spark plug in it. Try kicking it over faster, not harder (breaks things), just faster. When it's hot. put it in gear then pull backwards against compression before you kick, it's amazing what a diffference it makes. Retard the timing as above. They don't run the same though. I like a softer motor, so a Cab would be a waste........ Put up with it

All 3 holes are tappped on mine, they are there to use

Didn't realise that, shame cos they're good at cleaning under your fingernails after a grimy session working on the bike

79kg

Yes, it's a word, more correctly magnetic flux density, measured in Gauss or Tesla. Anyway, since the flywheel is intact, I'd have thought you could test the 2 coils independently. The Condenser is well below the tide mark so I guess its had it. I can't see from your pics how the coils are wired, but there will either be 1 wire coming from a grounded coil or 2 wires from a non grounded coil, possibly you have one of each, 2 wires from the generator coil and one from the trigger coil I would isolate the coils and lead the output wire(s) through the back of the casing and connect them to a multimeter, a cheap old fashioned one with a proper moving needle not a digital one. Then I would remove the woodruff key from the crank, oil the taper and spin the flywheel by hand on the taper, looking for a kick from the meter needle. If you've done everything right and you don't get a kick reverse the connections and try again, if you still don't get a flicker then looks like a new coil, if the meter needle is wrapped around the stop, then things look brighter. I'm sure on the old site there was a forum link by someone who had found a supplier of cheap stator coils available from stock in all sorts of dimensions but I can't find it now. They were intended for the myriad of scooters that have been available recently as pattern parts and I think he'd matched one to his Beta

Has the flywheel lost a magnet?

For free you can oil you handlebar under the twistgrip, makes an amazing difference

Put it within reach of your left thumb The time when you really need it is not when its screaming its head off and you are six feet away, it is when the carb slide has frozen wide open in third or fourth gear and you are still on top of it heading rapidly towards something nasty. People who say otherwise have not genuinely been in that situation, despite their brave words. When in real peril, the human reaction is to hang on, not jump off. Big problem when approaching the edge of a quarry top. That way you can 1) stop it and 2) ride it back 'on the switch'. If you are riding at a level that means you may be pressing your hips against the bars on steps or climbs, turn the switch forwards so that it's under your forefinger, then learn to use it. Always a good idea when installing a kill switch to take it to bits (not hard) and spray it with a long lasting water dispersant (eg waxoyl Not WD40) Stops corrosion salts building up and causing problems later.

Got 'the letter' Struggling for time with the Cub motor so changed class to 2T Can't wait

Ha! My cheque was cashed yesterday so I hope that means I've got an entry. Now I just have to assemble the big box of new and used oily bits in the garage into a working Cub engine