malcra

It's struck me during last year that the classic road-events don't always have a big twinshock following; maybe its because the riders don't have bike licenses ,but also its that a lot of twinshocks weren't originally road registered as more events went off-road. There's been quite a few postings on this subject on TC forums. So, I've written a short HOW-TO guide on getting a twinshock MOT'd, dated, insured and how to get a registration certificate. I've used this for get an age-related number plate for my SWM Jumbo that I've just finished working on. Let me know what you think and if its useful (and correct)

I have exactly that with Carol Nash, though my TL125 is the main bike on a pre-83 classic policy, but this covers my 2004 road-bike and my SWMs also. just adding another for a 15-quid handling fee, not increase to annual premium Malc

I'm just using Roy Bacon for a dating letter for an SWM age-related plate. It seems the process, you provide all the information and evidence on the year, chassis number etc (SWM's have anno fab. 198* on the VIN place, handy :-) and then he writes the letter for

interesting thread; I've used Betors for a year on my TL280 SWM, and went from 13.4" to 14" and the 50lb spring rate, because I am around 13st in weight. Just looking at what shocks to go for my next bike and confess do like the idea of getting a rebuildable set, but for twice the money (Rockshocks), is it worth it. The Betors have performed really well, for my riding ability, so good value

just had a friend on the phone, who is in the process of putting his 1976 Montesa 247 Ulf Karlsson replica back together. There is some wear on the barrel, so looking to bore out to first overbore, 0.20mm, but is having problems getting a piston ? any ideas ? AFAIK slighty unique piston, with a rectangular hole in the rear skirt . Thanks

In part depends on the longest single piece of roadwork; if you can 70+ miles a day on a modern bike (like the Scottish), should be able to do it on a twinshock from a comfort point of view. The longer the miles the more breakdowns and failures you are going to have. It seems a lot twinshock owners/riders are put off road trials at the moment; look at the Rhayader Classic Experts trial, 28 twinshocks and 60+ pre-65, perhaps its not having a road-reg'd bike, or maybe the distance. Despite of the (lack) quality of my riding, single lap road trials are what's it about. Doing it on an affordable twinshock helps. Doing 70+ miles on a two-stroke Montesa, Bultaco or SWM needs a well maintained piece of kit, so providing some assurance about recovery, as well as the petrol stop(s) would encourage me and others. When the Rotaxs' buzzing along about 25-30 mph along a quiet country road then everying is fine; when you're on the middle of the Downs on a green lane with the b****r refusing to start and its getting dark is when you wonder "why I am here?" Longer laps, of over 40 miles, with 30+ sections would take a while to do, but with the right things in place for smaller classic bikes, rather than just trail bikes, then I'd be up for it.

Jamie a couple of things stand-out, there isn't much physical memory in the machine, only 128Mb, most machines now will have 5-10 times that, so this will mean that some programs / websites will take a long time to load. You could increase the virtual memory, but this will still be slow. The machine is quite old, the XP operating system could have lots of things slowing it down (like my mother-in-laws) and the speed sites load at could be more down to your internet connectivity, but it might be time for the upgrade

in my world without viruses (ie run Linux), all these Windows tips/tricks are handy to know, as I have my mother-in-laws 2 year old XP machine in front on me. No virus scanner or firewall etc, only a dial-up-connection, but found 180 trojans and over 1000 pieces of spyware. It's screwed and have spent a day so far just getting it to boot. I'll use some of the tools mentioned above and let you know how I get on Makes me think Fedora is a very good idea.....

I did three of the Miller rounds last year for the first time and I also enjoy doing the road mileage, though doing it on a 2-stroke twinshock does provide some additional challenges. The trials I did were 28,40 and 40 miles, single lap with around 30-35 sections and the main issues for me were petrol. My SWM is not the most economical beast and does around 25-28 miles on a (metal) tank full. Only one of the trials (the Downland) made provision for a petrol stop and I had to use the spare litre in the Sigg bottle I carry with me to get to that stop. In some cases, you have to dash round at the start to find an observer to pass fuel to. Because of fuel economy and gearing, some of the twinshocks may not be the quickest on the road either, so can at times be a little slow on the lap. That said, some of the guys have done 70-80 mile long distance trials on their twinshock bilkes, no problems. Therefore distance isn't a problem and if there is provision for fuel and enough time, I wouldn't prefer a longer lap. Pitley, 2 laps of 22 miles will be fine but need to think about the time do it in, though no Tremorithic at the end ???

interesting that you are having range problems, because its rare for people to have problems with 802.11a/b/g in a normal size house. My wireless ADSL router is a Belkin, has 4 ethernet ports and wireless b/g and has good coverage even though its one corner of the house where the BT line comes in. You must have really thick walls ? With wireless, you need to remember, that to increase the range, you need to increase the antenna/output on both the base station and the mobile device. I have in the past put an old Cisco wireless 802.11b in my garage and managed to cover the whole garden, something i need to set up again.

Betor shocks are sold by Sammy Miller also, but i guess then there is always the question of price

hmm, to practise in the UK, perhaps I should just fill the fish pond with a few tonnes/tons of mud....

a Rotax engined Scorpa is not the most common bike around and i would think spares etc not easy to come by. to start trials cheaply, look for a late 90's monoshock like a Beta Techno; surprised you had problems with the 315 Montesa...I started with a 2000 Gas Gas; it had problems, like a worn out rear shock; I paid

I've had both TL125K's and S's and both have their shortcomings when it comes to being competitive. They have the advantage of being the only cheap Honda fourstroke and I bought two runners off ebay last year for less than 300 quid. The S, 124cc can be bored out more easily without changing the liner to get to 150cc, which is a real must to get better than 4 bhp performance and remove the idle-cough issues. There are lots of mods to increase the capacity. The S has a two part cylinder head which is easier to work on when the camshaft starts to wear (no bearings, runs straight on the head) and needs machine work. Camshafts are one of the harder items to get for them, but most other items for S's and K's are available from David Silver Spares and there's been a good supply of bits on ebay, including barrels and clutch baskets The K has a better stock frame as it was never really intended for road use, but Sammy Miller Hi-boy frames are going for strong money (last seen on ebay for

I've a work trip to the Netherlands week of March 5th, and will be taking the van. Anyone know of any trials in Belgium or Holland on the 3/4th March, so could take a bike with me ? Twinshock friendly trial preferred, but not too fussy

Bo drinker (or anyone) given the amount of rain we've had today (and forecast for tomorrow), do you know if the trial is going to run tomorrow ? parking should be ok, though I can imagine it getting a little sticky in places. There will be some __deep__ puddles

there's been a couple of threads on this in the past, but need a couple of seats (one SWM, one Honda) recovered, plain black is fine. Any recommendations in the UK (ie fast and reliable) that people have used recently ?

as far as practice in Herefordshire goes, I think that Glyn Prosser lets people use the wood at Dulas (with payment), need to check with Pitley. You can usually catch him in the public bar at the Temple a bit further south, you can also practise at Lleyncelyn Farm, near Pandy (other side of the border). As for trials in Herefordshire, when I started riding about 2.5 years ago there were _no_ trials in the county at all, hence i started riding in East South Wales, as the Abergavenny, Gwent Schoolboys, Pontypool and Merthyr Trials are at most 45 minutes from my house. There were 6 classic trials last year, all at cracking venues (Clyro and Llanthony were slightly over the border, Dulas right on it) and I think 2 modern trials (1 combined with the classics at Bowley Court).

thanks for the link, useful.... a daylight MOT, ie with no front project headlamp or one that is permanently disconnected or masked over, means that you do not require indicators or a reflector. If your bike is post 1st Jan 1973 is seems that you do need an electrical horn, rather than a bulb one, something that I've never put on any bike for the MOT (?); interesting. Also, there is only mention of Reg number layout, not size; again which is a little wierd. These regs are from 2001, so need to see if there have been changes with the advent of the online MOT test.

a full size number plate is only required if you have one of the bike at the MOT.....i've MOT'd bikes on the chassis number, which is perfectly ok (especially if its before applying for a reg no), as is insuring them on the chassis number. Eric Rees in Hereford have never bothered with the horn or the reflector AFAIR for my pre-83 bikes, they also don't need a brake test, though on the machine by SWM outperformed a CBR600, but i think that was mainly down to the weight difference There is talk of him packing in soon so things in Hereford may get a little tricky, as the MotorCycle Centre didn't know what a daylight MOT is.

for those who want to know where Clyro is... Multimap:Clyro The trial is in the steep woods behind Clyro Court, Bankerville Hall (sp?) on the map, which I think should be Baskerville Hall I guess. Great sections, with some rock streams and muddy banks. Currently modifying the TL125 with an angle grinder, but should be there....

best offroad bike game i've found is MTX Mototrax which is a couple of years old, and is a Motocross / SuperCross / Freestyle game good game play and racing :-) Let me know if you want a 7-day evaluation :-)

Report and Results from todays Abergavenny trial Results

I can thorough recommend Mozilla / Firefox, which is open source and excellent (not used Internet Exploder for years) Reasons for losing sound could be that you've run another application that uses sound (music player?) and has therefore got control of the sound device on the PC ? Stopping that application or restarting the browser may help

The reg's for this trial haven't been published in TMX, so for the more discerning TC member in South Wales / Western Centre may fancy a ride out next Wednesday, 27th December. The trial will be at the Hendre (AFAIK), Llangattock Lingeod at will start at 10.30. It will be signposted off the A465 Abergavenny->Hereford road near Llanvihangel Crucorney. 3 routes suitable for all, modern bikes and twinshocks and all on private land. Food at the Hunter's Moon afterwards. PM me if you want more details