woody

The Cotswold Majesty is indeed a good bike and performs very well. There's never been a problem with anyone moaning about them being ridden in the twinshock class as no-one, quite rightly, considers them a fiddle bike. The frame after all is a mini Majesty frame dating from 1982 and the engine just a copy of the xl/tlr type motors from the 70/80s. It's got modern forks but so what, it's not the only bike to have them, others fitted them a while ago. Drums not discs also. I remember Jon telling me it is a bit of a shoe-horning job though to fit the motor and all the ancilliaries like airbox, exhaust etc. However, if you're planning to do your own, remember you will be starting with a Yam frame (175, 250 ??), not one of the Godden mini Majesty frames, unless you're planning to buy one of those of Craig Mawlam, so the frame will be a bit bigger with a bit more space available.

Well, it's all down to personal preference in terms of one bike suiting someone better than another (note I didn't say one bike being better than another - don't want to start a forum argument off on that... ) The 325 Beamish, if yours is a 325, will certainly make the 250 Yam feel weak in the power department as the 325 Beamish is a stonking engine. If it's a 250 Beamish, there shouldn't really be much between them. The Majesty was developed by Magical and as such was designed for his riding ability, they were quick steering, short and a bit nervous or twitchy. Good on rocks but the 320 could be a bit lively in slippery conditions. The Beamish is the opposite, long, slower steering, lazy torquey motor and grips like buggery in the mud. Not quite so nimble on nadgery stuff. I used to like mine. You'll hear a lot of people say leave the 320 Majesty alone and the 250 is a better bike, but my opinion is the reverse but it is only my personal opinion. With the electronic ignition which enables much more precise timing adjustment, thicker (or multiple) head gaskets, bigger exhaust, it's possible to make the 320 quite docile but very torquey. To make the 250 go you'd have to give it to Shirty (no longer interested in Yams) or Nigel Birkett. No idea what they do to them as I've never tried one, but I did try an ex Scarlett 250 years ago and that was a cracking bike - nothing like the thing I had... But it's knowing what to do. To 320 it, you need a piston from a DT360 (or a DT400 which will make it 340) a new liner and you'd need to open the crankcase mouth slightly - I'm told this can be done with a dremel without splitting the engine as it only needs a tiny amount taken off - whilst taking care not to let dust/filings drop into the crank. I've an idea they may have had the combustion chamber altered too for the extra cc but don't know for sure. Food for thought if you really do think that the 250 is too gutless.

This happens sometimes and as long as the tickler plunger is depressing the float, there doesn't appear to be any logical reason why they won't flood. Normally, if you blow hard down the petrol tank breather pipe with the tickler held down you will get it to flood. If it is hard to start from cold once flooded try kicking it with the tickler held down too as this usually works - bit of a juggling act but it can be done. Just be ready for that Ossa kickstart to slip on the ratchet, which they can do, as if your juggling with the tickler and off balance they can give you a nasty wound up the inside of your calf if you're not wearing boots... That said from experience...... Can't help with the tap. Your only hope there is maybe one of the original dealers who may still have some old stock. Mick and Bill Wilkinson still have some Ossa stuff. Don't have their number but they own a garage called The Garage in Kettlewell N Yorks if you can find it from that. I use the modern replacements these days, readily available and neater looking.

Never heard of a 320 flywheel. As far as I know they all use the standard TY flywheel which comes with a detachable weight which is a heavy steel ring fitted to the outside. It is held on by 4 screws around the circumference. If yours has this fitted try the bike with it removed as it will pick up quicker without it. The 250 was always lacking torque though, unless modified, but I suspect that most had pretty much standard TY motors. I had a Godden framed 250 years ago and it was gutless, the motor, which was not knackered, was just like the standard TY250. 1st gear everywhere. If it was on any kind of incline and I had to back off, the motor wouldn't pick up again in anything other than bottom. Gearing was standard, not too high. It's all down to personal choice of course but I always prefer the bigger motor for the extra torque. They can always be de-tuned or softened off. Mine is very docile, I can do clutch out full lock circles in 3rd, but it will pull like a train in any gear.

Sidepanel was always white. The only part of the bike that was yellow was the frame, heatshield and the tank on the early bikes. If any were around with yellow sidepanel I would guess they were painted. Couple of pics of an early bike that was reckoned to be a Shirty prepped machine. Solid tank stripes as per the early model instead of speed blocks, shirty silencer and what looks like a larger diameter front pipe. May be an illusion due to being chrome but definitely looks larger.

WES system should be available from any of the major trials dealers or the twinshock specialists. There are no mountings for the heat shield, you'll have to weld some on, or, I made my own middle box for my Majesty and until I got some mounts welded on, used a couple of zip ties. They're still there nearly 12 months later.... I also used a KX80 tailpipe at one stage and it sounded and worked ok.

I know what you mean as I've bought stuff before that doesn't fit, although to be fair in this case, the WES exhaust is for the standard bike, as is Miller's front pipe, neither is advertised for a Majesty - or at least they never used to be. Don't quite follow what you mean about the footrests as none of the 250 bikes had bolt on plates, only the smaller bikes. Don't really want to get off Pitley's original topic, but if you have Yam framed Majesty you can adapt it to take bolt on plates for footrest brackets as follows. Cut off original footrest brackests, drill a hole into the stub that's left and tap to 8mm. At the bottom of the frame/rear of bashplate, there is an open ended tube (can be seen in the picture I posted) Weld in some solid bar, drilled and tapped to 8mm. You now have two mounting points to bolt on footrest plates to which you can weld the footrest hanger brackets. If you have a Godden frame then you don't have the tube at the bottom of the frame.

The Miller pipe is made for the standard TY250. The engine in the Majesty is lifted in the frame and the front pipe was shortened in height to allow for this. I have one fitted to my Yam framed Majesty with a WES system. It wouldn't sit 'right' in that it was sloping downwards towards the rear silencer due to the increased height, therefore the silencer looked too low. Messing about with the mounting brackets got it somewhere right, although I hated the look of the rear silencer anyway so had a TY mono KATO one modded to fit. I've attached a picture of my mate's Yam framed Majesty and you can see the way the middle box is sloping rearwards due to the higher front pipe. You could always shorten the pipe and get it rechromed. Also, the WES system is made for the standard TY too, so you may find that the middle box doesn't fit snug into the frame as the frame tube from the footrest up to the tank is a different shape on the Godden from the TY frame. I had to put a slight indent in the back of mine to allow the silencer to sit in further on my Godden bike. Also, the Miller front pipe. It doesn't come with a collar to bolt to the manifold so you have to cut the old pipe to remove the original - or make your own new one. It is also a smaller diameter than the Yam one, so the Yam collar is a loose fit. This means that where the pipe fits up against the exhaust port it can move around in the collar, so it also takes a bit of fiddling to get it centered so that it doesn't blow. Strangely, my mate's Miller front pipe offered up to the exhaust port perfectly. When we compared them, his was a larger diameter than mine at the bottom so was more of a snug fit in the collar so I thought it must have come from a new redesigned batch. When I asked Millers about this they said the design hasn't changed in however many years and they are all the same.... (and no, I definitely haven't got a 175 pipe) So it will fit, it's just a bit of a fiddle but there are no alternatives on the market - so it's use the Miller one, use the old Yam front pipe and get it chromed if it's good enough, or get one made. Nothing straightforward with this old sh*t - I mean classic stuff, is there....

You can, I think, get an oversize piston for the Seeley from Gordon Farley Motorcycles. Bloke called Tim knows the Honda engines well and will confirm. I think they come from a pump motor or such like. Liners can be done by Jet Bore or PJ, both in the Midlands and advertise in TMX. The 230 conversion is a bore and stroke job, not just a bore and they also had weights added to the crank. I think about 220 is max for just a bore. Ellastone Offroad often have RS200 motors from Japan with enlarged capacity so worth giving them a try for a complete motor. They also advertise in TMX. WES have recently had RTL / TLR pistons made. Don't know whether these would fit the Seeley motor but at 70mm diameter they would give a capacity of about 222cc on a Seeley crank. They're 4mm bigger than a standard Seeley so it may be stretching the liner a bit.

Thanks for the info guys, at least I know I can forget the B40 WD box then. I'll try Brit Bits on Monday.

About 2 or 3 weeks ago I saw an advert somewhere from someone selling B40/C15 trials gears for

er, beg to differ... There are plenty of Ossas, Bults and Montesas in use today that are 30 years old, Fantics and SWM that are 20+ as there are Hondas, but there are also plenty of Hondas with rattling, smoking engines, rotten wheel rims, rotted out exhausts and pitted fork legs. The 4RT isn't without it's problems (I've got one before anyone accuses me of 4RT bashing) and the CRF enduro/motox range have been known to have a little problem of wearing their valve seats and not starting when hot due to no valve clearance. There is no such thing as a perfectly reliable bike, wherever it's from As for the start bid hiking on the RS250 and the TLR Hondas, HondaRS was doing that a few months ago with a replica RS250 frame. If that bid of

Why are people still posting these ridiculous remarks about the 4RT being the worst bike and how they will only hold a rider back. As for too heavy and no power - have you ridden a full works HRC 4RT..?? So how do you know. What is it that you can't see about the facts - the 4RT has won more rounds than any other bike in the championship this year and probably as many as the others put together - so how can it be crap....... If Fuji hadn't been injured at the start of the year he'd probably have the championship wrapped up now. Raga, Bou and Cabastany have hardly run away with it on their superior 2 strokes have they.

It was designed specifically for trials. Sammy said they needed a shorter motor and a few months later the short stroke appeared. Trouble was, he wanted a shorter, in height, version of the long stroke........ It seems most of the UK Honda riders preferred the older long stroke with just Nick Jefferies preferring the short stroke. I'd like to have any of them. The bike in the first link from tlrs is one of Lejeunes old bikes, now owned by Jean Calliou

Difficult to say, when I first mentioned it to our ACU rep a few years ago I'd have said yes, but now, with the way entries have declined in the Classic I don't know. I'm going to mention it again and see what they think. There's enough twinshocks out there.... One thing I am going to have to get for the C15 is a trials gear set - it is woeful on the road, although it wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't so scared to hold it open on more than half throttle - might get 40 odd out of it if I did but it sounds worrying at that speed.. I remember the last Miller round when Mr Willmore came past me on the road on his 500 matchless like I was standing still - he missed a good trial on Sunday - I told him it would be too

Hard to tell whether that is the short stroke 305 or the full 360 but for sure - I'd settle for either Be interesting to know what the 305/360 short stroke engine was derived from as it doesn't have the deep sump of the TL/XL earlier motors and also has that high gear shaft

I hope not. I've no doubt of his ability (although we've finally seen this year that he CAN'T win on a crap bike as those bloody commentators keep saying as he's been nowhere at times this year when it isn't working) but I don't care much for his win at all costs barge 'em off the track attitude. Too much like Schumacher and also like Schumacher seems to be allowed a different set of rules from everyone else. I also don't find much amusement in his post race antics when he wins (some of which are disrespectful to other riders - what happened to dignified behaviour in victory) And that performance with a chair on the rostrum - ??? Come on Hayden or Pedrosa - or Melandri even - who deserves it on that one-handed slide out of the last corner alone - absolutely incredible confidence to do that then. If he'd binned it he'd have probably been sacked on the spot where he lay in the gravel - or the ambulance...

OK, I see the analogy you were trying to make now. I still think this is an ordinary RS250 though as it looks no different from any others I've seen. It's not a 200 as it has the 250 barrell. I know what you mean about the exhaust but I have seen others with similar to that, could also be a Kondo conversion. Have a look at this website which is a dealer here in England who imports Hondas including a good few RS types. Click on their Sold bikes link to see examples of those they have sold recently. The top one is very similar to the one on ebay and has a similar front pipe. Hondas As well as RS Hondas Eddy Lejeune also rode a 250cc Seeley before geting the 360

You're right about cracking on, but it is hard not to do the latter... - I lost 12 on time also. At least the old Beesa made it round - although it consumed more oil than Paioli does cider... I think the Pre65 Inter Centre is too well supported in its own right to add twinshocks but if support started dying then it should be considered. I'd like to see a seperate Inter Centre twinshock event as I'm sure with the 2 routes it would be well supported. I did raise it about 3 years ago but it still seems that twinshocks are the poor relations in the UK when it comes to, shall we say, prestigious events.

Have to disagree there, genuine Seeley Hondas produced by Colin Seeley at Seeley International were numbered SHT-XXXX I believe SHT stood for Seeley Honda Trials As for the bike itself, the seller does say that the tank and seat are non standard, tank looks like a modified TY175 Yam to me. Big John Yes, I agree, modified TY175 or TY250 tank but definitely a genuine Seeley with SHT as the prefix

not with the flywheel weight they don't, it is a big improvement for a novice standard rider

1977 350 - Green tank, black frame, big curly exhaust and long tailpipe, white mudguards. Should have a Bing as standard as all Ossas were using them by then, went back to Amals later on. Check this site as it has links to all sorts of useful stuff such as parts suppliers, repro parts etc. Also has brochure photos and there should be one of your bike. They also have manuals to download I think - there may not be one specifically for your model but they are nearly all the same mechanically so the earlier MAR one should cover it if not. The site also enables you to date your bike through the frame/engine number - these should match, engine is pre-fixed M, frame with a B (could be the other way around - memory not what it was...) Mats Nyberg's Ossa site Also some pictures on this site of Ossas too and just happens to be one of a '77 350. Canadian website with brochure pictures

Would that be Griffo from Beta UK? Don't know as I don't know anything about Beta UK or what Griffo is doing now, but it is Griffo who used to be a supported rider back in days gone by if that helps... Still good now too... Tony Calvert was also riding. Nice to see these blokes out now and again. Really was a good day.

As regards the TLR250, if someone is willing to pay the price then it's worth the money I guess but they seem to have been coming down in value lately not going up, as have the RTL. I'm not so sure that it would be a case of ready to ride either. If it has sat idle for years the rims may be corroded. There is also the chance of condensation inside the barrell settling as moisture on the piston crown and corroding the bore. If those are not problems, it is still a standard TLR250, so if it is to be used in serious competition it would need an exhaust to help it rev, the spit-stall cured, the power softened as they are too quick off the throttle and the snatchy grabby clutch sorted. All mods done when they were ridden seriously when they were current and all things to consider which will cost over the eventual sale price. And when it has been used a dozen or so times and has all the scuff marks that all the other TLRs have, it is just another old used bike and worth no more than the

Don't understand - where does it say it is a genuine ex-works bike? Looks like any other RS200 with the 250 conversion to me. What has it got to do with a Mont with a HRC engine too? I'm confused