woody

Early Majesties of 200/250/320 capacities all used modified Yamaha frames, the mods being to lift the engine for more ground clearance and reposition the shocks. Some 'works' bikes may have had the steering altered but most didn't. Later bikes used the Godden frame which went through about 3 incarnations, the last of which had no rear frame loop and a steeper steering angle. The bikes went from yellow to red frames/white tank to fit Yamahas corporate colours i believe, although some also had chrome frames. Easiest way to spot a standard Yam frame from a Godden is the toolbox situated at the top of the front down tubes under the headstock on the former. The Majesty produced by Craig Mawlam is to the spec of the last Godden framed bikes that were produced (discounting the 2 or 3 special 6 speeders that were built and were never on sale to Joe public) It was only the frames/swingarm that were purpose built, all the running gear was TY, no special bits were used. The fibreglass tanks that Craig is having produced now are, as has been said, copies of the 175/200 mini Majesty tanks, which are slimmer, neater and a smaller capacity than the original 250/320 alloy tank, although if you fit one to a 320 and go on a road trial I guess you'd better have a fuel stop arranged.... the 320 may be a bit thirsty. The standard TY forks were a bit under sprung and damped, so works bikes had the forks modded to improve them and Girlings replaced the original equipment rears on all bikes.

Oh yes, couldn't agree more. Fantasic event and a heck of an acheivement to organise it so successfully. Long may it continue.

As regards something being fit for purpose before it goes on sale, I agree entirely. However, whilst at the SSDT I was led to understand that the bikes are not actually on general sale yet. Dealers have been allocated one each for a supported rider to ride and presumably let people try them out at events. You can't actually buy one yet. Now that is perfectly acceptable in my opinion. However, seeing the dealer ads in TMX, and judging by some previous posts, they do seem to be on general sale right now, which I find strange if the factory accept/admit that they are not properly sorted yet. Hopefully they are just teething troubles and they'll get them sorted. I've nothing against the bike whatsoever, as I've said before, variety is just one of the things that makes the sport interesting. At the SSDT Sherco had a demo 4T in their parc ferme area that anyone could have a play on if they wanted. Whilst I was having a look at it, a couple of lads had a go and were doing the usual, riding it around and hopping the front/back etc as they went, like you do, for no particular reason. Other world champion wannabees were contemplating showing off their skills too no doubt, on a nice flat carpark in front of a small audience. Anyway the bike was parked back up again and Grimbo appeared and got on it. 'Riding it in the trial' said someone 'no' he answered and then said 'don't know if I can start it'. It fired up first kick and within seconds was performing sit down wheelies in a very confined circle with people/cars/mechanics as the 'arena wall'. The front wheel was skimming a few noses as it went round, in perfect control, speeding up slowing down at will. The control was spell binding. Makes you sick.... He then parked the bike up and wandered off. Needless to say, there were no further takers rushing for a chance to show what they could do after that

It's a 2-stroke so you don't have to worry about engine wear on unleaded, that is only a problem for 4-strokes as it can cause wear on the valve seats with some of them. Just use a good quality, high octane brand of unleaded like optimax and it will run fine. 25:1 is way too much oil though. Modern oil like Castrol TTS which burns clean and doesn't gum up exhaust and plug should be run at 50:1 on an engine like the Ossa which has conventional steel liner. Only the modern bikes with nikasil or chrome liners use ratios like 80:1. Set your ignition timing at 2.5mm BTDC and it should run well. If the engine is is in a good state they're quite a pokey bike - at least the only decent one I ever tried was.

Nice looking bike, mudguards definitely better in red than any other colour IMHO. Weren't the originals the black crinkle finish VF brand - the ones that shattered if you so much as looked at them. Anyway, your picture has inspired me to get working on mine again now and I've got the engine fitted today so progress at least.

Well, I won't pretend not to be confused now. I thought it was Jim Susans who made the 4 replica 305 frames for Honda.

Not sure I've seen anyone actually criticising the bike, especially not 4RT owners, unless I've missed some posts somewhere. Unlike the 4RT which took ridiculous amounts of criticism from people who'd never even seen one let alone ridden one. Rumours will always abound with what went wrong with the Sherco and chinese whispers then alter facts beyond all reality so unless it is from someone directly 'in the know' I doubt the true reasons will ever be known. Story is that they suffered electrical failures due to a wire rubbing through and shorting out down the back of the engine somewhere. No idea if this is correct or not. Codina's bike was said to be rattling badly. He was near me in the running order and it sounded fine when I last heard it but then he disappeared and next time I saw him he was spectating. Again, no idea if the rattling story is correct or not. What I did see with my own eyes was one of them come in at the end of a day trailing whisps of smoke and there was a smell of burning oil. I saw it so that is a fact but obviously I have no idea what the cause was. May have been something simple and the bike may have carried on and finished for all I know. I still think it was brave of them to publicly 'test' them like they did and I hope they get them sorted as it is nice to see variety. Obviously they had decent riders on them but the bike performs well. It is curious though that given the amount of people who slated the Mont, which is a good bike, no-one seems to have a bad word for the Sherco. I'm not saying the bike deserves it because it doesn't, it's just puzzling. Or is it...

If anyone knows Jim Susans, then he may have some info on who made the tank units. Don't know whether he just supplied the frames or was involved in the complete assembly of the replicas. Maybe he still has the jig to reproduce the frames..... I'll also ask Mick Grant when I see him at the next ACU classic round in a few weeks and see if he has any ideas. It would be nice to be able to build a replica (of the replica...) of the 305 Honda but sourcing parts would be difficult. Tank/seat unit as already mentioned. Frame. Forks could be Marzocchi, as per Fantic etc. as Honda forks would be diificult to source. Then there's the engine. The 305 was based on the TL250 and those aren't exactly readily available, but that engine itself was derived from the original XL250S so maybe one of those could be adapted. Just leaves an exhaust to fabricate and some wheels and nearly done.... It's nice to have dreams.....

A whole 30 minutes eh... That will be 5 - 10 minutes of woffle about the area the trial is being staged in, another few minutes on rider profiles, 5 minutes of adverts for abdominal stretch machines and sixties and seventies 'hits' and finally, if we're really lucky, about 10 minutes total running time of the actual trial. Cynical I know and we should be grateful for any coverage, but they could do so much better. As you probably guessed, the standard of their coverage in the past really p*sses me off. Better this year maybe...?

If only..... I'm at the other end of the results table from Steven 'woody' Hole. Their bikes did look nice but like you, not sure about the green

There were 3 or 4 Sherco 4T near to me in the SSDT last week, one of which was ridden by Codina (spelling) and they certainly looked good in the sections, particularly in the hands of their very capapable riders. It's a shame they went out of the trial, I think one finished, but very brave of Sherco to give them such a public test. Hopefully they'll sort whatever the problems were. I love my 4RT but also think Sherco have done a tremendous job fitting the 4T engine into the existing Chassis. From 10 yards or so yo can't tell them apart and it's a good looking bike. More variety the better I say.

GOOD - Total reliability so far, especially in the SSDT. Started first kick every day, virtually maintenance free, just the usual checks, rad, spokes (always ok) tyre presures and changed the airfilter Wednesday, topped up with a bit of oil Thursday and that was it. Cruised on the road at 60mph if needed, even with the 43 tooth rear sprocket. Good on the moors and forest tracks, good low down torque meant minimum gear changes. Just lost a rear mudguard bolt, front mudguard stay bolt and the rear restrictor through six days of SSDT vibration but I can put up with that. Never lost any coolant all week. BAD - well, it only seemed to affect me but I ran out of fuel on the Thursday run up to Chairlift and I have no idea why (I wasn't thrashing it) Don't know if taping over the vent holes in the mudguard made it guzzle a bit more fuel but I was the only one to run out. And it happened again on Saturday, but this time just a few hundred yards shy of the fuel stop. Sandifords reckon that the 4RT holds 2.6 litres and should range 75km on that, whereas the 315 holds 2.2 litres and should range 37km. I noticed at the fuel stops though that it seemed to take longer to refuel me than it did the two strokes. Only other bad point I can think of is that the rear mudguard is not as bendy as the one on my old 98 315 which you could tie in a knot. The 4RT one seems to crack too easily. But these are small points. Great bike and I love it.

Had a try on Kev Seward's 175 Scorpa at Bootle a few weeks ago. The set-up of the bike was superb, suspension was so plush and it steered well. They certainly know how to set up a bike.

I'll have one more go at posting the Fraser picture tomorrow before I head off to Scotland. Hopefully I can get it to work

Thanks for the link John, couldn't find it anywhere myself Can't see any replica 305 style tank/seat units though

I know it should, I did, but it won't. That's where my patience finally went and I had to leave it before the PC was trashed against a wall. Have to work with the bloody things all day so can do without the agro at home with them too...... but I'll try it again later

Found and scanned a picture of the 305 Fraser but it wouldn't upload - didn't like the type of file, don't know why...... I'll try again tonight when my patience may have returned

Yes, not exactly my 'home' club which is Stafford Auto, but had to join CWAC for an enduro back in January. Out of touch now with modern trials in Mid Wales centre so don't know Simon. Looks a handy rider. Two sections today where you were a 3 or a 5 if you couldn't trick ride and he looked pretty useful there. Seemed to have no problem tricking the 4T around and said it was light as a feather. I on the other hand was having to learn trick riding as I went - was almost starting to almost get the hang of it at the end.... 4RT is pretty easy to ponce about on too - if you know what you're doing. Didn't see it give him any starting problems, it seemed to fire up without any problems. It's pretty quiet, sounds very 'airboxy' if that makes sense, almost strangled, but looks like it performs well. Didn't have a ride on it myself but I know Simon didn't like the 4RT when he tried one. Sound it makes reminds me of how the 450 KTM sounds before an aftermarket pipe is fitted. Still can't believe what a tidy job they've made of putting such a tall engine into that frame. Couldn't spot the 4T from the 2 stroke until right up close.

Have you had a ride out on it yet John. Be interesting to know how it performs. Still kicking myself for not bidding on it but I think you'd probably have outbid me. My redundancy cheque came too late.......

I was riding round with him part of the time and he said he liked it lot - said his usual bike is a 290.

Never knew Fraser did frames for the TL125. The one I was thinking of was his 305 version of the TL250 which used a frame similar to the one in the second link with fuel in the top tube. Never actually saw one though even though they were made in Redditch which is local.

Love to Stu but I've nothing to fit it to There's a project been hatching for a while now but can't see any way of making it happen, but the picture of that replica has certainly rekindled the fire.... unfortunately Are you having them made? Any pictures? What's the link to your website as my computer has gone bang, I'm on someone else's at the moment so don't have my links etc. Are you in Scotland for the 2- day next week?

In the Fraser topic, which I didn't want to hijack, you posted the picture of the Honda replica built in Spain. Any idea whether they are reproducing those tank/seat units out there and if so who/where/cost. Do you also know what frame they have used? Doesn't look like a modified TL frame. Are they scratch building replica frames too?

Mmmm very nice but not a Fraser, looks wise at least. More a copy of the 305 works bikes Fraser had seperate tank and seat unit and the fuel may even have been held in the top frame tube, can't remember now. May have a picture of one somewhere, if I can find it I'll post it

Don't be put off by what people say about the Gripper, they aren't bad bikes. Just like anything old if everything is worn it will give the wrong impression. Steve Bisby from Sheffield has a pretty well sorted 250 Gripper and that rides nicely as I've tried it. There is nothing trick on it, just rebuilt with rear shocks that work, although it took ages of fiddling to get them that way and MAR MK1 front forks which are a bit shorter than standard. All Ossas after 1976 had absurdly long front forks and you had to drop the top yolk a couple of inches or so to balance the bike up. One thing that is true about them though is that they are absolute b******s to work on. Nothing is easily accesible, especially the rear bottom engine bolt. You need the hands of a pixie. One thing they can benfit from as do most older bikes is lowering the footrests but depends how tall you are as to whether you feel too tipped forward on it - under 6' and they are probably ok where they are. Also, if you have the handlebar clamps that sweep back towards the rider it is worth replacing these with conventional type (like those in the picture on previous page) as that also moves the bars forward and away from you and gives a bit more room in the'cockpit'. Hope you get it up and running soon