woody

You can get one from Keith Lynas in the USA at Ossa Planet. I don't know where else you can get one from http://ossaplanet.com/partspage.html To remove it without the tool you will have to make something. You need two circlips to fit into the groove on the sleeve. Behind the circlips you need something that will pull against the circlips, then if you fit a normal puller onto this, you can pull the sleeve off, but they are very tight so whatever you make needs to be strong enough not to bend. I made a 4mm thick disc (ie: like a very large washer) with a hole with an internal diameter hat would just slide over the sleeve. I made two semi-circular circlips that fitted into the groove to form a complete circle and then pulled the disc forward up against the circlips. The disc centre was recessed a bit so that the circlips fitted into the recess and were held in place. I could then use a 3 leg puller to pull it off. Some come off easier than others, some need repeated tensioning and tapping with a mallet to get them to release. And maybe heat although I'm not sure about heat as it transfers through to the crank as well presumably so everything expands together? The more stubborn ones can let go with a bang and land a few feet away, so don't stand directly in line with it...

Had one of the first 05 models and remember it being pretty good on the road but it wasn't so good on fuel. It ran dry on the Thursday morning run from FW up to Chairlift before the first fuel stop and I was definitely not thrashing it. Being relatively new I didn't know how reliable it was going to be so it was nowhere near flat out, just cruising. Also ran dry later in the day but at least it was within pushing distance of the fuel stop. It ran dry in the Lakes 2 day later that year as well. No idea why, it was absolutely standard spec. Couldn't touch the TYZ for making up time on the road though which would do a snatch over 80 and it would do it all week long when needed.

Isn't that the Europa? Available as 240 or 325cc. Maybe they called them the Vega elsewhere and did them in red? In the UK, the budget version of the Europa (which was white) was called the Weekend and had a red colour scheme I thought Scarlett rode the SR which was a rare model

USD250 to have a liner...??? It costs £40 - £50 here. It would be cheaper to send your hub to Bultaco UK for an exchange item.... Virtually all of the chrome had gone from mine when it began to wear through the alloy, but the trial was held on boggy land and the stuff acted like grinding paste inside the hub. You'd have to cause some considerable wear to render it useless as it has to be machined out a bit to take the liner. I'd imagine there's life left in it yet as it took a while for all the chrome to disappear from mine.

Send your shoes to Villiers Services who will get them relined with a softer material. They'll make them oversize if you like so that you can skim them to fit the hub better but just the linings themselves will improve things.

They can't, two routes and their trials are absolutely ideal for novices and inexperienced riders, even the hard route is such that a decent novice rider can tackle it. You can ride the most clapped out ill-prepared old bike on the easy route and still get around, no need for spending thousands on a bike to compete in their events. Only if last minute weather changes occur will they turn out to be more difficult than intended, but that is a problem any club faces with that sort of terrain. They've always run on Saturdays and used to regularly get up to 50 - 60 riders until a few years ago, sometimes more. You'd see people riding their trials that you wouldn't see at any other. Blokes with new bikes and all the gear to blokes in wellies, jeans and 70's helmets riding all manner of stuff. You'd see early 90s bikes which you just don't see anywhere else. They pitched the sections right for the standard of rider they had and it worked well. Nothing has changed from the club's approach but what has changed is that all those 'odd-ball' riders have disappeared and in addition to that, fewer and fewer Midland Centre riders are bothering to ride now and this has been happening for years, although it seems to have increased in the last 3 or 4. We had about 16 riders at our last club trial, although a clash with another club didn't help - both trials had been rearranged from earlier cancellations. There is no easy answer. Very few new riders are coming through, a lot of the older riders don't ride anymore and most centre trials have the same names as a riding list from the late 70s early 80s, just less of them. Life has changed, trials is no longer a family sport where mum and the kids came out with dad to watch him make a pratt of himself or help observe / organise. Therefore the kids don't get involved and take the sport up themselves. There are too many other distractions these days whereas years ago it was generally a choice between bikes or football. Most riders turn up on their own. Most families are 2 car owners and rider's wives can go their own way and do what they want and take the kids with them. Very few owned 2 cars in the 70s so a trial was a family day out. The Kings Norton event was an unfortunate clash with a Miller round but I'd say that only took 10 riders at most. Last year it clashed with a Normandale round which would have taken more. It's a pity as it is a good trial and would actually make a good Normandale round itself. Hopefully next year, no clashes. But to get a decent entry, it is going to take riders from outside the centre to swell the numbers. In June we (Stafford Auto) run a Saturday afternoon trial with bar-b-cue afterwards, an event originally intended for Pre65 and twinshocks although modern bikes are catered for with an additional harder route. Try as we might, there are few riders from the actual centre that come and ride. Most of the entry comes from East Midlands, Staffordshire Moorlands or local AMCA and none of the local Pre65 riders from the BMCA ever come. We put 3 routes on with a 50/50 between the easy and middle route which caters for just about anyone. Still it's a poor entry from the actual Midlands clubs despite it not clashing with other events. What the answer is I've no idea but the future of the Midland Centre doesn't look too bright and in a few years when those remaining 70s / 80s riders begin to think twice about getting out of bed on a Sunday morning, it will look even worse.

It's not a later Montesa yoke. The alloy yokes were all the same appearance with bolt on bar clamps.

I've had that happen to one of mine, all the chrome peeled off and it was down to the alloy - it wore down pretty quickly in the trial that it happened at...

Some of the works riders used to fit the earlier airbox to the later bikes as they thought the earlier box worked better. Personally I've no idea. The airbox for the M159 to the M191 was the same, the one with the big side panel with the screw in the centre.

You mean an earlier type wheel with the non-chrome hub? Or the later conical hub which was fitted with a liner from the factory?

I honestly haven't a clue. I've heard it said from people who know about this stuff that cast is better but they also say it depends on the grade / type of cast as if it is the wrong type it's no good. I've no engineering background so personally I have no idea. Mine are steel and they work ok but I've no idea what type of steel. A friend did them. The biggest problem on the Sherpa rear brake is the mechanism, not the brake itself, which can lead you to think the brake is no good. I have a linered Sherpa rear wheel in my BSA with left hand brake pedal and it works perfectly.

199a is the model after the red one you've been posting pictures of. It's the all blue model. Good bike. The engine and frame numbers should match Some people used to fit the older airbox to the later bikes as they thought them better, but not sure how you are telling it is from a model 183 specifically

I can't recollect any screen material around the perforated tube but when I've repacked mine it is just the packing around the tube, nothing else. Works fine. I think the screen is to help the packing last a bit longer and not get pulled through the tube with the passage of the exhaust gas.

Bultaco UK do exchange hubs with liners. I don't know anything about the metal spraying technique but I think it's costly and I heard someone saying it didn't last. I've had a few converted to liners and they work fine. Yes your rear hub is correct, the rear hub wasn't chrome lined until the 1976 bikes.

Ask the seller for the engine number and the frame number. When you have them you can either ask on here or look them up on any website that holds the Bultaco frame / engine number information - just google Bultaco frame numbers as suggested above. If you put the numbers on here someone will tell you.

Don't want to put a damper on it Keith, but my Ossa was running really well on a 24mm Mikuni. It was fitted and jetted by Magical when he used to use the bike before he built his James and it revs until you can't hear it... I don't think a size of 24mm will cause the problem you have, a 250 should be able to run on that.

The normal 'Ashford' route has a good mix of rock streams, mud and ground embedded with large round rocks. They had to change venue this year because of a clash with another trial that never actually went ahead in the end. The trial is not usually as hard as that, as mentioned above, the weather played a large part in the difficulty of some sections and you needed to get a move on before the worst of them cut up. Not the trial for a late number... I did enjoy some of those big gear sections though. Definitely go back next year, you'll enjoy the mix of sections at the other venue, it won't (intentionally) be as difficult and this series needs support as it would be a crying shame to lose it and it's down to only 7 rounds this year. Hopefully this weekend's Golden Valley round will be on as it is snowing here at the moment and the forecast doesn't look good.

There were far worse cancellations with foot and mouth with no rise in costs

I thought that was because they tipped a teaspoon of it into the fuel, just for the R smell. That's all you need to do if you just want the smell of it The engine shouldn't be burning off its own oil... I'm not sure it produces the smell just from it getting hot and vapours finding their way out of the exhaust Given the quality of modern oil and the fact that a Honda clutch needs all the help it can get to achieve a smooth action and reduce the graunching, snatching and juddering they usually display, I think you'd be barmy to fill the engine with R.

If it's just the clutch you're worried about, then on the plus side there isn't much you can do that would make a Honda clutch any worse than it already is.... If you're running it as engine oil you should never smell it..??

It doesn't appear your jetting is too far away from the jetting for the 250cc Ossa Montesa and Bultacos that ran 27mm Amals where it's generally around 25 pilot, 106 needle jet, 150 main and 3.5 slide. The needle is one standard size only on the Amal MK1. I'm assuming it's a 26mm carb you have. Coming down from a 160 to a 120 main jet is a huge change and the fact that it doesn't change anything suggests the carb isn't the problem. If I put a 120 in the Ossa instead of the 160 it would definitely make a difference. However, you don't mention the needle jet and needle position, if they are too rich it could maybe give the symptoms you have. 105 or 106 needle jet and middle clip on the needle is a good start point. Some new Amals can be less than 'satisfactory' but usually the symptoms are poor slow running because of poor pilot circuits. So it doesn't suggest the carb itself is an issue if it runs at low revs ok. The problem with Villiers engines is you never really know what you've got. I had what should have been a 250 37a once with square barrel. It turned out to be a 200cc with a karting barrell or suchlike as it rev'd it's nuts off but had no bottom end whatsoever. In the end I got fed up of trying to sort it, it was swallowing money and pretty soon it went out the door - the end of me and Villiers engines. I entered a whole new world of pain with BSA 4-strokes instead... It could be the porting that's at fault, wrong head, restrictive exhaust - anything. You don't say what ignition you've bought but sounds as though you can probably rule out the ignition due to the problem being there before it was fitted If it was me, given the lack of change in performance following the main jet range and assuming the oother jets are in the right range, I'd be looking elsewhere now. Double check the timing as mentioned elsewhere as there is no guarantee it was correct when the points were fitted. If your ignition is Electrex it could be timed incorrectly. It would be worth trying a carb from another bike that you know works correctly, just as a comparison, but as OTF said, you'll find what works on one Villiers may not work so well on another. Then look at the intake, does it have a restrictive filter (how does it run with no filter / airbox. What kind of exhaust is on it etc. I don't think there is a definitive answer to this one.

You're joking right...? The factory RTL bikes have about as much in common with the production TLR as my Bultaco....

Yes, that's the 'R', a completely different bike and engine from the TLR250F/G. It's actually a very smooth and torquey motor, better than the proper trials motor ironically, but getting it geared down to suitable trials gearing will be difficult.

Ignition fault?

It's a lot of work and really not worth the effort. The original mounts have to be cut off, the top of the yoke milled flat, underneath filled with weld to offer strength / support, then the top yoke can be drilled to take bolt on bar clamps. It won't alter the steering.