canadianstrom

Who knows gaelic? I saw this phrase on the Scottish Six Days Trial site http://www.ssdt.org/ Any ideas? perhaps it means " we are going to bust your Balls"

Hope this is the right spot to ask some questions about the EVO. I'm middle aged ; I've only been riding trials for a year and a half, own a 92 aprilia climber 280. Its a great motor, straight up any hill that I dare but I have a harder time on off camber stuff, bumps that deflect the front more than I think it should. I had a ride on a Evo 200 yesterday. The bars felt way forward but I assume I'll get used to it ( its probably a good thing). When i blip the throttle , the bike makes a funny noise , kind of sounds like the air intake but it only lasts a second then goes away . Any Ideas ? Also can the motor be pepped up or just bore it out if it ever needs a rebuild ? ( not likely that It'll need it) I just found the motor a little under whelming compared to the Aprilia. I know the smaller motor would help my scores but I might miss the fun factor of the immediate torque of a bigger motor.

you can try emailing the sponsors at http://trialsontario.ca/ they may have what you want if not try the tryals shop in New York, about 3 hours east of Fort Erie

just a further update to anyone interested. I was still struggling with the front end, not absorbing little bumps and deflecting off small stuff. i measured the total stoke 19 cm , the static sag was only 1 cm (no rider) , sag with me on it was only 2or 3 cm. If I pushed down on the seat, only the rear suspension moved. I've read the rider sag should be 30 to 50 % of the total stroke for trials bike. I loosened the cap from the right fork tube ( spring side) and the static sag only increased by a cm or 2 so the damping side was doing a lot of the work to hold the bike up. I've tried letting the air out of the damping side via the small screw but no air ever came. I unscrewed the cap and a lot of air pressure was released and the bike gently dropped to bottom of the stroke. I pumped the cap up and down listening for the sound of air being moved thru the damper, no sound so I assumed the oil level was high enough. So with the forks still bottomed out I tightened the damping side cap to reduce the amount of air in the fork. I've ridden the bike and It's much improved, better shock absorbing and easier to balance at stop or low speed ( i assume because the bike geometry is better with the rider sag at the 7 cm it is now. static sag is 4 cm . Pushing the seat down gets both forks and rear shock compressing although the front shows a fair bit of stiction. It seems to me that the problem is air pressure building up in the left hand ( damping fork) and the air release screw is not working so if the forks get to stiff again I'll try to unplug the air release. Stork, I'm not sure which shocks are my Apr,they are the upside down forks, gold outer tubes, aluminum caps and bottom of the fork tube. In your post did you think the air pressure would be building on the spring side? is any of this making sense ? or am I just floundering here? I welcome any feedback.

I sourced some pads from my local mc dealer; they are SBS ( scandinavian brakeing systems) 574lf . they are a low friction ceramic , have given a more progressive feel than my previous , less lock up but I suppose that may change as they wear in. FYI they are also fitted to Aprilia RS 50 96- , what ever that is, some cagiva 125's and KTM SX 65 00-.

thanks for the link, hadn't seen that supplier's site before but when looking at their listing they just have front pads for the Aprilia that I could see.

I was just wondering how high everyone runs their fork tubes in the triple tree ( yoke, steering stem , whatever you want to call it) upper clamps. I had mine flush since I've owned it ( a year) but have been wondering if lowering would give smoother steering, easier balance etc. Thanks for any opinions.

my rear pads are getting thin and my local bike shop (non-trials ) is having a hard time matching a replacement for the Galfer 1805gf that I took out. If you have a source for manufacturer and part #'s that would be great . Also are there different compounds available and what would their characteristics be? many thanks

i am interested in this discussion because the progressive linkage in my ole 93 Aprilia Climber is loose and thought about replacing them with an inner bronze bushing ( smaller diameter snug on bolt) and an outer bronze bushing (snug in dog bone) with a grease fitting drilled into housing and through the outer bushing and greasing after every ride. I believe there is room for the grease fittings. I did wonder about the stiction, kind of a damping effect maybe but I'm not doing huge stuff. Do you think this would be a low maintenance, ridable solution? thanks for any opinions.

another couple of question for you Evo owners. I am considering buying an Evo because of the reputation for great handling and suspension. I am relatively new to trials , 43 years old, 180 lbs and low skilled. I probably would be happy with a 200 or 250 but am told just go for the 290 by some of the trials riders I know and the dealer. I am tempterd because its only a few $ more, appeals to that bigger is better part of my brain and I would like to try taking it to some harescrambles so thats really when the extra cc's may help. My questions is how is the bottom end of the rev range for the 290 , nice and smooth or abrupt and harsh ? and if it is considerably harsher does the ignation settings switch make a big difference? would the 2010 model been any different? and is there any thing else that could been done to give me a smoother bottom end of the torque curve ie. adjusting the ignition advance, carb settings , slow action throttle cam etc. even if it sacrafices some topend power. I could always switch it back if my skills get better. thanks for any thoughts.

Anthony i'm noy sure which bearing you'r talking about. If you are in North America , Mike @ the tryals shop has had any parts I've needed and great to deal with and offer help and advice. Wally

Stork You made some good comments there. I kind of figured that the spring wasn't too stiff for me because before my initial oil change I could bottom out the forks. Now it the tubes show I'm not within an inch and a half of bottoming out (and still a little harsher than I'd like, as I movce through the stroke it feels good , kind of a abrupt stop at the end of the stroke I think is what I'm perceiving). Can I safely say that's due to the dampening effect? perhaps need to play more with the clicker, lighter oil or even less oil ? The tubes look good, pushing down on the forks doesn't feel like much stickion, nice smooth movement.

just to let everyone else know what I'm finially figuring out here. I aske Mike @ the tryals shop and here is his reply "The fork with the adjustor of clicker is the damping side or compression side. Many misunderstand the forks. For most Trials bike set ups they only have a spring on one side and a damping cartridge on the other. The damping side controls both compression and rebound strokes so any adjustment of the clicker changes the feel. So you can regulate the speed of the travel but the adjustor changes it evenly on both strokes. As you have learned the oil viscosity also changes the speed of travel. The spring side doesn't do much except hold the front of the bike up and return the forks to the top of their stroke. The oil on that side makes little difference and only serves to keep the spring lubricated and cool. The two screws on the left fork have separate functions. The one in the center or clicker adjust both compression and rebound so you can make it faster in both directions or slower in both directions. The other one is just a vent to relieve pressure if any builds up. You notice this if you forks should start feeling a little stiffer but you haven't changed anything. Just loosen the screw and you will here the pressure escape." I went with 5 wt oil in the left fork , huge improvement. maybe could have went a little lighter yet.

hello all I'm looking at improving my fork behaviour again. Last year I replaced seals and oil , put in 260 cc of 20wt as I saw recommended on this board. It was way too harsh , I couldn't ease a wheelie down without hand shock. I switched to ATF which is 10 wt ( ? ) better but still harsh. I have since seen a recommendation of 10-20 wt in the rebound fork and 5 wt in the compression side. This sounds like a good idea but I'm not sure which is which. Is the fork with the adjuster for rebound? Also there is 2 allen screws on the top of the left fork , the one clicks so I assumed it is for adjusting rebound damping, clock wise ( ? )for more damping ( less spring back ) . I had assumed the little allen screw was to lock the adjuster screw bit itdoesn't seem to bottom out. any ideas? thanks for any input.