grahamjayzee

You don't need to empty it; just 'suck out' any over the amount it should be. The way I do it is to get one of those spray bottles that contains cleaning products. Wash it out thoroughly and thow away the bottle part. Keep the lid/ squirty bit and put a tie-rap around the tube. Slide this up the tube to the level of the fluid specified in the manual. So if it says 85mm, set the tie rap so it is 85mm from the end of the tube. Then simply put the tube into the fork leg until the tie-rap rests on the end of the fork leg and squirt out oil until no more comes out. Job done! Reset the tie-rap for the other leg, re-assemble and go down the pub happy in a good job done! Graham

Couple of things to check: Take the caps off both forks and ensure you can get full movement with the wheel in place. If you can't, you may be missing a wheel spacer meaning the forks are not parallel and progressively nip up. It's an easy mistake to make! Secondly, the oil level should be measured with the forks compressed. Again, both caps off, compress the forks and fill to roughly the level in the manual (can't remeber exacltly what that is off the top of my head; 85mm one leg, 100 the other rings a bell. John Lampkin will know!) and then suck out the excess by using a syringe and a tube poked into the fork to the required depth. If you do this with the fork extended, you will only have 85mm or so of air gap at the top and 150mm of fork play! It is never going to happen! Good luck Graham

Hello Deebee, Can I ask one question? If you are happy with the Scorpa, why are you thinking of changing? I'm a 'one-year novice' too (admittedly one year from returning after 13 years away, so not a total noob), and ride an old Rev 3. As long as it holds together, it's more bike than I am rider and the more time I spend on it, the better I get. Changing bikes for me is not likely to improve my results (particularly as I am happy with the power delivery, riding position etc so am not fighting it), if anything it will cost me as I spend time adjusting. Unless it's for the reason that you fancy one! As a motorcyclist, it's acceptable to change bikes using the vaguest of justifications!! Graham

This was a thread that was always asking for trouble!

That's a good point, but historically Honda have always hated 2-strokes and favoured 4-strokes. Remember when in GP racing they decided to take on the 500 strokers with huge amounts of cash and improbable engineering with the oval pistonned NR500? Whilst it was alsways clear that 2-strokes days were numbered in GP racing, Honda were at the forefront of pressure to move to 4-stroke machinery. However, the general movement to 4-stroke machinery (or more accurately, AWAY from stinkwheels!) is legislative, and environmentally led. It's ineavitable that even our tiny minority will come under emission scrutiny. This, for me, is the clue as to where bike design goes in the next 5 years or so and thereover hangs an ominous cloud. I come from a background in an electronics/ software automotive consultancy, largely engine control. The (economically) viable way to manage emissions is to control what goes in and to monitor and control the burn. The hydrocarbon emissions from a stroker are always going to be a problem, so 4-stroke is inevitable if we are forced this way (and that looks likely). In order to manage the emissions, you need to monitor a number of conditions; exhaust gases, intake temperature, atmospheric temperature, manifold pressure etc etc. Then you have to process it... Baldilocks pointed out the shortcomings in the injection at 800rpm. Whilst I cannot comment as I've never ridden a 4RT, or any other 4-stroke trials bike, I am not surprised. To accurately control the fuelling and ignition, particualrly at low rpm, you need a fair chunk of processing power, and as much input as you can wire in. Any compromises to the input system will reduce the quality of the output. This comes at a price. One price is weight, which seems to be an issue to some on the 4RT. But the biggest price to pay is development time and costs. Road bikes are only now getting decent injection. They suffer from extremely short model lifespans limitting development time. The fact that we have had 10 years of fuel injection means there is enough experience to iron the issues. But think how many road bikes have been sold to amortise that cost. A trials bike is going to have some very unique requirements and I simply cannot see a manufacturer committing the development budget to it. Unless we benefit from the spin-off from single pot enduro bikes, we will have compromised bikes, or worse, no bikes at all. Even if we do, they will almost certainly be heavier and more complex. I don't want to sound gloomy, but I suspect this may well have a lot to do with Honda's withdrawal. Let's hope we can keep our carbs for a bit longer yet! Graham

Interesting project, and discussion for us engineering types! As I understand it, there are many benefits of a longer swinging arm (more grip, suspension less affected by chain pull) and moving the engine forward is the way to achieve this. It's not that the swinging arm is made longer to accomodate the forward engine position. However, there are loads of knock-on effects by any one of these changes. I'm guessing you will be limitted by the 'packaging', but I would have thought getting the motor forward and increasing the swinging arm length will improve the rideability, and obviously steepening the steering angle to maintain the wheelbase will go along with this. What are you planning to do with the footrest position? All the above changes will have a big effect on weight distribution and I suspect you may need to re-position the other moveable mass centre (your good self)! I shall watch with interset! Good Luck Graham

Am I missing something? I thought Barry Roads was that bloke that advertises Cillit Bang? Or the way into South Cardiff??

The yellow VFR with the canoe is priceless! I'd pay money to see the owner at a trackday on that!!!

I could be wrong, but I recall from back in my yoof that the TY80 was, as we all know, the competition bike for the wee small people, whilst the TY50 was also sold as a road going bike for 16+ year olds. It was sold around the time the 30mph restriction was introduced in the UK (77). I would guess from this that it's physically larger, but has gearing and power delivery less suitable for trials. However, as a bike to hoon around on, I'm sure it's fine. I still think I'd seek out a TY80 though... Graham

Thanks guys, I'd go at it tomorrow if it was more of the same of the old air-cooled series. As long as the water cooled engine is reliable I reckon it's a winner Graham

Hi All, There's a K-Roo 80 on Ebay at the moment (here) that may be ideal for my daughter. Does anyone know anything about these bikes? I know the 'full size' K-Roo was a bit of a nail with serious cooling issues. Does the same apply to the 80? Is there anything else I should look out for? Many Thanks Graham

I tend to find that once pads are contaminated, you're in trouble. However, it costs nothing to try and clean them up!

I think that's the best starting point. Let me know if it cures it. Graham

Hi, and Welcome! A few points; Firstly, there is supposed to be a bit of movement in the disc. Most trials bikes use a floating disc so this is quite normal. If you hold the front brake on and rock the bike backwards and forwards, it should feel like the headstock bearings are loose. This is OK; it's just the disc moving in it's mountings (unless the headstock bearings actually are loose, which is a bad thing!). Secondly, does the lever feel firm? If it comes back to the bar, chances are the system needs bleeding. If it feels pretty firm, I'd change the pads. You'll find that pads make a huge difference and you can't run them very low before performance drops off sharply. They also don't last long (particularly the rears if you ride in the wet). So, leave the disc alone, check the lever is firm (if not, search for vbrake bleeding on here), and change the pads. Graham

It's most likely delivery rather than outright power. A 'gentle' delivery is a deliberate feature that makes the bike easier to ride when grip is a premium (softer delivery off the bottom end makes it less prone to suddenly losing traction). My mate's 315R is also fierce and is a lot harder to ride until you get used to it. As regards lofting the front; work on your technique. Get your weight moving backwards as you wind the power on. You'll then be able to lift the front without risking spinning up. It may be you need to get used to it (assuming there isn't actually something wrong), or that you're style isn't best suited to soft power. Graham

Yes, exactly that! Take the caliper off and get it above the master cylinder. That way the trapped air will rise. You also want to keep turning it so any air works it's way to the bleed nipple. Graham

Hi Braddon, I think it's still got air in it! I know it seems impossible as you are getting good fluid out, but I'll bet that's the issue. When I did mine, I had a tube from the nipple into a catch tank and I could see how the fluid reacted when I forced fluid through. If there was any air at the highest point of this tube, it would move forward when I released the bleed nipple, but return back to the high point when the lever reached it's stop and I closed the nipple. What you need to do is make sure the system is 'hung' so the bleed nipple is the highest point and gently tap it to pursuade the air to rise. Then when you bleed, try to avoid any high points. You can't avoid all high points, particularly when bleeding the rear, so you need to get a rhythm going with your pumping and releasing that is quite fast. Don't get frantic at it or you'll cause the fluid to froth and be back to square one! If you are really patient and keep tapping the system you may suddenly see a few more bubbles. It may be that at the moment the fluid is not displacing the air. If the air is trapped in the master cylinder, you'll never get there! Make sure there is a bit of free play in the lever adjuster or the fill hole will not open and you'll never get a full fill. Good Luck Graham

I had a one line explaination: "buy another bike" However, I'm over that now and still prefer my Beta!

Is it rear brake? If so, the main problem is that no atter how you hang the master cylinder, there is either an airtrap at the inlet, outlet or the banjo where it goes into the caliper. Here's what I suggest: Buy a seal kit for both the caliper and the master cylinder. This will cost you about

Hi Greggo, Bad luck mate, you've stumbled across the second worst part of Beta-ness (after stator problems!). It's almost certainly not the caliper and almost certainly bleeding air! Do a search in the Beta section and you'll find much stuff on bleeding brakes. I've detailed my experiences there. It took me 4 weeks to get the air out of the back brake and that included stripping, rebuilding, and then doing it again on both the caliper and the master cylinder. You're going to need a lot of patience and brake fluid, my friend! Graham

Good Lord...

As I understand it, it's not so much 2T vs 4T, as carbs vs injection. A trials bike needs to be set a bit lean to give us the performance we need off the bottom. This means it leans out at high rpm and therefore runs hot. A montesa 4RT is fuel injected and depending on the processing power of the ECU, should be able to correctly meter at all engine speeds. For this reason alone, if it were me in your shoes, I'd look carefully at a 4RT. One thing though, 'Long Uphill Climbs'? Does this mean you also have long downhill ones round your way? Just wondering... Graham

What, pray, is the proper use of Lycra???

Dixie, If I got back from riding the woods to find some spotty youth in lycra on me mondeo, I'd get the right hump... Graham

Morning. I had a 1992 Zero 260 for many years and loved it. I only ever replaced tyres and pads and it was totally reliable. Best of all, I went from mid-table on my old Fantic 241 to winning on the Zero. Great bike. It only sold becuase my family arrived and I had no time to trial and frankly it was just too purple for the day... Graham