htrdoug

What head angle do most adjust them to? The yokes aren't the same as a modern bike so I don't believe copying a gasgas head angle would work well,if I ever get around to doing mine I intend to going to 24 degrees or so,I don't want longer shocks as I don't want to raise the center of gravity any higher,if anything I'd drop the cradle an inch,cut out the lower frame rails and fab a head steady if I had a spare frame to experiment with.Due to multiple other projects/laziness I haven't even lowered my footpegs yet I have developed chipped paint where the gussets crack,so I gotta do something with mine before competing on it again.

I do believe Archemedies invented the screw thread way before jeebus came around,but it was only used as a pump for a long time,but you know,jesus may have not wanted credit for his inventions,wanted to leave dat stuff for mortal man,you can bet his spaceship had a few nuts and bolts holding it together somewhere. Probably not wise to jack up this thread with this crapola...

Ya know, Jesus was a carpenter,were these quotes based on getting him to rise again and make you some doors?

Yikes! but good luck with your experiment! as stated,trials regulations dictate tread pattern for competitions,but for farting around whatever works for you is fine. You might consider sheet metal screws in your knobs(front and rear),works wonderful on logs,not so much on rocks. a little farther north up here we'd put the screws in right after the last hare scramble of the season and just leave them in until the first race of the next,you must use careful throttle control to keep from pitching them out of the rear but they'll let you charge over a log at any angle fearlessly.You do have to retrain after you take them out... Oh yea,make sure you keep your feet on the pegs,once you dab on the trials bike your drive disappears

Forgive me,I don't recall any fenders(American for mudguards) mounting like that myself,but I do know every idea has already been tried years ago,I do have SSDT 50's video that has a bike that had rear shocks laid down on a 45 degree angle,so would technically seven inches of rear wheel travel would be OK based on photographic evidence? Maybe you could state fork caps must not be connected to any other part inside the forks? No damper rods connected to them. Best to just come up with a set of rules,stick with them,invite those that want to to come out and play under them, then harass and ridicule anyone who goes over the top to build a world beater. Even though I'm a outsider I like the move to BTS rules over pre-65,if I was over there I'd definitely participate!(the price of old cubs over here is too high for my casual tastes,plus buying price is only permission to spend more!)(thought about finding a Harley 165 which looks like a inverted Bantam,but they also go for way too much,damn pirates jacking the price of anything harley!) dad had a garage full of 6 Mountain Cubs when I was a about 12 years old,I wanted one soooooo badly but he said I'd blow the rod outa them and put me on small Italian twostrokes

Just a little suggestion,maybe a 90kg minimum weight? easy to enforce,levels playing field a bit.(I have no clue as to the weight of a stock Bantam or Cub,maybe 82kg for Bantams?) I think I'd outlaw fork braces mounted like these: (Apologies to Mr.Gaunt )

Fantic parts are pretty easy to get,Yamaha trials parts aren't like stocked by dealers.

I don't have any 200 experience but I'd recommend setting the footpeg height as close to the same on all your bikes,when I hop off my Gasgas and onto my 240 I tend to drop off the inside of the first couple of turns until I adapt,It feels like the lower pegs on the Gasser allow my inexperienced azz to turn and climb better,as far as moving them back I'd set the the same distance from the bars as my other bikes if you can,again to make switching among your bikes as seamless as possible.

I think we should have the vintage riders who want to just get out and have some fun come out and do the observing for the youth trials in the morning,then while the big bikes are out on the main loop they can put on a self scored vintage/easy short loop event that any first timer could participate in on the youth loop,modified as need be,old busted up vintage riders could acclimate the first timers without throwing them to the wolves on a 4-5 hour multi-loop trial.

Adding swingarm length helps greatest when added at the front of the swingarm,keeping the ideal 52inch wheelbase means moving the engine forward,but I think the issue that causes the increase in traction is that your footpeg position is then farther behind the pivot point of the swingarm,increasing the leverage of your body weight against the action of the suspension.This is why I brought up the example of modern bikes having more grip everywhere,regardless of whether the suspension is acting or not, than a vintage twinshock bike,the back tire doesn't know how many shocks are attached to it,it only know contact pressure. The relationship of the countershaft sprocket to the swingarm position only matters when there is enough traction to transfer that force into the suspension,in low traction,light throttle situations I don't believe there's enough influence to effect traction as much as weight distribution does. Look at the early vintage bikes with super short swingarms,even though the footpegs were back at the leading edge of the rear tire they were at best in line with the swingarm pivot,sometimes in front of it. Look at a modern bike,footpegs will be several inches in front of the leading edge of the back tire but also several inches behind the swingarm pivot,I think this amplifies your weight enough to more than offset the weight of moving the engine forward(I weigh quite a bit more than my entire modern bike) giving greater contact pressure at the tire. Ok,how can we utilze this in vintage twinshock? Well lets take the Suzuki RL for example,I have never ridden one but I read on the intermanet that they have less than optimum performance as a vintage trials bike,look how short the swingarm is,yet there is room to move the swingarm pivot forward in relation to the engine without moving the engine forward if one were to swap to a "h" shaped swingarm as opposed to the current "u" shaped swingarm.This would straddle the backbone design of the frame and would accomplish several positive improvements(stiffer swingarm mounting in addition to the weight transfer benefits) If you constructed the new swingarm to retain the same wheelbase you would still increase the effect of the footpeg placement acting onto the contact pressure,resulting in increased traction in trials riding situations,I'd bet this would even apply in braking situations also,I'm no engineer but I'd speculate that it would also not decrease steering traction as much as just moving the footpegs rearward alone. Again,I'm no engineer but I received a private email that sparked my understanding on this matter plus as I was letting my non trials riding buddies ride my gasgas one of them commented that as soon as you touched a foot down while climbing a slick rock you lost all traction at the tire(effectively unweighting the footpegs) it occured to me how much influence the footpegs have on trials bikes(I knew this,but it was surprising to see a first timer notice it also) WARNING!FIRESTARTER! This is what makes a Airmono to Twinshock conversion very interesting to me (Please do not comment about AM to TS conversions in this thread,P.M. me with insults if you must,I canz take it!)

Lewisport shows a full lock pic on their site My linkhttp://www.lewisportusa.com/rebuild.htm

So why is it my 2003 TXT Gasgas has loads more grip than my 1984 240 Fantic? The Gasgas swing arm is several inches longer,plus the Gasgas will turn inside the fantic anywhere.fantic has a almost new sharp edged rear tire,gasgas rear tire is almost worn out. They have virtually the same wheelbase,engine and footpegs are farther forward on the gasgas.My 309 Fantic has close to the same layout as the Gasgas and it also hooks and turns better than the 240.

I hung out with family on thanksgiving, made some progress on my 309 Fantic refurbish on Friday, Xmas deco on saturday,felt like I needed to go riding sunday as I hadn't been on a bike since the last event in Newark(Awesome place and always great events!) Also did one killer floater,as long as no one is around I can seem to do one pretty easily off this one tree at the practice spot,but put a spectator there and who know what will happen... Yuk,now back to work We'd love to have you up here sometime,but I think So.Indiana is a bit far to go for a play day (when we get the trails and sections all developed we may build some campsites for visitors)

Got out midmorning today,cut two new sections in at my practice area,up to 17 or 18 sections now,will be cutting many more over the winter, then unloaded the gasser for some playtime.was doing my turns well but couldn't climb the rocks worth a crap due to the wet moss on them. One of my buddies was out there breaking in his brand new KTM 300 He was following me while we scouted for places to cut new routes in our hare Scramble loop(practice area is 100 acres that belongs to a co-worker of mine) Then we took off around the loop and I think I impressed him on how fast you can actually trail ride a modern trials bike. Got back to the truck and decided to ride my vintage Fantic some. Guy who owns the property grabs my Gasgas and says he's gonna check out one of the section I cut near a waterfall,I fire up the Fantic and head over to the other side of the property where I cut the first section that consisted of some log crossings.KTM bud follows me,I show him the logs and easily do my simplest line on my fantic,actually crossing the logs better than I did on my Gasser, The harder line in the section is for my imaginary trials friends that might want to do something more difficult,I'm not quite ready to hop logs that big yet,but I do put them into my practice sections to give me something to shoot for. Property owner show up,says he's gotta have a trials bike,this is a major victory for me because he has always said he mainly enjoys ripping around at high speed on his GG200 enduro and could never enjoy a trials bike,he's ridden mine before so it's not his first time on one,he's just getting in synch with how fun they are now.I lead them up to the next section area and just start practicing my off-camber turns on a muddy,leaf covered hillside,both guys jump in and follow my line, Property owner easily makes the turn many times on my Gasgas,KTM is struggling to make the turn,the guys 15 years younger than me and a very good rider so I give him a bit of trials technique and he can just almost get the big KTM around the trials turn,makes it one time without dabbing,but his knobbies have dug my turn down exposing a small root,making it just that much harder, I'm all for that because I can do this turn in my sleep,now it's a challenge.We then get him on my GG and let him try it a few times. (it's his first time ever on a trials bike)I jump on my fantic and do a few more turns then head up a slick rock face,easily shooting up it,turn around and SHANE(KTM Guy) is heading for the same rock,he pops up it perfectly and the heads up the hill where a small log(One ft diam) is, wheelies over it and brakes his self to a stop with the back wheel on the log,then lets the front wheel drop.He rides over to us and says he's gotta have one now. He has to wait because his new KTM shows just 3.1 hrs on the meter but he'll get a trialler for sure now.He's a old BMX "flatlander" so he'll smoke me after he gets just the slightest amount of real trials coaching but I don't care,great to get two new converts sold on Trials! Shane said that the trials bike felt exactly how he imagined it would,which you know when you try something new it always feels queer until you adapt, hell,if I change bar position it feels like I don't know how to ride for a whole damn day. Anyway,weather was great,enjoyed myself so much I just needed to share!

The movie version of "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" has some cool vintage motocross action in it! I need to buy the movie,every thanksgiving I flip through all the channels looking for it,never finding it even on the old movie channels(forgot to check this year though)

240 is a piston port engine,no reed valves

Lewisport is Rockshocks USA dealer http://www.lewisportusa.com/rock_shocks.htm

If these are the Beta forks with a squarish lower sliders(I have Beta forks on my Fantic) then I find even with the thinnest viscocity oil I can find they still are a bit sluggish in operation,5 weight feels too thick in mine but I like a soft,snappy fork action,next step is internal modifications for mine over the off season.I'll do modifications to the damper rods to split the duties for each side and speed up the action and allow individual tuning of rebound and compression,plus if I can find a spring that will do the job I'll go with a single spring.

Dude,if you don't come out and ride with me soon you just need to sell all the bikes you have Danny Todd likely knows plenty about TY350s,Bill Super had one so he's up on them too. I'd take a chance on a TY350 if I came on a $600 one in decent shape,if you decide not to go for it hook me up. Really Man,Figure out when you can go riding and I'll show you the property and introduce you to the landowner(he rides a Gasgas enduro)We have cleared out plenty of "sections" and can built many,many more,every level of riding from beginner vintage bike level to champ class.

I like "Engine Ice" Was laying out sections for the Stoney Lonesome trials a couple a months ago,radiator was completely clogged with mud,no symptoms of overheating at all.

I'd just like to be able to get some of those shroud stickers to put on my old 309 once I'm done restoring it I'd bet they'd cost $11,000 if they were imported to the U.S.(And that ain't gonna happen!)

I might through in this as I didn't see it in a quick scan of the article,if you have to crank the rear preload so much that you have no static sag when your race sag is correct then you need a stiffer spring,a suspension that constantly tops out and also dips too low into the travel is difficult to get good damping adjustments on,it's usually too soft at times and yet too stiff in other instances.I also think it shortens the life of the shock as it bangs to full extension.This also applies to forks too.

Evolution= Twine bailing wire duct tape cable ties

Have you contacted these guys? 301 Decal set

Also,if I ever get a bike with earl's forks I want to add slotted axle mounts and snail cams to them so I can adjust the trail until steering's perfect.(surely someone's done that already though)