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Now the purists may not agree, but I've compensated for brake drum wear on my 348 Cota's by adding a shim / spacer to each brake pad. The brake pads have a wear plate at the cam end. Loosen the wear plate and slip a shim of similar size to the wear plate, between the plate and the brake pad. It effectively moves the brake pad out and compensates for brake drum wear. Simple and effective.

The brake cable on the Honda hub, as used on the white 349's, mounts in a separate hole in the front brake stay. On the 348's and red 349's the cable mounts in the rear fender mounting boss. In both applications the center distance of the front brake stay from the fork leg hole to the brake hub is 7-5/8".

Maryland Rider If you haven't already seen it I suggest you log on to the website for the Mid Atlantic Vintage Trials at www.mavt.org. There are a number of local meets over the next couple of weeks, with one this Sunday in Woodstock Va. Not that far from Frederick. You'll see both vintage and modern bikes and will be in a better position decide which you might prefer. MAVT events are for riders of all ages and on both modern and vintage bikes. Join us at one of these meets and you'll probably end up with more advice than you ever really needed.

Thanks Big Mike, I'm leaving the reservoir at the top. I hadn't planned on messing with the air pressure, but one shock measures 70 psi and the other 25 psi.

Two questions on Betor gas shocks (on a Cota 348). 1. Should the shocks be positioned with the oil reservoir and air valve end up, and springs down, or vice versa. I've seen them both ways at local meets. Installed with the springs down creates minor brake cable interference on the Cota 348, but that appears to be the most frequently seen installation. 2. What is the recommended air pressure on these shocks.

Great buy. You can't go wrong for $40 bucks. About the puller ... go on E-Bay and enter flywheel puller. Get one from Heartland Industries, they are well made. See note below from John Haberbosch's web site (RMMontesa). Flywheel Removal Montesa flywheels are fastened onto a tapered shaft. The woodruff key is only a location device. It is used for location purposes for ignition timing. The key does nothing else. There are 2 flywheel pullers for all vintage Montesa flywheels. They thread into the flywheel with right hand threads. The flywheel nut, on the other hand, is a left-hand threaded fastener. The two sizes are 27mm x 1.25 thread pitch and 30mm x 1.5 thread pitch. You must have the engine number to order the correct one. There was a change in at least one model from one to the other during its production. If you find a part number in a parts book that doesn

Beldane I do not know what the 'S' or T/V spec stands for. The Sudco catalog (available on their web site) may identify it. I do know that when I talked to Sudco's tech support, the VM26S T/V was what they recommended as a replacement for the Amal as used on the 348 Cota. It bolted right up and other than raising the needle one notch, it was spot on.

Recently converted my 348 over to Mikuni and it now runs as good as ever or better than new (I've had the bike since 1977 adn competed regularily on it). Contact Sudco (www.sudco.com) and order a Mikuni VM26S / spec T/V, setup as follows: 120 main 35 pilot 2.5 slide 6F21 needle N8 needle jet