Is it safe to steam clean a trials bike once in a while? I currently use Muc-Off and a pressure washer, results are pretty good but could be better in hard to reach or stained areas. You see some really really shiny bikes around, so either they use a steam cleaner, they never get ridden properly or they spend 6 days a week cleaning it with a toothbrush? Obviously would have to be careful with steam around the stickers but will seals etc be OK?
Personal preference if you ask me, you'll just have to ride both, I went from a Beta to a GasGas and haven't looked back, i'll defo be buying a GasGas again next. I've ridden older (2004) Sherco's too and didn't like that at all.
neat. Anyone any ideas for the swinging arm, even just lower edge coverage?
Maybe drill and tap 3 holes in the bottom edge and fix some thin nylon plate to the underside using c'sink screws? You'd hardly see it, it would be light and should work pretty well. Only downside is having to drill and tap your swingarm, but something like M4 should be OK and it shouldn't weaken the it by any amount that should cause a problem.
Bought a set of DP friction plates for my GasGas Pro in the week from my local bike shop after fitting them to the bike I realized they were slightly out of tolerance. The pack measured 9.66mm (should be 9.75/9.85mm), they were only 0.09mm under bottom limit but I thought i'd email DP direct and let them know as they state that the set should be within tolerance right out of the box. Got an email back the same day from the Technical Director stating that they're quality control and customer service is very important to them and that they'll send me a new set out right away, no charge, no questions. And sure enough the very next day a new set arrived at my door which was in tolerance and complete with a pair of stickers. So if you want any customer service confidence when looking for parts, definitely consider www.dp-brakes.com
Done the seals this morning. To fill and bleed the system I used a 'Gunson Eezibleed' (£19.99 in Halfords), made a cap to fit the master cylinder reservoir out of aluminium and a piece of innertube, connected it to my front tyre, blasted the oil through with the pressure from the tyre (20psi for this) until all that was coming out of the bleed nipple was clean oil (no air). All seems to work fine now but time will tell if changing the top hat seals will stop my oil from disappearing! It works great on brakes too!
Thats perfect thanks, I was thinking under the assumption that the circuit was broken when a switch was pressed so yeah that makes sense now. Thanks very much!
I got the same switch as your photo - I took the round ends of the connectors so just had the bare wire, then attached it next to the existing button kill switch, ran the new wires next to the button switch ones and underneath the tank took off a bit of the insulation on those and taped the two together so sort of running in parallel. Tested them both before i put everything back and its been fine - I can use either.... just needed lots of insulation tape and cable ties.
Still not quite sure I get it, am a great mechanical engineer, but when it comes to wiring I'm not so good. Any chance you could draw a diagram?
If you like the slo-mo, check out my channel too. I'll be adding lots of slo-mo as its a great tool to come home and watch to see where I'm going wrong etc so gives me something to work on next time I'm out.
I wasn't thinking of 3, was just curious how to wire both a mag lanyard switch and a normal switch at the same time. As I figure It you just wire them both up as normal the circuit would always be complete by one of the devices?
I got one off eBay that has both a normal kill switch and the lanyard on the same mount. Its not a magnet, its a rubber plug but works just the same. So when normal riding and messing about you can just wrap the lanyard around the bars and use the button and for those "here hold my beer at watch this" moments you can just stick your hand in the lanyard. Best of both :-)
£10.99
Out of interest how would I go about wiring a lanyard switch up so as to keep my original kill switch too?
Mine, '04 Pro 280cc. Old pic as it now has S3 lock on grips, a lanyard kill switch and a red number board. Not sure I want to spend £2500/3000 on a bike yet as i'll only be p****d when I drop it off of some wooden cotton reels or something. Lovely bike as it is, starts and runs like a dream now :-)
Winter plans are to powder coat the frame, swingarm and tank (white? red? or matt black?), the wheels black and treat it to new plastics and more modern graphics.
Good stuff, I can't show you anything quite as impressive, but here's short film taken during the Sphinx a few years back. The first part was taken at Nettleton.
Thanks for sharing, it looks really difficult on the dirt bike style of bikes! I spy a bit of Kilkenny in that video too, shame we can't ride there anymore. But can't complain as Nettleton is now a pretty sweet place to ride :-)
The cover has been on and off about 10 times over the last couple days and the gasket is still sealing! Once I have the clutch how I want it i'll stick a new gasket on.
So have I got this right, after removing the clutch cover:
1. Pull the top hat off, remove reservoir cap on master cylinder, drain the oil.
2. Replace the o-ring and cup seal.
3. Fill top hat with brake fluid.
4. Replace top hat.
5. Replace clutch cover.
6. Attach syringe to nipple on clutch cover (How am i attaching hose to nipple, just push on, clamp?) (do i have to loosen nipple?), slowly feed fluid into the system until i see it in the reservoir on the master.
7. Remove syringe.
8. Pump lever a few times until no more air bubbles seep through small holes in reservoir.
9. Replace reservoir cap.
10. Go ride?
On a side note, in changing to Dot5 from Dot4, do I have to replace anything else other than the fluid itself?
Nothing too special, we've obviously got a ways to go but we're getting there. I'm on the Gas Gas and my mate is on the Beta. Clips were filmed with my GoPro Hero 3 Black on a tripod.
Link to my YouTube channel in case you feel like subscribing (I promise the videos will get better as we progress!): http://www.youtube.com/user/TrialsPete
Proper Cleaning - Steam Cleaner?
in General Trials Talk
Posted
Is it safe to steam clean a trials bike once in a while? I currently use Muc-Off and a pressure washer, results are pretty good but could be better in hard to reach or stained areas. You see some really really shiny bikes around, so either they use a steam cleaner, they never get ridden properly or they spend 6 days a week cleaning it with a toothbrush? Obviously would have to be careful with steam around the stickers but will seals etc be OK?