neonsurge

No opinion on the Husky (the only one I've ever ridden was a WR250 and that was horrible, mainly due to an extremely heavy clutch and generally indifferent maintenance on the part of the owner) but I'll second the warnings about riding "proper" dirt bikes on the road. First of all, unless the bike was manufactured with dual sport in mind, the odds are that the wheels won't be properly balanced for high-speed use which results in either horrendous vibrations and/or head shake or an even more disconcerting tendency to weave or squirm around on tarmac. This can be cured somewhat using rim weights but that does nothing to address the problem of tyres: Simply put, knobblies are awful for road use. Lots of vibration and noise and when it rains you might as well be riding on ice. Fun if you have a deathwish or want to practise supermoto-style "backing it into the corner" at EVERY slight bend or junction but bowel-loosening otherwise. AND you'll go through a set of tyres a week. Finally, the "peaky" nature of off-road competition engines (especially 2-strokes) makes them just plain tiring to ride when all you want to do is get home after a crappy day in the office. All in all, if you're going to be riding more on-road than off it, it makes far more sense to buy a bike that was designed for this purpose and modifying it for serious dirt use than doing it the other way around, especially given the difficulties of registering "competition" bikes for the road use these days. This comes from my own experience of commuting 20 miles a day on a 400cc enduro bike for a year, every day, sun, rain, snow and wind. At the time it was a financial necessity but never again.

After all of the dumb-ass questions I've been posting recently re. smoky bikes and oil seals etc. I've decided to bite the bullet and get my engine professionally rebuilt. Is there anything I need to know or any gotchas to be aware of while removing the engine? Recommended sequence of steps? All advice gratefully received ('cos once this is done I can stop filling up this forum with waffle!)

Smells like a self-link to me. Or is this Scorpa's new guerilla marketing campaign?

OK, got 'er running again (blocked fuel filter.) It's still quite smoky though The disappearing gearbox oil is a worry and I'm starting to suspect that the two issues are related and that the crank seals may have failed. My limited mechanical knowlege (and several minutes peering at the exploded parts diagram) suggests that this would allow gearbox oil into the cylinder and cause the blue smoke although I'll rely on my betters (not necessarily elders!) to confirm or debunk that theory... BTW, I recently replaced the water pump shaft and seal and the casing looked OK - a bit of limescale buildup but no obvious corrosion.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. If I disconnect the fuel line from the carb and turn the fuel on... nothing happens. No fuel comes out. Bugger. Now all I need to work out is where all the gearbox oil is disappearing to...

Following on from this thread I recently cleaned my header and mid pipes out using caustic soda and after emptying and allowing eveything to drain and dry out, yesterday I put it all back together (I repacked the silencer for good measure). The bike started fine, ran for a few seconds before the revs suddenly rose then it died. It then won't restart unless I leave it for a while when it starts first kick before doing the same thing. Kick, brrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR, stop. Any ideas?

A couple of things to bear in mind - the '04 (and later) plastics don't come with the metal grille inserts (must be ordered seperately - or make your own from an old sieve!) and the black plastic air filter retainer must be modified slightly to accomodate the new airbox lid.

That's a 2-stroke Scorpa innit?

Thanks for all the advice (well, thanks for the "don't try this..." comments anyway ) Caustic soda it is then. Or something. Hang on, I know this guy in Baghdad who said he's got a stash of stuff that'll do the job.... large quantities no problem

My 250's started to run really smoky again recently and I suspect it because there's a serious buildup of gunk in the front and mid pipes. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the mid pipe had packing in it... is this true? If so, how do you repack and in either case what's the recommended procedure for cleaning the inside of the exhaust (in the absence of caustic soda or similar which is becoming very difficult to obtain )?

In my (very) humble opinion, I wouldn't ride a 270 without flywheel weights unless you're an expert level rider, have extremely large gonads and/or a liking for hospital food. My old '02 270 was supplied to me without a flywheel weight and with a quick action throttle fitted (it previously belonged to a guy who did trials demonstrations at country fairs - he called it his "stunt bike") and while it would wheelie off the throttle in every gear except 6th, the bloody thing almost killed me on several occasions and was totally unrideable in trials. Even with the weight, it was still on the ferocious side. This is for me as a clubman wobbler of course! Your mileage may vary, as they say. The 250 is a much better choice for a clubman use.

Shouldn't there be a small amount of sag in the forks (well, at both ends actually) when the bike is held upright and riderless? I'd always thought that this is called "static sag" and is used as the baseline measurement for suspension tuning ("race sag" is measured with the rider on the bike and both are taken from the middle of the axle to an arbitrary point on the front/rear mudguard with the difference between the two measurements determining the required preload adjustment.)

Why do it get the feeling that he ate that snake with some beans that evening? Jeez, I'm no enviro-nazi bleeding heart, but why start blazing away at the poor bloody wildlife when a quick full-revs cleanout would send all but the most kill-crazy critter scurrying for cover, surely? Mind you, anyone riding the SSDT would do well to watch out for those wild haggis - decades of listening to thundering four-stroke BSAs, Triumphs etc. means they have no fear of trials riders and can be pretty vicious if approached! (It's an oldie but a goodie I think!)

Just a thought - look at the results from this weekend's ACU Youth A & B champs round: http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8555 Compare the scores of the 125 and 250 "A" classes (both ride the same line). Now there are obviously numerous potentially mitigating factors but there were some really big steps and climbs in that trial and the 125 riders don't seem to have had a machine disadvantage!

Don't seem to be able to attached the results to the news article on the front page at the moment: I assume it's due to the current site problems and I ain't gonna bother Andy about it at the moment as I'm sure he has enough on his plate right now! So here are the links to the results and pics for those who are interested: SDMC Results Page SDMC Photo Gallery In summary: A Class 125: 1. Alexz Wigg (10) 2. Jack Challoner (20) 3. Ross Danby (22) A Class 250: 1. Miles Jones (24) 2. Nigel Crellin (41) 3. Buster Regan (48) B Class 125: 1. Jack Thompson (23) 2. Ben Morphett (24) 3. Jonny Walker (27) C Class 125: 1. Jack Howell (29) 2. Joel Edwards (30) 3. George Gosden (33) C Class 80: 1. Luke Walker (31) 2. Chris Stay (32) 3. Jack Stones (66) D Class Medium Wheel 1. Dan Peace (16) 2. Joe Yeardsley (24) 3. Thomas Minta (47) D Class Small Wheel 1. Jack Price (42) 2. Nikita Smith (120) 3. Aldis Blacker (123)

See: http://www.acu.org.uk/uploaded/documents/Y...Y%20CHANGES.pdf There's no distinction between 2 and 4 stroke and based purely on capacity although: Standard rebores are permitted subject to the resulting engine capacity no exceeding a tolerance of +3cc. (taken from TSR1, "Eligibility/Licencing" rule in the 2005 ACU handbook)

100:1 sounds awfully lean, especially when you're still running in the engine. Dunno what's recommended for the TYZ engine but it's usual to run you mixture more like 60:1 when new, moving to 75-80:1 when everything's properly bedded in.

After all the time you've spent defending the Beta forum against the hoardes of misinformed, mouthy Sherco riders you go any buy... a Sherco?!? Doh! Seriously, thanks for all the help you've given me and many others over the past couple of years and I hope you enjoy the new ride!

This seems to a very common question and I don't pretend to have any answers although r2w's suggestion of "whatever is appropriate" makes sense! I will say that when I attended one of James Lampkin's school's last year he suggested that everything (on the day) apart from the bigger hill climbs should be ridden in 1st although they were mostly fairly straightforward clubman-style sections with no big steps or owt daft. Despite Jim's good advice I ride most sections in 2nd simply because I know that I tend to ride too slowly and puling a slightly higher gear helps me to maintain a bit of momentum. I realise that this is probably the wrong thing to do but it works for me.

Man dat iz da most blingin motah av sin duuuudz dat iz well iduhvijul innit!!11! Ya m8tz mus be well jelus wen ya pic up ya gf from skool on it or go to ta shift @ maccyds!!!!!111111!!! Barry. Without a doubt. Shed of the week. Only joking. Mostly

The Wikipedia entry on motorcycle trials could do with a bit of expanding/updating. Anyone here got editor permissions? At least there's a link to TC!

I seems to me that there are a lot of people who'd like to see a "Ringo vs. The Beave" showdown and since both you guys are obviously well known in the US trials scene (for different reasons I suspect ) I reckon it could generate a quite a wad of cash. How 'bout using the proceeds to support some up and coming young American rider in some way? I know that the challenge was issued in a semi-lighthearted way (?? I'm never really sure when reading Ringo's posts... sorry mate) but there's potential here... maybe get a few others involved and you could really kick-start something!

FWIW, I disassembled the carb again, paying particular attention to the choke assembly. Cutting a short story even shorter I discovered that the choke plunger was stuck which meant the choke wasn't engaging properly. A quick clean and the bike fired up first kick. Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions.

So the SKF 6004HQ on the page I linked to are correct (or do I need the BE60042RS ones shown immediately below... or either?) Many thanks for the advice.

I've searched the forums archives 'cos I was sure that this information has been posted before but I can't find it (maybe my ineptitude with the search function and if so, I apologise in advance!) Does anyone know the part number of front and rear wheel bearing for the Rev3? Specifically, what I need to order from this page? Many thanks!