neonsurge

At the risk of turning this discussion into a pile-on, Eurosport really p*sses me off on a regular basis. Programmes almost never start at the advertised time, ad breaks always seem to occur at some critical point in the event being covered (and seem to consist almost entirely of trailers for forthcoming Eurosport coverage or crap compilation CDs that they can't shift from the 99p bin in Woolworths) and the commentary for many of the less well-known sports is obviously overdubbed after the event by someone who knows very little about the sport in question and/or comes across as completely disinterested. Having said that, Eurosport's World Indoor series coverage is usually very good, made better by Jack Burnicle's obviously enthusiastic if occasionally wildly inaccurate commentary (I've started to think of him as the Murray Walker of off-road motorcycle sport). I prefer Eurosport's MotoGP team to the BBC as well (well, it's Randy Mamola mainly). Just sort out the bloody Champ Car, DTM and WEC scheduling would ya guys?

Didn't Honda announce that they were going 4-stroke across their entire product range, from bikes and cars to lawn strimmers and chainsaws couple of years ago? I don't think that the 4RT came about because of the FIM's original (now reversed) decision to enforce 4-strokes in the WTC, more it was introduced a year or so earlier than was already planned.

Considering that all most people know about the 2006 models is what colour they'll be, I'd be surprised if anyone apart from maybe Lampkins' will know what you're on about. Where did you hear about it? What's it supposed to do?

In this month's TBM there's an interview with Art Coutard who, along with Julian Dupont, is apparently at the forefront of "freestyle trials". There's some pics of him on a Scorpa at an indoor skate park doing wall rides and grinds etc. as well as some huge outdoor FMX-style jumps. Does this mean an influx of the "tattoos and pierced nipples" brigade into trials? There goes the neighbourhood...

Right, now that all the handbag-swinging is out of the way, in the end it comes down to whether the rider holds a valid national driving license, right? And it's possible to get your bike license at 16 in Spain? I honestly thought that Alexz is 17 'cos he's such a big lad.

I wouldn't expect too much. I didn't see a single TV camera the entire weekend (although I suppose that they're much smaller these days and there were plenty of people with camcorders... maybe it's a compilation of amateur footage )

Just read the official FIM response on the front page and now I'm more confused. If the new rules allowed Oliveras ro ride, why couldn't Wiggy and the others? Who's responsibility was it to make entry acceptance decisions and were they aware of the rule changes? Was it the "holder of a valid drivers' license" requirement that was a stopper? No axe to grind here, just interested although if there's a communication problem somewhere it needs to be resolved to prevent problems like this in the future.

I was stood right in front of that drop and thought that he was going to land on top of me! "Surely he's not thinking of.... bloody hell, he is! Look out, incoming!"

We were watching the world riders' official practise on Saturday afternoon and most riders were working really hard, especially Dougie, Fuji and Cabestany. Raga shows up, rides around for a bit (but doesn't really attack anything) then sits at the bottom chatting and watching for the rest of the session. Obviously part of some master plan to lull his opponents into a true sense of security...

I enjoyed the several Spanish strops I saw - Laia Sainz's at section 3 was particuarly impressive (as Gordon mentioned earlier), complete with over-dramatic rock kicking and pouting She was right, though EDIT: It's good that none of the observers allowed themselves to be bullied, even in the face of some pretty rabid rants.

Gotta be the TY80 motor hasn't it? 25-30 years on and many are still going strong on the original bore. If Scorpa (or someone) could get hold of the original tooling etc. from Yamaha and put that engine in a modern chassis I reckon they'd sell containerloads.

In idle moments I've thought about starting a sideline in replacement trials bike plastics but haven't really pursued it because unless you happen to have an injection moulding machine lying around, the initial outlay is not inconsiderable since moulds need to be manufactured etc. Of course, you only need to do this once (until new models are released!) but in order to make any money you'll need to cover all current models at least and probably those a couple of years old as well. I'm surprised Acerbis, UFO or Polisport haven't cottened on to the trials market yet... I really think there's money to be made here. Even if the price isn't that much less than OEM parts, it's be nice to be able to order green plastics for your Beta or maybe pink for your Sherco if the mood strikes...

As it 'appens, I've just replaced the seal on my bike and you're right, the "open" side of the seal faces the pressurised side (butts on the inner bearing).

Beta carbs flood very easily, especially if you park it facing downhill. Always turn the fuel off when you stop the engine and consider altering the float height (details here ).

All this BBQ talk just made me think... black pudding! I luuurve black pudding but I've never tried barbequing it. That's it, one large lump of ekky thump on the way down from Yarksheyre!

The problem is, TrialsWorld isn't a particuarly good advertisement for the sport. Even people who have no interest in trials who've thumbed through a copy while 'round my gaff have make comments like "it's mostly vintage stuff" and "there's no much to read, is there?" Really. It's not as if the publishers are new to off road sport is it? And the cynical side of me believes that it was rushed onto the market with the sole intention of killing off the opposition (TBM) with not a huge amount of thought or forward planning. Ishy, have you seen TBM recently? Their trials supplement is everything that TrialsWorld is not. And THEY'RE the inexperienced newcomers. Constructive criticism: More real, original content and less blatant padding. Lose the classifieds. Less reliance on apparently syndicated content (rider interviews). Regular features (riding techniques etc.) I really want TrialsWorld to succeed because the sport needs a flagship publication to focus on but it's nowhere near that at the moment. Sorry if this sounds harsh but it's what I think - MY OPINION - and after such a long wait I believe that trials enthusiasts deserve better.

Is anyone else a little disappointed with TrialsWorld magazine now that it's been around for 4 months or so? It seems to be almost content-less with acres of advertising and reprints of 70s brochures and the like which, while interesting, give the impression that they're only there to pad the page count. Even the "proper" articles consist of huge photos with just a few lines of text squashed into a corner of each page. The bike tests are typical TMX fare being superficial and sycophantic and the classified ads at the back are utterly pointless (as will always be the case with monthly publications). I was looking forward to more incisive product reviews, second hand buyers' guides and riding technique masterclasses (and before I get accused of posting all criticism and no suggestions for improvement, there's three right there). Instead, all we've got is a glossy and slightly expanded version of TMX's "Trials Torque" page. On the plus side, Dougie's column is good and I enjoy the cyclo trials stuff although like everything else this suffers from "desperate padding". It's possible to read the whole thing in a single session on the bog (and that's not a good thing). 3/10, could and should do a lot better. Anyone else with me on this?

Sounds like my old '99 270TXT. When I stripped it all down to grease everything up, the linkage bearings (and bushes) just disintegrated into rusty dust when I removed the bolts. Guess that accounted for the 20mm of play in the rear suspension! Rather than wrestle with pressing new bearings into the old dogbones etc., I bought a new pair of dogbones with the bearings already installed. Including assorted other linkage bits and pieces it cost around

P'raps you're right. Better not go there, eh?

Thanks Clark. I managed to remove the seal by carefully prying it out and tapping another in using a socket, but it's still leaking so I guess you were right. Sucks be to me I guess. I'll get hold of a new seal and side case gasket and do the job properly this week. In the past month I've had a partially siezed gearbox, assorted wiring problems, replaced 2 wheel and one shock bearing, fork seals, repaired numerous stripped threads and now this (one two different bikes, I hasten to add). The perils of buying second hand I suppose. Even so, I'm starting to think I'm mechanically cursed somehow.

Bit of an emergency, this one. Is it possible (and how do you do it?) to replace the water pump oil seal on a Rev3 without removing the whole side casing. I've got the water pump cover off and removed the impeller but I can't see any obvious way of removing (and replacing) the seal! I don't have a new clutch cover gasket to hand so removing the whole cover isn't an option at this stage. I asked Lampkins what I'd need for the job and they sent me a new seal and o-ring, so I'm pretty sure that it should be possible - I just don't know how! I'm supposed to be riding this afternoon - help!

On the Gasser I riveted an aluminium plate to the inside of the silencer which did the job for a while... until the tyre wore through that as well! However, the rubbing's not usually that severe on Betas so it might be worth a go.

I used a thick (about 10mm) plastic washer on the rear mount and most Beta owners I know have done something similar. I think I got mine from the plumbing department at B&Q... Could be worse: My old GasGas wore right through the silencer in less than 3 months. No apparent damage to the tyre tho. Curious.

Jon Stoodley's article on trials suspension tuning is excellent: http://www.gasgas.com/Pages/Technical/tria...nsion-tips.html Since I'm quite heavy (17st) I find that the best method is to wind everything up to the max then back off bit by bit until it feels right. Not very scientific but it works for me! Edit: Seconding what Charlie said: 7.5wt fork oil is the way to go. That 5wt stuff's like water!

Thanks for the info guys. After talking to Lampkin's yesterday, I'm not sure that the problem is as serious as I originally thought although I've ordered the parts and will do the job later this week, just in case. Practise tomorrow night, so I'll keep an eye on it.