October 30, 20187 yr The club I belong to decided to have a class called " Vintage Cup". The first couple of years the interest was high. some showed up on prime, nearly stock examples while the serious ones began a game of one upmanship. The line went from intermediate to sportsman and the super competitive riders began grafting Sherco forks onto their Bultacos and cutting frames to make the bikes handle more like a modern one. I suppose you could make the argument that modern trials sport modern sections with tasks in mind that require a tighter turning chassis. I didn't really expect the club to lay out a true no stop vintage line, but I'm of the mind that in the spirit of the vintage bikes mods should also be period correct. Example: I built a TL250 a few years back and applied the mods of that time - tucking the steering a bit, heavier flywheel. Did the same for an RL Suzuki. The thought of grafting modern anything on my lovely 199 is sickening. At 60 with one artificial hip and the other on deck, my skill level is barely intermediate, even after all of these years. I just want to drag the 199, the 191, or the KT out and have fun and not do the splits on an obstacle I shouldn't try. I'm running out of classes to drop down into. The above mentioned Vintage Cup seems to have run it's course, though. I hate that. My friend HTRDoug emailed me about copying the KT250 swingarm to apply to the RL I sold him - sorry about that, Doug. He spoke of how primitive the RL frame is and was looking for an edge. This is a mod that would be period correct, I think. p.s. Doug: I might just have to take that old RL back from you. Your time would be better served on the Fantic, SWM, or Sherco!
October 30, 20187 yr Never had any problems with tight stuff on my RLs back in the day, they all started to collapse at the steering head first time they got a hammering. Moving on the sensible approach would be to keep the bikes as standard as " reasonably practical" imagine it'll go the same way as the pre 65s.
October 30, 20187 yr My TY250 has quite a few mods & I was offered mono forks to fit but I didn't feel it would look right. Most of the mods could have been done back in the day like the steering pulled back which was done previously, the only non period mods are not something that are immediately noticeable like the v-force reed block In theory I have to ride against Fantics & SWMs etc as there is no era splits, this doesn't worry me as most guys with the newer bikes aren't actually that good & I enjoy riding a bike with a lot of my own work in it
October 30, 20187 yr 16 minutes ago, tony27 said: My TY250 has quite a few mods & I was offered mono forks to fit but I didn't feel it would look right. Apart from cosmetics, is fitting semi modern forks any worse than installing modern internals ? Or fitting a slight later engine worse than re-porting and fitting modern internals to exhausts ?
October 31, 20187 yr 7 hours ago, b40rt said: Apart from cosmetics, is fitting semi modern forks any worse than installing modern internals ? Or fitting a slight later engine worse than re-porting and fitting modern internals to exhausts ? A line has to be drawn somewhere?
October 31, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, nigel dabster said: A line has to be drawn somewhere? Non-period correct frame mods? Steering angles? The problem then occurs that checking the bikes becomes a minefield, people would need to keep a table of stock period bike specs and be measuring stuff
October 31, 20187 yr 11 hours ago, b40rt said: Apart from cosmetics, is fitting semi modern forks any worse than installing modern internals ? Or fitting a slight later engine worse than re-porting and fitting modern internals to exhausts ? Modern internals vs modern forks makes no difference, but fork visuals are important to me. As for the motor, there are potentially important advantages from using a later motor, such as less weight, less width and less length
October 31, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, turbofurball said: Non-period correct frame mods? Steering angles? The problem then occurs that checking the bikes becomes a minefield, people would need to keep a table of stock period bike specs and be measuring stuff I see your point. I'll just leave the modern mods to the hyper competitive and keep mine as is. Modern mods wouldn't make any difference to me anyway. I reckon I could bump down to novice so I'll have a line I can ride on the older bikes.
October 31, 20187 yr 1 hour ago, herman said: I see your point. I'll just leave the modern mods to the hyper competitive and keep mine as is. Modern mods wouldn't make any difference to me anyway. I reckon I could bump down to novice so I'll have a line I can ride on the older bikes. Well, that's where two bikes come in - the TY is headed towards riding like a modern bike with all the mods (hopping on the back wheel notwithstanding, I'll never be able to do that), and the Cota is bone stock and about as heavy as I can handle, lol But I'm not competitive, just there to enjoy riding, so like you I have no horse in this race really!
November 1, 20187 yr On 31/10/2018 at 8:42 AM, turbofurball said: Non-period correct frame mods? Steering angles? The problem then occurs that checking the bikes becomes a minefield, people would need to keep a table of stock period bike specs and be measuring stuff so would you have no rules at all?
November 1, 20187 yr Not at all, but any simple method (eg. checking the V5 or whatever) will inevitably see people curcumventing rules using any trick they can. Perhaps the only way around it would be silouhette checking, kinda like they used to do for NASCAR - namely, having a guide to what a bike of a certain age should look like and having someone judge it - though then you start getting competitive types complaining about judge's decisions and so forth.
November 1, 20187 yr I suppose you do realise that it is possible to buy a brand new 36a Villiers engine, and fit it into a square section frame that you have recently built, and call it a classic bike. I have yet to see any vintage Scott, Rover or Sunbeam motor cycles, but maybe I just go to all the wrong meetings. .
November 1, 20187 yr Does it really matter ? Me and my mates ride old British cr$p of varying condition/spec/quality. We have a bloody good laugh, plenty of mickey taking and go home. Makes the weekend worth looking forward to, yes we are competitive,but none of it is a world championship. At least we ride the bikes,trick or not.
November 1, 20187 yr 3 hours ago, jon v8 said: Does it really matter ? Me and my mates ride old British cr$p of varying condition/spec/quality. We have a bloody good laugh, plenty of mickey taking and go home. Makes the weekend worth looking forward to, yes we are competitive,but none of it is a world championship. At least we ride the bikes,trick or not. Could'nt have said it better myself ?
November 1, 20187 yr And there's me having sleepless nights on whether or not to help my tennis clutch elbow, and put an Aprillia clutch on the Swoom.
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.