Problem is that the dealer thinks it's necessary to send the boots back to Alpinestars to sort out your problem. That's wrong. He should agree they are not fit for purpose and by law refund or replace them himself, it's his responsibility as a trader. If he was wants to take it up with Alpinestars to claim back his costs of the faulty goods that's up to him. You should not be inconvenienced.

I'm really sorry to hear you're having such difficulties, it's wrong and unfair.

Sounds as though the dealer is trying to evade his responsibilities by saying it's not up to him, but the manufacturer, to meet a claim for the faulty nature of the goods. The Consumer Rights Act makes it clear that is not the case - your right is to claim against the dealer and it is then for him, not the manufacturer, to resolve the issue by replacing or refunding the goods. See the Which.co.uk website, section on Consumer Rights Act. As in above post its not clear who is responsible for the return postal cost but a call or visit to Citizens Advice should sort that out.

Tell your dealer you are invoking your rights under the Consumer Rights Act, he may not like it but cannot evade his responsibility to resolve the situation. If he refuses to do more then Trading Standards office will persuade him otherwise. Do take advice and make use of the free statutory services if you need to.

Your rights are such that you should be able to return faulty goods to the dealer for replacement or refund without a problem. Your local Citizens Advice or trading standards office can be helpful in levering the seller into acting correctly.

Riding slow figure of eights would be bound to improve his balance.

Yes. Definitely not required in the Scott.

That is the case, happily, but I don't suppose they'll restrict it to championship trials when they do.

Not true. In Scotland, SACU championship trials require adult competitors as well as youths to have them.

Do you know if they really are the originals, and what make they are? If so a rebuild kit may be available but modern shocks are likely to be superior in any case. I run Rockshocks on my Cota which are fine, and have the advantage of being totally rebuildable and tuned to suit your bike and weight when supplied new.

Wow, the original Hydrobag rear units. You'll do well to get them damping as they should.

Inmotion would be your first port of call for most bits for old Montesas. Ebay also throws up original parts quite regularly.

Front hub/brake looks unusual, much larger than original.

"dabber" posted:

"Seems to be some chat around saying Dave Taylor did a full lap of the TT course in the seventies (it's clear he didn't)"

He did, as I recall about the year Dougie was born. Good if his effort is being recognised now.

Enjoy your day, and perhaps the Radox bath you might need Sunday evening.

Once you've got established with getting the bike going and some general blatting around, do make the effort to sort out a few easy sections as you might find in a trial (no need to use markers at first) and ride each one repeatedly to start thinking about the skills you need to use and improve to get it right. At first it'll feel like you're just practicing the same mistakes on each go but when a measure of confidence, and competence, develops it'll feel great.

Easy job to retard the ignition to soften the power delivery on a Sherco if that's what you want.

In addition to weighting the outside handlebar, actively pulling upwards on the inner bar can help the turn. I learnt that one from a former British champion. It's all about percentage gains in defeating the factors which might make you fail.

A 247 isn't a popular bike in the twinshock class, although I ride one myself, as it's probably seen as a bit outdated when stacked against Fantics and Majestys. As such a good one, I'd say, should be able to fetch £1200/1300 and I'd pitch it at £1500/1600 for starters, after spending a couple of hours smartening it up a bit. I've noticed restored ones failing to make that money recently. That said, twinshocks are a rising market and you could get lucky...

How do you know he's young? No firm evidence in the video other than his use of the term "bro" in the YouTube comments which, sadly, is used by older people too.

I started riding trials in 1973 and have bought, oh, five or six rear tyres in that time. Sharp edges can be overrated in comparison to technique and correct pressures. I still notice lots of people running too much air, new tyres or not.

Well, if I can't ride like a balance artist at least I can qualify as a p*** artist.

And of course the old trick of a well aimed stream of pee to help ease a tyre over a rim when changing a tube should never be ruled out.

Spending £500 on a complete twinshocker which runs pretty well sounds quite good. Even if you spent that much again on items like rear units, fork springs (front end looks a bit collapsed?), brake shoes, wheel bearings, fork seals and tyres to bring it up to scratch, an overall outlay of £1000 for a usable and competitive bike is still at the low end of price ranges these days.

Cota 248, circa 1980. Baby brother to the popular 348. And with a TY 175 tank by the look of it.

Had this happen on my Sherco while revving hard up a long climb on the moor between sections. Sudden appearance of clouds of smoke from the exhaust which covered the landscape. First thought was I was suddenly burning gearbox oil somehow but ten minutes later all was well after the gunk in the exhaust had burnt off. Bike was five years old at the time so had quite a build up of oil in the silencer.

I agree with otf - the bikes I have which ran 25:1 or 32:1 back in the 70s/80s as your Sachs did are fine on 50:1 with modern two stroke oils.

You'd have to remove the pilot jet to clean it thoroughly, not sure if you did this when cleaning the carb. Make sure you use a well-fitting screwdriver, the jets can easily get chewed up if the fit isn't good.

Have used these for the last 3-4 years. Seem to be the best bargain on the market at £112.

Welcome to the forum, plenty of advice here if you need it.

Wondered whether you might be a Scarborough club member, with permission to use Low North Camp. I regularly practice there and would welcome a practice partner sometimes. PM me if interested.