steve

Just watched the Trial on Eurosport and Raga was given a 5 on the last waterfall section. Does anyone know why the 5 was given?

Ear's prick up at the mention of a 330 !!!!! Do tell more

Cheers Woody.

I don't think Bou winning is boring at all. I never tire of watching his immaculate technique. Every move he makes is so precise he is just the complete package at the moment. Supreme throttle control finding grip where there seemingly is none, incredible balance and precision. Top it off with ice cool nerve, 100% concentration and belief in his own ability. I used to watch Dougie with the same admiration and before him Jordi. If you saw the last section at Bolzano it was almost like a graded hill!! By that I mean the better you were the higher you got up!! - Cabastany, Fajardo, Brown and Fuji stopped a bikes length short. Raga just managed to get to the top with some frantic footing. But Bou crested the summit feet up. The entire championship summarized in one climb.

I know what you mean, the condensers last way longer than the points but if you replace the points you may as well do the pair for an extra

Don't forget the condensor

Did you get some O'rings Woody? My 330 is still split and I'm planning on putting it together soon. That had o'rings fitted, if you look at the holes in the cases mine has a little countersink for the o'ring to seat into. I tried a couple of different sizes - too big and it'll just rip the o'rings appart. Too small and it'll do no use. The bolt is about 6.8mm where the o'ring seats. I am planning to use some which are about 9mm (5mm ID) x 2mm thick. In the pictures are the 9mm and a 10mm - both fit nicely on the bolt without too much trouble. you can see the 9mm sits a little proud but should compress down nicely under the washer. I think the 10mm is too proud and will just tear up. Let me know how you get on, Steve.

The Trial was pretty typical for Barcelona - I think it tries to be more spectacular by going bigger rather than technical I don't know if Jordi had a hand in the design but it is usually run and designed by his brother. In one shot Jack Burnicle actually mentioned Jordi when he spotted him but I think it was his brother. They do look very similar and when I first met him I thought it was jordi as I didn't even know he had a brother! The Spanish riders always have a huge advantage in their home rounds as most of the sections are used in varying formats in thier own national championship. Mind you with most of the entry now Spanish I don't suppose there is much advantage. A lot of them are big chequer plate boxes which are just stacked in varying arrangements. When I was minding for Jarvis we even considered making a couple of replicas to use for practice!!

I was working for Martin Crosswaite in 1998 and Julien came practicing with us a few times in France. He wasn't a patch on Martin or Mark Harries back then.

Wow, 40 minutes of riding and 1 hour to charge. How fantastic to have a zero emmissions race, no noise, no polotution - well apart from the paddock full of Generators running flat out trying to charge all the batteries up before the next race !!

The latest trend is to relocate pegs of older bikes like yours a little lower and further back. How far is really a personal choice, perhaps you could make a temporary bracket that can be attached to the frame to enable adjustable positions. Try them and when you find the best for your height / riding style / handlebars etc.... then fix them permanantly. As a comparison guide, take a look at a modern bike and see where the pegs sit. Imagine a line between the wheel spindles, how high are they in relation to that? How far back? You may then have to relocate or fabricate a new rear brake pedal.

Practice with other riders - preferably slighter better that yourself. Set out a section that is testing but not impossible, keep practicing it until you clean it, then make it harder.

No - I was just impressed with your post. Some people on here are quick to have a dig whenever they can so I thought a bit of praise when it was deserved wouldn't go a miss. Praise is so seldom left you thought I was winding you up!!

Wow that's some reply Lee, well done. I know it's not my bike or problem but I love the fact you have taken the time to try and help a fellow enthusiatst. Greeves - I have never seen a Fantic Coach before, what bike is it based on? the graphics look like 247?

Dave made a very kind offer to lend me this bike for our local club Trial today. As my Montesa 330 is still in a million pieces I jumped at the chance to ride a classic like this. I have had two very short rides on Rtl's about 15 years ago but never on a section so was eager to try a part of trials history. First impressions of the bike were very good. The engine is super smooth. It will plod along with next to no revs, but if you need it to, it will rev out supprisingly well. The suspension is well matched to the bike being soft and forgiving. Moving the bike around while stationary it felt a bit heavy compared to the 2 strokes but you don't notice it whilst riding. The steering was faultless going preciesly where it was pointed. I did attempt a bit of trick riding but found it hard work, plus I felt like I was't really being faithfull to the bike hopping it. I don't know if the gearing is standard on this bike but it seemed pretty low. Most sections were done in second, perhaps if there were some rocky steams I may have used first but not in our centre! After lap one I had lost 3 marks and these were silly errors really. One when I simply lost balance. The other 2 on a hill climb when I could have done with 3rd gear really. The clutch was super light and I couldn't believe it was cable opperated. In fact if the clutch hadn't have been so light perhaps I'd have left it alone more like I should have! The biggest problem on the bike was the rider! I wanted to ride like Eddie Lejurne but I looked more like Eddie Little or Eddie the Eagle!!! The problem is I was bought up on 2 strokes and use too much clutch. Also every time I backed off the throttle the engine braking caught me out. When I should have been using the engine braking down hill I had the clutch pulled in!! Old habbits die hard. I have had a 10 year break so only rode the clubman route today. Unfortunately after the 1st lap the bike didn't want to tick over for some reason. I kept turning the screw in but it didn't make any difference and I was finding it really hard as not only was the engine braking incresed, when I pulled in the clutch on a descent it stalled. A riding style more suited to the bike wouldn't have had a problem. Not wanting to risk crashing the bike and I didn't want to fiddle with the carb too much I decided to call it a day and went back to the car. A few minutes later Dave rode by on his trick new Rtl and stopped to see what was the matter. Not content with me breaking one bike he insisted I finish the trial on his new RTL as he only had a half a lap to do. What a bloody nice chap. As for the new RTL - Well quite simply it was the best bike I have ever ridden. But this thread isn't about new Rtl's so I'll leave it at that. Once again - Thanks Dave for your generousity. I had a fantastic days riding.

I have looked at the Bongo's, what kind of MPG would they give? A local garage has a Mazda MPV on the forecourt. I didn't even know they existed till I saw it there! Certainly not as popular as the Galaxy / Sharan / Alhambra etc.. It is a 2.0l 143bhp Diesel. Would I be right to assume as it's japanese it will be more relaible than the Galaxy etc...? or are there no problems reported because they hardly sold any? As good as these common rail Diesels are in terms of performance and ecconomy I am worried about the amout of huge repair bills I keep reading about when they go wrong. It seems Diesels aren't what they used to be.

I am thinking about one of these as I would like to tow my caravan and transport a bike at the same time. I can combine a family holiday with a trial then Does anyone know if a bike would fit in the back with one seat left in for my daughter?

Nice bike. Is it the angle of the photo or was the steering head really that angle? Looks like a chopper!!

So are you buying a 303 motor to slot into the Fantic 240 I saw you won on ebay!

If a little problem like this is putting him off Trials then perhaps Trials is not for him! crashes are part of the sport and good regular maintainance is very important. However don't despair - help is never far away in the trials community and if you don't get it sorted from your query on here then ask for help at your local club Trial. For starters try this- I am not familier with the clutch on this model but hydraulic clutches are fairly simple and rarely give too many problems. Take the whole assy off the bike. Strip the slave cylinder apart and clean, you may need an airline to blow the piston out, be carefull. Inspect seal and look for signs of leakage. Clean up piston and re-assemble. Clean out the hose and Master cylinder checking seals etc... Rebuild assy and refit. fill with fresh oil and bleed. If it still won't bleed then you may have an airlock. Try and back fill the system with a syringe from the bleed nipple. Then bleed in the conventional way. Good luck.

If Lennie enjoys the Trials in Kent as is happy to travel there then good for him. The sad thing is (and the point of this thread) that you have to travel out the centre to ride a decent trial.

This picture is obviously a fake - The bike has been photoshopped onto a picture from Christmas 1984 - it was the jumper that gave it away.

Nice little montage.

I wish the Stokenchurch trial was only on the steep banks last time I rode it. I took a wrong turn on the way out the woods and got lost! By the time I found the last group everyone else was nearly finished. In rushing round trying to catch up I had a big crash and injured my back forcing retirement. It wasn't until later I found out I was leading the Trial by quite a few marks when I retired, gutted!! I had no idea how well I was doing as I was riding round at the back with Rob Warner - trying to outdo each other trick riding I suppose!! I really did enjoy the big climbs, not often you get the chance to line it up in 3rd or even fourth and let it have it full noise. Cambridge Matchless had a disused railway cutting which was quite similar. I think it was just of the M11. Nene Valley have a Trial later this month on a bit of land called Duck End which hasn't been used used for years. It's a cracking bit of land and sections will be all new as it must be some 20 years since it was last used. I hope the organisers make the best of it. If anyone has any views on Nene valley that they don't want to post on here, send me a PM and I will pass the info on and keep it annoymous. As mentioned earlier the club has the best land in the centre so why the small entries?

What year is your bike? Looks really nice, very neat and compact.