tomch

6'6" and a bad back. 4 and a half inch rise on the bars and one and a half on the spacers. At least I can ride all day without slipping a disc.

Bark busters on handlebars yes.... For the back end... No, as it's a much bigger area to protect

Have both an ossa and a montesa. No problems with the montesa at all... i drowned the Ossa in the Ssdt and had it remapped when all was in bits. No problems with either of the fi systems after i learned to always have a spare plug handy for the ossa. I have abused the ossa viciously leading to a broken dogbone.. The nice thing is clean running bikes with no dribbles at all, absolutely no "rainbow water" in mountain streams and no stinky petrol fumes when stuck halfway up a rift valley cliff. For a beginner such as myself i think it is great not having to adjust anything whether riding at 15ft asl (fort william car park to 8600ft asl (Molo, rift valley)...

Thank you very much! I'm going to be back but maybe to assist the marshalls this year

I hope the picture shows up...

I found this parked in a bush outside Arusha in Tanzania! I'm down here with my Ossa looking for some good places to ride!

The sensor is already inside the tank...

It is an accessory that clips into an existing fitting on the side of the tank with some sort of rudimentary switch inside. It's not very bright and hard to see in direct sunlight. I lost the bulb on mine when it was squeezed out going under a low branch. It lights when you have about a litre left.

I have one of each... my first trials bike is an Ossa and it is light and responsive.. as I get better I can do so much more with it....but I have found it unreliable and fiddly to work on. Now all sorted out and a joy to work out new moves on. The cota is much more robust, a little heavier with the really smooth, tractable engine power of a 4stroke. Much easier to start and no messing about with mixing oil. Saying all that I am torn between the 2..maybe the ossa is easier to learn on but the cota does more for me now I know a bit more. Both are a lot quieter than an enduro bike and will get you looking at the same countryside in a new way. Whatever you buy will be right so dont stress and get to join the zen masters of motorcycle sport any way you can!

I'd like suggestions for something in a beautiful place on either the second weekend (13-14) or the third (20-21). And suitable for a beginner as perhaps I bit off a little more than I could chew with the SSDT. I'm an incurable optimist and am sure I'm going to have the most awesome time!

Thank you for finding the pictures for me... now I can clearly e plain the crazy wonderful SSDT to those that have no idea of what we getup to and why we keep trying!

Somehow I seem to be the invisible man! Does anyone have any pictures of me doing the ssdt this year (only lasted until Thursday!)... Is there anything I can show my peeps back here to prove that it was me in the ssdt? Any pic, no matter how unflattering.....

I was out today at the buzzard practice ground on my 4rt and found it totally different to the ossa.. it felt like riding on ice until I figured it out. No clutch, maybe a gear higher and don't worry about hanging off the back as it has ace suspension and wont bite you in the bum. It rewards a more definite riding style but if you have the committment it will make you look great.

Fat bars as you will have more teeth left should you ever stop abruptly for example when a ditch crossing goes wrong. Also you can strap a small gps nicely on the cushion over the clamps.

Last yr I did the ssdt on my ossa which boiled incessantly, blew a cylinder head and has had a water pump go in Kenya and a dogbone linkage break... A lovely bike but not 100% reliable. I'd like to get another bike as well (growing sons...) and have decided to splurge on one which I will then take to some other events in UK and then back home. I don't think it will be too much of an issue to get used to it as I raced enduros for 10 yrs on a Honda XR250 and it was awesome over logs... after that a KTM 520 so I'm qu The standard one seems well suspended as I am about 100kg and I like the Dunlops as have got used to them here. It is only 5 kg heavier than my ossa and I have tried one out in Yorkshire. I feel it a reasonable bike as many people have told me of their reliability and I was overtaken by so many along the road sections, breezing along at 50+? Mph when I was boiling like a kettle at 35! The price of taking a bike to kenya and back, together with the repairs etc were around £3500 in total and I think buying a new reliable bike a better bet. Renting a bike is great but I'd like to have it 3 weeks to get some practice in other bits of Scotland, which I found invaluable, eg the climate and how to manage clothing, damp glasses, cold hands, what snow is like, all issues I don't have to face here! From what I felt after riding it, the Mont is a little more front heavy but feels a lot more stable. I think it will work better for me on moor crossings and I'm a lot more used to t he 4 stroke feel... What should I find most difficult to adapt to?

Dumb question.... Does the bike have Allen headed bolts, Torx headed bolts or standard? I'm trying to get a montesa 2014 for the Scottish and want to know what tools to carry. (very few as it is reliable I hope....) apart from tyre kit...

Is the calliper the same as the on on the KTM freeride?

Garmin Foretrex 401, straps on the handlebar and uses 2 aaa batteries. Get Garmin Basecamp for yr computer and google maps. Look at where you want to go on the sat photo (good for finding trails and paths if you find a clear high res view). Then make waypoints and a route in google earth, open it in Basecamp and plug in yr gps and move it to that. Also you can download maps of your area and put them in yr gps....

Leave them on if you ride in thick bush or you will forever be slamming to a stop as the branches grab the brake or the clutch...

Dog turds don't work! You cut too many of the plies in the tyre putting them in. More slime! Check my previous posts and also consider a Dunlop D803 which is much tougher, though less grippy.

Well done for sharing your journey with us.... I also live in a game sanctuary but luckily no Elef or Rhino.. Buffalo are my biggest plague around here and when I reach the top of some interesting rocks in good shape and fairly quietly ie without falling off or getting stuck I have often surprised them and they bolt away smartly. This is a much more regular thing than on the enduro bike as I am up on the tops and in the trees where they rest up in the daytime...so be it. What about hippo, however? I have found some awesome stuff in the river gorges, lots of big wide steps cut by hippo up and down the banks into a narrow rocky gorge about 6 ft wide- superb if the river has dropped down to 1 foot deep. I haven't met one yet except in a car while driving about and they aren't that aggressive (no hunting and no predators big enough to take on a hippo). I hurl rocks about and make noises as I rev the engine and have not met any on the bike. What do you reckon a hippo would do? Otherwise a trials bike is the most magic way to see game as it is unthreatening and quiet...the biggest risk I have had was almost parking on a cobra or being wiped off by some galloping Zebra. I've just cut a log into a beam across the river and when I get my bike back from the menders' I shall show some vid of that! Best of luck from the same continent at least!

No luck, have to buy all the parts which will take ages....

Back to a proper bike!