thats_a_five

A riding buddy of mine told me once "if you want to learn how to race, you need to learn how to limp." Get healed up and get on a trials bike! At least when you get off on a trials bike you are only going 1-5 mph. Don't worry so much about power. In trials it is amazing what can be done with very little power and good technique. In trials we Do Not want to spin out tires!

WOW, somebody rode a bike with no kill button???? That's craziness. I recall one time many years ago, when my endure bike somehow landed upside down on the bars and smashed my kill button (miles from the nearest road I might add). The only way to get it running was to bypass the broken switch. All was good until part way up a rocky stream when a branch snagged my throttle cable and jammed the bike at full throttle. Now that was a thrill ride! Kill button on all my bikes are now located near the center of the bars for protection.

To post pics, click on the button "More Reply Options" at the bottom of the page. Sounds like you have an interesting project to restore.

Great that you got it fixed. "Good on ya" as they say in some part of the world.

That must be really cool to get to work on cars like that all day. With the level of attention to detail I saw, I can imagine it is stressful because your customers are probably very demanding and even the slightest Oops can be a big problem. Does your shop also do the Lucas Electrics? Those are an adventure all by themselves. I had a 1960 Austin Healey 3000/6 was back in the 70's. Black on black with trues spoke wheels with the big knock-offs. Great car on a sunny day. Drop the top, put the side windows in the boot and look for twisty roads.

That is a fiberglass tank right? Much easier to fix than a metal one. Just be sure to air it out completely first and to let the patch cure very completely before putting fuel back in. BTW. beautiful work on the Jag.

Wow, that took a hard hit! I will share a bit of wisdom I got from a friend when discussing braking expensive brake pedals. He said "I stopped breaking pedals when I decided to stop trying to move large rocks with them." I hope you can get that case repaired. I imagine replacements are quite spendy.

My "exact" procedure for starting: Cold engine 1) Select neutral gear, clutch in (safety tip I always use), starter lever out. 2) push the lever through stroke once 3) push lever through second time a little faster. Note _ did not say "kick" it fast like starting a modern 2 stroke. I do not worry about finding TDC or other fiddling about. Bike usually starts on second kick. 4) once the engine starts, I put down the side stand and let it idle while I gear up. 5) Once I am have my gear on and the bike is warm I ride off, or shut it off to wait for my buddies. If needed, I shut it off until ready to ride. Hot engine 1) clutch in, start lever out 2) push through quickly. 3) ride off Notice: I Cold or Hot I do not even touch the throttle until the bike is warm. I often start in gear when warm but if it takes more than 3 tries, I will reach with my hand for neutral. I have noticed that when I stall the bike it can be harder to restart. So, I always use kill switch to shut it off. I do not stall it in gear with foot on rear brake like I see some riders do. FYI, I have seen Lotus54 on his 2014 Ossa Explorer and it starts well for him. So he is definitely more expert on that bike than I.

That sure sounds like a flooding problem. I don't have much specific knowledge of the Ossa but that is not right. The strong fuel smell leads me to believe there is a faulty component in the EFI. My first thought is take it back to the Dealer and get them to fix it. With only 7km it surely must be under some sort of warranty. However, let's explore a couple easy things first. 1) Starting technique I have an '05 Montesa 4RT that also has EFI. For the 4RT to start, it requires the throttle to be completely closed. I mean, keep your hand completely off the throttle. Even when it does catch, keep that hand away. Giving it even the slightest twist of the throttle will confuse the EFI and it runs terribly if you can get it started. I have learned to start it and let it warm up until the fan comes on before touching the throttle. 2) Throtlle cable adjustment Check your throttle cable is fully seated in the housing. Mine got pulled out just a little one time and it would not start. I cleaned out the housing and adjusted a put just a small dab of silicone glue to keep it from moving out. Now the harder stuff. And I repeat - this is a brand new bike. The dealer should make it right. 3) Faulty injector A bad injector could leak fuel into the intake very similar to a sticking float valve on a carbureted bike. This fault would not usually result in a strong fuel smell until you start kicking when the fuel gets pushed through and out the exhaust. 4) Leaking injector hose or connection A leaking hose will let the fuel out to the atmosphere so you could smell it without even kicking the starter. When an EFI system is shut off, there is pressure inside the hoses and injector. If it leaks out, there will be fuel odor and there will not be adequate fuel pressure to start the bike again until the fuel pump builds the pressure up again. 5) Faulty EFI electronics The injectors need a signal from the electronics to open and allow fuel into the intake. From reading this thread, it seems that OSSA has some sort of battery to power the injection pump and electronics for the injector signal. Because you have brand new bike, I think this is a dealer issue to fix for you. *** Good luck and let us know how this works out.

I am sure it does to a degree. I am in USA, I wonder how many bike Mick or Sammy owned here.

110 PSI is not bad. I think it should be in the 120-125 range but some experts will probably chime in. The very first think I would try is a new plug. It is amazing how many times a new plug solves problems like this. Try running briefly without the filter. A clogged filter will make a bike run poorly also. Next, try some new gas. New from the station, not just more from the same gas can. If those don't solve it, I would tend to agree with Nelly1, check the points. The side cover gaskets sometimes lose their seal and allow moisture in. This can begin to cause corrosion and foul the points. Of course the points do wear from use as well. You can access the points for cleaning and setting through the hole in the flywheel but it is a bit cramped to work on. It is better if you have the right flywheel puller and can get it out of the way. If you are replacing the points, go ahead and replace the condenser too. They sometimes fail and give symptoms as you describe. If that does not solve the problem, take the carb off, disassemble and do a thorough cleaning of all the passages, jets, etc. Make sure to record all the adjustments BEFORE you disassemble. Let us know how you get on.

Did you find the parts you need? Bearings almost always have the manufacturer's part number stamped on them. Sometimes you can see the number with the bearing still installed, sometimes you must remove it. Get the number and go to a local bearing distributor or search on-line for a seller. My local hardware store has a good selection of O-rings. Perhaps yours does too. Take the 0-ring and/or one of the parts it fits to with you to find a replacement, even if it is a temporary one. Worst case, clean up the surfaces and the ring and seal it with silicone seal until you can get a right part.

I often see people attributing their bikes as having been previously owned and ridden by Sammy Miller, Mick Andrews, Bernie Schrieber, or (insert some other famous rider). Wow, these guys must have owned and ridden hundreds or thousands of bikes!

What part of the US are you located in? There are trials riders all over but there may not be an established club. Try rolling your bars forward or back in the clamps to be more comfortable for the wrists. Make sure the clutch cable and all pivots are well lubricated to make them easier to operate. Moving the perches further in on the bars will give you more leverage on the clutch and brakes. You really want to use only 1 (or maybe 2) fingers on the levers so the other fingers can always be gripping the bars.

Tom, I really like the changes. Good job on trying different camera angles and adding some GoPro video. Keep it up! The more you try, the more you will learn about what angles work well and add excitement to the videos. I understand the videos are to capture and share the fun and excitement of trials riding with no other specific goal. It is good to have some exciting clips with some low key clips for variety. Work with your friends to know when they should be quiet and when they should cheer. I find it cool when the observers get excited with a well executed technique. It is better to remain quiet as the camera person and even add commentary later. It would be good to get more views of the rider's (Ben) face. There was only one short clip that showed his face. Maybe even have him do some short explanation of what he is going to do, then show him doing it. Know that you can't please all the people who will watch. Do what excites you and Ben and your excitement will show in the video. Keep at it! And tell Ben he's doing great! PS: Did you notice I didn't mention the music? LOL

I had a TY350 for a while. Learned a lot on the bike. What a tractor for climbing hills! The main improvements I made were primarily normal maintenance activities, like changing oils, lubing bearings and cables, cleaning brake shoes and drums, etc. Single best improvement was to add larger foot pegs.

Pinking is what happens when you leave the red plastic parts in the sun too long and they fade to pink. Seriously, pinking (or pinging for us USA folks) is technically called pre-ignition. This happens when the incoming fuel charge ignites early, even before the spark plug fires. This can happen for several reasons: Timing set too far before top dead center, Too lean of a mixture A hot spot in the combustion chamber that lights the incoming fuel charge. Too low fuel octane for the actual engine compression. Because it runs well on choke, and not well off choke, I suspect the pilot jet is plugged or the mixture screw is not adjusted right. The idle circuit affect mixture throughout the rpm range, but more at idle and low RPMS. The main jets and needle only affect the bike at mid to high RPM. Moving the needle down (clip to higher groove) will make the mixture even more lean. Keihin carbs use an air screw to adjust rich/lean at idle. Turn in to reduce the air (more rich) turn out to increase the air (more lean). Squish is set by adjusting thickness of the base gaskets. This is done when rebuilding the engine and does not change over time. If you want to reduce compression, you can add a thicker gasket but this involves removing the head and jug. Decoking the head will reduce compression but more importantly, allow smooth swirl of the fuel charge in and out of the cylinder. Lean running bikes, rarely develop much coke buildup. Some people confuse light piston slap with pinking. This is not a fuel problem, it is a wear problem. Don't go crazy throwing parts at the bike or adjusting things at random. That may fix the symptom but not the root cause of the problem. Get a knowledgeable buddy to listen to the bike and do some real troubleshooting.

Put away that drill! Take a torx bit and drive it into the socket with a hammer. It may take some repeated hits to drive it to the bottom of the hex socket. Don't be gentle. Then use the torx bit to unscrew the bolt. If it is super tight, you may need to put some heat to the caliper to get it to release. I recently had to do that to one of my front caliper bolts. It worked a treat. New bolts and some anti-seize were used during reassembly. *** When I notice my hex drivers getting loose in the bolt heads, I grind the end off the hex driver to get to a nice, new, full size portion of the driver. This really helps prevent stripping out the heads when using the hex driver.

If you still have problems finding the leak, professional engine repair people have a fluid they add into the oil, that reacts with black (UV) light. The process is to clean the outside of the engine completely, put in the fluid, run the engine while watching in a darkened room and the black light on. The leak usually is very obvious, very quickly. Then drain the oil completely and repair the leak. I don't think the fluid will cause any damage but I would drain and replace the oil as completely as possible just to be safe.

I have no idea what a v5c is, I assume it is some government issued paperwork. I have had bikes where the VIN did not match the paperwork and was fortunately able to prove that the bike was not stolen. Here are a couple problems I have dealt with: Check for characters that are easily confused. S and 5, Z and 2, O and 0. I had a bike with documentation that had incorrectly put in the system with a letter O that was really a number 0 on the bike. Check for incomplete imprinting of the number on the frame. I had a bike where the VIN had been stamped into the frame but not deep enough. One digit looked very much like a 6 but was actually an 8. The paperwork said 8 and after scrubbing the frame with a brass brush, it became obvious that the 6 was indeed an 8. I applaud the original poster's actions to check the VIN before buying the bike.

After I did a similar thing on my Gasgas, I buffed the scratch to remove and sharp edges that might cut a seal. Fortunatley, the scratch was not too deep and the forks tubes did not have that black coating. After that I installed some "gaitors" and never had a problem. Those were the bellows type rubber ones. I did punch a couple extra holes in the lowest convolution of the bellows to allow them to breath better and not make so much air noise during compression and rebound. My 4RT came with some cool neoprene sleeves that I like better because they don't act like an air pump as the bellows do. You can see both types on this page. http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/t/1059/Fork-Covers I expect you can get some a little closer to where you live.

"Quote: I've done this with the forks on the bike on a stand but it usually shifts while working on it causing me to drop tools and parts as I lunge for the bike and end up in the undignified full stretch holding the bike with one hand, flailing with the other, while knocking stuff over garage comedy routine.": While it would be fun to watch you do that, here's a tip. Whenever I am going to do much work on the bike while it is on a bike stand, I clamp the skid pan to the top of the bike stand with 2 C-clamps. If I am working on the front, I load the bike farther back on the stand before clamping. Reverse for working on the rear end. My comedy routine of flailing, hanging onto the bike with one had, etc happens in the sections now, not in the workshop!

It does not seem right that the fan housing would be that close to the plug boot. The smaller boot should solve the problem. I wonder of someone replaced the boot at some previous time with the bigger one? On my old JT25, I had a similar problem with the water hose rubbing on the exhaust pipe. I put a wide zip tie around the hose so the zip tie would take the rubbing action rather than the rubber hose. The original coil is probably still OK other than the boot hole. Coils rarely fail and if you think about it, the spark was going to the radiator because it was an easier path then jumping the plug gap. Get out and ride!

Merry Xmas! Glad to hear you are happy with the bar risers. You are right, it is harder to ride slow than it is to ride fast. Learn the basics from the Ryan Young video. Very important to get a solid foundation to build on. Have fun!

If you lower the pegs, be careful about where your toes will be relative to the height of the skid plate. Too low and they end up hitting lots of things that don't move, like stumps and rocks. Riding position in trials is a little hunched over with your knees bent and your butt sticking out a bit. In cold weather I use some insulated work gloves and they keep my hands warm. Not quite as good for feel but warm fingers are worth it. You can also warm them by holding them behind the radiator letting the fan blow warm air on them.