thats_a_five

Sounds like a fuel starvation problem. Check that the float and needle are not sticking or set wrong. Also, clean the pilot jets. There could be some debris left from manufacture that is plugging the jet.

My first thought is: stop trying to move slabs of concrete with your brake pedal! What are the circumstances when you bend or break them? Riding over, crashing, riding to close along side the concrete? If you are bending them while simply riding up and over, how is the pedal adjusted? The pedal should be above the skid plate, thus it should not be contacting the concrete. If it is when you are riding close to the concrete, is the pedal too far out from the bike so it is catching on the concrete? if so, can you adjust (bend) it closer to the case? If the brake pedal was not in the way, the next thing to hit would be the foot peg. Pegs rarely break, they are designed to fold up. If you hit so close that the peg mount hits the concrete, it can easily pitch you off when the bike suddenly stops. Can you ride a few inches to the left to give more clearance between the concrete and the lever? If not, then a wheelie will raise the front of the bike, thus raising the shift lever some also. You say you have bent several brake levers this way. Can't you bend then back into shape?

Phil 0925, Did you think to get a sample of the fuel from the tank? Would be a good way to check if the new owner had put in straight gas with no oil. No oil can also lead to severe overheating with essentially the same result.

I must admit, I like all the devious ideas, but..... I find that if you simply point out where the end of the existing queue is, most people will feel embarrassed enough and move back. Fortunately we don't usually have this problem in the Pacific Northwest of the USA. But then again we don't often have more than 50 riders total in a trial so any queue is usually only at section 1. Maybe we should have a separate forum titled "Trials etiquette."

Absolutely! Thank the checkers every time they punch my card (even if it is a 5) and at the end of the event. Also make sure to thank the trials Master, all the people who worked to set the loop, the sections and do the scoring. Don't forget the land-owner or government officials who made it possible for us to go have our fun. I think that is not just common courtesy but it goes a long way toward allowing us to hold future events. And you know what? It costs nothing. Why wouldn't you do it?

I was wondering what you meant by "...a run in, quite literally, with a dear..." Two interpretations: 1) a Deer - fuzzy, cute woods animal with 4 legs 2) a Dear - a sometimes cute animal with 2 legs, that lives in our houses, spends our money and generally tries to make us understand that "fun" involves, shopping, or doing chores, rather than what we know to be true: fun is spending time with powered equipment, good buddies and beer. Remember, you don't stop riding because you get old, you get old because you stop riding! Stay Young!

If you are looking for a bike to simply ride along with your boy and not be doing difficult trails sections, a bike like a Yamaha TY175, TY250, etc are great because they have real seats and you can comfortably ride along all day at slow speeds. If you are wanting to get more into riding modern trials, it is a whole different animal. No seats, much more responsive motors, etc. Can ride slowly all day long IF your legs are up to it. In your budget you should be able to find a '90's era modern bike. Great for learning and not breaking the bank. One important consideration with an older bike is availability of spare parts. Other consideration is can you do your own work on it or would you have to take it to a shop for service. At 16 stone and 6' 1" you probably want to go with a minimum of 175 cc and you may find it helpful to get taller bars or use some bar risers to get another inch or 2. Or, if you get a vintage bike, consider lowering the pegs.

There are so many variables involved that it is extremely difficult to determine what really happened after the fact. If you feel you represented the bike fairly and honestly when you sold it, then stick to your position that it is not your responsibility. If you think this will end up in court, you might suggest that the new buyer take it to an authorized GG dealer / service shop for evaluation if he has not already done so. I do not know about courts in France but in the USA I have learned that the decision making process of the courts often defies any logic that I understand. Good luck and let us know how it works out.

I find that light pressure on the rear brake really helps on very tight turns. I used that technique several times today in a trial. It causes both the front and rear suspensions to compress slightly. This does stabilize the bike and puts more weight on the front tire, improving its grip. One caution is to really sense the grip on the rear tire. If you lock the tire, it can stall the engine or cause the rear of the bike to slide to one side or the other. Sometimes it slides the right way and helps you get around the corner, sometimes it slides the wrong way. Using the front brake on tight corners requires a very delicate touch. Too much brake and the tire locks and slides, usually followed by a dab or worse.

If the cuts are deep and you think the cords might be compromised, you might want to put a patch on the inside to avoid a blowout at a bad time (like section one of the next trial). X-lites do have a tendency to have slow leaks through the sidewalls. I have heard of people using some kind of bicycle tire sealer in them. If the leak is slow enough, I agree with others - just check it before you ride and enjoy.

No, I do not mean to fill the case with batting and no baffle. Because your center section had no wadding when you took it apart, you could simply put it back together. Can you describe the "bits of bent aluminum" more? Were they welded in place? Some resonator type exhaust systems use curved plates to cause the gases to flow around them in a certain pattern. This causes the sound and pressure waves to reflect against each other to reduce the noise level. Some of these systems do not use any wadding/batting. Sorry I am not more knowledgeable about what is supposed to be inside the center section. If you still have the back off, perhaps you can post some pics. If you want to quiet the bike, you could make a baffle out of perforated tubing or metal then stuff the batting around it. For the baffle you need something that the gases can expand through but the holes need to be small enough that the batting doesn't simply blow out through the outlet end.

Haha, yeah, I switched bikes as well. Hopefully someone with a Pro model can tell you what the baffle should look like. Worst case, if the input and outlet end are the same diameter, you could take a piece of tube, drill a bunch of holes and install it after stuffing the case with batting. For sure, the center section acts like a small expansion chamber for the 2 stoke which is good for power. Understand that the entire intake and exhaust work together as a system. Changing one thing can cause a need for jetting adjustments. Worst case you can reassemble with out any baffle.

Be very careful with the self-tapping screws. It does work but, I did that once and the screw went too far and damaged the bearing cage. Then I had to dig deeper to replace the bearing and the seal. I now use a thin punch to bend the seal can away from the bore and pry it out.

Osiris, Perhaps one of your riding buddies would like to have their own bike business. FYI, I am an USA English speaker who spends a lot of time in eastern Europe and Asia for work. I understand the difficulty of second and third languages - my second is becoming Chinese. Your English is so far superior to my other languages, you should be proud of your learning. The hardest thing to learn about other languages is the subtlety of inflexion. I find that eastern European's are much more direct in their speech and this can feel rude to westerners. I wish there was an easy way to describe or learn the subtleties but I have not found it yet. The best thing I can suggest it to enlist the help of other English speakers to point out these subtleties as they appear in conversation. Take care and keep the feet up.

Thanks for the correction Lineaway. My frame of reference was the non-Pro "edition" models.

Do you know what the baffle should look like? I don't have a 315R but most of the 2 strokes I have use a length of tubing with perforations all along and packing around that. The tube goes from inlet to outlet. I have also seen some bikes (4 strokes) that had a resonator chamber with no packing. Wait, your profile shows 315R but you posted this in the GasGas forum. Probably better clarify what bike you are asking about.

You might want to pull the shift shaft (the one the foot lever attaches to) out and see if it is straight. Buddy of mine bent his in a crash. Bike would shift, but not right, and would pop out of second gear into neutral. Once we found it, a couple thumps with my 2 pound persuader and it was all better. Material was not heat treated so it bent back and didn't break. Let us know how you get on. ***Edit 1-10-2014. Please see correction from Lineaway that follows. This info applies to non-"Pro" models. Thanks.

I used wheel bearing grease on my bearings. I had a similar problem and it was the rose bearing in the bottom of the shock. Had to completely disassemble the linkage and remove the shock, then press out the old one and press in the new one. There are complete sets available with all the needle bearings, etc so best to do them all if you are getting this deep into the bike. Jim Snell, the GasGas USA importer has made many good videos that you can find on Youtube. Not sure about the linkage but it would not surprise me if he did.

Osiris, It sounds like there may be a business opportunity to become an importer of trials bikes to Russia. Perhaps you are the best person to do that and bring trials to the people there. Good luck getting a bike and enjoy riding.

Clearly the crankcase seal on that side has gone bad. Good news is that is relatively easy to fix. Bad news if the petrol in the gear box oil. The only way I know for that to happen is for the seal on the clutch side to be bad also and when the fuel filled the crankcase, it leaked into the clutch area. Others smarter than me can give more detailed info if there are other ways for petrol to get in the gearbox. Normally with a bad seal on the clutch side you would be sucking gear oil into the engine making extra smoke and causing the gear box oil to get low. I think you can change the clutch side seal by removing the side cover and the clutch but I am not sure, having not done it myself. Hopefully you do not have to split the cases. And hopefully the petrol has not affected your clutch material. For sure, if you do not change the clutch side seal, you will want to do a very good drain and refill of the gearbox now and again after a very few hours of running. Probably not a bad idea to replace the petcock seals just to be safe. And remember to shut the fuel off whenever not riding the bike. A lesson we all have learned over the years.

Contrary to popular belief, condensors are not universal. There is a good bit of latitude in which will work in each case though. The condenser is there to prevent arcing across and burning of the points. If the condenser goes bad, there is a good chance that the points will have been affected. So, it is advisable to clean and adjust your points as well.

First, let me say I have no connection with any Dealer or Motorcycle company. As a businessman, I can fully understand why the dealer refused the deal. Look at your letter: it is full of comments about how difficult and complicated this process is. Examples: “…there is a problem to disassemble the bike…” “My carrier said that it is not possible to move over the border a whole box.” Of course it is possible to move a large box over the border. So, there must be some other problem of bringing a whole bike in one box. Is it illegal? Will the shipper be faced with legal problems or extensive customs problems? He does not know. You want part of the bike shipped to one place and the rest to a different place? Or ship it all to the UK “…For me this option is much less appropriate…” Or, ship it whole to Finland (…. I am not sure am I able to find somebody in Finland to disassemble the bike…)” Good grief, what do you want him to do? You say “…I am such silly client and is wasting your time…” You brought it to his attention. And “… For me this weird process is quite complicated…” You can’t figure it out, but you want him to? Can you blame the dealer for being concerned? Who knows what additional problems will come up during and after this one sale. Finally, you add this threat that you will simply walk away from the deal and buy a Beta “…. I found a dealer of Beta who offered beta 2014 4t 300 bike even cheaper, who is ready to disassemble the bike.” I understand, and even teach, customer service but this is a situation I would advise my clients to walk away from. I think you do an undeserved disservice to this dealer by saying all these things on a public forum. I think it would be best for you to ask the site administrator to remove this entire thread. I hope you can find a bike to import and can enjoy your riding.

I am no engineer so I wonder if you mean a hydraulic brake system using vanes and rotors or adding a wet plate clutch (similar to the engine clutch we already have) to the output shaft? Could the brake lever come directly out of the case eliminating master and slave cylinders and hose?

If the needle in the carb sticks open or leaks, and you leave the fuel turned on during transport or storage, the fuel will leak into the crankcase and cylinder. If you get enough fuel in, the engine will hydro-lock. When this happens, it is very difficult to kick the bike over because fuel does not compress like air. Do not try to kick it because you can damage pistons, con rods, etc. Remove the spark plug and turn the bike over to drain out the cylinder. Leave the plug out and tie a rag across the plug hole. Then, holding the kill switch down and the throttle wide open, kick it over. Expect to have fuel shoot out of the plug hole which is why I say tie the rag on. The fuel will come out at high speed and pressure - enough to drench you with fuel. So please, NO SMOKING or ignition sources nearby. Do this outdoors. It will probably take 20 to 30 kicks to get the excess fuel out. Once you stop seeing any vapor coming out of the plug hole, then reinstall the plug, wipe off any fuel that is on the surfaces, connect the plug and try to start it with wide open throttle. It will eventually start and likely smoke a lot until the excess fuel burns off. Then you will be back to normal operation. Ride on!

Great that you are getting the old Monty back on the road. I don't have any expertise on those and suggest you might get better answers if you post this question in the Montesa specific forum below. Ride on!