thats_a_five

If you are not loosing coolant and the oil continues to get milky, check the crankcase breather. Water can be sucked in during stream crossings because of the temperature change. It's good to have a length of hose on the breather to minimize this. Running the hose up high or even into the airbox is best to keep water out.

Street bikes have a whole lot more moving parts to worry about and trials bikes are pretty stripped down in comparison so maintenance is pretty easy. Probably the biggest thing is clean fuel and air filters. next are the bearings in the suspension linkages in the rear. Brakes, bearings, levers and linkages get a lot more dirt and water in them than street bikes so keep your eye on them. Good news is a bad wheel bearing at 5 mph is not as significant as at 100 mph. Have fun with the bikes and the family.

What is his age again? 3 1/2 or 13 1/2?

Find a place that works on horse saddles and tack. They can advise of a proper patch and also install it for you. Then, work on adjusting your riding position to keep those ankles away from the chain.

Tanks sometimes change shape when they have a close encounter with a rock or the ground. As long as it is not leaking and all the attachment points are still intact, I would not worry about it unless the new shape bothers you esthectically.

Not sure what it is but it does look to have been hammered about inside the case. Hopefully that is the only piece and it has not damaged other parts. For sure I would pop off the clutch cover and use some of the oil passage holes to go in with one of those small "magnet on a stick" tools to see if there are more that will come out easily. Great reminder for everyone. If you don't have a magnetic drain plug, get one!

It does sound like the brakes are dragging a bit, thus heating up the pushes the brakes on harder. One thing to look for in addition to those mentioned by others. Check the pads for uneven wear. I had a set of pads wear on a taper from front to back and when they got worn enough, the metal of the pads would wedge in the caliper and not release properly.

I'll be interested to hear how you like the bike after you make some adjustments. And 30 mph is about fast enough for me on the trials bike. Fortunately I ride mostly tight twisty stuff where 10 mph is fast enough.

Welcome to the forums Shawn. Great bunch of people here. I had a JT25 for a while. Probably the best trail bike I have had for the gnarly stuff. You have some really good riding terrain there. Have you learned about, or gotten up to the Trials Training Center there in Tenn?

PeterH, It was good to hear that by calmly discussing a questionable call, that a mutually acceptable decision was made and everyone involved supports the result. Good on you and the rider. Cheers.

If I had been that Trials Marshall, the rider would have been awarded a minimum of 2 sets of penalty points for yelling at 2 officials. If you want to yell and scream at officials take up tennis.

Mine is a 1" extension and it works great. Also, move the perch inward on the bars so your finger is working on the outer end of the lever.

The interpretation I have heard is (I am in USA, don't knowabout Australia) it is OK to ride on the ribbon, but if there is space between the tire and the ribbon (tire outside the ribbon) it is a five. I agree completely with the rule of penalty points for arguing with an official. Not because they are never wrong, but because officials are usually volunteers. A quick story: I went to spectate a trial at a different club. They did not have enough observers so I volunteered to help even though I would much rather have been free to spectate at multiple sections. I positioned myself away from the end of the section for better sight lines. One rider took the wrong line and I gave him a five. He turned and rode directly toward me at high speed, shouting at me. I was honestly concerned for my safety and what other actions he might take. He did stop without hitting me and it just happened that the Trials Marshall happened to ride up. He got a good yelling also from the rider. He got his score and rode off. At the end of the trial he got no penalty points. I have observed many trials, before and after, but never again for that club. And never will. Moral of the story: Don't p*** off volunteers.

The breather / oil separator was required on bikes registered in California ( and maybe other states). It does not affect the running of the bike. The only caution I have is that in some states (CA and AZ, I know), for road registered vehicles all the emission control pieces must be in place to pass emission tests. If you don't need to pass emission tests, you can remove it but you still need a crankcase breather.

I fully agree with Sting32 and Copemech. Your exhaust is plugged with excessive oil and on long pulls that oil heats up and burns off, creating lots of smoke and hot exhaust parts. Remove and clean your front and center sections as described, also disassemble (drill out the rivets) of your silencer, clean it and repack. I did want to discuss gas and oil as there is often confusion about too rich, too lean, etc. Oil is mixed with the gas in 2 stokes for lubrication of bearings, pistons and rings. For engines running at high rpm, load for extended times, there needs to be more oil. 35-50:1 is usually recommended. Trials bikes are only run like that on road or trail between sections, and normally only for short periods of time. As such they can run much less oil (80:1 is pretty common) and still be well lubricated. Running more oil will clog the exhaust because there is not enough prolonged heat to burn it off well. Gas (or petrol for my non-USA friends) is mixed with air to make power. The carburetor provides a certain ratio of gas to air for a good burn and good power. The leaner this mixture, the more power but more heat is generated. Extreme lean running will melt holes in pistons. Extreme rich running will give less power with cooler running, and even fouling of plugs. Here is where it gets interesting and where many people are confused. When oil and gas are premixed, this changes the lean/rich condition but in the opposite way might be expected. The carburetor actually mixes the liquid to air mixture, not just the gas. As more oil is added to the mix (50:1), there is less gas in the same volume of liquid. This might be called oil rich and gas lean. This creates more power with hotter combustion temps but lower exhaust temps with resultant exhaust clogging. With less oil added to the mix (80:1) there is more gas in the same volume of liquid. This might be called gas rich and oil lean. Changing jets, or adjusting fuel or air screws, only affects the quantity of liquid per volume of air. Adjusting the oil:gas mixture changes what is in the liquid. Sometimes I hear people say "my bike is running too lean so I will increase the oil mixture." Result is the bike is even more lean! While I am ranting, choke and fuel enrichment are indeed different. The choke restricts the air flow creating more vacuum which sucks more fuel (richer mixture for cold running) but the restricted air flow prevents the motor from revving high. Fuel enrichment open an additional passage for fuel to flow through (richer mixture for cold running) but does not restrict the air flow so the engine can rev high. More fuel lowers power but also lowers combustion chamber temps. For high speed, continuous running of a trials bike (like on road sections), an enrichment circuit is better than putting on a choke. Which one you have depends on the carb that is on your bike.

IMHO that was not a five. Particularly because you said the rider was balanced and attempting to remove the ribbon with his foot. If he had been using his hand (off the bars) it could have been a different story. Two things you might have done. 1) Wait longer before calling the five. If the tape broke or had to be reset, then it is clearly a five. 2) Let the rider finish the section (assuming the tape did not break) and suggest that both you and the rider discuss this with the Trials Marshall at the end of the trial for determination. That way, if it is decided to not be a five, then you have a legitimate score for the rider for that section. I had a situation a while ago with a questionable five and did not call it immediately. Farther in the section the rider had a clear five so the questionable five did not have any bearing on his final score anyway. I don't know about Australia rules, but in USA, generally it is encouraged to give the rider the "benefit of doubt" for questionable calls.

Like so many others, it took me about 3 or 4 events before I could finish a trial. A lot of that was simply physical conditioning. The rest was about learning trials techniques so that I was guiding the bike not, forcing the bike. Trials mainly requires being loose on the bike and let the bike do its job. Hang in there, keep practicing and before you know it you will feel the sense of accomplishment when you complete that first trial! Mostly, have fun!

Regarding bike choice for you. The best thing would be if you can attend some events and get some rides on multiple bikes before you choose. I love my '05 4RT but I am glad that I started out with a 2 stoke. Reason: the 4RT has massive compression braking and I had to learn to be absolutely precise on the throttle position. The 2 stroke GasGas was a lot more forgiving and let the rear tire coast over things when I closed the throttle rather than act like a brake. You will find that most trials sections are ridden in 1st or 2nd gear. 3rd is for big stuff.

XL200 You can make some changes to the XL200 to improve its trials potential (before everyone screams, I know it is not a trials bike!). Keep track of the beginning condition so you can go back to it if needed. 1) Smaller front sprocket will help with slow moving. 2) Soften up the suspension. Less preload on rear shock, adjust clickers in forks, even go to lighter fork oil. If there are spring spacers in the forks, remove or replace with shorter ones. 3) Slide the fork tubes up in the triple clamps - makes for better slow speed turning but increases twitchiness at higher speed. 4) Get rid of those big mirrors before you impale yourself! KTM has some folding mirrors or use some short bicycle mirrors. On my TLR I mounted some small ones close to the bars so I see under my arms. 5) I am not sure what your steering stops are like but you may be able to mod them to get more steering angle - just be careful of them hitting the tank.

Levers The short levers are OK for on-off type riding. With trials, we tend to slip clutches and feather the brakes a lot more. This leads to very tired fingers. The longer levers give a lot more leverage meaning less force required and a finer level of control. Of course, the smooth operation of a well lubricated cable is important also. Most bikes have the perches mounted so the end of the levers are about even with the bar ends. This leads to using 4 fingers on the levers (not best for trials) and broken levers when you fall. Some people switch to the shorter levers to reduce breakage. I better choice is to loosen the perches and slid them in toward the center of the bars such that you cannot fit more than 2 fingers on the lever when riding. Better leverage and less breakage. Also, either leave the perch mount bolts loose enough that the levers can rotate around the bars on impact. Not so loose that they move in normal riding.

Do not rely on just twisting them and wrapping with tape. Wherever possible solder the wires together and insulate well with heat shrink tubing or even coating in silicone seal. Best to use a soldering iron or gun rather than a flame.

No apology needed Cope. Always good inputs from you.

Good to hear you are healing fast Mags. Keep your feet up!

Yes Cope, DelOrto's do have a screen. And an external filter is indeed redundant. I prefer to add an extra disposable one, preferably clear plastic so I can easily see if there is fuel and if there is any debris or water settling out. My preference.

Great. Best to establish the safety habit at a young age. Have fun!