2stroke4stroke

I think you've answered your own question - Japanese carbs always seem to have longer, softer, springs. Try one of those?

You want to look at Hondas with the sprocket held on by two bolts and a small plate. Loads of movement in every plane though it doesn't seem to be harmful (but sloppy engineering to my mind, apart from the float to allow sprocket to self-centre on chainline).

Best guidance I can give is be careful where you go "down the woods" as local polis have been equipped with off road bikes to pursue those doing what they shouldn't where they shouldn't due to the immense high profile problems locally with scrotes running amok on stolen bikes (of which you are no doubt aware). It would be a shame to have your bike confiscated.

Your friend's been very lucky - don't see many that good. It all seems to be there so, if it runs OK, with an oil change then there's nothing to do bar the paperwork, road tax being free and no MOT required at that age.

I think the Comerfords Cub came out late '66 (info from a recent article).

I'm seem to remember that, somewhere on t'internet, there is the launch article, featuring Gordon Farley, from Motor Cycle News or the Motor Cycle, whichever one it was. Probably gave the full specification.

If it is a fully equpped standard bike then there should be no need for "add ons". Better to concentrate on the change in technique required to ride a trials bike than what gewgaws to spend money on. Once you have some experience you will be better placed to judge whether or not the bike has any deficiencies.

Fan relay sits in a rubber "box" just behind the steering head. It is commonly used as a starter relay on Hondas so pattern parts are readily found on the internet for about a third the price.

I got one of those but it needs a small diameter funnel to fill it. They're also available with a full size orifice so look carefully.

I don't suppose you'd get away with a GTX can slung from the belt of your jacket as we used to do, but a proper petrol container in a backpack seems a better way to do it. Gives you more choice of bike if nothing else.

Whatever happened to the Dynamin (I think that's the correct spelling) pistons Sammy Miller used to sell? They were a lot lighter too though.

Ah yes, I remember the John Lee Firefly.

Vertical, "or as close to vertical as is reasonably practicable". However, there is a requirement for the characters to be distinguishable within a certain area. Given that, on some bikes, fitting a plate to the surface of the mudguard would actually have the plate showing forward rather than rearward on a strict definition, some sort of bracket would be needed to comply with that requirement. Check the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regs 2001 on .gov.uk .

Was there not the occasional Cub engined Cheetah? Or is my memory as bad as I think it is.

I once passengered and have spectated a couple of times and the grip they get with a standard tyre puts a trials bike to shame. Some of the lines taken seem a bit strange to me, eg not taking advantage of a straight run at something.

I don't think four miles each way will do any harm, after all you're not trying to keep up with an SSDT time schedule. In fact it will do the bike good to get a bit of a clear out.

Like this you mean? https://youtu.be/fq3xXdcZacc

My comments were not directed at any particular breaker but how could anyone stripping a bike know if the ignition worked properly once the bike had been running for an hour or so? Problems often only appear when the motor is fully hot. The breaker is (honestly) gambling as much as the buyer.

Sounds to me like you have a rather fast tickover anyway (if that is it reaching tickover before you blip it). Try adjustng it down on the throttle stop screw then see if you still think it is a problem.

Probably no great advantage. Any big improvement would come from altering damping etc which could as well be done to the early ones I suspect.

As an owner of an '09 it had escaped me that there was a 2018 model, with no apparent announcement, though looking now they don't seem to have changed the appearance of it. I found the 2017 to be softer off the very bottom than my 250 and seemed to go slower in first, so much so that it almost felt lower geared which of course it is not, and the better for it. I would have expected some fanfare if changes such as you feel had been made. Better informed comments will no doubt follow and I will be interested to learn from them.

And not foolproof. A pal runs a car workshop and, often enough, the software says to replace component X to cure a problem, but that does not work so then it's component Y. It ends up as a chase through various components before, possibly, resolving the issue.

Apart from the exhaust (why would anyone *******ise the standard system in that way, I wonder), and preserving the alloy guards as mentioned, the most important thing you need is decent modern footrests.

That's not what I would call a "renovation project"☺

I can remember doing the Lakes Two Day with about a foot of snow on the moors and the rock sections had been salted to give some grip, but we did have to get the other guys out the digs to push the car and trailer the last bit up to the farmhouse. Then there was the time we ended up overtaking the snow plough on the way to a NE Centre event.......... I recall laying out events in the snow too but don't know if I could be bothered now, forty five years older. However, a lot of what we've had recently was just a normal winter when I was a kid - no question of the school closing alas and the buses kept running when a gritter lorry was two guys with shovels and a pile of material on the back of a flatbed truck.