handmadematt

Great bike there, you must be thrilled! I'm sure you're going to have lots of fun working on this project. I hope you share the progress on here! What qualifies as an "early" 247 then do we think? Mine is a 1975 with the clutch mechanism underneath the engine case which I think is an early characteristic. It doesn't have the large hubs though. The engine/ frame number is 21M18488

On my Royal Enfield trail bike I don't have grooves and the brakes suffer from water in a BIG way. Maybe I'll carve some with my hack saw. I opened the rear hub of my Montesa Cota 247 the other day and it has grooves, all in one direction to shed water towards the opening. It explains why I've never experienced a water/ brake issue with her.

Lovely bikes everyone. Great thread. Here's my beauty.

It turns out that the front guard was to low on the rear of the wheel. I caught it on a rock today and cracked it... Doh! Ha... It cracked quiet low though so I just cut it and neatly riveted the mud flap back on at the higher point. It looks great and will work better. Lesson learned.

This problem cleared up by the end of the day. She hadn't had a good run like that for about a year. I did clean the carb but maybe one of the jets was blocked and it cleared itself. I'll never really know I guess but she's revs smooth and high with lots of power now. I'll make another video next time I go. Thanks mate, it's appreciated. We had LOTS of fun, I think it shows hey? I really feel like I get in a zone when I'm riding, my mind shuts off and I achieve things better if I don't think about it. Just going with the flow and feeling seems to be the answer for now. When I'm in a flow going from one section to the next it all links in nicely with lots of momentum, I'm also fearless about ridding over/ off things... If I stop though and try to get going again forget it! It's all about that flow.

I chose black in the end and am very happy. The black ties the seat, handle bars and tyres together very nicely. I re-fitted the original vintage number plate which is great. The old guards had gone orange/ pink and were letting the bike down I think. Under the numberplate the plastic was the original red which would have been OK.

They are lengthened Betor shocks. They look and feel pretty good. I'm perfectly happy with them for the moment, it's all fun and games! I've not come to the point of taking it super seriously... Although that time will come, I'm sure.

I was too keen to worry about tyre pressures, I just wanted to GO! Ha. Makes sense though. The tyres are great though I think, they're as soft as chewing gum! Ha To soften the shocks do I just let some air out?

My brother and I went and had some fun. It's a great bike, so capable considering it's age and how slippy and muddy it was! It was our first day ridding trials, I've done green laning but never anything like this. I hope you enjoy the video. Cheers, and thanks for all the help on this forum realising the actuality of enjoying this bike, from purchase advice to troubleshooting problems I've had. Ciao

Wow, I am really torn between silver and black... It has a silver frame so I think black would be nice. Hmmmm. Anyone with either could share some pictures?

That's cool to know. Thirty eight years old and still strong.

Good points everyone, at £18 plastic ones are cheaper as well. I think I'll go for grey/ silver plastic ones, or maybe black. I'll see. It's a chunk of aluminium either side like this:

The problem seems to have cured itself after a good day of riding. Maybe she just needed a good thrashing?!

As I understand alloy guards were standard equipment? My bike has some period red plastic guards on it at the moment, obviously replacements. They're Preston Petty "Mini Mudder" guards. I've been told that they're one of the first types of flexible durable plastic guards like this. However, they're a bit tired in places and are loosing their colour a bit, they're going a bit pinky. In the future I wish to replace them. There are two options, either some universal white plastic mudguards available from about £18 each or: The Spanish pattern alloy guards for the Montesa are around £120 each! Ouch! My Royal Enfield Bullet Trials has alloy guards that come un-drilled and area relatively cheap at about £35 each, I have measured them and they are virtually the same size at what's on there at the moment. They're the 6th item down on this page: (Called simply "Alloy Guards.") http://www.hitchcock...frame-mudguards Opinions please. Cheers.

I don't think it was the spark plug, same thing happening with a different one. Thanks Tony. This morning I've not opened the carb fully yet so can only report back that the throttle slide is number 3.0 and the needle clip was on the second from the top groove. Again, it's the Mikuni carb. I moved the clip to the bottom groove and the problem became much worse, much to rich, the clip is now on the top groove and it's improved a bit but it's hard to tell. Thanks for the contribution but I'm confident that it wasn't like this before, this morning I tested again after moving the needle clip and this is what happend: Having warmed it up I held the throttle wide open and it reached the limit where it "choked" it felt held back like it's being limited of air, or fed to much fuel, if I held it in this uncomfortable position it cleared a couple of times and reved right up nicely beyond this ceiling, so something is definitely funny. Maybe it's running to rich for some reason? (It's not smoking.) A funny thing that is worth mentioning is I left the fuel on last night by mistake and it was leaking from the carb, (I think the gasket's a bit rubbish but it might also have been coming out the overflow pipe because there was petrol ice crystals on the end of it, it was a chilly night and the evaporation can make it freeze like this.) Maybe my float hight is to high? All that opening and closing the carb might have changed it, I was carful but maybe I bent the brass arms slightly by mistake. If I lower the float hight will that have the effect of making the mixture weaker? Is there a recommended float hight for the Mikuni carb with the Cota 247? Thanks again.