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.

That's interesting, I'll check the serial number tomorrow. A PDF of the manual would be great! No worries though. It's the Mikuni carb by the way.

I've seen it referred to as being 2.5mm BTDC a few times across forums and on the net. Can anyone confirm for us? It ran fine when I first used the bike before my hot start problem made the bike unusable... Maybe I just wasn't brave enough to rev it this high though? Ha. I can check the jet sizes tomorrow if anyone thinks it will help? Are they stamped into the brass on the jets or will I have to measure them with my callipers? Thanks again.

Ha, I couldn't wait. My poor neighbours. I put in the "other" plug, which seems to be the older of the two upon inspection. Again, she starts BEAUTIFULLY. I ran her gently in the garage to warm her up a bit and then pinned it in neutral. It revs high... Still kind of falters but maybe that is the "red line?" It's hard to tell without a ride tomorrow - I'll update you. I guess there is no "limiter" so to say they just rev until the engineering says stop? The bike is really keen to go and feels very powerful, maybe I'm just expecting a higher rev range than is available... It's amazing how sporty these two stroke competition bikes feel compared to my Royal Enfield's that I'm used to. (A 500cc road bike and a 350cc trials trim Enfield.) An amazing machine.

I'll try a different one tomorrow. I say different because I haven't got a new one.. I have the one that came in the bike and a brand new one that I have already used in trial and error. I forget which one is which. I will buy a brand new one at the next opportunity.

WORTH NOTING. I didn't make any adjustments to the carb but I did take it apart a couple of times to clean it and investigate any problems.

UPDATE. Having advanced the timing a little bit with no improvement I have tried both a fully advanced and fully retarded timing setting with no improvement I have reset it to 2.5mm before TDC now and am open to suggestions. Basically starting the bike is great, low down lots of power and running REALLY nicely. However high revs (and I do mean quiet high) aren't there. Power drops out, it splutters (a little bit) and just won't rev beyond a certain limit... Like it's starved of fuel or air. (I guess fuel?) I'm quiet astonished after all I've been through, I thought it was plain sailing from here. Ha.

So, as most of you know my story I won't bother with that but in all my fettling to try and get it working I reset the points gap to open at 2.5mm before TDC. It was timed differently the the last owner previous to this reset. I use a cigarette paper in the points to feel the moment that it releases. I now experience a situation where she wont rev all the way out. It also feels nasty at high revs and looses power. I am wondering if the previous owner had the timing slightly advanced maybe? I know there is no advance mechanism so it's all about setting it where I'm happy with and getting it to run nicest in the rev range that I intend to use most, but at the moment despite being great in the low end I don't really have that top end. It's all about compromise. So I think I'll advance the timing, half a millimetre, a whole millimetre? I just want to see what opinions are out there? Cheers again.

Thanks for the contribution mate. All the best.

Ah great, that's what I wanted to find out. I think I'll invest in the Wulfsport boots to be honest. They look good. With regards to my helmet, it's a road helmet that I bought a few months ago (linked in my original post,) will it be OK at the clubs? It doesn't need to be a special certification or anything for the ACU? Thanks again.

Thanks, do you mean my boots are great or do you mean the boots that I've linked to are great..? What's the advantage of a helmet like that? Better airflow? I'd prefer one in a plain neutral colour like silver to be honest. Cheers I've got some nice gloves that I use in summer, they're thin but with armoured knuckles.