baldilocks

The first photo posted is what I recognise as a 350 Jumbo SWM as ridden by Schrieber, Michaud et al in the 83 world championship. They had the clutch lightener under the tank fastened to the cylinder head. Some good club lads got them for the ssdt in 83 but they were very powerful bikes. Quinns supported rider that year on SWM was a guy called Geoff Mcdonnell, a good rider in our centre ( he has a few scott spoons so he wasnt just average). He found the jumbo way to powerfull and claimed you could ride most sections in the SSDT in 3rd or 4th gear IF you could keep up with it ! the Jumbos had a reed valve engine rather than disc valve I think. Ive seen a couple of other posts referring to smaller CC jumbos but I thought the 350 was the only one actually called a jumbo ?

this is a little off topic but here goes.... never mind the blinkin linkage, that Ossa is in the living room by the looks of it, where did he get his wife ???

I used to have one of these and I'm only a couple of miles from Gateshead. I dont have a book but I may be able to help if you get stuck, just post it on here or PM me cheers

the photo 2fargone posted is the same rear suspension design I was talking about but the frames Quinns inherited were not chrome, they were matt black so maybe there were at least two frame manufacturers. I'm pretty certain John Reynolds rode one in the Irish world round, i'm sure Ive seen a photo of him wearing the Charles Hurst bib from the event and you can see the bikes mono.

I'm going to go sunday. Baldilocks jnr needs looking after sat am while Mrs Baldilocks is at work. I would take him but he's useless on the bike , bit like his dad really. Do you think 7 months is to young for a 300 Gas Gas ?

I'm planning to go to Addingham Moorside this weekend but just wanted to check if this will be ok as its nearly 2 hrs away for me. Anybody know of a reason why it wouldn't be ok ? like is it still ok to practice there, is there a trial on there this weekend ? cheers

Listen 2fargone, after all this talk, and I agree by the way, you'd better be coming up. I'm not driving 250 miles to fall off a bike if no ones going to be around to extract the urine see you in the west end

What about last nights, funny yes but all the difficulties we have in obtaining land in Northumberland and Top Gear roll up and set off a rocket. Seaton Delaval club lost its course at garleigh moor due to english nature or english heritage (one of the two ) identifying the lasting damage done by the bikes. How does a trial cause more damage than that ?? and it was louder than a 4rt !

Can those of us riding make an effort this year to do somthing foolish, just to take the heat off Kinnel a little. We could do with some fresh six days stories

I bought some in March 2005 and Ive only recently stopped wearing it, its still fine I just fancied a change . I know what you mean about the early stuff but its better now I think. It is thinner than Hebo and Xciting but I've never ripped it, good in the summer.

I'd go for dehydration can be other things too. for example do you drink loads of coffee through the week ? If you drink enough you can get caffiene withdrawal on a sunday as presumeably your not carrying a flask with you ? I got this from a lady at work who stopped drinking coffee althogether ( one of those detox ideas ) but had a splitting headache for a couple of days until the caffiene dependancy was out of her system. I only get a bad head if Ive been drinking heavily the night before and thats dehydration.

have a look at lewisport website I think they sell risers you can fit under the clamps for fatbars

I think perhaps two different Ossa are being confused. Peter Quinn took over from Roger Holden as Ossa Importer in about '82. The factory sent brochures over of the 303 in late 1983 but none were ever imported. From memory I think the 303 was actually a twinshock and the engine was much the same as that in the gripper. Bearing in mind the mono yam came out in late 83 and the first mono beta in 84 the Ossa was never going to be a big seller. In the stock Quinns purchased from Roger Holden were some monoshock frames but these had been built in the 70's and were to suit the model before the Gripper, may have even been for the MAR. The monoshock system was quite primitive and was very similar to the Yamaha DT system. It was a single shock but fitted to a steel loop that started near the rear spindle and went up round the front of the rear wheel and then back down to the other side. Anyone who remembers the very early yamaha mono systems on the YZ and DTs will know what I mean. I dont know if it was really any more effective than a twin shock as I doubt the shocker would have been sophisticated enough to provide rising rate. John Reynolds rode one of these mono ossas in the Irish world round in the mid seventies and I think was the youngest points scorer for a while, JR was exceptional in mud. John ended up riding a JCM for Quinns during 85 and 86 and won a few nationals and scored points in the World rounds in Wales and in Ireland . Quinns tinkered about with trying to fit a JCM shock into an Ossa Gripper frame but it never made it to a trial. Ossa engines used to be very hard wearing, Quinns would often sell first oversize pistons to people for the green model and the Ossa Mar, those bikes could be anything up to 10 years old and still be on the original pistion. On the downside the gearbox was quite poor and the selector fork was easily damaged.

The 05 0r 06 ones were beefed up as they used to break before that apparently (only of you have rocks to break them on in fairness) . Problem I had was that they seem to go blunt quickly them your feet slide off in muddy conditions. Hebo pegs change the footrest position slightly so I put Raptors on mine, not cheap but very good.

Ishy missed out whats always the hardest part, managing to stay awake on saturday night. After a weeks effort I'm always knackered on the saturday night. Last year I was quite early finished on the saturday so I had a couple of pints then went to my room for a couple of hours kip. woke up at 11.30pm having missed the presentation seriously its normally about wednesday during the week after the trial before I feel normal again.....

I've got the On & Off Carbon, its vented and its incredibly light. Only downside is that its a bigger helmet than the Airoh I had previously. The liner does come out to wash . I'd buy either helmet again

A mate of mine attended one of Dougies trials schools a couple of years ago and somebody asked about tyre pressures. Apparently Dougs response was " its 6 in the front and 4 in the back whatever you weigh" I ve used those pressures since the days of Pirelli CRs (before Michelin made good tyres). I'm confident its all I have in common with DL !!

Thanks Spudsdad. I'm a tad more lazy than you, I knew it was somewhere near as the chain lined up and the disc was in the middle of the caliper. I never even contemplated measuring it until I saw Dabsters comments, you saved me the job anyway. Cheers

I got some through my local car accessory shop, it was less than

Gasser spacers, Ive had another look and although the Sherco spacers look bigger than the GG ones I think the wheel bearing goes slightly further into the hub on the sherco so the end result is about the same. have rode my new sherco yet have you and what did you think?

I dont think you need to be an expert, I'm not, I'm an intermediate and Ive finished 9 times out of 9 and thoroughtly enjoyed it. First two years I was a novice, not a novice in yorkshire which is like an intermediate or above anywhere else but a novice in the North East. People go round the ssdt who dont ride the hard course in their own centre. Dont be put off, I think your dead right to want somthing to aim for. You need to be fit and once you feel capable enter some nationals and do the easy route. You might be last the first time but if your 21 and prepared to practice and stick at it you wont be last for long. see you at the ssdt 2008 ? out of interest how many has johnq done ?

yes when we did the centrifugal thing that was just with water out of the stream as we didnt have any tyre soap. I think each gas bottle puts about 8 lbs in so 4 of those plus soap plus spinning the wheel should get a michelin back on the rim. hopefully I wont be testing this in May

Ive just bought an 07 Sherco and my GAS Gas spare wheel goes in no trouble. yes its a tighter fit than the sherco wheel but it went in ok and the chain and disc line up. am I missing somthing apart from it looks crap as the rim is the wrong colour ? cheers

This is like self fulfilling prophecy as the replies so far are from people who post on a regular basis. Would be good to get someone new to reply.

Norman will be missed this year, he was always predicting my doom without ever intending to. "watch you dont go in that hole on the left" , once you get that kind of advice theres only one thing going to happen... Ride bike into hole, observe observer writing 5, retreive motorcycle !!! gis a clue anyway, who's 2fargone ?