feetupsbetter

Hi again, just had a look for a few pics to jog my memory (Google, not pics of mine I don’t seem to have any 🤷‍♂️). Clearly my memories are clouded as all the pics of the MH version show a red frame, and I must be getting single down tube frame mixed up with something else, maybe mates cota 250. Also with the tank, I thought I remembered a slightly textured finish plastic tank on the MH but again all pics show otherwise, a very shiny red tank which could be fibreglass, mine definitely was fibreglass but white. On the slightly older models, the rear lower edges of the tank unit below the seat, had a ‘flaired’ shape over/around the rear shock top bolt ( presumably for comfort against the leg/boot) but the later ones seem to be trimmed along as a straight edge. In my own experience those ‘flairs’ cracked & crumbled so ended up being trimmed off & I expect many others were too. Any way good luck with your project, I hope you find the detailed information you’re looking for, and that my vague & sometimes inaccurate memory helped in some small way. I always thought it was a great little bike, despite its utterly rubbish brakes in water🤣. It didn’t seem to matter what cables or shoes or mods thereto, as soon as they got near water they were useless for the rest of the trial. Wheels out first job after every wet event ! Oh great days eh!

Hello there, have you also considered the possibility of model ref Cota 200 ‘C’. Back in ‘85 I bought an (alleged) ‘83 model which carried the 200C decals on the white tank unit just under the seat area. It wasn’t road reg’d but I think I had a dealer sales receipt from a previous owner listing it as 1983 200C. That was around the transition time from montesa to Honda. Unfortunately it was stolen a year or two later & I didn’t have any record of numbers but 29M sounds familiar (and isn’t far from 29H when reading through layers of paint). Mine had white fibreglass tank (I believe the MH models all had red plastic tanks with a large MH logo running along the side), red frame with single down tube to a curved split cradle under the engine with a pretty poor thin pressed bash plate. The rims were gold (akront branded ?) with black hubs and particularly notable was half width front hub where the earlier ones seemed to have smaller diameter full width hubs. If I remember rightly, when the MH models came out (84/85 ?) they were the same as the ‘C’ except for colour scheme & plastic tank, red tank, black frame. I don’t remember any riveted vin plate, steering lock was just a kind of tube welded to the headstock, holding the lock inside with a thin metal pivoting cover over it. Appreciate there’s nothing definitive in that just (pretty vague) memories but it might jog someone else’s memory. cheers

Ok guys, can we just stop & have a reality check here ? Is this another answer to a problem that never was ? This modern world is full of ‘em and somehow the world and his dog get drawn in. Electric starters on bikes are an unnecessary luxury item in most cases IMHO, perhaps acceptable on a large road bike, but small capacity machines of any type just don’t need them. FFS if you’re riding trials then you’re likely to have got legs and are reasonably fit. And the next thing they sell you are titanium bits to save weight !!! Wake up people, just buy a bike with a kickstart, I can guarantee that a few minutes rest will recharge your leg, without needing to carry a backpack with anything at all in it. If your bikes got a fault & doesn’t start then pushing it back to van/paddock will be easier without an extra 2kg of starter and a another 5kg backpack. Sorry but my getting old, ‘Victor Meldrew’,(That’s a uk comedy reference, look it up) good old times syndrome just overcame me 😂

Welcome along to the wonderful world of trials ! Can only really echo what Tr1AL has said, best thing is to go along to an event & talk to people, they’re a friendly lot & they’ll give you more local lowdown and point in the direction of other events, dealers, useful people to get to know, maybe even a bike for sale. I’d suggest going with a cheaper bike initially, even if you can afford new or nearly new, as echoing why lemur said ‘crashes are likely to happen’ and it’s easy to smash a £150 mudguard. (A repair on an older bike doesn’t seem as bad). Having said that, somehow you learn to anticipate ‘get offs’ and mitigate the damage to bike & rider as you get more experience. Usual checks on purchase apply, general condition - should be clean if it’s been looked after, everything should work so - starts easily, brakes, clutch & gears all work & wear parts are good. Most bikes wear parts are quite easily replaceable if you’re anything like handy with spanner’s, but when comparing bikes for sale be aware that a pair of decent tyres (Michelin as above recommendation) will cost £250 ish, chain & sprockets maybe £150 so factor that in to negotiations. Tyres need the ‘cubes/nobbles’ to have sharp corners particularly at the driving edge (forward facing at the top of the tyre), but they can be turned on the rim to double up on working life. You’ll find a lot of talk about set up on here but just go with basics as per Tr1AL and find your own way as you go along. If you start to ride events or regular practice sessions amongst other riders you’ll also get continuing advice as you go. Be prepared for some tongue in cheek abuse too, I often find self deprecation is a useful personal quality when riding (or picking me or the bike up out of a stream) 😂. It’s definitely harder than it looks so be prepared, but go and enjoy, you probably won’t be the only one making silly mistakes as you start off, but there are usually loads of classes so you can start with simpler stuff. GOOD LUCK & please report back on here or ask more questions.

Is it not just a standard spring pin/spring cotter pin, sometimes called a roll pin ? (Hollow tubular pin made from spring steel with a split down its length allowing for it to be a spring fit through the hole in the shaft & gear). If it is then it should be easy to source from an engineers suppliers just by specifying diameter & length. And it’ll be cheaper than the price loaded brand labelled item.

Hi just replied to your previous post with a bit of general information before I saw this one. The parts book is what I had originally, don’t think there’s much else out there. You can see the chain tubes on there and the tank/seat bulges, but that book shows a full width hub which I think were the earlier models. The clutch mechanism was a bit suspect in that the little pawl 2863.106 was made of poor material and its square hole wasn’t a very accurate fit on the bottom of the operating lever shaft 3863.081. Both the square on the shaft and the hole seemed to wear easily along with the finger end of the pawl. A tiny amount of wear in any of that means pretty rubbish clutch operation.

Oh and it would have had the traditional montesa feature of plastic tubes for the chain to run in which floated on a bracket mounted on the rear spindle. It would be nice to see more photos, they were a decent bike really, underrated in my opinion, apart from the brakes which like most bikes at the time just stopped being brakes as soon as you got them wet !

Hi, I’m not certain but looks like you might possibly have a 200 ‘C’ model from 83. I had one back in the day. I think a couple of noticeable features of that model were half width front hub which I can’t see on your photo, and they also had a small flair/bulge at the rear bottom edge of the tank unit which smoothed over the top rear shock mounts but that might have been cut off if they’d got damaged or cracked over the years. I can see you’re missing the air box & chain tensioner and also the rubber straps which pull the rear of the tank down to the hooks on the frame. I believe ‘in motion’ are a good source of parts in uk.

Try Bradford ignitions, they’re down in Cornwall but do postal service. Sometimes have them stock & sometimes you have to send your own for rewinding. I had one from there for my evo a few years back, great service & price. You might find them on that bay place too !

It could also be the case that someone with access to a lathe has just turned up some special bushes to fit the required dimensions. Good luck !

It is a fairly common occurrence sadly. If this has only been fitted 3 months, how long did previous one last ? There is obviously some way to assemble everything together which then applies an unexpected loading to that particular bore/shaft housing which causes these failures. I notice a wear mark on the case where it steps out around the clutch basket itself, which suggests something has been regularly rubbing against it, that would be worth checking for lever boss clearance. I’ve also wondered if the position of the lever when mounted can have some detrimental impact. When the lever is rotated down & strikes the footrest as a dead stop, the internal rotating mechanism (Bart gear) will be in a different position depending on which spline position is used. If the lever & shaft rotates too far (maybe just one spline out), could the Bart gear be striking some part of the inside of the case ? That would add a leverage force trying to move the shaft relative to the case which combined with the shock dead stop would add a significant stress to the case at every ‘kick’ action. Just a thought, but quite difficult to check the operation although there would be a tell tale mark somewhere. Good luck with the next one ! I ran a couple of these bikes (maybe 03 & 05 models ) over about five years and never had the problem with the cracked case just the Bart gear & idler having chipped teeth.

This is the raga replica/standard txt hybrid is it not, where you appear to have some bits of each ? I think the raga should have a magnesium swingarm (painted gold same as engine ) so could they be larger outside & longer for the magnesium swing arm version ? Just a thought, someone here will know more but worth a check. But you could just buy stock plain bushes to the dimensions you need as per Konrad suggestion.

I’d have thought a couple of handlebar levers would be high on the priority list (old school), if it’s running repairs that you’re thinking about, but where do you stop when imagining the thousands of possible breakdown/damage repair scenarios ? A failed plug, snapped chain, or punctures are easy enough running repairs or even a drowned engine, assuming you’ve a spare plug, chain links, tube/turds (bacon flavour if you prefer) and a filter, along with the tools required for each. But what if the coil fails ? Handlebars snap in a crash ? (It’s been known !) A previous poster mentioned busting a cooling hose, would you carry a set ? I once dropped my gasser quite lightly on a rock in a stream and was unfortunate enough for the contact point to be right on the boss for the clutch line. Hardly noticeable but it cracked so no clutch. Ok, in that instance I could limp it back to the van, but it wasn’t fun trying to start it on a banking & ram in gear from the bottom of a muddy valley up onto the main track ! My point being, surely those few basics are all that’s required whatever your ride ?. If anything more serious happens then surely it’s home time, so a phone (with charge) is probably the most important item, and maybe a snack & drink until help arrives ? Otherwise you need a whole service crew following your every move ! Take that with a pinch of salt please, but how big a backpack can you carry before affecting your ride out/trial 😳.

Oh and by the way it’s harder & more physically demanding than it looks, but please persevere as it’s great fun and you’ll make lots of new mates and enjoy lots of banter. Don’t be too serious, you really will need to be able to laugh at yourself when you make a complete hash of a section where some clever bugger makes it look like a main road 🤣.

And also I believe Scarborough has their own land at Harwood Dale & run plenty of events. Welcome along to the world of joy & pain 🤣.