turbofurball

Trials bikes ride ok on flat tyres if you're just limping it home gently. Having a mini pump is handy though. For a trials bike I'd go for a mini tail pack over a front mudguard bag personally, or maybe strap it to where the headlamp should be. You don't really need body armor of you're going at trials pace (ie. slowly, lol). If you're going to the proper middle of nowhere I'd suggest looking at an emergency satellite phone or beacon thing if you can't find others to go with. When I'm on my own I avoid going out of mobile phone range, though I'm often cut off in valleys 😕 I always take plenty of water though so I can hike home if it's the bike broken and not me ...

Are there any cracks or leaks on the inlet manifold? I've had that before, it only looked small but caused big problems with starting and over-revving.

I went back and checked my old notes, my TY was 84Kg before mods and is now 80Kg so I remembered wrong 🙃 In terms of riding style, many of the changes I made were to make the bike handle closer to a modern bike which did help a bunch since I can switch bikes and not adjust how I ride (I don't use the clutch or stop or hop around)

The cheapy Chinese shocks look similar to the old Japanese ones, but even the shocks on my other half's Virago have more travel than what those appear to have! If you keep your eyes open you might be able to find some useable ones second hand, try asking at a local club it's the sort of thing people have kicking around in their garages "just in case"

My Majestized TY175 with short Wez exhaust etc is 84Kg (could maybe shave off another 1Kg if I threw a load more money at it), my Sherco is about 70. A modern bike might not look as sexy, but they're much easier to ride - things like the brake and clutch levers are lighter, and the extra suspension travel is easier on the joints, too. I have a bad knee, yesterday I rode the Sherco on some of the toughest single track I've ever tackled in my life, and today I didn't have any pain while walking the dog - usually I have a bit of a twinge at least.

Yeah, those looks like cheapy chinese road shocks, trials shocks usually have a lot more potential travel. When I first got my TY it had shorter than stock road shocks on the back and it made for an unrideable bike ... there's loads of info on here about options for good shocks, I opted to push the boat out with custom Rock Shocks on the TY, and my 349 has some very old rebuildable Betors.

Fair point, though in this analogy it's a bit more like comparing a Fireblade to an R1, both behave in a similar manner on the track, have similar power and features, but the 'subtle' differences between them can make the difference between loving or hating the bike even if you adjust your technique. I really hated my R1.

Just for reference, apart from the location of the controls very little of that transfers to trials.

I'm glad I'm not the only ones to have done this 😅 A piece of metal/plastic/wood the same thickness as a brake disk is essential to put in the caliper though, yeah. I have a specific bit of scrap metal that does the job

I'd talk with the dealer, see if something can be sorted out. Having said that, I have bought two bikes blind - one from a private seller (turned out to be a complete basket case, had things like a cracked rear brake disk), one from a dealer (turned out to have an issue that only showed when the bike was being ridden). I would never buy a bike without having seen it now, lol

Cool, thanks for the advice guys - I'll try just using the kerosene since that's what I have laying around anyway 👍 (followed by washing up water, etc)

Is it ok to clean a foam air cleaner with parafin (kerosene)? Or will it melt the glue or the foam? The air filter in the Sherco is in good condition but has a lot of black greasy muck at one end. I don't have any dedicated degreaser for it, and I don't think washing up liquid is going to cut it (at least, not for the first pass). I've never before had an air filter that was this dirty that didn't need replacing anyway!

Different things work for me at different times, I've had success with regular bleeding, bottom-up bleeding (with a syringe pumping the fluid from the bottom) and unmounting the caliper and raising it above the master cylinder. Last Monday I had to redo the front on my Sherco because there were some gooey bits in the reservoir and blockage from the reservoir to the master cylinder. It decided it didn't want to bleed so after much swearing with all of the above I put the whole system upright, taped to my workbench, with the master cylinder removed but the reservoir top on and poured fluid into the hole for the master cylinder using the bleed nipple to let out a bit of air at a time. A bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but it's fine now ... I did get brake fluid everywhere though 😅

I think I can tell which ones are the 'before' photos, lol Nice work, keep it up!

After 2008 (?) They swapped the fuel tank and air box to help weight distribution ... I'm sure that that makes no difference to anyone but a pro, lol

Doesn't matter, I have Forma Boulders for my wide-ish feet, my other half has tiny child-size feet and Hebo boots. Either way, try them on before you buy. Personally I like to go for larger than needed to allow a bit of airflow in summer or doubling up on socks in the winter. For the arches I'd suggest swapping insoles to ones that suit you. Good luck!

No idea, my '99 Sherco feels higher quality than my '04 Gasgas used to ... apart from the name not being as well known (the only big competition pedigree they have is 7 years of winning the women's championship) I can't think of a reason they'd be cheaper for the same condition / age.

My first trials bike (at 38) was a 125 Gasgas and while I had to use the revs a lot more sometimes (because I'm not light) the lack of power really kept me out of trouble when pushing myself in sections and I'm very glad I didn't do my first year of trials on a 250. The 125 did everything I could have needed, I was the weak link in the chain!

For my Dad to send me a small package from the UK to me here, as a present of little value, it cost an extra 30€ or so in customs and handling fees. It took two attempts and four pages of customs paperwork. So, in the future the most I'll be getting from the UK is a postcard 😅

Sí, con problemas de motor normalmente 😅 En serio, en catalunya no hay ningun 4t motos de trial para menos de 3k en buen estado

Ja! Solo las Sherco 4t con grande problemas para menos de 2000 circa de aqui ... y tambien es caro enviar una moto a reino unido ahora. Gracias brexit.

Especialmente con problemas de enviar de inglaterra a españa 😅

If it's a white wonder then "World Trials Champion" is correct ... but if you're anything like me just stick on whatever you think looks nicest

Forma soles are nice and strong. I wonder if it's possible to get soles for ONeal Riders, they have good grip and are cheap as chips (though might be a tad inflexible).