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Some things to check, even the best of us make mistakes. Is the gearbox output sprocket secure? Engine dead and in any gear push the bike back and forth, does it make a similar clunk? If your bike didn’t do it before the strip then why is it doing it now? I know you want answers but that’s the question you need to be asking your mechanic. Hope it’s an easy remeady?

Have the throttle potentiometer checked, the tracks may be scored and this will inhibit a smooth power supply.

Contact breakers could be stuck open or badly corroded so no earth path created. Ignition coil could have internal short. Wires may have corroded through. HT lead may be faulty, including the plug cap breaking down electrically. Can you not ask your Dad if he knows if it has electronic ignition, apologies if that’s no longer possible. How are you testing the HT spark, remove the plug cap, make sure you camp see wire in the end of the HT lead, hold this end about 2-3mm front a cylinder head fin, get someone to kick the engine over, there should be a nice bright blue flashseen between the lead and fin. Does this B40 have a ‘kill switch’ this could be in the off position or corroded up. Next check the wires to the ignition coil, if they feel hard and stiff they may not be acting as a wire anymore. Some trials bikes of that era were modified to run with a small battery, doing away with the heavy generator, so if that’s the case you will need a good 6 volt battery. Some B40’s and similar C15 models had the contact breakers in small distributors that were mounted into the crankcases, other later models had the contacts etc mounted in the side case beneath a round cover. With the contact breakers you need to establish that the shaft in the distributor goes round when cranking the engine. You need to ensure there is an operating gap between the fixed base contact and the pivoting part of the contact breaker assembly. Hold open the contacts and look at each contacts surface, clean with a piece of wet and dry rubbing down paper or a board type nail file, aim to produce a cleanish face to each contact. You can connect a torch bulb and two wires to the contacts to see if they work as an on and off switch, or use a voltmeter set to continuity. If all is well then the condenser may be faulty, actually a capacitor. With a duff condenser you can still get a spark but it will be very weak. There are some useful videos that show all of this on the net. The coil can be tested for continuity, but I’ll refer you to the demo videos for this, take me too long to explain. Hope this is helpful ?

I used a white aerosol spray on my TY250, it’s was appliance white...washing machines etc. I usedetch prime first to give a good key and surface for the paint to adhere to. Obviously there was the preparation work removing previous scratches and rust. The end result matched the original Yamaha petrol tank perfectly. If you do your heat shield then you can save money, clear lacquer on the heat shield for a trials bike will make touching up scratches hard work, the shield will get scratched from boot contact and muddy trousers scuffing against it. If the nick is in the decals on the tank then that’s going to be at least £100 ish or more, the original decals were applied to the white tank and then lacquered over, that’s factory finish unless your tank has had previous paint work. As there are quite a few shades of white for cars a good paint shop should be easily able to match the colour shade. When I was selling the TY range the paint was virtually brilliant white when we opened up the cardboard transport boxes. As for lack of talent, practice on some old tank or metal sheet to get a feel for the work. Patience and attention to detail could see you producing an effective finish, check out Google and Youtube for pointers. £35 in materials and some sweat and effort will save you ££££’s? Have you had a quote yet or is £200 your estimate?

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You might as well get a trailer, at least you’ll be using the tow ball for the purpose it was intended! As other have suggested you might be minted you could buy a three bike trailer and either offer to give others a lift with their bikes so they can then return their supercars back to original. I ask you where’s the street cred driving a Lambo or McLaren fitted with a tow bar, what ever next holidays in Lowestoft or some exotic East Coast Resort. I can hear the rattle of the doughnut sellers cart even now, such luxury!??????

Ah so, now all we’ve got do is watch out for the McLaren with a Trials bike lashed to it and hey presto your identity is exposed??

It’s easy, just leave the tailgate down and lash the bike to the hinges. You could of course add extra safety by utilising that ball on a stick as an extra lashing point. If you had Bull bars fitted you could easily tie the bike to that, at least you’ll be able keep an eye on the bike in transit as it’ll arrive before you wherever you go?

Palm killers, you knew when you were gripping too hard, thank goodness someone invented gloves! Those levers look to be quality items, possibly Madura? Just noticed spell checker changed my wording, not Madura it’s Magura the levers of choice in the late 60’s and 70’s.

Some say to go with a reasonabley priced branded chain and work on the fact that it will need changing a few times, depending on how often the chain gets used. If you have two decent chains put one that is cleaned and dried into an oil bath...this could be a biscuit tin with lid or similar and leave it to soak. What oil you use is down to personal choice, but EP80 or 90 may be deemed by some as too thick. Grease tends to penetrate when heated like the Linklife grease tins for chain but it’s messy and the grease acts like a magnet for grit and detritus. Engine oil could be a choice and it doesn’t need to be expensive oil either. The other chain will be on the bike, again personal choice with what lube you put on it. Spray lube goes sticky and is not really what you want for Trials or M/X or enduro, a light engine oil works but does fling off, gear oil applied with a paint brush is another option but whatever. Now when you bring the bike back after use all yo do is slip the chain off and clean it or place it in a tin of diesel and oil mix to soak overnight, lid preferable. Cleaning the bike, if you do every time or not, will be easier without the chain on. When you’ve done what cleaning and other maintenance is your normal routine you can get the other chain thats all clean and oiled. Lift it out of the oil and wipe excess oil off, alternatively the chain could just be hung over the oil tin to drip excess oil into it. I expect that you can now understand that in real terms you have extended the life of both chains, with the exception of chain link spring clips. Non O ring chains work best in terms of being narrower so no tyre chain interface or other clearance issues, standard chain is slightly lighter, doesn’t create extra frictional losses due to dry O rings....granted these will be tiny but do add up. You could even keep that other chain as a stand by in case of breakage, or just swap over chains if competing in longer events where time allows. I don’t recommend putting O ring chains into diesel. Most brand new chains when you get them are smeared with grease usually whiteish in colour, a good plan would be to wipe most of this off especially if you know you are going to ride in dusty going. A little pocket sized aerosol of WD40 or GT 85 or any other maintenance spray will be perfect to spray onto the chain during use to help wash off some of the dirt and lube the chain at the same time. Dry lube does not do the same job. Don’t forget to spray the tensioner pivot and slide as well?

Rickman do seem to make their bikes look just right, no modding needed. This looks as ‘right’ as the Puch engined Dalesman. The Zundapp ‘other side view?’ looks excellent and reminds me of the 70 and 80’s when development seemed to gather pace. Is that a CZ behind? Gustav Franke (apologies spell checker changed his surname to France, now corrected). On a personal opinion I would rate Gustav Franke’s as good as Sammy Miller both in the riding skills and engineering application. Than you for wetting my appetite even more ?? So when Villiers decided to do the dirty on a great many small to medium sized competition bike manufacturers and stop supplying their engines, I ask this question, why did the Zundapp engine range get overlooked? The Russians were quite happy to supply complete bikes into Asia and just engines to the TRX concern in the UK. I also understand that CZ did not like to be seen being so successful with their scrambles/ motocross machines, Eastern block trade embargo? Or other reason. I think even Greeves missed an opportunity with not marketing their own engine to other bike companies, quite how suitable that engine would be for Trials I’m not sure. I had a new kit form Sprite Trials 1967 with Villiers ‘latest’ 37A engine from Frank Hipkin not too shabby either, might have been the last of many around that time. I managed to blag an Alpha Stepha full circle crank assembly with polished knife edge connecting rod, but it didn’t plonk like it would with the original Villiers crank. Wonder where the many companies that used Villiers engines would be now if things had been different and Manganese Bronze Holdings hadn’t got involved or kept away from AMC and then Norton Villiers. ?

More food for thought?, thanks oni nou.?

Dooh silly me ?

B’dang dang dang, (my version of that engine noise) so slow revving and obviously fairly torquey. Thank you for posting that clip?

That’ll be the Rickman frame geometry I suspect.

pschrauber, Thank you so much for taking the trouble to provide the very interesting information. TBA Zundapp pictured on the back of the transport doesn’t appear to have much front fork suspension travel and the rear sprocket looks like it might be 60 teeth at least, very low gearing! The table top carrier to transport the bike looks the business and an ideal working height, someone has obviously put a lot or thought into this. The Brockhofe pictured bike looks to be really well developed on from the previous bike with longer travel forks. The bike immediately behind looks very interesting too, can you say what it is. The Hercules with Sachs engine is a lovely looking, what I call proper trials bike. Had a look on line for Trialsport Magazine but no luck, have to have a better try later. Thanks again for the information?

Thank you majesty, nice photos showing some alternative mods. Like the slide through kickstart pedal. The frame looks very wide at the bottom rails, but the engine is no slimline. I seem to remember the Rickman Zundapps being advertised in MCN years back. From your comments I guess that you no longer own the Rickman Zundapp, was it 125, 175cc or bigger? Really like the bungalow. ?

Thank you to all who have replied. Your worthwhile comments and suggestions have made me think again, I am now considering building or converting something into my own ‘special’ Trials bike. When you look at the costs of a complete ‘barn find’ or renovated, restored Trials bike and then the cost of a new bike that will depreciate quickly the sensible side of me rather than the adventurous steps in. With every new trials bike looking very much the same save for colour differences, all having near identical handling and ability I no longer think of rider and machine, but just the rider who could probably just select any bike at random and ride the wheels off it. Having had many new bikes in the past, I can appreciate buying new as you can never loose that ‘ no one else has used and abused anything on this machine, or the feeling when the bike reacts to your inputs. But in my case it’s something to make, modify and appreciate that you can’t really achieve with a new bike as it’s already at its near best, barring changing things for the latest must have or to replace say footrests in the interests of the rider comfort, security etc. As my brother in laws younger brother works for Mugen I may end up with some cast offs that I can use to effect, twinshock with electric motor anyone? ? Thank you again, I appreciate your input.?

What was the question?

Maybe some evidence to show that these bikes can be registered for use on the public roads, or highways in UK might help with your quest. People in authority do not always fully assess what you are trying to register, disallowing being the easy option. Could you ask any USA clubs how their members have gotten on when trying to register a Trials bike, possibly siting their success at registration. Hope this helps you.

Keeps you on your toes though doesn’t it.....discussion and such like? Seriously hope that your physical pain abates enough for you to enjoy your Bultaco....mine (Bultaco that is) has helped me through some real issues.

Pleasure to help you, glad it was straight forward for you, enjoy your ride??

Locate the coolant sensor and it’s wires, carefully ease off both connectors, now either tape both connectors together so that they make metal to metal contact or insert a paper clip or similar into the connectors to ‘bridge’ the circuit. Start engine, coolant fan should run all the time, if this is the case the sensor is not reading coolant temperature. New sensor required. If the fan doesn’t run, ensure that the fan surround or cover has not distorted or has anything wedged in it to prevent fan from spinning freely. If that’s ok, you will need a DVM that’s a digital volt meter set to 20volt, connect the meter probes to either connector and run engine, you should see a voltage reading, if no reading then you may have a break in the circuit which could be a fuse, trace the wires back to check for cuts, chaffing and eventually arriving at the fuse holder, if it’s still there. Use the DVM set to continuity to test the fuse. If the fuse is not passing current then don’t just fit a correct amp fuse, first find the reason for it to blow, such as the cooling fan motor might be seized, you will have noticed this when checking it for free turning. You may need a replacement fan motor, either way if the fan motor spins ok insert another good fuse of the correct amperage and try the system by running the engine. The fuse may have popped when something momentarily prevented the fan from operating, this could have been a twig, clump of mud or literally anything. Hope this is helpful.

Is the oil seal installed far enough in the gearbox housing? Lip facing inwards towards bearing is correct. Sounds like the sprocket is binding on the oil seal front face, hence my suggestion.

Thanks b40rt I was aware about the Continentals using those makes, but it is the ‘works’ bike that I was particularly interested in?