I've had mine for 8 years now, only use it for trials & enduro bikes/tip/private use and it's only done 45,000miles.............so not as much as some
Being RWD they can be a bit of a pain in snow/wet grass unless loaded.............but that's the only downside
They only come in one body size height and either SWB (280) and LWB (300) and can carry 1200kg
Mine is a 2002 model and has the D4D Turbo Diesel 2.5litre 4cyl motor (before that they were normally aspirated)
They are a solid relaible bus, with no fancy electrics like windows/aircon/mirrors and have an old fashioned drive train, with a propshaft and no Dual Mass Flywheel clutch set up.
Been out in mine tonight and I haven't started for 4 weeks (snow/ice) and she fired up first click (twin batteries) and has a useful idle lift, which allows you to warm it up whilst loading. She drove spot on tonight
She will cruise at 80mph on the motorway and return 35mpg
Sorry, but very few riders would qualify as being "regular" competetors in Scottish Pre-65 events.
I have to agree with my friend "B40RT" on that point, fair point! The club I am a member in runs an annual Pre65 and Twinshock event, (see my signature for details)!
We are delighted to welcome lads from England, Wales, Derby; Yorkshire; Spain; Catalunya etc.
But Scotsmen... are always in the minority!
Mind you... "B40RT" has ridden the Highland Classic since it started!
Sad fact of life is that our Scottish Championship is a Scottish combined Pre65/Twinshock award because we can hardly get enough riders to make it work, yet when the E&D issue the list for the Pre65 Scottish 2 day and it shows a "mere" 19 places for Scottish competitors, the tartan shards fly!
this time though a feeble excuse of my entry being received 3 days after the closing date. ha! with all the backlog of post especially going north of the border this has to be the lamest excuse ever. surely a extra week or so extension would have been commonplace with other events.
It's a well known fact that if an entry is received after the closing date, that in itself is sufficient for the organising club to reject the entry. The entries opened in October that is surely time enough to get an entry to the event secretary?
They do two things, they are in effect "baffles" and... help seat the spring onto the damper tube.
as an aside, I took the liberty of making up two types of tool for Bultaco forks, one which fits the up to 199A type Betors and the other which fits the 199B type fork with a small but important modification to the damper tube.
It enables me to tighten fully the allen bolt on the end of the damper tube nice and tight (not over tight) without relying on the spring to do the job fully assembled.
92 HOH HAS BEEN FOUND!! yes we found it after a man called mick wilkinson
A man called Mick Wilkinson! you mean THE Mick Wilkinson from Kettlewell, former Francis Barnet & Greeves factory rider, who also rode in the ISDT for Great Britain no less!
Mick Wilkinson - One of motorcycling's greatest characters!
Rev and die cycle was without me touching the throttle, which now I'm sitting here thinking about it must indicate air getting into the system from somewhere other than the carb inlet, or it wouldn't have the volume of air available to enable combustion to such a degree. Looks like I'll be pulling the engine out for a better look I think. But before that I'll give The Procedure a go.
Thanks again.
Sounds to me decidely like you have maybe inserted the seals in their carriers incorrectly or maybe left out the o rings, its drawing air from somewhere, assuming your throttle slide is not stuck wide open!
"Was watching a DVD yesterday six from the scottish i think it was called and a section "Devils Staircase" was used. Dont remember it being used now but from the look of it some modern road bike could do it? might be mistaken but it looked nothing like what competitors are required to ride nowadays. Thus bikes have developed."
point 1 - I certainly would not want to ride the old Staircase on a road bike, I have walked up it many times, I know exactly where it is, its trickier than it looks on film!
"Only true Pre65 bike i have ridden, an AJS, even though it had modern tyres and shocks was really orrible and i can not imagine why anybody in their right mind would want to try to lug that around the Scottish Pre65 course without extensive modification."
Point 2 - I have many times, except it was called a "Matchless - G3C 1959, same as an AJS, only the timing casing and tank decoration differs! And it wasn't seriously modified other than Renthal bars, 18inch rear rim; alloy rims fore and aft and modern footrests! - A proper Pre-65 bike wholely and exclusively... well within the spirit of the Pre65 Scottish!
toyota hi ace great vans old ones not the best on wet ground recent ones a lot better and run for ever last one owned 10 years 180k and sailed through motprior to selling one before the same now on my third
Tell us more about the Toyota Hiace please?
Someone once said:
If its good enough for the Taliban......
They appear to have an "enviable reputation".
They appear boring and old fashioned, but do they really go on forever and have the lowest running costs, what about real problems, have they any real bad points?
In fairness to my old friend Michael Rapley, I have to take my hat off to him. It's one thing doing an article every now and then for either a book or a magazine or a programme (I've done all of these...and written a book as well) that is OK, but to write every single week in life, nope that is not for me.
I took it from a previous post where you stated " You are not alone " referring to being a reserve. I assumed incorrectly that you too were a reserve, perhaps its good news after all...
Well there you go Metisse, you made the wrong assumption then. "B40RT" aka Ross, is not of course alone, what I knew was there are others that are on the reserve list, had a few phone calls about it.
Ah well, never mind, you can please some of the people.......!
I don't believe in sacrifices either, I have always taken the view, if I get in, fair enough, if I don't.. same applies.
Big John on the bench for the time being ...There was me thinking you were a shoe in.... The annual sacrifice to the ballot gods not working this year... Bon Soir
Who said I was on the bench, from where did you get this information?
But of course Michael, as usual, I was jesting with you, just like the time I came along to ride the Worthington Trial at Lagnaha and pretended to be a lone Austrian lad who just happened to be in Scotland with a bike.
I couldn't understand the signing on proceedure, I kept my face straight for ages!
Now that was a right good "wind-up" (the eastern European accent was near perfect), I had you taken in didn't I?
This event has regularly been 100% over-subscribed for many years. The limit is 180 riders, it cannot be easily extended to accommodate more competitors, because it uses the public highway and there are tight restrictions in Scotland for this facility.
I believe, although it has not been substantiated, that it has again been oversubscribed by about 70%. I have spoken to quite a number of people who have decided not to enter this year, this has unfortunately failed to "solve" the over-subscription issue.
A number of suggestions have been made on here (and elsewhere) and even approaches made at various times to the organising club and it's officials. However most of these "suggestions" ensure that the proposer (and all his/her chums) are assured of an entry if such schemes were to be implemented. The worst idea I ever heard was restricting entrants to being over 40 years of age, this in itself would be in fact an "ageist" act, not recommended and also ensure that continued interest in the event would eventually cease!
A lot of bikes that enter are not really in the original spirit of the event, which was in reality a "diversion" for a mid-week bottle neck of traffic at the SSDT. The first event saw a load of ex-factory riders obtain a suitable machine of the period (e.g. Arthur Lampkin on an ex-works BSA Gold Star; Jeff Smith on another; Gordon McLaughlan on an AJS etc... etc) Now I'm afraid we see very interesting machines dating from 2009 or later, which while technically brilliant and expensive pieces of kit, but falling far short of being "Pre65".
And if they don't get a ride...well need I really say more?
And before some bright spark says anything...NO, I am not the spokesman of the E&D club thank you very much! See below!
The photographic submission with initial entry is a good thing, I have lost count the number of times guys have sent me a photo of their bike asking if I thought it would comply, my answer has always been, you are speaking to the wrong person! Now they have direct access to the Clerk of Course and Eligibility panel for a correct appraisal.
As Slapshot3 has already said: It's their trial, their way!
Ralph (pronounce it as "Rafe") Venables, managed about 1000 columns before he called it a day, that included Motorcycle News and T&MX News. 200 columns and you are giving it up on here? You are winding me up again aren't you?
Get back to that keyboard and stop looking down the barrel of retirement, thats an order!
Ah well, no-one said i didn't try to make you see sense.
Enjoy your retirement, just because I did it (early retirement of course) that wasn't a cue for you to follow me.
Now I believe that this year, photos from both sides of the machine were required?
I wonder if the committee would like to publish these pictures on here, or on there web site.
You are quite correct Charlie, photos had to be supplied by entrants this time. However the photos are purely for the event organisers use only and not for public scrutiny, it could lead to copyright and other such issues if they were to be published on an open website. Some owners may object to their photographs being distributed (data protection and all that!)
I believe that there have been a number of rejections after the photographs have been submitted.
Slapshot has a point, you could cut, copy paste a whole heap of stuff on this event from previous years!
I've been watching a video sent to me by Jock McComisky taken in 1986 by an old hand called Jackie Williamson of the Pre-65 Scottish Trial (when it was a one day event) and the range of machinery and genuine Pre-65 machinery was quite staggering. Apart from Rob Edwards' Triumph which was clearly a Triumph Adventurer in reality and Alex Buchanan's Triumph which George Greenland later identified as a Wasp built in 1968 - the bikes were pretty much "as they were". Very few James seen in any of the shots and the Tiger Cubs spotted had heavyweight teles and certainly no trick forks as far as I could tell. Everyone used a period carb, probably set up as best they could.
A good cross-section of bikes ridden, as they had been in the 1950's and 1960's with some earlier variants than that as well. The sections were also not so tough. Everyone seemed to be enjoying their day out.
One very interesting piece when the cameraman tried to take a shot of a certain Mr. Miller change the fork oil on his Ariel, he was told in no uncertain terms to "go away". I would imagine that the innards he intended to keep secret!
No-one seemed to be too concerned about who was riding what as they were all period machines, even Walter Dalton looked considerably younger back then, he was driving a brand new (C reg) Ford Sierra 1.8 diesel!
Pity it all went a bit shall I say: "sour", from just 24 years ago isn't it?
Given both Brian Higgins and John Collins' knowledge and experience as both being riders and long serving officials, this can only be good for the sport of motorcycling.
I think it only natural that motorcycle competition is governed by people that have a true interest in bike competition. As for recreational "biking" and control of illegal off-road riding, that would be better served by others (IMHO).
yet another - what van - sorry
in Trials Transport
Posted