big john

That would be telling! Big John

I enjoyed the show very much, so did my son David. Whilst I do not always see "eye to eye" with my friend Alan Wright, especially when he writes totally incorrect comments on the Pre-65 Scottish! He puts on a very good show and has to be highly commended for his efforts at Telford, here's to many more of them. However, my biggest problem was seeing everything! I bumped into too many good friends and the chat took over, next year I will wear a fake beard so to be not recognisable and be able to see more bikes and parts! An old friend, Bob Pearson of Bob Pearson Racing offered me his 350 trials CCM for

Ariel HT3 update: "Lenore" has been in contact with me today by PM and I have revealed to him the name of the original owner of RSF 802. More to follow in an article in the motorcycle press. Big John

I have a positive 100% identification of that bike. I have tonight spoken by telephone to a man who was a very close friend of the original owner (now deceased) and has confirmed both the rider and that the bike was bought new as an HT3 (350cc) Ariel and my friend at the same time bought a HT5 (500cc) Ariel. In fact there is a photo of the front end of "RSF 802" in my book, "Scotland's Rich Mixture" the bike is parked/mounted on a fallen tree trunk clearly showing the front number plate mounted across the front forks! How's that for a couple of hours research? Big John

I probably have what you wish for! Certainly the SSDT programmes are a snip for me as I have them all post war, in my private archive, up to the time when T&MX produced the programme as part of the weekly paper. Many of these were not preserved because of being used in bad weather! I am still asembling the ones I don't have as time goes by! I am 75% sure that I know who originally owned that bike, but I would have to check, for if that is the original registration mark, it indicates an Edinburgh CC registration from around 1957/58. You may be in luck my friend. PM me please! Big John

Welcome aboard Paul250. Big John (Likes Bultacos!)

Big John

I subscribe to the view that "oil is cheap whereas engines are expensive" and regular oil changes on a small capacity motor with a small capacity oil supply should be the rule of the day. However, the oils are so good at doing their job nowadays, (assuming 4 stroke owners buy good quality oil) then changing the filter every time is not really so important. Ever second change is probably safe enough. However Honda gaskets are actually impregnated with a silicon so that this takes up any abnormalities in the casings and Honda trained mechanics will tell you not to apply grease or silicon to a genuine Honda gasket, to avoid leakage. I run AJS & Matchless bikes from the 1960's. They have no oil filtration to speak of, other than a metal gauze in the flow line or flow part of the oil tank. I change the oil, which is a SAE50 grade mineral, after every trial and the oil is hardly discoloured. At worst it will usually have a line of black which is carbon deposit. The gauze is rarely coated with anything other than oil and it is designed to pick up any swarf that may flow around the system. Just an observation! Big John

Correct the manual says change the filter and oil together, most riders do this for safety. Last oil change, my son changed the oil (got it warm, dropped used oil out, put new oil in) no adverse effect. However, he has decided that as the filters are not expensive he will put up with the hassle of a new gasket to make sure a new filter is used at each change. Consider this though.. When Montesa 4RT's are used in long events like the SSDT, riders usually check the oil level every day, but they don't change the oil or filter half way through the event and those motors are covering around 600 miles, mostly off road under competition conditions, its a thought isn't it? Big John

Yes and I have a photo, but TC won't allow an upload for all to see! Big John

What an anorak! Big John (banned by Trials Central!)

The secret is out then, we can all breathe easily now! I hate keeping secrets, but there you go. That wily fellow Scot, Tommy Sandham (known to me as TDS!) is out of retirement and compiling a book specifically on the Pre-65 Scottish Trial. It should be available on sale at Kinlochleven this very year!!! It's about time there was a book about this very special trial which complements the Three SSDT books Tommy wrote which of course I have in my collection of bikesport publications which threatens to take over my office here at Big John HQ. Now where is my wallet? I'll have two copies please TDS! Big John

Dates? Big John

Absolutely correct Michael! It was an absolute **** hole! It was a right guddle! Construction was indeed for the Morrison/An Aird project which of course houses McDonalds and a solicitors office in that general area. I can't remember exactly why the trial lost the West End Car Park, it may have been an upgrade at that time. That must have been the year Jordi Tarres rode the first watercooled Beta too. Big John

Hmmm, yes why stick a photo of an '05 in the advert I ask myself, even an '09 photo would have been more representative of the current model? Big John

My first bike was a 1969 four speed 125cc Puch Dalesman, ex-ISDT bike of Ernie Page. I posted some info on threads on here before in the twinmshock or classic pages. Big John

Yes that's old B40RT with a jacket he still uses, I'm sure he had that SWM jacket at Alvie last year, am I right Ross? Big John (ps: I can't wait to see "that book", its hush hush at the minute!!! )

Dalesman used initially Austrian Puch M125 motors, switching to German built Sachs 6 speed 125 motors around 1971/72, I think. The bikes themselves were built in Otley, Yorkshire and there was a thread about them on this website not that long ago. They are rare in that not many were built or used for competition after 1973/74. I think Competition Developments headed by the late Alec Wright bought over the remnants of Dalesman which was founded by Peter Edmondston, father of Fast Eddy (Paul Edmonston). I believe that there may have been an American financial backer at one time. Bill Brooker left Greeves Motorcycles and worked as Competitions manager at Dalesman for a couple of years too. Joel Robert had input in the initial development of the moto-cross bike which used a slightly different frame to the trails version. The front forks of the 1969 bike used UK made REH (Robin E Humphries) forks, yolks, front hub and brake plate, whereas the rear hub is a Puch Cush drive type from the M125S road bike (Sears handled Puch in the USA). The tank was aluminium alloy made in the UK, similar to the Wassell bike built around 1971/72. The MX bikes' air box was a glassfibre item made to suit the frame dimensions. The frame was manufactured by Jim Lee, who was the one time sponsor of road racer Mick Grant. Hope this helps! Big John

I'm lost for words! Big John

David's 2007 4RT went through a period of stalling in a section and then simply cutting out when being ridden on a track not fully stopping but as if someone was pressing the kill switch. We changed the kill switch and checked out the wiring to the kill switch, disconnected it etc and it still cut out! ...very infuriating! Then the wiring loom was changed and right away, no more cutting out! Yes, John Sunter did have similar problems and a wiring loom change cured his bikes' problem too. The culprit sems to be the coil wires which are fairly exposed to crud and after a couple of seasons regular use, they seem to corrode, that creates a resistance in the power supply and even turning the handle bars gives the impression that the kill switch is operating itself. The bike would restart immediately after a "stall". That '07 bike was sold to a friend of the family and it starts and runs as sweet as a nut even after a really wet SSDT! Big John

MSM Insurance Brokers They are the brokers that do the TPFT insurance cover which includes road riding cover whilst competing IN a recognised trial or enduro event. The bike must be registered with DVLA and there are some security requirements, I got it for my 20 year old's 4RT at

No problem! Big John

Yes its normally classed as a 1976 in that case. If the frame number starts as 159 that is the model they called the "Manuel Soler" in Spain, it therefore has the separate tank, seat and airbox side panelling and not as Tim has posted the one piece tank/seat unit of the earlier models 92-151, which the UK spec bikes had the alloy Homerlite combined units fitted, the colour of which was blue and silver with separation black pinstripe lining. Aftermarket polished alloy was also available to riders who wanted earlier models road legal after fiberglass tanks were banned in 1973. Hope this helps. Big John

The front page of the Haynes Bultaco manual has a very good colour photo of the off side of a 1975 Sherpa T 325cc (model 151) Big John

And remember once you have done all that to get the bike up to full working temperature, run it continuosly until it gets hot fans on and off a few times! Big John