jon v8

Spend an hour on friday afternoon riding around the farm on a quad,s--t myself when it runs away down a steep bank.... Spend saturday marking out with more mickeytaking than should be allowed.Pray for decent weather on sunday morning and that plenty of riders,(And ten observers) turn up.Get to have a ride myself.Nobody hurts themselves,the results appear by magic on the website - and we do it all again next time. I'm looking forward to sunday,without snow the venue has alot to offer,and my Ariel is nearly fit to ride.....

Dont think I can recall seeing one of those before.The only pictures and info I can find is in the Sprite section of Don Morleys book - Classic British Two Stroke Trials Bikes. The ISBN # is 0-85045-745-9. May be worth finding a copy,there isnt that much on your bike,but it explains how they got to start using Sachs engines etc. Welcome to the forum by the way - and I hope you enjoy the Sprite.

The pump was removed from all three of my TY250's, I use Castrol TTS Power 1 at 50-1 mix,works fine.(But it also works well in my chainsaws and strimmer.....) May not be right,but it works. Gearbox oil is actually a Land Rover product - MTF94,again probably not right,but works well for me and is cheap.(I run a Land Rover garage.)

The flywheel cover made

As in new - unused being the main bit of being new.....

I just looked through again,all the NOS stuff,someone ought to explain what it means.....

A mate of mine used to sell sets of Land Rover lamps on the bay,people would pay nearly double retail price for them.Another bloke used to put together keyfob "rebuild kits" for P38 range rovers,again they would sell for nearly double the actual retail value.....

Cheeky blighter - I still have an MT43 on the front of my Yam,cant see anything wrong with them on the front.(I did get alot of stick from a certain member of my trials sub commitee cos I had one on the back until the Dartmoor two this year) I'd go IRC,the grip is brilliant.

I bought an ultrasonic tank a while ago as my brother bought an RGV500 Yam and an RG500 Suzuki,then asked me to go right through them as they had both been in storage.Then a couple of people saw it in my workshop and it got plenty of use.... But one point to note is that the detergent I bought made the cad plating go dull on a couple of things,so try a few things first before doing anything special. They do do a good job though. P.S. I'm like that with tools,I think a milling machine next.

Remind me never tto buy a bike off you !!

I've recently put IRC's on the back of my Ariel and one of my Yams - they are very soft and grip beautifully,but the only downside is that a recent Golden valley trial at Breakhart quarry really took the edge off.I could have ridden that trial on a road tyre with 30 psi,seemed a terrible waste of a tyre with sharp edges. But tomorrow at Catswood I know damn well I'll need all the grip it can find...

Good to know you have found how many rear shocks a bike should have - two or none ! Theres plenty of fun to be had,you never know you might end up with a pre unit big banger.... Ok - I'm mad.

I think Booma is spot on,but who fitted that front mudguard ?

Thanks for explaining,thought it would be something like that.This is why we need more decent books on the subject of trials - bikes,riders and event history etc.

Nice looking bike,I bet you are glad to have it back.Wassell I'm sort of familiar with,but whats the tie up with Penton - I always thought they were US market KTM's ?

I was using a plug per trial in my Ariel,then went from a B7 to a B5.Had no problems since having ridden it all summer without missing a beat.I just concluded that the plug was cleaning itself better as it was running hotter.It doesnt use oil or give blue or black smoke,so I think all must be well in the combustion chamber. So on that basis,if its not smoking I'd try it.

If you are going to Emborough Ponds on sunday catch up with me there and show me what you want.I'll be on the Ariel as long as its not peeing down.(I'll be on my Yam if it is,the mag is not too waterproof...)

Mick was wetting himself laughing at it ! It was what happened when the wheel hit the ground that prompted me to do something about the forks.

As per the title really,in my quest for gradual improvement of my HT5 the forks are going to get bodged... They are pretty shot really,but I'm not interested in fitting modern internals etc,I just want to get the best out of the standard setup for now.I dont want to take it to bits as it just wont get put back together,there is too much else in my workshop thats in front of it.

Micks bike that I rode was looking like this about 3 weeks ago.

Thats why a helmet with a take out liner is a good idea.The Hebo one I have is ace for this - its nice to have a fresh smell rather than an awful stink when you put it on.

I'd forget all of the above and go for a TY175/250 TS or 200/240 Fantic,much more fun.

Same here,as long as I'm running the trials for Bath Classic they will be marked out to cater for Pre unit and Rigid bikes.We run two routes,and yesterday Barry Barthorpe finished on 2 with his 350 Ariel on the A route.He is a VERY good rider,but he is still on a big bike and only 2 riders had a clean sheet on the a route - so it shows what can be done.The B route is deliberately made to be friendly to bigger bikes,I didnt actually compete in the trial,but I rode my HT5 around and cleaned all the B route before the start early on. My only hope is that people will catch on to the idea that we are still catering for them. We ran a trials demo at a steam rally back in the summer,I took my TY250 and the HT. I'm not really fit enough to ride the HT for two solid days... But When I fired up the HT and poked it around the course there was an instant increase in interest,loads more people watching and asking questions etc.They really do catch peoples attention,the size and sound of them really draw the crowds. So if people still want them,make the sections suitable for them and encourage riders to bring em out.

I dont know where you rode today,but I'm doing my best to make Pre unit bikes welcome at Bath trials,I didnt actually compete on my HT5 today because my knee is a bit of a mess at the moment - but I did use it to get around the venue.George Greenland was riding his Dot - he is welcome to ride anything he likes at our trials along with other senior riders such as Wilf Couldwell etc,its just good to see them out on their bikes. We mark out the sections with bigger/older bikes in mind - but we cannot force people to ride them. It cant be too bad though with 91 riders taking part.

This is where we need someone like Roy Bacon to collate all the available info and write a decent book about twinshock trials bikes.When I asked Mick Andrews about writing a book he was not keen on doing it - but there must be loads of people like me who are hungry for proper data about conversions such as the Majesty Yams who want to know what was done. The people are still around who have the answers - maybe not down to the last digit,but there is a story to be told.