jon v8

I'm going to ignore the less than encouraging remarks about TY 250 twinshocks, you only need to watch the results to see how well they do.Anyway,I have bigger,(Quite literally) fish to fry - like trying to find a decent AJ/Matchie rigid for a sensible price.I want to ride pre 65 again before it all gets too silly.Not stuff like the Dartmoor 2 day,but trials like the Somerton classics and a few of the Bath ones.There must be plenty of them sat in sheds cos few peeps seem to be riding them........ Anyway Marky,I really like the TY mono too,had most of my best rides on an 86 250R,but I'll go back to them when I'm 50 and able to ride them in the over 50 mono class - which I reckon will be where the twinshock situation is now.

And all it will do is make you feel a better rider than you are,(Unless you are really good and dont need the advantage anyway.) and serve to p-ss everyone else off.

Arrggh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think OTF has hit the nail,it would seem a lack of direction by lots of companies in the 60/70's led to us losing a massive chunk of our industry - and not just the trials bikes we are talking about here.There is nothing wrong with a points based flywheel mag and points set up if its well made - my TY Yams run beautifully on points,I dont think its worth the money to go electronic with them. Just seems the same old story,the English way of skilled people with top ideas either never getting the chance to prove them or being enticed abroad to do their thing.Not that I have any problem with foreign bikes except BMW's ! I find it a fascinating subject to read and wonder if........

Thank you all for your answers,Big John esp - serves me right for not reading the whole book,(Trouble is I read in bed late at night and dont take it all in properly)I looked back at the AJS chapter,I see what you mean.The link to the villiers pages is fascinating,as said its brilliant that someone has gone to the trouble to get it all up on the net. As for the actual engines,my limited experience of them in my "youth" was that ignition problems aside they were good stuff.But then all the other bikes I had,mainly BSA Bantams,Cubs etc - all had the same problem,rubbish electrics. I wonder how far Villiers would have gone with decent management and perhaps electronic ignition.(The industrial engines were just the same,I still have the same MK10 engine - side valve unit I had when I was 10,a poor spark was its only fault.) If you think about it there would have been a market for some,(Maybe not all) of the smaller bike manufacturers to have pulled throught the seventies if Villiers had carried on making engines for them.The Honda CB125 and its trail brother the SL125 must have been around since about 1972 - didnt BSA carry on the D14/4 Bantam till then ? It does make me wonder what they were thinking of,maybe AJS did want the engine to itself,why not supply the engines under a different name from the failing group,it seems like the bikes stopped getting made because the engines stopped coming - not because the bikes didnt sell. And were the engines from Spain that much better ? Looking at the quality of the 68/9 247 Mont in bits in my workshop I cant see where the difference is really.Esp when you see how well people like Mick Andrews do with them now - electronic ignition aside !

Sorry if its been done to death before,but recently I've been reading books like 20 years of Twinshock Trials. Looking at some of the British lightweight bikes from the era of SHM ruling with his Bultaco,it made me realise that companies like Greeves,Sprite,James and Dot were pretty much all up there with it.In another book,the British two stroke trials bikes one,it says more than once about supplies of Villiers engines drying up.Cotton for instance used the 170cc Minerelli engine,but it seems it was not very popular - compared to the Villiers. So what happened to Villiers engines ? I guess they were owned by NVT,were they just dropped as a decision made by the parent company,or were they too costly to produce ? I just wonder how far the small bike producers would have carried on if they were not stuck for engines.

It may not be the exact answer you were looking for,but I use lots of NGK plugs in my Land Rover garage - the bulk of which are the BPR6ES.These are used in all the old Rover v8's.Its a basic,old fashioned plug that works very well - even with LPG.I dont think you can go far wrong with NGK,just find the right grade for your use. Later ones were specced with a platinum tipped plug with a very wide gap,even though it is the same engine.All it did was give the coil packs and plug leads a hard time,often burning them out.My point of dribbling on about this is that you simply dont need high tech plugs,or big spark gaps - just a decent plug in good condition.What is far more important is how the spark is made,my 1970's Yamaha's still work well on their original points etc.What never ceases to amaze me is how well Bantams and the various Villiers 2 stroke engines now run with the electronic PVL or similar systems.

I always thought it was more about ground clearance,the standard 250 is pretty low,and with a fairly wide motor it does feel like you are farmer out ploughing at times.Been following this thread with interest as I have two spare late 250's.Its always been at the back of my mind to convert one of them.

I swopped over to Domino levers a while back - really good,but I found after a couple of trials the clamp screws came undone and they swivelled around on the bars.Spot of Loctite on the threads seems to have done the trick. Very comfy to use along with the Renthal grips.

Yep,just learn how to make the most of 8bhp,if thats all you have use it to the max, you have a clutch - slip it.There is a certain Mr Vining who is well known in west country classic trials,he does very well on an extremely well used TL125 that he enters as a 150.He is an average sized bloke,he just rides it well - nothing else. I can remember being 12 years old and seeing a row of 4 brand new TL125's outside a dealers in North Wales - I would have chewed my arm off for one of those.I also remember Bike magazine testing one in about 1978 along with a KT250 and a 350 Bult.They had a bit of help as they were road testers,but nowhere along the line did they critcise the TL for lack of power,actually the soft engine was favoured for being forgiving - unlike the TLR250 I bought new in 1986.

Why does it have to be like that - its not like working for Mi5, why do the AMCA trials have such a different attitude to having a licence ? (Genuine question - not a wind up,I'd like to know.)

The thing that bugs me about the ACU liecence is that it has to be signed by a club sec,why ? Its just a simple form for trials,or even if it was just for your first licence.I only ride two trials each year that are ACU and I cant see why I should have to get the club sec to sign it.I really dont object to the fee,thats no problem .

Out and out power is not really a consideration,you can bore them to 160 or 180 anyway or fit a 200 unit. As long as its a twinshock its got to be good.

I think Moto Vintage may have a good point here,the 250 motor in my old Fraser had hidden head bolts - nearly caught me out when I took the top off.Be worth having a good look around before applying any force........

At a complete standstill,my Tig welder is a 3phase unit and I've blown up the AVR in the generator that I run it off.(Anyone have a 30kva 3ph transformer regulated alternator OR 1-1 isolation transformer they dont need ? ) Without the Tig working I cant really get the airbox built,till thats done I dont know what room or layout I'll be able to use for the voltage reg etc.Trouble is the TY250 is so reliable its too easy to keep using it - where its been so dry all I've had to do is fill it with fuel and oil the chain for the last 4 trials.......

Not as biased as me ! Forget the rest - buy a Ty,then you can upgrade it to a Majesty.......

And its a good feeling beating the mono's on a twinshock too,I rode the Bath Peace trial today,I must have won my class as I rode the only twinshock ! (Score cant be too clever tho,it were a bit 'ard....)

Well said - you dont need an expensive bike for twinshock,I bought a TY250 off E-bay for

I really dont like the idea of converted mono's - let the air cooled mono's have their own class,I'll have a go in it when I' over 50 ! What concerns me more is the loss of the pre unit big bangers,I love seeing them at work in sensible sections - how can we encourage them back out again ?

I was chatting to a well known bloke in the twinshock trade on Sunday at the Bath "Classic" trial.Our conversation was about the type of bikes being ridden,there were no Pre-unit bikes at all,(That I saw anyway)the British stuff was all Cubs,C15/B40's and Greeves etc.Nice lot of twinshocks,all the usual Yams,Hondas,Beamish Suzuki's,Bultaco's and Montesa's - fine. But what was really noticeable was the amount of new mono's,ridden by over 50's - all totally legit,mostly riding the easy route.It may be not my place to say but I'd rather see less of the modern bikes,it is afterall a "Classic" trial.And there are plenty of rides for owners of modern bikes. The bloke I was talking to summed it up perfectly for me in saying not only does he like competing in the trial,but he also likes to see the other classics,talk about them - even smell them ! Its not like the sections are too difficult either,the easy route is generally marked out in a way that Pre unit rigids have a good ride without being stupid - and give less experienced riders on modern bikes the chance to get less than a 3 at every section.

Cant agree with that - WA all the way.

Thought so,I'll carry on in my own sweet way,just being careful and thinking about what I'm doing. My brother in Western Oz has a trucky mate - his dad is a retired trucky too - a legend in many far flung parts over there.He has a saying for the unbelieveable cr-p that he hears," I shake my f--king head" if you could see him and hear him say it you would know why I mention it...... My head rarely stops shaking Andy,the gauntlet is down.

Relief ! I'm not alone,I was just going to rant on about my wife being bullied by primary school staff when she picked up one of the kids she childminds.He is very small and one of the youngest of the year group. Legally he does not need to attend school tilfull time till he is 5.Poor little chap struggles with 1/2 a day so his Mum asked my wife to have him for quiet afternoons to "break" him in gently.(Just as my wife did with my son - it worked.) Now even the Headmistress is joining in with having a go at the Mum - Its all about Ofsted reports and attendance percentages.Bog all to do with an individual childs welfare. I was bl--dy fuming ! (Partly because although my wife was too,she is scared of me speaking my mind as my daughter is still at the school too.) So I have to be a bit careful,but its just rubbish,esp when the Govt bang on about family values..... Come on Andy,I think I speak for all of us when I say we would love to hear your "Vent" !! P.S. I ride bikes,use a Land Rover too old to have seat belts,use several chainsaws and play with tractors with little or no safety kit.I have never done a risk assesment.Is there any hope for me ?

Is everyone else pi--ed of with Govt profiling us all,telling us how to live,not to do this or that...... How long are we going to put up with it,I feel quite happy to make my own mistakes and sort them out afterwards.Dont mind paying taxes,(Within reason)or having speed limits etc.But some of the rubbish being fed to us now really jarrs me off.I think one of the main reasons apart from a general love of bikes why I enjoy trials so much is that it seems to have largely missed out from loads of rules and regs of officialdom. I wonder if there is any chance of a political party that would let people alone to live their live and make their own choices........ Moan over,I'll shut up now and find the corkscrew.

This would appear to be more like it; http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/yamaha-ty250-twinsho...id=p3286.c0.m14