peterb

Hi Pancho, The standard spkts for a 250/280/300 PRO are 11/42. Most lads here fit a 10T, the gearing is a little high as standard. Bye, PeterB.

Hola Javier, The next classic (twinshock) trial is scheduled for March 2 in Auckland, will try to get Tim out on the Bultaco so he can take some pics. Saludos, PeterB.

Bonjour jb78, Excuse e moi, je non parlez Francois. Por tu Majesty, cette posible usar une DellOrto PHBL26 de Gas Gas PRO, avec une chicle principal (main Jet) 100. C'est carburador es tres bien por otra motos, similar. A bientot, PeterB.

Yo Tim, These are great shots, it's like I was there!

Hi PennyB, I have a 2006 Raga 300, been riding at expert level for many years now, I found the motor much more responsive than the standard 300 and fitted a Hebo flywheel weight which made it perfect for me. I think the bike is just brilliant. As standard, the power delivery is too quick and too strong for most riders. But.....you can always modify the motor a little to suit your riding. While I agree with the previous responses that a 250 would be great for a beginning rider, if you have your mind set on the Raga and are saving some spondools in the process, then here are a few suggestions with what you can do to the motor while you are learning and later this year, you can revert back to standard setting if you want to. Hebo flywheel weight. Black tube slow action throttle. Fit 0.8mm thick extra base gasket. Slot the holes in the ignition pick up sensor and retard the static ignition timing (move the sensor counter clockwise). Fit a 10T gearbox spkt. After these mods, you'll have quite a manageable and tidy looking bike. Bye, PeterB.

Hi pancho, always best to act fast when you drown your motor. Completely clean out the airbox, air filter, completely strip the carb, clean and re-assemble. Remove spark plug, tip the bike upside down and turn the motor over to remove any water from the cases. On the PRO, the crankshaft seals are on the inside of the cases so hopefully no water would have gone into the main bearings. You didn't say if the motor locked up when you got a dollop of water so it's probably not so bad. Check the gearbox oil has not become milky looking (via the sight glass). Start up the bike and get it going for a while to remove all traces of water from the motor, should be ok. Bye, PeterB.

Hi Jay, time for a closer look at the motor before ordering anything else. Always hard to diagnose faults without seeing the bike in the flesh - from what you say, the coolant could be either leaking straight out from the cylinder head O ring seals or leaking out from from the crankcase cooling passages. (Or even through a hose) The O rings are easy to replace and are more likely to be the leak path. White's should have these in stock. On the 1995 250 and 270, the crank cases had coolant passages to keep the crank area cool, didn't really work and was subsequently dropped. There exists a metal (sst) blanking off base gasket that was later offered to seal off the cooling passage area in the crank case from the cylinder. You may find that your bike does not have this fitted and that coolant is still circulating in the crank case area, or at worse, has corroded the casing and is leaking out somewhere. Ask "Al the spanner" at Whites about the gasket, if he still has some, it's worth fitting. Also for the torque settings. Sorry, but I don't have the torque settings, always relied on wrist feel! (After stripping a bunch of threads out when I were much younger) I remember seeing some torque settings mentioned for this on another GG thread somewhere on this site. For sequence, always tighten diagonally across. Good luck, PeterB.

Hi Jay, Best place for parts in the North East (UK) would be White Brothers in Darlington (A66 from Stockton I think), ask them about your clutch hose too. Bye, PeterB.

Hi there, When you say you fitted a bigger master cylinder, do you mean it has a larger diameter piston or is just visually larger? If the master piston was larger than standard then you would achieve more travel and have a harder to actuate clutch. The SY has the clutch slave open to the elements and can easily become clogged up with mud and grit at the working open end. If you remove the silencer and centre box, you can get to the slave, one allen bolt holds it on. Leave the clutch hose connected, with the cylinder removed you can clean out the rubber boot end and lubricate with clutch fluid until you get a good action. Thats a bout all you can do with the standard fittings, I've looked at lengthening the clutch actuating lever but there is little mechanical advantage to be gained with the confinements of the system. After cleaning out a friends bike like this, we got quite a reasonable clutch action. Bye, PeterB.

Hi pindie, The top hat unit is a pressed together 2 part item that can twist out of alignment, rather than crack or break, I have repaired two bikes with this problem. On both occasions the part looks fine at first, on closer inspection you can see that the centre "pin" (a flat piece through the middle) has moved out of alignment with the spring tab at the other end of the top hat. Before stripping down the motor, best to have a look at a new one and compare with yours. You may be able to twist the 2 parts back into alignment and braze up the unit so it stays there - a friend has done just this. Only other area of possible breakage is inside the selector drum, there are 2 pawls here, rollers, that are each held in place with a tiny hairpin spring, if one of these springs are broken, then you would not get any gear selection in a particular direction at all, e.g. you could change all the way to first then not get out of first again. It has been know for these springs to give way, not so common though. Good luck, PeterB.

Hi pindie, Best not to use anything but mineral oil, or an ATF rated to Dexron III in the PRO gearbox. Anything else can cause the friction material in the clutch plates to swell. Yes, the small peg is the eccentric adjustment, with a 10mm hex bolt through it. You can certainly try adjusting this, though I am pretty sure the problem is as derscribed earlier, why would the adjustment alter? (Assuming the gear change was fine previously) Bye, PeterB.

Hi Goreboy, Was wandering, are you from Gore NZ?? Go for 280ml each leg, 5 weight. Rear tyre is fine, just push the silencer out of the way a bit, the brackets get bent when falling off. Synthetic or mineral is fine, I use 50:1 mineral 2 stroke oil without problems for many years. 20:1 is way too rich. Bye, PeterB.

Happy New Year Jay, Definately sounds like the seal at least needs replacing. If your motor has overheated, like it really seems it has done, then you should at least replace the cylinder head O ring seals as these would become hard and tend to leak. The best way to fix the seal is to replace both the seal and the shaft as the shaft tends to groove out, depending on what previous owners may or may not have done, you might have an original sized shaft with 15mm diameter seal, or a 12mm diameter seal or even a later (and best option) 10mm dia seal. The replacement seal kit (MT280010106) has all the parts you need, 10mm shaft and seal with circlip and spacer. You might need new bearings too, 6000 C3 one is a type Z, that has a single metal seal on the bearing. Fit this bearing in toward the clutch outer side with the integral seal outwards. Anyway, to get there, remove the water pump cover and carefully unscrew the impellor, it is a right hand thread and shouldn't be too tight, then the clutch case. Remove the plastic gear and check for any damage to teeth, check how it comes off as there is a lip on one side of the gear. Remove the cirlip from the housing, then tap out the shaft toward the front of the cover. Carefully knock out the bearings (two) toward the inside of the cover or use a bearing extractor/slide hammer unit, then carefully tap out the seal from the inside of the cover, do not score the housing, do not try to remove the seal from the front of the housing. The 10mm shaft has an extra circlip to pevent the shaft from sliding through to the inside of the case. Parts on the shaft from outside to in go like this: Impellor, seal, circlip, 6000 Z C3 bearing, spacer, bearing, big circlip, plastic gear circlip. Be very careful when fitting the clutch cover back on, you need to "feel" the plastic gear locate back into mesh before pressing the case fully down. If you are changing gearbox oil, I use either a 10 weight mineral or an ATF rated to Dexron III, 700ml. Do not use synthetic oil. What part of the world are you in? Good luck, PeterB.

Happy New Year pindie, I've fixed a couple of PRO's with your exact problem. It was a straight forward repair so nothing to worry about. Sometimes when the gear lever clouts a rock or a bank, it can rotate past it's supposed mechanical limit, this extra force causes the opposite end of the gear shaft to twist apart the metal cap unit that the return spring sits over. You can buy these as a complete unit, the cap with the spring as P/N MT280238037CT with the spring cable tied in position - cut the tie only after fitting. If you have access to a brazing set, you can repair the cap but then you need to be sure that the cap components are in the correct position before doing so. Best not to disturb the return spring locator, this has its mounting hole eccentrically drilled to provide adjustment for the gear lever "throw" for up and down changes. As previous responses, you can leave the oil and water in, just tip the bike well over to the left, remove the clutch cover - don't mix up the many different screw lengths, look out for the kickstart shaft washer and the clutch slave thrust bearing. You can remove the clutch as a complete unit, tap the clutch centre bolt (4mm allen screw) a bit with a drift to help to undo, then pull off the complete clutch. Do not use a ball ended allen key for this. Under here you'll see the return mechanism. Remove the circlip very carefully as the end of the gear shaft can be quite brittle, then the shim, then you can remove the spring with cap as an assembly. The cap has a piece across its diameter that locates into the end of the gear shaft slot, it's this piece that will have rotated slightly in respect to the tongue that actuates the spring. From memory, I think they should both be in the same plane - you'll see what I mean when you have a look. It would look as though there is nothing wrong with it, it only takes a bit of a twist to be out. Rebuild with a new case gasket. Be sure to use 10 weight mineral oil or an ATF rated to Dexron III in the gearbox - no synthetics. Bye, PeterB.

Happy New Year slack, Just done this exact SY piston job 3 days ago on a friends bike - not so straight forward if you want to keep the motor in the frame. Try Birketts for a piston, pin, circlips, little end bearing, base gasket, and a set of rings. They all come separate. Drain coolant. Remove the airbox, carb, reed block hose, radiator and exhaust system. Remove head nuts then, using two nuts locked together on each of the 6 head studs, remove all studs and the head steady bolt of course. Very carefully, slide the head forward without damaging the special head gasket - these are very pricey, you should be ok to re-use the old one if your motor has not boiled over. For ease of servicing later on, you can replace the 6 head studs with 8x1.25mm x 35mm long allen bolts. Getting the studs out takes some time. To remove the cylinder, undo the 4 nuts and rock the cylinder off the cases, tilt the cylinder forward to remove from between the front frame tubes, it's a tight fit. Have some clean rag ready to pack into the crankcases. TFT came up with the good idea of fitting the ringed piston into the cylinder before fitting the cylinder onto the cases, then carefully inserting the gudgeon pin and then the final circlip into the piston before fully sliding the cylinder into position - you'll know what I mean when you come to do it. The circlips are easily bent! Be careful. Then remove the rag from the cases. Note that the rings go in one way round, they have a letter "T" stamped for top, this faces the head. Piston fits in with the arrow facing foreward. Use new O ring seals on the exhaust and replace the exhaust compression seal on the cylinder. Have fun, PeterB.

Usually valves would only crack around the seat area, never seen any cracked across the valve surface. Cause of valve seat cracks are down to insufficient tappet or valve clearence or ignition timing too advanced or a very lean mixture creating overheating. The plug would indicate this. Also, if the valve timing was set incorrectly. As for new ones, try your Honda dealer and if none available look for similar sized ones, either new or from a wrecker. Bye, PeterB.

It's an RTX 212 or 125, Russian motor in an English frame from the late 1990's, not such a good bike I understand. Look at the posting TRX212, in this forum section, 8 under this one. Bye, PeterB.

Hi betapete, Guisborough was my old club, does John Nelson still ride trials? Bye, PeterB.

Hi Dave, As per Lewis, the clips prise apart sideways, usually with pliers or long nose pliers and just snap together again. Bye, PeterB.

I have a Fantic book with specs for bikes from 1978 to 1988, in 1985 Marzocchi forks had 230ml oil per leg, 1987 265 ml of 10 weight , 1988 10 weight 170 mm from top of tube with fork compressed, 1989 as previous but 140mm and 7.5 weight. If it were me, I'd just try out 250ml of 10 weight in each leg. Bye, PeterB.

Try some of the Gas Gas dealers close to you, or if not known then go straight to John Shirts website. I can't remember where Wigan is, just found it, close to Manchester, shouldn't be far from a few good dealers then. White Brothers up in Darlington are really bril with parts and particularly excellent with service and tech help. Bye, PeterB.

Hi Dave, There should be a metal washer as you describe between the bushing and the shaft, more of a thin shim. Best to drain the coolant by disconnecting one of the water pump hoses, the bush is not really for draining purposes. Bye, PeterB.

I am fairly certain that nickel is plated first prior to chroming, so I would say that the nickel only plating would be less costly than chrome plating. The nickel can be finished dull like the older British bike parts or bright like the Rickman frames. Nickel electroplates rather efficiently and is usually applied thickly to cover surface irregularities. The chromium is applied in only a few microns, certainly less than 1 thou. It was thought that copper was always used in the old days when chrome plating but this is not quite correct, only in some applications was copper used when trying to hide badly prepped surfaces or hard to get to surfaces but the copper has an adverse effect with steel when combined with moisture (electrolysis). Make sure the plating company is used for industrial work and not just for indoor decorative type applications where the chrome plating is extremely skimpy. You'll need to talk to your plater to get a fix on pricing and finish. Bye, PeterB.

I am fairly sure the middle boxes have a central perforated tube with the packing made from a steel wool look alike, well they are on a GG and it may be the same on the Sherco. This being the case, any burning would most likely destroy the packing. Probably best to cut it open and re-pack with whatever material there should be and have someone TIG weld it for you. Make sure you mention that it was soaked in petrol first though! Bye, PeterB.

I agree with woody, a painted frame would be far more practical. I had a quote from a friendly electroplater who advised the cost for plating a frame would be in the order of NZ$600, approx 250 pounds. I saw some of the workmanship from the platers, it wasn't that bril. Lots of rough areas were plated without being polished. It would be best if you were going ahead with chroming, to first strip off the paint then polish up the frame parts yourself before going to an electroplaters. Bye, PeterB.