peterb

Black throttle tube is the slow action, white tube is the standard. With the weight removed, the motor will respond quicker and tend not to roll so much when going up rocky rivers. Bye, PeterB.

For wheel bearings I always heat up the hub first with boiling water. Usually knock out the bearing with a drift as the inner sleeve does tend to move a bit to allow this. If not, use a bearing puller, with an expanding inner cone that grips the bearing inner race and allows a slide hammer that screws into the end of the cone to be used to shock out the bearing. With the rear shock, again use boiling water on the housing then use a socket against the bearing to allow the bearing to be squeezed out in a vise, place a larger socket to clear the OD of the bearing. Bye, PeterB.

I usually ride a Raga 300. Tried an 07 4T Scorpa just this week, its very heavy but has an ok performance. Definately better than the 06 model, the 07 has an accellerator pump on the DellOrto carb which improves the low end response. Dont know about the 08 changes, but bound to be helpful. A friend has one and he tends to stall the bike a lot, not much flywheel weight I reckon. Best to try one and see. I thought the Scorpa 2T went well but takes a bit of adjusting to with its odd rear suspension and far reaching footrest position. Good responsive motor and well selected gear ratios. Bye, PeterB.

Hello, I just rode a 2007 SY250 in the 5 Jour du Verdon, some days over 100km loops with harder going than the Scottish. I usually ride Gassers, for the last 15 years at least. I thought the Scorpa was an easy bike to ride, too much flywheel weight for me as it tends to roll too much in rocky sections, skimming the flywheel down a bit would help. Good controllable motor. Suspension worked well on the smaller rocks though I felt it was too lively for bigger stuff. Cycle parts well sorted out, seat base tends to warp in the centre with too much sitting down and the silencer tends to burn your upper leg,cheek area! Definately fit a carbon fibre shield. Footrests feel too far back. Otherwise, the bike worked very well for me, seeing as I have never ridden a Scorpa before. Motor has a very good feel, gear ratios are well chosen. I hear that Birkett offers superb after sales service. I must say that Scorpa France were absolutely the best in looking after all of their Scorpa customers, with impeccable and very friendly service, the likes of which I have never seen before - if you know Al the spanner from Darlington way, it was like having a whole bunch of Al,s working for you, simply great service. Bye, PeterB.

The bike was outdoors for a while on Sunday morning for a photo shoot, but not running. It does look identical to another popular Spanish bike but has many parts sourced from China, forks, yolks, bars, shock, all hydraulics, rims, hubs, and most of the motor. 5 speed, only 250cc for now. Price was approx Euro 1,600 less than the competition which may cause problems for the used bike market. Motor castings looked good, plastics not so bril, frame welds could be better. Carb is an OKO, not Keihin. Clutch is by Sureflex and Leonelli ign system. Would be interesting to see one go. Bye, PeterB.

Is this a PRO or the older motor. Most likely the master cylinder seals are passing, or the slave seals are passing. Or, on the older motors, sometimes the ball bearing in the end of the slave piston can get pushed back through the piston and then you are unable to get the travel thet you need on the clutch disengagement. Feels like a dragging clutch. In this case a new slave kit is needed. Bye, PeterB.

The kit you have is correct. The light spring was added in around 1992. The piston retracts from the clutch spring pressure overcoming the hydraulic piston which would have no other force acting against it when the clutch lever is released. Bye, PeterB.

Hello Andy, With the fork still fully assembled on the bike, unscrew the seal cap. Next you need to unscrew the 8mm cap screw at the bottom of the slider while the fork is together. A bit of a tap on the allen key may be needed. Best to drain the oil at this stage. Remove the inner fork cartridge. Remove the fork leg, remove the seal cap. There is a bush that needs to be forced out by using the fork as a slide hammer, as mentioned before. Once fully stripped apart, you can see the two bushes in the fork. Refill with 280ml of 5 weight. Bye, PeterB.

You probably have water in the kill button. Remove the button from the bars, dry it out and replace. I f not, it could be something more sinister like a bared wire shorting to ground with the rain water, under the headstock area. Bye, PeterB.

Not an easy one to diagnose. Have you checked the kill button is not shorting to ground. Generally the ign system is very reliable, no chance of getting any wires mixed up was there. Best thing is to check it out against another similar bike. Bye, PeterB.

I guess you are in the UK. If Shirty does not have any, then try White Brothers in Darlington or BVM in Gloucester. Bye, PeterB.

With the age of your bike, it is very likely that the swivel bearing in the bottom of the shock will have also worn out. There are two shouldered washers that are a tight press fit into each end of this bearing. Use two screwdrivers to lever out these washers from the bearing and use a socket to help squeeze out the bearing from its housing in a vise. Use a waterproof grease, like Mobil HP (blue grease) to grease all of the bearings when re-fitting. Bye, PeterB.

If the bike is a year 2000, it will have the older style motor. This is 327cc and at that year will have a model number TXT321. Power output is around the 20 to 24 BHP mark, it would be difficult to get the power up to 30 BHP. Bye, PeterB.

You might have a stray electrical wire hanging in the way of the fan, or the fan blades catching on the shroud - check for marks on the blade edges, or if the brass bushes inside the fan are worn, the motor could squeal. Bye, PeterB.

On the 02 model, I run with 350ml of Dexron III ATF. Always been ok, we don't have the GM transfer fluid here so I can't comment. Change afetr 6 trials is fine. Bye, PeterB.

Hi Tim, Did you notice if the gearbox oil was looking a bit milky? It's quite likely that the water pump seal has failed and that when the motor gets hot, the pressurised coolant is being driven into the gearbox via the water pump seal. The shaft may well have worn a groove too. Easiest thing to do, if this is the cause of the problem, is to replace the water pump as an assembly. You can get a seal and shaft though these are not the easiest of things to replace, the older motor was easier to work on in this area. Bye, PeterB.

Hi Martin, There are kits available for the PRO range but I don't think any exist for the older motors. The 270 was a fairly quick responding motor, you can improve this with the following mods: Change needle to D-34, bit richer on the bottom end Black tube slow action throttle Retard the ign slightly. You can easily fit 2 x 0.5mm extra base gaskets to reduce the compression, though this does raise the exhaust port which is not the best thing to do, it does provide you with a more tractable motor. Standard gasket thickness is dictated by piston height in the bore, usually a 0.5 plus a 0.3 and maybe 1 or 2 x 0.15 brown paper gaskets. A friend made up a flywheel weight for his 270 and then needed to use 2 flywheel covers to make up an extended cover to fit over the weight, didn't look so good. Good luck, PeterB.

Hi Biff, I've never heard of the "Ring Free" stuff before. No doubt it may well work, but then usually an outboard motor is revved/worked pretty hard and may respond better to this additive than a trials motor. In my experience, I never really had any ring sticking/gumming up problems except for the older Villiers motors that were old and worn out anyway and used next to no good 2 stroke oil from the garage. (Times were hard then) For all my 2 strokes, I run 50:1 fuel/oil with Pennzoil mineral 2T outboard oil, always runs fine, smokes a little and doesn't gum anything up. Yeah, I agree, bit of a grammar slip! Bye, PeterB.

Neat photos Biff, You can see the difference in styles, finger on the clutch lever. I do the same on my B40, but know that it just doesn't look right. Can't help it. Probably why the plates had started to slip, never used to use the clutch too much in the older times I reckon. On your Dad's photo, it looks like the rocks have knocked his left foot off the peg! Bikes are looking good. A friend used to have an Anglian in the early 70's when we were riding Bultaco's and Ossas, I always thought they felt real heavy and lacked a bit of zip when compared to the Spanish bikes. Ta ta, PeterB.

Have a look in Todotrial, they usually have the bigger events listed and might have a link into trials clubs in the area. Maybe one of the Spanish TC members could help. Bye, PeterB.

Just thought I'd add my thoughts to this, On my 325 Bultaco, I run the black wire from the low tension coil/ign points to the HT coil, via a terminal connector. I always remove the condensor from the magneto area (it's better away from the heat and easier to get to if re-located) and mount this on the terminal block mounting bracket, making sure there is a good ground connection between the condensor and the frame, no paint. The wire from the condensor connects with the black wire from the points at the terminal block. Connect the HT coil low tension wire to this terminal. Leave the yellow and the red wires disconnected. Connect the green (earth) wire to a good ground at the HT coil - no paint. Wired my Bultaco's this way for many years, always go well. Bye, PeterB.

Hi Biff, Thanks for the thread on the Villiers stuff. Sorts out the timing. It's written in "proper" old 1950's English, when people used to have the time to write in such great detail. And you could buy a genuine Villiers points spanner for thruppence. Had a lot of fun and learning with those old 8E, 9E and 32A motors from about 10 years old onwards, riding on my friends farm in the North of England. Not a great deal of power though. Has your Anglian got cerianis or those really heavy leading link forks? Bye, PeterB.

Hi there, I'm guessing you're in the UK, try one of the local GG dealers for a price for a piston kit. Usually, the PRO motors are really quiet in the piston area, maybe the bike was drowned and that can distort the piston causing it to rattle. In this case a new piston would cure it. If there is wear in the bore, you can get pistons in slight oversizes A, B, C, D which may offer a low cost alternative to getting a replated cylinder. In the past, I have fitted a D piston into a worn A bore and achieved a good outcome. Best to renew the head O rings at the same time. Bye, PeterB.

Hi Andy, If this is a TXT200 PRO, I rode one of these for a year in Experts, was a lot of fun. Used 9/42 and thought the gearing was spot on. Would be fine for a clubman rider too. The 9T tends to wear quicker than a 10T. I thought the 10/42 was too high for the little motor. I usually pulled the same gears up the same practice sections as I did on my 300. Bye, PeterB.

Hi there, It's been years since I worked on these old Villiers, I were just a lad. I can't remember where the timimg mark lined up to, it used to look like an arrow I thought - or maybe a chisel mark then on the outside of the brass flywheel. The mark will either line up at the 12 or 3 O'Clock position, when the piston is at top dead centre, you'd be able to tell which is the correct position anyway, as the points should begin to open about 3mm BTDC which you can see through the flywheel cut outs. The flywheel is held onto a tapered shaft, there is no locating keyway cut on these older motors and it was common for the flywheel to slip around on the shaft, upsetting the timing. Undoing the centre nut extracts the flywheel off the taper. Best to lap the flywheel onto the taper for a good non slip fit. Make sure the points are at 15 thou and the condenser is ok. The ign coil was never a strong point on these motors, there may be used ones on the older 98cc lawn mower motors that you may find in the papers that would fit if this was faulty. Check where the HT lead enters the into the motor, it is held in so as to press against the HT coil contact area and used to be prone for making a poor connection. I don't know the type of carb you have so can't comment. As detailed above, the crankcase seals may need renewing. Good luck with this, it's worth persevering. Bye, PeterB.