samandkimberly

I put in the smaller, 100a one. Installing the Kelley control is not rocket science but it does take a little care as it does not just drop in. You need to find a way to mount it to the frame (I used zip ties) in such a way that you can get to the programming end of the controller. I originally tried to make it a drop in exchange with the same connectors as the original (Ian was kind enough to send me a dead controller to pirate the wiring from) but you end up with a lot more connectors than you really need, and the standard Oset connectors are OK, but not the best - better to eliminate them and replace with the more robust ones that come with the Kelley. Wiring takes a little time to figure out, as there is no schematic for the Oset, and the Kelley diagram uses the main relay and throttle wiring differently - you lose the battery level monitor but gain an error LED. Overall, wiring up takes a few hours to do it right. Programming is relatively self explanatory once you've powered it up. A few weeks after I installed this I started to have a problem with it stopping erratically. It turned out that, during my install I had loosened up some of the other power connections on the bike The electrical connections on the Oset are fine if you don't disturb them but don't stand up to a lot of wiggling around. Check them all while you have it apart. As far as batteries - I don't know where Ian got his, but there are a lot of LiPo batteries on Ebay. But you can expect to pay nearly $500.00 for any of the modern battery types - a lot, but you're also goig to get 2x the capacity and 2x the life form these over sealed lead acid (sla) ones. As far as SLA, measure up your battery pan and then see what can fit - these might work: http://www.batterywholesale.com/battery-st...tml?prodID=2818 Good luck. I like the Kelley controller a lot and I'm just trying to figure out what batteries to use myself. Sam

Not cheap, and it might not fit, but these would double your range and last a lot longer: http://www.coloradoadvancedbattery.com/24V...ab-n-24v20a.htm I'm doing some research on their 36V solution for my son's Oset, I'll post what I find out. Sam

OK, maybe not so good. I tried using a set of these last night and they dont' fit - the flange nuts are too wide. Went back to the stock Montesa nuts. Sam

Here's a (US) source for good sprocket bolts. More importantly, check out the installation instructions - it's all there: http://www.boltmotorcyclehardware.com/prod...products_id=119

Do you shut your fuel off every time you stop riding? If not there's a very good chance you've got a slightly leaky float valve and your bike is fouling when it sits for several days. If you're not turning your fuel off then I'd wager a platinum plug that shutting it off solves the problem. Sam

That uses multiple sealed ball bearing units, right? I'd guess that the balls will work fine, though you do have to ask why Honda/Montesa didn't go with with the (lower cost) sealed ball bearing solution in the first place. In theory the standard needle bearings should take **much** more load than the ball bearing kit, but stock needle load carrying ability rapidly goes to nil when the grease washes out. The 100,000 question is why the grease washes out of these in the first place - the seals should do a fine job keeping the grease in for years, but they obviously don't. I'm in the process of rebuilding my 315R suspension right now. One thing I did was measure the bores on the wishbone. The lower one was out of round by .1mm - definitely enough to distort the needle bearing housing and possibly enough to distort the seal. I'm going for a new dog bone. It did make me wonder - how long does a brand new set last, compared to a rebuild set? Are these OK new, but not so easy to rebuild properly? I'm thinking about taking the old dogbone and boring it out, putting a close fitting plain bearing there instead and adding grease fittings. One pump of grease every trial and I'm willing to bet it will last forever w/o taking it apart again. Sam

I dunno about cleaning the brushes, but Oset was selling a complete 36V update kit for something like $200.00 including throttle, motor, controller, swingarm. Alternatively, you could just buy a 750W 36V motor from them (100.00) and buy the Kelly 36V controller that was discussed in a earlier post on this list. I just installed one of the Kelley controlers on my son's 36V Oset and it's a nice improvement, seemingly much more torque, better throttle response, and lots of software controls to play with. Installing the Kelley control is not rocket science but it does take a little care as it does not just drop in. You need to find a way to mount it to the frame (I used zip ties) in such a way that you can get to the programming end of the controller. I originally tried to make it a drop in exchange with the same connectors as the original (Ian was kind enough to send me a dead controller to pirate the wiring from) but you end up with a lot more connectors than you really need, and the standard Oset connectors are OK, but not the best - better to eliminate them and replace with the more robust ones that come with the Kelley. Wiring takes a little time to figure out, as there is no schematic for the Oset, and the Kelley diagram uses the main relay and throttle wiring differently - you lose the battery level monitor but gain an error LED. I could make up a schematic if anyone really wanted but I can't guarantee that the Oset color coding is consistent over all models. I'd love to play with batteries, but they're all very expensive -I have a hard time considering a battery upgrade that cost half the new cost of the bike! Sam

No, I bought the ones on UK Ebay for ~8 usd. Sam

Got them today, ~2 weeks after ordering; about what I'd expect getting them overseas (I'm in Boston, MA) The look solid, about 5mm thick; laser cut. Not show bike material, but could be, with a little elbow grease. Unfortunately, it's going to be several days at best until I get to compare then to the stockers and install them. Sam

I just bought a set; I'll review when I get them. Sam

Standard play is listed in the owner's manual as .3 to 1 mm, with a service limit of 2mm - a lot. I had mine apart this spring and it looked like the disc wears as much as the bobbins; you may have to replace both if you want to make it quiet. That said the play shouldn't affect the brake performance, if anything too much play is better than none. Sam

I find the Montesa handlebars too low too, but this is my first year on a modern trials bike, and I'm loathe to change them until I'm certain it's the bars and not my riding posture that's wrong! I find myself putting a lot of weight on the bars and it wears me out. Is this a newbie thing, or should I try spacers/higher bars? FWIW, I'm about 5"9" tall. RE: clutch, read through this forum and you'll find a lot about the 315 clutch. Try changing the oil, first thing. As far as which type of oil, read the posts and make up your mind; there's a lot of opinions on that. I'm a Dextron convert myself. Sam

Regarding workshop manuals, the only one I've been owners manual for the 2002 315R online, but that covers most everything. It was posted recently, along with links to the parts manual here: http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/index....showtopic=27453 If you find a copy of a 2000 manual I'd love one too. As far as snappy response - you're using 80:1 premix, right? Richer mixtures can slow things down a bit. The other thing I find helps my 200 315 out is a hard fast trail ride - it's always much snappier after that! Sam

My son rides a 36V and his friend rides a 24V. The 36V certainly appears to have a bit more torque. As has been discussed, power is comes abruptly on when you first touch the throttle when the top speed is limited, this problem is more noticeable in the 36V because of the torque. But once top speed is set relatively high the problem goes away. Regarding battery life - the 36V seems to have an edge; on the most recent trail ride both kids batteries ran out, but the 36V made it about 1/4 mile further. Sam

Keep in mind that US Octane measures are RON/MON, whereas most Euro measures are straight MON. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating for more explanation. I ran super (US 93 octane, ~97 Euro octane) with no problems on me 315 for some time, but I do find it runs more crisply with a 50/50 mix of VP C12 and super. I've been thinking about running an avgas 100 low lead/super mix, purely for convenience, but I seem to always have a little race gas kicking around. Sam

I had a recent conversation with Adrian at Lewisport about the Apico steel plates. His opinion was that the steels *might* help, but that, unless the steels were warped, he'd go with replacing the friction plates first. He convinced me to buy a set of Surflex plates (99usd) and I have not regretted it; after a hard day's riding my clutch still works better than it ever did. For reference, here's what I tried to fix my sticky clutch, in this order: Changed oil from whatever was in it when I bought it to Golden Spectro gear oil - a step backwards. replaced with Dextron VI oil - noticeable improvement, but still couldn't find neutral w/o stopping the bike. Sanded all the metal plates. This worked absolutely great - for about an hour. Then, back to same old same old. put Surflex plates in. When I did, the metals still looked sanded. For this reason, I'm not positive that the dimpled finish of the Apico steels alone will do a lot. As I said, the problem is now gone, clutch feels great. Sam

Yup, I'm just about 30 mi NE of Boston; do you live in Boston proper? I never thought of trying RSC, that's an interesting thought, though I'll probably stick with Lewisport when I need parts. I have no problem with Lewisport at all, I just like to know when I might be able to get stuff quickly/locally before I need to do so rather than after. Sam

As far as I can tell, I can't get Montesa 315 parts from Honda dealers in the US. Perhaps I can via special order, but that would defeat the purpose, which is to find cheap, readily available alternatives where it makes sense; if I have to special order I'll go to the Montesa dealer. Looking at the fiches, and comparing part numbers, I'm beginning to think that most of the parts have been tweeked in one way or another, and there is little that directly interchanges. Aside from clutches, has anyone interchanged any 315 and CR parts successfully? Sam

My understanding is that the 315r motor started life as a CR250. Just what is still CR250? Pistons? Rings? Crank? Also, several people recommend swapping CR250 clutch plates with the stock ones for less sticking - is it possible that they are the same? I don't actually need to do anything to my motor yet. My clutch does stick a little bit, but I don't think I'm losing points because of it. I would like to know what parts I can buy from my Honda dealer when I do need them. Thanks, Sam

If you dig through the posts you'll find that the handlebars are standard bike parts - you can go to your local bike shop and pick some out that you like. Likewise, I'm pretty sure that the handlebar stem is a standard bicycle part; buying a raised stem might be a better way to raise the handlebars. Same thing for the brakes, but don't be too quick to change them - the brakes should work well enough that you only need a couple of fingers on them and it's not a bad thing to have a lever that can clear the rest of your fingers. As far as grips, I'm not sure, but do a search on grips in this forum and I'm sure you'll find something.

OK; got the new controller in two days! I took a closer look at the packaging situation on the Oset - the new controller is slightly larger, but very close in size to the original. I'm going to have to make up a bracket to fit but it's not a big problem; there is a lot of room to play with. Wiring would seem to be simple enough, though by no means blindingly simple. The biggest issue I have is that I don't want to cut the wires in the system up, and I don't want to cut the wires on my perfectly good OE controller. Anyone have a spare bad controller kicking around that I can salvage the wiring from? Sam

I'm a newbie trials rider and I'm trying to set up my springs - it looks like standard setup is 1/3rd of suspension travel; interesting how bikes of all disciplines tend to use this number. The question is, what is the suspension travel of the Montesa? I read 185mm somewhere for the front, but I haven't been able to find anything showing the rear travel spec. And - as far as the front - is that fork travel, or suspension travel? Anyone have these numbers handy? Thanks, Sam

I pulled the pin and ordered the 36100 controller from Kelley last night, and I'll post a review when I get it. Price was $69, plus $19 to ship to US, but after ordering it I realized that I was going to need the programming cable too - they charge a very reasonable 20.00 for that. Total bill was 113.00, not bad at all if you ask me. Having the ability to program top speed, throttle response, and more is a super bonus. I'm guessing the torque output will be a little better too. Ian - if you have pointers on wiring I'd love to have them, but I'm pretty good with this stuff so I'm sure I can figure it out on my own. In the mean time I turned the power up on the Oset and played with it a bit while Elliott wasn't around. You're right - the response is much better when the speed is cranked up. In reality, I think I can find a happy medium between top speed and response with the bike as is, but now I'm really interested in the programmability the Kelley controller. Thanks for the tip. Sam

Heh - this is like getting God to answer my questions about religion - thanks! That's why it was so cruel of you to put the 36V on sale! I guessed that I was starting my son a little big, but I suffer from the "better to grow into power than suffer with limited potential" mentality - at nearly the same price I couldn't resist the 36V. That all being said, I was fully aware of what I was getting into and, as I originally posted, we all love the bike. I'll take a look at the other controller - that seems like a very good option. Or I'll turn up the speed on the one we have. :-) thanks, Sam

Just got a new 36v Oset for my son and we love it! One small issue we have, though, is harshness of the throttle at very low speeds. It's not bad for general riding around, but it definitely makes practicing things like small circles a real challenge - I can only do them using a lot of brake to modulate speed instead of the throttle, and my kid can't do them at all. I've read elsewhere that this is just the way it is on this bike - it might be something we have to live with, and the rest of the bike is so good that we're certainly willing to do so. But we'd rather not - has anyone had similar issues and found ways to improve? It really is a lot of fun, makes me want a grown up version. Sam