twinshock

Cold !!!!! it was bloody freezing outside, those poor sods had a tough day. Inside was good and I picked up an alloy oil tank and muffler for my Cub at real good prices plus a Scott leathers waterproof jacket from Wrighty's stand for 15 quid. I bought a pair of chrome levers also at an excellent price and the guy said to his mate "we need to put the price up on these, we are selling too many" and he was serious. Some of the prices for parts and accessories were outrageous and those people did themselves out of a lot of potential sales, most guys who attended had cash in hand to spend but they also knew when they were about to pay over the odds. I also picked up one of these Hebo helmets with the little drop down visor which will stay in its box till I return to Australia. Great to catch up with so many guys I haven't seen for up to 40 years. Rog G

Hey Samy Sorry to hear about the broken arm/wrist, what were you practicing for, the seasons ended in Qld, the bike should have been in bits ready for next season. I'm over in the UK riding in the stickiest mud you can imagine but at least its softer to land on. Anyway, get well soon, whats happening at LRMTC these days, I didn't see any results from the last club trial Cheers Roger Galpin

The memories fading a bit but does a 32A legitimately qualify for Pre 65, can someone provide some info please cheers

Hey I hadn't been there before either so I went for a drive the other day to find it. I can recommend the farm eggs at 12 for 2 pound. The post code for the sat nav is B945LU and its Fullford Hall Farm. C Ya there tomorrow

And make sure the rim has the same number of spokes as the drum

Hi I have just bought a Cub here in the UK and it has the Armac conversion on it which gives a very light feel and is excellent. I also have a Cub in Australia which has had a modification done to it which gives a clutch just about as light as the Armac and costs very little in comparison. The mod was done by an old friend of mine, Chris Leighfield who was an engineer in his working career but who died a few weeks ago in Australia. I gave him the project when he was in the latter days of his illness and he made an excellent job of it. What he did was to modify the clutch operating lever to produce a similar affect as the Armac. It involved cutting and rebending the lever to give greater leverage with less effort, the problem is that I don't have the drawings with me but some engineering minded enthusiasts will understand what I'm talking about and be able to help. Another friend of mine, Shane Barnes, moved over to Aus some months ago and took an Armac Cub with him and he was amazed how light my clutch was compared to his. Its worth thinking about. Cheers

I entered that bike,Vibsa 1, in a best presented bike competition that the Logan River MCC put on for its 35th anniversary event in 2009 and it won two awards for best presented and best Classic and I sent the best presented award down to Chris for his display cabinet. As someone said it was immaculately put together. Roger Galpin

I knew Chris when he first started riding in Trials with the Castle Bromwich Motor Club when we were both 14 in the early 60's. We used to have events at the old brickworks at Kingsbury when we were both 14 and too young to ride on the road. Chris moved on to the Birmingham MCC and I rode for Solihull MCC until we started Sutton Town MCC but we we remained good friends and competitors over the years while he gained support with Sprites and Cubs. Chris's bike preparation was always top notch and you could guarantee his bike would be immaculate at the start of the second day in a two day event. Chris emigrated to Australia in 1972 and was Aussie Open champion three years running in the early 70's. Like the rest of us when we get a bit older he turned to Classics and won the Aussie Classic title 7 years on the trot. I caught up with him again when I emigrated in 1980 and found that I still couldn't beat him. As Charlie said, he built three Villiers engined, Bantam framed Vibsa's which were all superb in appearance and I bought the first one which I called V1. We had some teething problems with it which Chris insisted on getting right and he persevered until everything was fixed which was typical of Chris. He generously responded to all technical queries from many guys over here and nothing was too much trouble for him to try and sort out. Chris finished his working life at car maker General Motors Holden in Melbourne as a power plant (engine) engineer a couple of years ago to continue his battle with his cancer. I was speaking to him only a day or so before his passing and he was still telling me things about bikes and my regret is that I am unable to attend his funeral as I have just returned to the UK. The trials community has lost a great guy and I have lost a great mate but my thoughts are with wife Chris and daughter Sarah. Sincerely Roger Galpin

The guy has all the credentials previously listed and he doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. Would anyone bet against him finishing in the top 3 in this years SSDT I was riding when SHM was at his best and I considered it a privelage to be riding in his company and I still bore people to death telling them about it. Mr anonymous trials_125, if you ever get the chance to ride in the same event as Dougie try to watch him if you can get close enough, you will be telling your grandkids about it in years to come Lets move on to a sensible subject. Twinshock

As I said about 5 pages back, I wanted to return to England in March and ride in some pre 65 events and was hoping to understand what was legal and what wasn't but with all the different ideas coming from informed & uninformed technical gurus who have the ability to produce a competitive bike from scraps found in the kitchen rubbish bin plus those who like to see their name in print, I don't know what the hell to go for now. We have similar crap going on in Australia with guys trying to sneak in all sorts of stuff and a couple of know alls who know everything about pre 65 but you never see them out on a Classic bike. The main contributors on this topic need to remind themselves what 90% of the entry will be riding and they won't have spent 5/6,000 pounds on their bike. I thought it would be easy enough to understand over here but perhaps I will just buy a modern and compete in the plodders class and some of you guys need to have a think about all the others you are putting off Classic trials bikes with all this, "we should do this, shall we, shan't we" garbage. I saw some ACU rule changes for 2011 on this site the other day,,, they made sense to me and if all these other suggested changes are necessary why weren't they put forward to the ACU around Sept/Oct last year to be ready for 2011

I've been reading these comments with interest as I will be returning to the UK from Aus in March after 30 years and intend riding a pre 65 Tiger cub and I'm keen to know what is legitimate over there and what isn't. The sad fact of all the technical jargon that gets splashed about on TC is that there are guys around (like me) who wouldn't have a clue about fitting Marzocchi internals into pre 1935 Norton sliders to get round the latest set of rule changes etc etc etc. and I think you'll find the majority of pre 65 riders just want to compete against similar machines and guys in their 40's, 50's and 60's(in my case), I also understand there are guys who just want to win and take home trophies. Surely there has to be a case for the guys who want the trick specials to compete in a class to suit them and leave the basic, genuine pre 65's to the average, non technical, poor sods like me who are as happy as Larry if our bikes start 2nd kick (three cheers for that sneaky PVL we fitted at great cost) and do actually slow down when we apply the front brake,,,, although the drum might be a bit oval. Its not the amount we spend on our bikes or the amount of technical expertise we bend the rules with to make them go better, its still down to the nut behind the bars to point them in the right direction. Great to see the usual characters putting the ideas forward but the more simple they are the less arguments will emerge. Anyone got a good Cub for sale,,, seriously (twinshock2@gmail.com)

I had an Iridium brand of plug supplied to me as part of a sponsorship deal and as a more mature aged rider I was fitting them to several Fantic's, a 200, 240 Pro and two 305's and also to a Pre 65 Tiger Cub. They ran ok in all bikes when first fitted but I found they only lasted about 3 trials before they failed suddenly and without warning, they weren't NGK's. Free or not I don't use them any more as an NGK lasts me a lot longer and I don't have the hassle of changing plugs half way round a course on the side of a mountain. Cheers

Hi Guys I'm based in Brisbane, Queensland and up to the end of last season I was president of the Logan River Mototrials Club. Don't forget that we are in the summer over here and therefore "between" seasons with lots of families on holday. We are gearing up for the start of our season in mid Feb and most guys I know will be fettling bikes and getting them ready. We have had major floods over here for the past month culminating yesterday when flash floods caused by monsoonal rain killed 7 people in a town west of Brisbane called Toowoomba. The properties we use get badly affected by heavy rain where property owners don't like to see erosion caused by bikes and also a lot of them pull their drinking water out of the creeks so we have to be careful when laying out sections. I am an ex Pom from the Midland centre and follow all the stuff on TC and will be over there in March for an extended stay to keep an eye on my ageing mom and will be living in the B'ham area. I ride a Cub in classic over here and I have a Scorpa for playing around on and I'm leaving them both here so I've been talking to some old mates to organise a classic bike to join in a few events. Anything you need to know just send me an email and I'll help with whatever I can before I leave at the end of Feb. twinshock@aapt.net.au Cheers Roger Galpin

Hi Bob I fitted one of the Electrex kits to a Cub trials I was building a few months ago, it was easy to fit and started 2nd kick and ran great, which helped me to sell the bike the next day. I've just purchased another kit and fitted it yesterday, haven't started it yet but nice fat spark straight away. I would recommend them highly Cheers

Hi I've just bought a "barn find" 350cc Bullet in pretty bad condition that I found in a snake and poisonous spider infested old barn in New South Wales. I've only restored Fantics and a couple of Cubs previously so I could do with a bit of help to identify age etc etc. with this "oldie" in the form of literature, websites, parts specialists and anything else you can suggest. The only thing I have to identify it, after failing to work out how to insert a picture on this website, is the engine number, V571391P. Alternatively, if anyone can put me right on how to get the pics in the topic I would appreciate that as well. Cheers Twinshock (AKA Roger Galpin)

Hey Charlie Couldn't resist a quick response when you put an article in like this and mention a few of the old names, brings goose bumps up the back of my neck ! I was over there in the snow last Christmas and caught up with a few of the old riding crowd and also bought a new helmet (yes we wear them over here) from Alan Wright. Pat Slinn was one of several brothers in the Midland centre riding C15's in the 60's & 70's, there was Pat and Mike Slinn also Ross and Mike Winwood, me and brother Mike Galpin plus we always had the oldies around including Reg Slinn, Eric Galpin, Bill Coleman, Tom & Shirley Leighfield and many more great guys riding from Sutton Town MCC such as Bunny Ward, John Richardson, sadly many of the afore mentioned passed away. Oooooooops JR's still around thankfully. As for setting sections, I have been out all day today (Sunday 1st Aug ) setting sections for my club over here in temperatures of 27 degrees C (its Winter) !! for an open trial we have next weekend where we will have an entry of around 80 riders on a closed circuit, 15 sections and 3 laps. I stepped on a 10' python which was thicker than my arm and helped dig a 4' pit for our crapper,,,,, what would I give to attend your Classic trials show. Anyone want to drop me a line sometime my private email is twinshock@aapt.net.au, would love to hear from you Cheers Roger Galpin

Hi Kenpi I actually fitted it to another Cub I was building which was a distributor model of around 1958 vintage and within a week of getting it going a guy had offered me a good price for the bike as it was at that stage so I sold it to him. My own regular Cub is a 64 side points model with a BB system fitted and a square barrel of which there are only two competing in Australia at the moment. Incidentally do you realise that square barrels are legal Pre 65 items for Cubs although there is a lot of info that states they only became available in early 1965 there was a batch of 82 produced and fitted to French army Cubs in 1964 making them acceptable in Aus at least. Thanks for your response Cheers Twinshock

G'day again Thought I would let you know that I ordered an Electrex kit for the Cub I was building and it arrived in 4 days, great service. I fitted it so easily I couldn't believe it was so simple. Checked it all over and thought "its now or never" so I got a pair of boots on and got serious. Second friggin' kick and it started and ran perfectly. Can't remember who suggested the Electrex kit but my thanks go out to him, it works great. Over and out C ya Twinshock

Hi Natalie I'm sorry that I am unable to help with locating the bike but I do remember it well from that era but most of all I was saddened to hear about loosing your uncle Ray. I'm a bit out of touch living in Australia since 1980 but I can still see Ray and Derek on that outfit in the Midland centre always in command and a real pair of gentlemen as they dominated the sidecar scene. My dad Eric was a leading sidecar rider in the 50's and he always waited for Ray and Derek to roll up at the tail of the field to see how they would tackle certain sections. I wish you and your family all the best in your search for the bike and let us know when you have success. Good luck Roger Galpin

Well my Concentric arrived and was duly fitted to my trusty square barrelled 64 side points Cub and thats when the problems started !!!!!! To be exact I cannot get it to respond to lifting the front wheel to get up a steep creek bank or up a good rock step and the only way it happens is to have the engine running pretty fast as I approach. As we all know we are usually turning up our own exhaust pipe before we hit the big step and need an instant response from the throttle to get the front up but it won't happen. I am running a 624 to match my 15/16th head and its fitted with a 100 main jet, 106 needle jet, 25 bushed pilot and a 3.5 slide. Air cleaners good and the timing's right (Boyer Bransden), I have a spare 110 main and a spare 105 needle jet. Everywhere else it performs pretty good but this lack of initial response means the Keihin will go back on if I can't fix it. I know some guys will say "I told you so" but it must be able to perform better than it is now. Come on you, Cub guys over there, whats the go, I know heaps of you have sorted this problem out but as you might not want to put your solutions out in a public domain would you prefer to contact me on my private email, twinshock@aapt.net.au. Thanks fella's Roger Galpin (AKA Twinshock)

Has anyone got any knowledge of the Electrex unit, sounds good if it requires no machining. Talk to me someone, I've got money to spend Twinshock

Gentlemen I ride a 1964 Cub in Classic trials in Australia and at present its fitted with a Boyer Bransden ignition system but I am reading all the stuff over there about the PVL system being that much better. So, which is the best system guys and what are the problems in fitting it ? any photo's to look at?? Also the best place to buy one from> Your advice would be very much appreciated. Cheers Twinshock

G'Day gentlemen I started the debate on TC after the debacle in Aus of allowing the bike to compete and win in Classic Pre 65 Class last year. I wasn't riding in our titles last year because of distance, time and cost but without doubt I would have slapped a protest in after coming from the origins of the last of the Brit bikes and seeing the Spanish come in and then the Japs to do what they did to the local manufacturers. On our Trials Australia website you will have seen the passion stirred up with guys saying "what a pretty bike, you must be allowed to compete on it" and "they are only annoyed and trying to stop you because you won" but as a competitor I just wanted a fair challenge and I got my point across several times. I knew there would be factual info available from the UK and I'm so grateful to all you guys who have commented, especially Woody and Wayne and some of you will remember an Ex Brit Chris Leighfield who has added his thoughts from this end, thanks guys. My aim was never to slag the bike or rider but just to point out the error of firstly Motorcycling Australia allowing the bike into Classic and secondly the owner needed to know the facts of the origins of the bike and hopefully he will be riding it in Twinshock in August this year where I will be riding my 64 Cub in Classic at our Aus titles in Queensland. Thanks again Gentlemen Twinshock AKA Roger Galpin

G'day This is a problem that is world wide and we have it at every trial we run over here in Queensland Australia. We run small club trials on private property with 35/45 riders with usually 4 laps of 10 sections. We are lucky if we get 4 or 5 observers but the way we get around it is by picking 2 or 3 riders from the start list and tell them they are looking after section 4 between them and so on till all sections are covered. The names are at random so that we avoid mates observing mates. Coming up we have a two day open event for all riders with a Motorcycling Australia licence (Aussie equivalent to ACU)and at this point we seem to have all sections covered with an observer but we will do the same thing again by pulling names out of a hat to observe if required, riders seem to accept it ok We always put an observers bag on each section containing water, fruit and a packet of chips or mueseli bar and at the end of an open event we give observers a little gift which seems to go down well. Can you imagine, our season is just starting and we have had two events so far with temperatures of around 30C for each event our observers can easily get heat stroke and dehydration, mind you, yours could freeze to death. Anyway thats my two bobs worth Cheers Twinshock (yes its me from the Pre 65 Bultaco M10 forum)