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The bolt heads are pathetically soft, if you've rounded out the hex, try tapping a 'torx' key into them just slightly larger than the original hex. Often works, the key grips and the tapping reduces the grip of the loctite

1997 JTX was a good bike. Engine design had pretty well stabilised by then, prior to that there was a fair amount of change, some things were tried and retained eg. hydraulic clutch, direct crankcase induction, some were tried and dropped eg. crankcases water cooled (heated?) Every year the frames were modified to be lighter (went a bit too far in 98 if memory serves) and engines developed wider torque bands. Brakes got better by the year too, 4 piston calipers came in around 99 I think. The 1997 JTX was / is a good bike, but it's a 10 year old trials bike, condition is all important. If you go to the Spanish GasGas website, you can call up details and photos of bikes from most years.

Which bike comes new with Mitas tyres fitted? OK, apart from Jawa! Do Michelin still have some association with Mitas? (Michelin/Veritas)

I have a 2005 4RT. I did not like the clutch when I bought the bike and despite my expounded opinion that the cluch was for pulling away, changing gear, and parking, I decide I had to do something to improve it When I bought the 315 master cylinder from Sandifords, they confirmed that it had a smaller bore than the standard 4RT master cylinder. This would mean that a full stroke of the clutch lever / master cylinder results in a shorter stroke at the slave cylinder / clutch actuating mechanism. This should improve feel and sensitivity at the clutch lever reducing the 'on / off' feel of the standard clutch. The downside is that it would reduce the amount the plates are disengaged by at full stroke, making the clutch potentially more draggy and therefore it would be harder to find neutral or start the bike in gear. The size of the fluid reservoir on top of the master cylinder has NO effect on the operation of the clutch at all, it could be the size of a pint bottle or a sugar cube . Making it smaller just means you have to top it up more often when bleeding. It also reduces the capacity of the system and (very marginally) its ability to compensate for worn clutch plates. Regular maintenance removes this concern entirely. IMHO the clutch is the poorest feature in an otherwise exceptional clubmans trials bike. Without the ridiculously expensive oil recommended in the manual the bike cannot be started in gear reliably and neutral is 'difficult' to find, even with the recommended oil the clutch will shriek and vibrate if slipped for more than a couple of seconds. The oil recommended to me by Sandifords, I found, gave a lovely smooth clutch action but totally prevented starting in gear, made neutral 'really difficult' to find and it shrieked even more when slipped. I've gone back to the oil recommended in the manual combined with the 315 master cylinder. The clutch action is sharper than I'd like, but is a lot more controllable than standard. The bike can be started in gear whilst half way up a waterfall, and I can get neutral if I work at it (or use my hand). That very expensive gear oil pours (and smells) like hydraulic oil, anyone had it analysed? I no longer have that facility.

All trials in the NE Centre are published in the Trials Calendar on this website. Unfortunately the next Saturday trial that has been assigned a date by the NE ACU is in March 2007. No permits have been issued for either the 18th or the 25th of November.

Mr S Miller's advice in one of his books is: Rear tyre: ride 6 trials, turn tyre ride 6 trials, replace tyre. Good advice if you can afford it, you always get good traction and good rear braking. Another good tip is when you get a new tyre, cut all the sipes deeper with a Stanley knife - improves grip for longer. (the sipes are the lines you see indented into each block, they shift the water off the surface of the block).

The only practice I get these days is riding a trial on a Sunday. A new bike always seems to improve your riding John, I guess you married an American lady. My wife can reduce those eleven words to one (or two depending on the depth of lack of mood)

Your bike is homologated with CE marked headlamp, tail/stop lamp and indicators. - It's a Honda after all! You don't need any for daytime use, though you do need a horn. It will run quite happily with them all and no reduction in power whilst riding a trial and allow you to ride legally (if uncomfortably) with them switched on in the dark. You just need a small alteration to the wiring, It's not difficult, like I said find me at a trial - I'll help you.

You can put the lights back on. The connector in the loom is just under the nose of the tank. When you plug the lights in you will see a loop that links the white/green wire to the earth wire. Remove it. Earthing the white/green wire changes the mapping of the motor and you need the inlet restrictor back in to run properly (and slowly) See this post Click here for more info, or now you've moved to the NE, go to a trial and find me, I'll try to help you. I worked this out from the manual, it contains 2 wiring diagrams, one in road (restricted) trim with lights and one in trials trim, trials trim but with working lights just needs the mod above

Andy's not a trials rider, he doesn't understand. Most sections you just go where it's pointing. So it pointed at the B, thats not far off, at least it's in the same row. On a personal note, I had 3 GasGas but didn't like the pro when it came out, bought a Sherco, results improved by a big step, bought another one, results gradually improved, bought a 4RT and gave myself 3 months to get used to it. Got used to it after 1.1/2 trials and results improved again by a big step. Conclusion? Getting a new bike improves your riding. Mont is very easy to ride smoothly as the suspension is so good

I tried the Repsol but got a draggy clutch, I know others who had no problems with it, but I drained it after one trial. On the recommendations of Sandifords I use Silkolene PRO SRG. This is fine once it's warmed up. But, When it had the ELF oil in it would start easily in or out of gear, now starting is only easy/reliable out of gear which is a real pain if you bugger up in a section. The Elf oil drained out as thin as hydraulic oil, which has made me think about trying Mobil 1 0W-40 in there.

Yep, that's what I said earlier, just seems to have been mis understood by some people. A table spoon per gallon in the petrol makes no difference to anything but smells lovely in queues or gullies. (Might have a slight upper cylinder lubricant effect but I doubt it) I use the same petrol in the lawnmower - the neighbour loves it too!

7) War film collection methinks

The availability of the PTB is one of the things that appealed when I bought the bike, but I must confess I find the standard (non programmable) settings very pleasant, very progressive low to medium revs and terrific torque then good power at mid to high rpm. (I have allexhaust restrictors in). Several people have mentioned that this can be further improved at the bottom end but I do wonder, I'd hate to mess about just trying to 'improve' to what I have now. If I buy a PTB does it come mapped as standard so I can then experiment/move from there eg. to Barcota's map, or does it come with some other setting? Does anyone have a 'standard' map to compare with? I think my fear is that occasionally I really need some 'snap' this is generally at a step, I'll approach the step too slowly and mess about until I'm too close. Since I don't use the clutch (one control to many), all I can do when I'm effectively underneath the step is open the throttle and pull back like mad. The GG321's and Sherco 290's managed this fine, as does the standard 4RT. The rest of the time the 1800rpm tickover suits me fine, I just ride the sections with the throttle closed(ish), just have to steer. Still fancy the PTB, just wonder if it'll save me as many marks in the next 18 months as the extra 3 new back tyres it'll cost. Can't see a new header pipe saving many marks. Titanium won't rust though, whereas the standard one certainly does corrode, Anyone know what it's made of? it's not mild steel as it's not magnetic, I'm guessing at some sort of Ferritic stainless?

Crap fastenings (Japanese, Spanish or Italian) are the bane of our lives. Good quality bolts are still very cheap and are available in a variety of materials and coatings. I buy M5 and M6 socket heads (Allen) and button heads 50 at a time 25mm long in A2 stainless, they don't cost so much and you can easily cut them down. BUT Dont Ever use Stainless bolts to mount calipers or discs. Buy HT Steel, yellow passivated or galvanised if you can find them, and coat them with copperslip or waxoyl

I had an 03 290, then an 05 290. The 03 bike I calmed down by retarding the timing significantly, the 05 bike didn't need it, it was much softer at the bottom end. Costs nothing to try it, if you can borrow a flywheel puller: Remove the plastic flywheel cover and let the water out Use the puller to remove the flywheel. (windy gun helps). Catch the woodruff key, or take it off the inside of the flywheel. Use a centre punch to pop mark alignment marks on the stator and the crankcase (so you can put it back to where it was) Loosen the stator mounting screws and rotate the stator anti-clockwise. Don't do it a little bit, do it a lot, like half the slot at once (you'll see what I mean) Tighten the stator mounting screws. Put the woodruff key back in its slot then slide the flywheel back on Put loctite on the flywheel nut and tighten it up (windy gun helps again) Remove the o ring from the flywheel cover (it will have 'grown' and apply silicone sealant sparingly into the groove Replace the flywheel cover and snug it down - don't distort it by torquing the bolts up to 50lbft! Try the bike, see what it's like. If it's still too sharp turn the stator more anti clockwise, if it's too soft move it back towards standard. If after an hour or so you blue the exhaust, Then it's too soft and you're riding it too hard to compensate, bring it back towards standard. A slight straw or brassy colour for the first 6" of pipe is just about ok. Top tip, whilst the flywheel is off, remove the stator bolts and lift the stator out, then spray the coils liberally (really liberally) with lacquer, helps keep the water out of them in future! Should have mentioned, These bikes only have 5 gears. First gear is the gear of choice for 95% of sections (they will rev really high), I hardly recall using 2nd, it was either first (most sections) or 3rd (long fast hill climbs)

Damn right 10 years ago IanJ's 'Trials Action' was the English language trials website. Since then, things have changed. Trials Action may still be a site in name, but these days it seems to me its original spirit is firmly embedded in TRIALS CENTRAL. This was confirmed for me when Ian became a Site Supporter.

Castrol R is quite widely available in 30 weight and 40 weight, apparently it doesn't conform to any current specifications (no detergents or other modifying additives), so it is only recommended by Castrol for racing applications, 1 race and drain it off. Its other big disadvantage is that if it comes into contact with a mineral oil it just seems to turn to thick sludge, blocking every oilway in the engine. I seem to remember that Castrol did make a 2 stroke oil that was caster based. Was it not this that separated out in storage?

I put a 15ml of Castol R in every gallon of unleaded, just for the smell. Plug is the colour of a Rich T biscuit - seems fine to me

Telephone, Telephone, Telephone, Telephone, Telephone, Telephone, Telephone, Telephone, Telephone, Telephone, Telephone, It works, believe me. For a 10 section trial. Phone 60+ people, get 12 to commit, 8 will turn up, you've only got to find 2 on the day. Start early, ask every observer you see in the 3 trials before yours if they'll observe for you. Get their number! The day of the trial is too late, it's days or weeks too late. Don't muck about with rules no one will listen too, don't tell members who have turned up to ride that they can't, don't upset people. Get your observers early, and if you think it's going to be a problem, get them earlier then keep reminding them how important they are. Loads of people coming up with loads of laudable/utopian ideas that will leave you scratching around on the day. Do it the hard way, ask people early and ask till you've got more than enough.

Yeah, If the engine spits back through the inlet tract, the flame front can travel 'backwards' towards the air inlet, seen it on cars with high overlap cams and no air filter - it's a bit unnerving seeing blue flames coming out of the carb - this would be a shocker on the 4RT - a fireball heading towards yer bum!. Anyway, a coarse mesh screen stops the flame progressing, it is either sustained or burns out at the mesh, it moves no further . A couple of people have told me removing this flame trap improves the breathing of the engine, I just don't understand how a coarse grid like that could throttle the motor more than the fine oily foam just upstream of it. Spoke to one of the guys with the Ohlins shock today, Said it was around

There's been a bit on these wetting agents on the Sherco forum I think. I presume they work by reducing the surface tension in the water so allowing it to wet the surface of the radiator better. Apparently they do work but it beats me how, if the water isn't transferring its heat to the radiator tubes then how is it getting its heat from the cylinder and cylinder head? I doubt that the engine is much bothered if the water is at 80

The front pipe and linkage plates are quite expensive What do they really do that's worth every penny? I'm just thinking (like the ohlins shock) that for that sort of money I could buy a lot more rear tyres than I currently do and I know that they would save me marks.

I'll make some enquiries on Sunday, I'm sure Roger Williams was advertising some on this site a couple of months ago

Sadly, FF is entirely correct. Goods from the USA are subject to import duty & VAT, plus Customs & Excise charge you for the priveledge of them charging you if you get what I mean. However it's not all bad news I too recently purchased a chain guard from V-Mar and wasn't charged any of the above. This is because Customs & Excise normally ignore small parcels with a low declared retail value (Typically