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I think it's a smashing bike, With the inlet disc and electronic restrictor removed but all the exhaust restrictors in it suits me perfectly. If I wanted more power I could remove the exhaust restrictors (they're not an insignificant reduction in diameter). I too have ridden Mr Harlands velocipede, now programmed with the Laia Sanz settings, but to be honest I think it could get me into trouble, not quite Aprilia Climber 280 on re-heat trouble, but easily 'I feel 2 feet behind the bike' trouble!. The standard settings seem to give me more time, and the strong tickover (mines set at 1200 rpm - seems ok) allows me to keep trickling through sections with the throttle closed and the clutch out. In a road car too much power is just about enough, but I'm starting to realise that trials bikes are different, less power can mean less dabs. Slightly off topic but 2 riders who have spent time and cash on their bikes making quite radical changes have been kind enough to trust me to ride them, both made a change that was both noticeable and surprising. - The real swinger for me buying the bike was the suspension, after several trys on friends bikes, this was the bit that impressed, but these 2 bikes had a change that moved the game on another step - they'd fitted an Ohlins rear shocker. And you can feel the difference. This does seem to be a bike that suits the clubman well but can be built upon. Only bit I miss about removing the inlet and electronic resistrictor is the popping and banging on the overrun - it used to make me smile wider! Mercedes program the AMG cars with a missfire on overrun just for that reason!

Yep, there are no downsides to it, I believe it's the way the bike is normally presented to the owner by the dealer. With the inlet restrictor in place the engine cannot flow enough air to rev high, it feels a bit like a diesel hitting the rev limiter. If you just remove the restrictor plate but leave the SW/Map pin earthed the bike doesn't run properly. Remove the earth link too and the bike is noticeably smoother at the bottom end, stronger in mid range and will also rev high.

I can't recommend highly enough getting observers to commit early. There are 2 trials on in my centre this weekend, one on Saturday, one on Sunday. I'm riding both but I'm trials sec for the Sunday trial. Couple of E-mails and half an hour on the phone for observers, I've got 8 definites in the bag. Just 2 to find on the day. I didn't get knocked back once - and 2 of them were women!

I post every date for NE Trials on the Calendar section of this website. I think there were over 70 trials in a 12 month period. The posting shows the organising club and contact details, nearer to the event date it is updated with venue and start time. Just join whichever club is organising the first trial you attend. They are all open to centre events. From Chester le Street you can get to almost any trial in under ander an hour, the Tweed valley venue at Bamburgh is maybe 1hr 10 mins. All trials have an easy route, Saturday trials don't have an expert route and often have a beginners route

Just ordered the V-Mar Chain guard. Really helpful people, fully automated paypal shop, I sent an e-mail asking about delivery cost to the UK, instant reply boiled down to 'don't worry about it, it'll be close enough to the US rate - you'll get it in about a week' If you want one click here

Actually, in the sober light of the morning, that was just a long whinge on my part and I don't like whingers. I want to take the sport forward at club level, not moan about it It seems that we need to support observers more, and let them know they are being supported. Perhaps one way would be for the clerk of the course to circulate more noticeably, he could start on an inspection lap 10 mins before the start of the trial visiting each section and making certain that the observers understand the intended line and limits for each route - a common point of debate / contention during the trial. He could circulate during the trial several times making certain that observers and riders are happy with the way things are going. It may lead to a better understanding of how problems arise and prevent them happening in the future. I hate when riders retire and go home saying 'crap trial this', it's too late then.

Some interesting points have come up in this discussion The most pertinent being that not many people actually want to observe. In my centre (NE ACU) most regular observers are ex riders in their 50's and 60's. Close behind them come Parents and Wives (No husbands at present). The most oft quoted reason for not wanting to observe is the abuse from riders. Second is the length of time they have to stand out. IMHO abuse is mainly (though not allways) from riders 16-25 years of age. In fairness this is I guess the most competitive sector. If you don't make it in this age bracket it's unlikely that you ever will. Plus It's probably the most impolite time of your life! Close behind this group of riders is their supporters. These can range from 14 year old girl/boy friends to 80 year old grandparents. They tend to go on at you for longer because they are not riding a bike. In my experience because of this they can be worse than the riders, especially in national events. It's no fun telling a 75 year old Granny to be quiet and leave you alone, Whereas I'll cheerfully threaten a 16 year old rider with a thump and a grin! How do you combat observer abuse? Well it's difficult I think. When I'm Trials sec I turn up at the venue at 08.30 am, this may mean leaving the house at 07.15 am. Start time is 11.00am Riders start parking up at 09.00am I normally stop taking entries at around 11.30 am when the queue has gone. - this is half an hour after start time (some riders whom I have seen eating burgers at 10.00am don't approach me untill the queue is down to 1 or 2 people - well after the start time, other riders don't arrive at the venue before 11.00am, they then have a chat with their pals and buy their breakfast from the burger van). By now I want to get on my bike and I want to ride. Normally I get called back from walking section 1 to take some more entries (like 11.45-50am) sometimes it's section 2! Then I ride the trial. Curiously despite being last to start I get round in reasonable time - my club states a time that section 1 will close Typically 3.00pm. Riders moan about it, particularly the experts who will eventually finish in the top ten but out of the top three) but I've always finished well before section 1 closes - a whole lap in hand. Then I'll get changed, load the bike up, sort out the entry forms and envelopes and settle down to wait for, the observers. These poor souls have waited for the last rider, observed him, packed away their flask and observers cards, walked their (often physically difficult) section pulling the many flags from the 3 routes marked and then carried the wole lot back, perhaps a mile or more. It's now around 5.00pm, I've been there since 08.30am, I don't ask them for a report on who has been obnoxious to them or what was wrong with the section. I grab the cards off them and tear off to my parents place. It's 6.30pm and I start calculating the results. I've got a good routine and spreadsheet for doing the technical bit. My dad helps by going through the entry forms deciphering the details there (how does the postman manage?) and by about 8.00pm I'm finished, the results are printed for photocopying and I can post the results on this site. I get my tea and drive home. By the time I get home the contributing photographers have sent me their days work, I review them and send them in to Andy then go to bed. Next day I photocopy the results at work then spend a couple of hours in the evening folding them into envelopes then sticking stamps on. Day after that I post them. That night I do the accounts work for the meeting. Takes 1-2 hours depending on the entry size and how many new members we aquired durng the meeting. I guess then I should phone the observers and ask them what problems they have encountered and who if anyone they want to complain about. Trouble is I want to forget about the event, I'm looking forward to next weekends trial not looking back to last weekend You will see from the above that for the observers, it's easier to make an excuse for not observing than to complain to me. Sensible suggestion please

I know only a little about Montesas from the early '70's (LCU 1H, where are you?) But these two seem very different bikes. I assume the older bike has the RHS gearchange and final drive? This will make a difference in itself However, it does seem that old bikes that look tatty are worth

Had a chat with the poor soul in the NE Centre who snapped his chain and smashed the casing. Reckons it cost him around the

Mmm, We have observers prizes, and my club feeds the observers from the burger van. Never felt it helped get observers in the first place, just shows appreciation. Bit like riders thanking observers on the last lap.

It is difficult but there are a few things you can do to reduce the problem. I don't like riders observing riders, it's not what the sport is about, it leads to cheating, and generally detracts from the enjoyment of the event. The first thing to realise is that it is the responsibility of the organising club to provide observers when they organise an event. This is not a dig at clubs, it is just a statement of fact. I have been at a trial when the trials sec got all the riders together and said 'right, we've marked 10 sections out and you've only come up with 7 observers, what do you think about that?' My thought was - well you've made a hash of it then. It is not the responsibility or concern of a rider who has paid his entry fee to the organising club to worry about where the observers are coming from. I say the above as a trials sec for a club in the NE ACU centre which regularly organises trials with 12 or 13 sections. We plan our trials, we discuss how many observers we will need and 2 weeks before the event we start contacting potential observers to check on their availability. If we are going to have 12 sections, I like to have 8 or 9 observers 'in the bag' before the event, then we only have to find 3 or 4 on the day. Other clubs do it other ways, in one very small club (small in terms of regular riders) the normally active riders observe, this is probably easier to agree in a small club - they all give up their ride. The biggest club with the most riders and trials has a very persuasive guy mugging for observers - he can be seen jogging alongside cars before they have parked, but because they have so many trials and he knows who the good bets are he is very successful. Inducements such as bring an observer get a free ride don't seem to work well, if the wife, girfriend, boyfriend etc doesn't like observing, then saving the rider a tenner wont induce them, they will just stay at home. The most successful way I have found is book em early and confirm (twice) close to the date. If you really can't get observers, why not give a date up to a training day and hire a couple of coaches? They seem very popular in this centre.

It's not rubber, it's aluminium, if it was that rubbery material that they make chain guides from, bonded to an ally plate then it might have been better as it would absorb some of the energy in the chain rather than just transmitting it, mind if it's a snug fit around the chain it might stop it bunching up in the first place. I'm tempted just for that reason Anyone got one and had a chain come off? How did it perform? On a side note, I had 3 GasGas 320's and ran them all with O ring chains, don't ever recall knocking one off (or having to adjust it) Then 2 Shercos which because of the half link and lack of space I couldn't run an O Ring chain. Probably knocked the chain off half a dozen times a year. You can tie a knot in a standard chain after a few trials. Anyone fitted an O ring chain to a 4RT?

Now I did hear that a 4RT in the NE centre suffered a snapped chain last week. Apparently the flailing chain broke through the back of the LH Engine casing, oil everywhere. Didn't see it myself but I can that imagine if the chain bunched up there like it used to on my Sherco if you knocked it off, instead of bending the plastic flywheel cover, on a 4RT it could smash the aluminium casing. Good quality chains dont bend sideways as much as cheap ones and so don't derail as easily and keeping the tension correct has lots of benefits. This protector from V-MAR click here could also help. Anyone tried one?

Mmm, Not having a big enough hill in my garage, I resorted to a multimeter. Found that the White/green wire was earthed so went looking for the earth and found the link. Just got to get the tickover back down now

Ahah! I think I've got it. 2 wiring diagrams in the handbook, one with lights, one without. When the lights are attached, the white/green wire from the throttle body titled 's/w map' is earthed, when the lights are removed the link to earth is removed too. 'Cept on mine the link has been carefully replaced. I asked for the bike with all the restrictors in so I could remove them one at a time till I had the performance I wanted. Looks like I got exactly what I asked for.

OK, Iwas slightly innaccurate, The bike is exactly as it came out of the box but with the lights etc removed and a kill switch fitted. I presume this means that the electronic restrictor circuit has been removed or bypassed? However the physical restrictors are as described and the bike does not run properly with the inlet restrictor removed. I intend running with all of the exhaust restrictors in to begin with removing only if necessary. The bike runs perfectly well low and midrange with the inlet restrictor, just doesn't rev hard and produce power for hills. Do I have to do something else after removing the inlet restrictor to get it to run properly. And is there an acid test to chek the removal of the electronic restrictor?

Took the plunge recently and bought a 4RT. I'm getting along with it quite nicely, love the suspension and the power characteristics 99% of the time, the exception is hillclimbs. The bike doesn't rev high and doesn't develop power, it produces low and midrange torque by the bucketload, but when you need to really fly up a hill it won't. The bike is exactly as it came out of the box, investigation shows 3 diametric restrictors in the exhaust and one immediately after the throttle body. The one after the throttle body was the surprise, it's a disk completely filling the intake with a tiny (guess 10-13mm dia) hole punched in it low down. This I assumed was the problem, in my mind it acts as another fixed throttle and would be effectively allowing the bike to run at max 1/4 throttle. So I removed it, expecting the same bottom end characteristics but a freer revving motor though still constrained by the exhaust restrictors. However, the bike wouldn't run properly without it, response was very poor and laggy and the bike wouldn't rev at all, missfiring and popping back above about 3000rpm. Put the disk back in and everything is back to normal. Has anyone else removed just this disk? and if they did, how did they get the bike to run right? I don't want to take out the exhaust restrictors and get my arms stretched, and I don't want to buy an adjustable throttle body - the bike was expensive enough and should be capable of running right. I just want the nice soft + torquey motor I have but with a petrol engine top end instead of the diesel version I have now.

Broken Rib (twice) = 6 weeks to no pain 'Sprung rib' (once) = 8 weeks to no pain Think 'Sprung Rib'is detached muscle, fat, and gristle Broken ribs were caused by the handlebars, 'sprung rib' caused by landing on my arm and pushing my forearm into my rib cage Can't cough, sneeze, or break wind, learned to sleep sitting up in bed or absolutely immobile on my back You can work around the pain and ride with painkillers (badly) after 4-6 weeks

Thinking about buying a 4RT, just wondering about the maintenance compared to a 2 stroke. Had a look through the 4RT manual on the net and got a bit of a shock. Seems that in addition to fresh oils, spark plug (and cap?) every 6 weeks. Honda recommend new piston rings every 6 months and a new piston every 12. Have riders really found this necessary or is this a hangover from MX motor manuals? 2 major top end strip downs a year seems excessive to me

I guess the above show how different things are as you move from region to region in the US. To put it into context, I ride in the NE Centre of the UK and I live very centrally in that area. The NE ACU has 21 affiliated clubs of which 11 organise trials. I have just received the March 2006 - March 2007 Club/date chart. In that 1 year period there will be 75 trials all 'closed to region' ie you have to be a member of one club in the centre to ride any or all of them and they will take in (my estimate) 35-40 different venues. I can get to any of these venues in 1 hour and would expect a minimum of 60 competitors at each event with an average around the 90 mark. All of those trials will have 2 courses, many will have 3 (basically one route but with easy and hard variations flagged through it). We are very lucky - the NE ACU manages the events so that there are never 2 trials on at the same time in the region. I understand that if I drive South for a couple of hours into the North Yorks Centre, the sport is so popular that the ACU there has to issue several permits for the same day with the result that trials become 'closed to club'- you have to be a member of many clubs to ride every week, not a hardship but multiple trials in one area makes it hard to get observers.

It does seem a rather selfish attitude As a UK trials secretary entry sizes are important to me, my club currently uses 3 venues, 2 are large, ie. you get a long ride around and one is very compact. If I get over 60 entries I'm quite happy, the event is viable, over 90 entries on the compact course and queueing becomes a real problem, over 135 entries on the other courses and you are looking at a late start and a late finish. (I always ride my club's events) Several things can be done to alter the nature of the trial and reduce the problems. Sending half of the field off to start at section 6 say will certainly help. In our centre, the expert riders seem to take twice as long as the novices (I know their sections are harder). We are fortunate that our venues are very popular but we were getting a bit tired of the late finishes. We now put up a notice at section 1 stating the number of sections, the number of laps, and the time at which section 1 will close. Whilst it is not universally popular, no one has ever got within 20 minutes of exclusion for lateness and entries have not dropped. If queuing is a constant problem at a certain venue, making the sections shorter and slightly more severe can really help. If entries are consistently higher than venues can stand, then make all entries postal and close at a pre-determined figure. This is currently done at one venue in my centre. If the sport was so over subscribed that every trial was at it's true maximum capacity and restricting entries then the natural course of events in that area would be for more clubs to form and run more trials, the sport would expand and advance. As a matter of interest, how far do you have to travel most weekends to ride a trial?

Flick through the ACU handbook and you'll see that the mudguard dimensions are actually defined for a trials bike. So no, you can't ride without it. Damage incurred in that particular competition may be a different thing though I guess the clerk of the course could exclude any bike at any time if he thinks it is dangerous or outside of the rules

I don't like WD40 for anything, there are lots of water dispersing formulas that are more lubricating and better protecting - my opinion. Most are cheaper too. The biggest problem with leaking fork seals is that the oil tends to get on the brake disk. I'd strongly suggest cleaning the seal using film negative before replacing it. Pressure washers force dirt down there better than anything, but dried mud on the forks being carried through the seal comes a close second I have fitted neoprene boots to the forks of my last 4 bikes and have not had a problem since, they can't be recommended highly enough. I do know one guy who went to a motor factors and got a pair of steering rack boots for a Sierra and used those instead, not as smart but probably good for 50,000 miles!

I'd guess that the 2 strokes are aided in their cooling by the amount of cool air that passes continually through the crankcases cooling them, the bottom of the piston, and the lower part of the cylinder every revolution, the cooling effect would be aided by the fuel in the air absorbing it's latent heat of evaporation. A good few years ago Gas Gas attempted to improve cooling by taking the water jacket down into the crankcases - it seemed like a good idea, instead the water heated the crankcases and allowed the mains to spin.

Have you tried different oils in the gearbox? it's amazing the difference they can make to the feel of the clutch. I used to use ATF in the Gas Gas box and it was fine, tried it in the Sherco and the clutch was very 'bitey' Synthetic 0W40 oil gave a very soft clutch but needed changing very frequently or I'd get slip on hill climbs, PJ1 Clutch tuner seems to suit me best. The oil in the gearbox when I got the bike new seemed very heavy and viscous in comparison to any of the above.