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They're a complete pain I gave up on the normal methods, like you I've done plenty of GasGas Sherco and Beta rear brakes and thought I was reasonably competent but the Mont can be in a different league, made worse by the inaccessible reservoir. I do mine using a pressure bleeder but the aforementioned reservoir can make it messy.

The photos are of the bike the way it was when I bought it, and I've not substantially changed it since other than to lower the pegs about an inch. The forks are Cerianis and are a bit long, I guess they were off a scrambler, I'm investigating a pair of parallel yokes instead of standard Cub ones to try and steepen them up a little

I just bought Renthal grips - seem the thinnest, cut the originals off, glued the Renthals on, cut off the excess length on the ends and bolted in a pair of ally bar ends. Nothing hard about it Or did I miss something obvious?

I had 3 GasGas 320s, a '92, a '99 and a 2000, liked them all. When the pro came out, I tried it and didn't like it. So I bought an '03 Sherco 290, then an 05 one. I found the Shercos very similar to the TXT GasGas to ride but a little lighter. My riding probably improved, a very little. Carburation was noticeably better. I've had a couple of 4RTs since and the engine reminds me of those TXTs in some respects, any gear and it'll still dig you out of trouble. Ask around at a trial, I'm sure you'll get a go on any of the makes and see what you think. The best reason for buying any bike is cos you fancy it, justify it any way you like, but buy it because you want it.

It'd be the quickest way to put you off riding and it'd ruin the car. I'd have no hesitation in going to buy / collect a clean bike the way you suggest, probably remove the front wheel and rear mudguard, push it in on the back wheel and skid plate, chock it up and tie the tailgate down onto the handlebars. But not going to and from events, a dirty bike is hard to dismantle and hard to handle in big pieces in a confined space when you're knackered. If money's really tight, buy a second hand tow bar, there's loads around on ebay or there's a big dismantlers in Aberdeen I've used mail order a couple of times, think they're called Overton Garage, and watch this site for second hand bike racks

The finished article

My Cub has an unusual top tank oil tube arrangement, made by the previous owner. PM me if you need more details

Could you just clarify what you mean by overheating. Is it boiling up and expelling clouds of steam / coolant or Is it just that the fan is running all the time

You've just bought a ten year old un-inspected trials bike for 421 quid. One of the most competitive bikes when it was new and 6% of the price of a new Montesa Repsol this year What, exactly, are you expecting to find? I'd expect to find problems with the head gasket (actually O rings) that may or not be repairable and also with the fork seals cos the seller says that's the case. I'd also expect the tyres to be useless, the frame to have suffered abuse, the foot pegs to be bent, the chain and sprockets and brakes to be worn out, the suspension to be very sloppy (especially the rear linkage), the wheels to be buckled, and the plastics to look shabby. Probably the petrol tank will be dented. Anything less would be a bonus. Having said all of that, I had three TXT type Gassers and found them to be as tough as old boots so it just might be the bargain of the century. Look at everything, the only bits that might be hard to source are the plastics

Yep, The North East is a great place to trial, good venues and around 80 trials per year. That's 50 Sundays, 25 Saturdays and 5 or 6 Wednesday nights. All within an hour of Gateshead. Results from every event published on this website, often with photographs and videos to show you up It's so good, Scottish and Yorkshire folk come here to trial, some of them even join clubs in the centre, so it must be good value too! Coming back to your original question, the only legal venue open to the public is adjacent to the Kart track at Warden Law (near Houghton le Spring). Other venues may be available by private arrangement. Castleside quarry is not public land and is not a "legal" venue, 'though the police and landowner have tolerated trials practice here off and on for some time.

I had three 320/321/330s and could start them all sitting down, I could also stand on the kickstart without it moving, it's just technique to get over the compression. Easiest way is to put the bike in gear, pull it backwards 'till the piston comes to up to compression, pull the clutch in and kick. that way you get around 330

The standard ones work by wrapping a thin wire 3-4 times around the HT lead, the pocket one will probably just have a clip or probe to put against the lead - they are just inductive tachs after all. Not sure how much they are, I bought the pro as it can be set for any motor, 2T or 4T plus it has a much faster refresh rate on the digital tach, think that was

Yep, though cheap is a matter of opinion. Many inductive tachs, eg the draper and the ones sold at Maplin don't work on the Mont ignition cable I use a tiny tach www.tinytachuk.com , makes setting the tickover easy and if you leave it on the bike it records hours run - you can base your oil change regime on this if you wish

You could try your local Gas Gas dealers They'd be White Bros in Darlington or Off Road Moto in Blyth (They attend most NE Trials) Or order direct from Gas Gas UK if it's still available.

Looking at it from a slightly different perspective, It was a rather nice day, and I'd rather queue than not ride. We get big entries in our centre so we're used to it I suppose. I was far more irritated that despite being one of the first finishers I couldn't even get a bacon butty from the van as he'd run out of food.

Lots of bikes do it. It's exacerbated by the very low gearing - the clutch has little load on it in first or second. Once you've flattened the garage door / ridden up the wife's car you learn to either point them away from everything or have the front wheel up against something solid before you first put them into gear when cold. Don't let that put you off the bike, I had two Shercos and loved them, both had that 'feature'

I bought a second pair of batteries from Rapidonline.com as riding around a real trial in the UK uses them up much more quickly than around the garden or up and down hard paths. 12V 14AH, around

Most bikes are like this now, the spacer is often thin aluminium which makes it easy to damage too. The normal way for me is to pour boiling water on the hub around one wheel bearing, flip the wheel over and strike the centre race of the opposite wheel bearing very hard. This generally shocks the bearing on the hot side out by a few mm and the tubular spacer drops down enough for you to access the bearing properly with a long punch. I then use the old bearings to drive the new ones in.

You can only speak as you find. Despite never having a significant problem, I found dealing with the previous owner of this business a little unpleasant, so I stopped around 10 years ago. Recently I bought a pre-65 bike needing parts and since I knew there was a new owner I tried them again. To-date I've received everything I've ordered quickly, the transactions were pleasant and advice was freely given (this included 'you can buy this from your local motor factor'). You can only speak as you find

I've posted the full results on the front page of this website with a link to the photographs

Someone's removed the voltage regulator / zener diode?

Yes

I use Raptor pegs and standard hangers. I've had the pegs for years, been on 3 bikes, still good as new - I love em. When I try someone elses bike, the pegs just feel small and wobbly. Standard hangers bend if you clout them hard but are suprisingly cheap to replace. If I broke the frame there I think I might cry at the cost of replacement.

Personally I'd ride it and hope. No point spending on an unnecessary rebuild You'll soon find out if there's any damage and riding it won't make any difference as long as you stop riding if you hear something untoward. A top end strip down will reveal little as most potential damage will be to the bottom end, mains and or big end. The important thing is you got the bike running quickly with the petrol/oil mixture washing over the important bearings. I've had it go both ways, a fully submerged Sherco, drained off and running within 20 minutes never gave me any problems in the next couple of years. A drowned GasGas developed grumbly mains during the next trial, mains, big end, and gudgeon pin were replaced. The quicker you get it running after the submersion the better, water washes the oil off the bright hot bearing surfaces immediately and starts corrosion. If it took you over an hour from submersion to re-start then you are probably looking at new bearings, under that, you may be lucky. If the water was filthy then obviously, your luck will diminish. Gear box is very unlikely to have suffered, you did the right thing changing the oil, change it again after the next trial to remove any residual water. Wouldn't hurt to run a bit extra oil in your 2T mix next trial.

Robert Little has released more photographs, scanned from his archives. Click here to view