nicks_tr34

Hi, I am thinking of doing "Wycombe & Dist Stokenchurch Area Expert Open Y" on the 08/02/2009. I am a noob (done 1 trial at Hungry Hill - Hampshire) obviously the title of the Wycombe trial implies its Expert. I assume there will be an easy route this time round too for noobs like me? Finally, its hard for me to judge how 'easy' an easy route is ... one mans easy is another mans impossible ... ok, so the only frame of reference I have was the Yellow (gentlemans) and red (beginners) routes at Hungry Hill in Dec 08. Anyone done both these trials and can put a 1-10 scale on difficulty they found it for me so I can extrapolate how I might find Wycombe. If you have 'marks lost' at both trials, then it'd be the most fundamental comparison ... Thanks in advance.

Its a wonderful vision Graham, but it is changing the perception of a motorcycle that is going to be uphill ... electric or not ... I passionately feel that the plethora of dog walkers, horse riders and MTB riders - because of sheer numbers - probably do way more 'damage' than the odd electric (or Gas) trials bike would!! ... yet none of those are chastised for using common areas and enjoying public land ... I don't see any of this as a reason not to have the vision and to try and push it forward. But changing peoples perception of motorcycles (whatever energy powers the 'motor') is going to be a real problem here ... Good luck though and a worthy cause. Oh and if the RC cars I have had are anything to go by, electric bikes are not going to be silent ...

It looks more manly with a bit of mud on it .... I spent hours rebuilding with new bearings, then re-packing that rear shock linkage with grease ... I am not going to wash all that good grease/hard work away now am I!!

Thanks for the responses everyone! From Tinde's table, looks like it IS a 260 in the end ... phew!! ... what an odd numbering system though!! What actually started all this off was that I just bought some new front pads ... FA99's stated on EBC's catalog. And they don't fit!! (couldn't identify the part number on the pads that came out beforehand). So I went looking at the pictures in the EBC catalog .. the ones that were in my caliper appear to be the same size/shape as FA115s - NOT the listed FA99s .. Looking back at what the FA115s fit, they fit the 125 ... ... now a lot of other stuff that was said at time of sale was not found to be true/accurate, hence my panic ... my mind is now at rest over the CC ... but a little confused still at the front pads/caliper ... I can only assume it has a 125cc front end? or perhaps the caliper mounts are the same and it simply has a 125 caliper ... or even BETA just happened to throw what they had lying about in the parts bin on my bike from new? Loomesy - as you can see, everything with this bike so far has been a conspiracy against me ... but after a lot of work and a few quid,I am really happy with the results. I could do with a new tyre, but I have pretty much reached the end of what I intend to do with it. I could spend forever more on titivation, but now everything that is important is working ... the engine characteristics are really good, it pulls like a tractor from no revvs, yet you can open the throttle and it doesn't spring into instant life (which is ideal for trails novice) .. I have ridden GrahamJayZee's Rev3 and I found it a bit too sprightly off the throttle ... I am sure I could get used to that, but the TR deffo has a more user friendly motor ... I am sure if I was doing the expert route, a more frisky engine might be a bonus, but doing the novice route, I think I'd rather have my motor over the Rev3's So in summery, I feel the guy that sold it to me was either an idiot or a crook (perhaps a little of both ), but after LOTS of time/fiddling I now have the bike to a state I am content with ... sure it is not perfect still (front wheel is a little buckled for example, could do with the rear shock serviced too) but it is now an ideal beginners bike for me ... it served me well on my first trial and after the lessons learned there, I have made a few further improvements. Looking forward to my next trial!

Sadly, although and electric bike would be more stealthy, if you get seen on it , the knee-jerk reaction by the killjoys will be the same - its a bike - its bad - phone the roz!! I assume you want this bike purely for practice, but would compete on a petrol bike? Practice is practice, but clearly practice on the bike you intend to use is the most valuable, especially where trials is all about getting the power down/traction, this has so much to do with the delivery of power. I am not trying to sound negative, but I do fear it isn't going to give you what you want/need ... besides, if you get more practice than me ... then it isn't fair!!

Its a long story, but my TR34 was sold to me as a 260 ... I am now in doubt that is true .. I think it might be a 125 ... So, bearing in mind Beta is closed for the day - how can I tell the engine size of my Beta? Most bikes I owned give the CC on the botoom/side of the barrel, I'd expect a 260 to say something like '258cc 'and a 125 to say perhaps '124cc' Its says 12.5177 on the barrel ... first time I looked, I simply thought it was a part code as it didn't follow the traditional format, but I am now wondering if that actually means the engine size in decilitres, so 12.5177 is 125.177cc??? Is this correct or am I barking up the wrong tree? Help!!

One word ... Codecs .... did you get a cd with the camera?

Cool pic I love the way the dude is still covering the front brake!!

Haven't got a pic ... sorry ... but I am intrigued as to WHY you want one?!?!?

I see, so the trails area is to be integrated into TonyMoto? Sorry, I forgot to check for a reply on here before I got up .... so I went to Cusses Gorse today ... Tonymoto was going to be my next track (MX) anyway as I wanted to try it out!! Will you be there NEXT weekend?

I was actually all set to go to Cusses Gorse tomorrow ... do you mean your track will be open to ride at? or just come and have a look at??? If I can ride there, then I'll ditch Cusses Gorse for the day and come to your track (its closer too!) p.s. are we talking the trials part of your track here or the MX too? I was going to Cusses Gorse on my MX ...

So what exactly are you proposing av-gas 'does' over pump fuel?

Over 5 trials that is pint of beer!! As you can see, my rationale is more than saving a coupla pence ... its more not wasting a couple of pence for no gain and more importantly the fact I don't trust batches of super any more ... there was nothing more annoying than paying through the teeth for shell optimax (v-power now) high octane fuel and have it destroy my engine coz it evidently came out of the pump stale/contaminated!!! ... I'd probably have been better off with fresh 95 and running close to the wire tuning/detonation wise ... (my race engine had raised compression - hence running it on super) ... screw your 40p's that mistake cost me ~

That is a fair point, but with the advent of modern synthetic 2-stroke oils, especially at 70:1 or even 80:1 mix, and modern detergents in the fuel itself, do we still suffer from engines coking up? This isn't the 70s .... I know my minimotos rev a fair bit higher, but when I took my last one apart, there was very little carbon build up. That I ran on 95ron and Rock-oil Fully synth at 45:1. Also what is the manufactures octane rating for the bike out of the box? ... bearing in mind it is for a 'world' market, if it is say set nominally for use on 89ron (surely the manufactures are going to play it safe?), running 95ron already has wiggle room. Anyway all, as you can see, its open to debate ... apart from needlessly hurting your wallet, I am not sure there are many downsides to using higher octane PUMP fuel? Play it super safe? or just wasting money for no benefit? p.s. I know it is often done, but I think using av-gas will mean you have to know what you are doing, mix too much of that in and you will cause other problems ... remember, its not JUST octane that is in fuel ... .. so in summery, it probably isn't necessary, but if you want lots of wiggle room 97-102 octane pump gas (petrol) ... unless you have diddled with the bike, going to av-gas is probably not necessary and potentially opening up another can of worms ... and bearing in mind you already have lots of wiggle room with ~100ron ... to what gain?!!? I'm gonna stick with 95ron myself ... If for no other reason than I don't trust getting fresh batches of 'super unleaded'. As it has a much lower turnover at the pumps than standard unleaded, it can sit in the forecourt tanks for long periods .. that is a whole other story, but I destroyed a 4-stroke race engine once by unwittingly buying a stale/contaminated batch of super unleaded ... as normal 95ron unleaded has a high turnover, to my mind, I am much less likely to get a stale batch ... which again bearing in mind the timing and compression of my bike and 95ron is already on the safe side, to my mind, getting 'fresh' batch of fuel is more important than the (to my mind overkill) wiggle room of super ... Anyway, that is my 2p (cents) wroth!!

Ok, just in case people are not 100%sure, first lets make it clear what Octane is in there for! The octane is in there to stop pre-ignition, or 'detonation' as it is commonly called. This is where we set the bikes spark timing before the piston reaches the top of its stroke. The idea being that by the time the mixture has actually ignited (short time delay between spark and things actually going bang!), the piston is now just starting its downstoke. Bearing in mind the speed the piston is traveling, If you only sparked after the piston was at the top, then it'd be a fair ways down the next stroke before the mixture had ignited and you won't get the max benefit (power)!! Set the timing too early and the explosion happens before the piston is at the top and it essentially tries to push the piston back the way it came again ... this puts massive stress on the components and ... well looses you power ... detonation can also happen if the compression is so high that the pressure alone is enough to ignite the fuel mix (prematurely). Ok, so that is why we set the ignition before piston is at the top of its stroke (BTDC) and how you need to set it just right, also that high compression (skimming heads etc) increases the risk of detonation. So ..... We have 2 choices .... 1: Buy the fuel that is appropriate for the ignition and/or compression settings of your bike. 2: Set the ignition and/or compression appropriately for the fuel .. Obviously choice 1 will potentially give you more 'power' .. but choice two is perfectly good. Also to be honest, in trials it is all about finding grip. Having an engine that is too lively is actually a negative thing. Therefore one could argue that using the lower octane fuel and retarding the ignition is actually the better option for trials (especially if like me you are new to trials). Here in the UK we can get 95 (standard pump) 97/98 (most super unleadeds), some of the pump super unleadeds are now 102. Then you could obviously go AV-Gas. If the bike is set up to run perfectly on say 95 octane and you have not modified your ignition or compression from that, then there is no point putting say 105 octane in as the engine won't 'do' anything with the extra octane ... its just a waste of cash ... Some modern cars have 'knock detectors' and are clever enough to adjust the timing appropriately 'on the fly' to get the max out of the fuel they run ... as far as I am aware, our trials bikes are too dumb and therefore won't reep the benefits unless we modify the timing/compression ourselves. Personally I use the 95 ron. But then I am a cheapskate!! Hope that is of some use and not just waffle!!