Converting A Mono To A Twin

[neil king]

We have rules too, but they are not the same as yours. Can you understand that? Bend you knees a little , let the bike move under you. We ride for fun over here. To tell you the truth, I think that making it a twinshock would be an improvement over the stock single. The linkage on the Mono is not a very good setup. The fork sure could use a little improvement also. I think I titled the thread wrong, it shoud be "Improve the TY Mono by converting it to a twinshock and make people mad in the process".

[jse]

We have rules in motor sport to prevent CHEATING!

I tend to agree with that.

I may be old fashioned, but a "twin shock" is age and model specific, and converting a mono does

not make it suitable based on what I would consider the "spirit" of the rules. Perhaps a "special"

class for "converts" would work and I'd like to see a class for air-cooled monos, which might drag a bunch

of them out of the garages. I hate to see old Trials bikes in storage and much prefer seeing them

out doing what they were designed for.

Jon

[for artie]

Our rules aren't that strict and it's not considered cheating. The only rules are; twinshock, aircooled, no hydrolics. There is a guy with an '04 315R with twinshocks, home made drum brakes(he's a machinist), and an engine out of a Banshee 4 wheeler.

What a terrible thing to do to a 315R !!! Especially a 2004 as they were lovely bikes

[pete_scorpa3]

Still trying to work out the peanutbutter analogy.

[neil king]

Hell, a lot of the noncheater bikes have nothing left of the original bike!

[jse]

What a terrible thing to do to a 315R !!! Especially a 2004 as they were lovely bikes

Im still trying to wrap my brain around the Banshee engine (350cc, twin, water-cooled two-stroke) part of the conversion.

I think I understand the peanut butter part..........

Jon

[htrdoug]

Guys,it ain't cheatin' if there's a class for the bikes, and we have a special class for the bikes here in the U.S.You don't have to like it,but it does consist of people riding trials,which is always a good thing.The first trials I attended had a trail bike class that required non-trials bikes only,the entire group rode the loops together on their own special lines,and they all had a blast,It was great because it was more guys riding trials.

If you should come across and old TY350 with a blown shock and no airbox it's not really a big dealio to build it into a twinshock,it doesn't take a airmono out of the loop, it brings it back into the game since it likely has been used as a farm bike for years,and not been involved in competition anyway.

As far as a airmono class,yes,that would be fun,but first there needs to be enough out there to show up at an event to make up a class,I'll likely haul my 309 along to the events next year,but I'll be riding my 240 in the aircooled drum brake class as I still need to be on the easy line for awhile yet. If I get enough rides in to qualify for year end points in the vintage class then I'll ride the 309 in the senior class,which is one step up in difficulty as far as lines go,if there was a airmono class I'd bet it would ride the same line so it seems that a special class for airmonos would be redundant.

I have access to 100 acres here in southern Indiana that I'm clearing out for playing trials on,maybe once I get all the streams and waterfalls cleared and the moss off of all the rocks maybe we should have a big airmono get-together!(I don't have much interest in promoting a full-blown event,just playdays)

P.S.there's a TY350 for $800 just 15 miles from my house,and I'm itching for some garage project to weld on...

[nzralphy]

Your stupid english rules. There i said it. Rules for this and rules for that. If you've got an old bike then you should be able to ride it.

If you were any good at riding you would win on a twin-shock, over the modified bike any way.

Felling better now. Bring on the moaning

[neil king]

Im still trying to wrap my brain around the Banshee engine (350cc, twin, water-cooled two-stroke) part of the conversion.

I think I understand the peanut butter part..........

Jon

It was a aircooled single. I could of swore he said Banshee. I know nothing about 4 wheelers.

[marky g]

Your stupid english rules. There i said it. Rules for this and rules for that. If you've got an old bike then you should be able to ride it.

To be fair, there is nothing to stop you converting a mono into a twinshock and riding it in club trials, you would just have to enter it in the clubman class where any bike type go's.

Not too sure what advantage my old 86 mono converted into a twinshock would have over say a good Fantic 240, the Yam still has drum brakes etc but.....who wants the hassle of some a*** having a go at you at a trial for doing it ??.

I love to tinker and I'd take alot of pleasure in doing the project just for the hell of it................ what gets me is, where will the twinshock scene be in a few years?, many many bikes are getting out of reach of you average working bloke...you could argue that it's getting as bad as the 'pre65' scene.

[jse]

It was a aircooled single. I could of swore he said Banshee. I know nothing about 4 wheelers.

It can get kinds confusing. My guess is it was a "Blaster" engine (single, air-cooled Yamaha) and

that might make a reasonable unit for the bike.

I'm not against changing or modifying bikes, heck, I'm always doing some weird project. I guess

I'm for having the highly-converted bikes run in their own class rather than in the "pure" twin-shock class.

Twin shocks are pricey enough, but theres always someone that will do something like shell out the

dough to convert a new Pro just to win the pi**ing contest. I know what goes inside some of the Pre-65 bikes

and I just would hate for the rules to be wide open for the twin-shocks. A "run-what-you-brung" class

for twin-shocks would allow for creatiive engineering. Maybe I'm too simpleminded.......

Then again, Trials is about the rider's ability rather than the machinery to a large degree, so I can also

understand allowing leeway in the types of bikes.

Jon

[neil king]

Yeah, that was it, a Blaster. I think the exaust he built was lacking in the mid-box area. It just didn't sound quite right. We don't have enough riders to support classes for everything. If we added a class for drum brake, aircooled, monoshock bikes I'd be the only one. In fact, I wouldn't even do it. We do have some very good twinshock riders this year that I couldn't beat even with a cheater bike. We're running two vintage classes, one riding the novice line and the other riding the amature line. I haven't lost all hope on the Reflex yet.

[neil king]

"Then again, Trials is about the rider's ability rather than the machinery to a large degree, so I can also

understand allowing leeway in the types of bikes."

It's when the scores are close that it becomes a problem. The guy I bought the TY from hadn't ridden in 20 years because he thought he should have won the Master class on a technicality(the other rider was past the time limit by a few minutes at one trial). So I got a pristine TY Mono thats been sitting in the garage for 20 years, the tires were practically new when it was parked.

[nigel dabster]

"Then again, Trials is about the rider's ability rather than the machinery to a large degree, so I can also

understand allowing leeway in the types of bikes."

It's when the scores are close that it becomes a problem. The guy I bought the TY from hadn't ridden in 20 years because he thought he should have won the Master class on a technicality(the other rider was past the time limit by a few minutes at one trial). So I got a pristine TY Mono thats been sitting in the garage for 20 years, the tires were practically new when it was parked.

and your point is?

[old trials fanatic]

I know what goes inside some of the Pre-65 bikes

Jon

You know i keep hearing this but i DO speak from experience as i do KNOW what goes inside some of the Pre65 bikes as i've seen a lot of the top riders engines on the bench in bits including Mick Andrews bike and i can categorically tell you there is very little apart from electronic ignition and porting plus the odd gear in the gearbox that is "special" or "trick". Yes the engines are put together properly and to tolerances that the factories never dreamed of. I am not saying there isnt a bike somewhere that doesnt have the odd bit here or there from a modern bike in it but i seriously doubt it. They dont need it. All the stuff thats done is basic engineering bored out, ported, polished, better lubrication, bearings etc but nothing like the radical stuff that the "gossip mongerers" maintain.

The main reason the bikes go so well is the frames geometry, tyres and suspension not a "magic" motor and all the parts are available to anybody anyway so whats the problem?

As for all this "twinshocks are too expensive. Out of reach of the average working man" blah blah blah. A perfectly good twinshock, a real one btw, can be bought off flea bay and made useable for well under

Edited March 8, 2010 by Old trials fanatic