Hello from France

[GuyFawkes]

Hi All, just joined so thought id introduce myself.

Names James, live on the Swiss / French border in a region of France called Alsace. Been riding for around 20 years but gave up road riding when the kids were born, now mostly potter about the local green lanes on my enduro bike and get out on the trials bike when i can  

Have just bought a Sherco Ty125 as i wanted something super quiet to ride in the back garden and i liked the ability to fit a seat and use the bike for some more technical green lane stuff as well as trials. Have just done a few days Trials riding in the Vosges (mountain range near here) at a Trials school called Motos 88, fantastic place with around 350km of terrain to play on. Was a brilliant few days to learn some basic skills and test the bike. 

First impressions of the bike are its a good trail bike, seems a bit lame for actual trials though. Build quality seems mediocre, keeps stalling after long climbs, hard to start when hot and the bike completely died on me during the second day. Seems like an electrical failure, not sure of the issue yet as ive just got home, will investigate and post some findings. 

Glad to have come across the forum, any fellow Ty125 owners out there i'd be keen to hear from you, likewise if anyone happens to be in my neck of the woods. 

Cheers!

[ChrisCH]

Salut.  Welcome to the forum.  We looked at Moto88 a year or so back but it is closed in the winter (we were visiting at xmas).  I don't know much about the Sherco - if you want quiet get an Electric Motion.  Dherby have a few in stock but they are not cheap.

I hope to retire to France next year if Mme Le Pen lets me in.

[GuyFawkes]

Salut Chris, 

Thanks for your reply. The Electric Motion look amazing dont they. Expensive as you say but they do look well designed, maybe once ive had some fun with the Sherco

The chaps at Motos 88 are really nice, worth a visit if you get the chance again. They have some 125's and some Montesa 260's for hire, its around 70 euro from memory for a lesson, all the gear and a bike. if you have your own bike then its 10 bob for a days access to the whole mountain.

We have been living here for 10 years now, happy to help if you want any info about moving over, Carte de sejour etc. Thats if Le Pen doesn't kick us out of course! 

cheers

 

[ChrisCH]

Thanks for that.  We plan to set out a trials practice area if we can buy something with a bit of land.  I have read on other forums there is a lot of hassle bringing a bike in.  The problem seems to be you need a Controle Technique but as bikes are exempt no one can test a bike.  I think they are talking about introducing the CT for motorbikes so maybe ironically it will make it easier.  Otherwise we will sell the bikes here and buy again when we get there.  Neither of our trials bikes are registered so no Carte Gris either.  The missus will shoot people if she can't import her Ducati.

Have you been to Dherby?  Worth a visit if you are that way.  I wish we had a big shop like that in the south of England.

[GuyFawkes]

A place with a bit of land would be fantastic to setup a trials area. Go for it! 

Bikes were exempt from the control technique (CT), however it is now being phased in for all bikes, i have one of mine booked in with the local place next week. Most test centres will do the standard test now i think, will report back after with a list of what they actually check.

If you plan to use the Trials bikes on private land only then no need for a CT, just ride it. If you want to ride it on the road then its a different story.

For the Ducati you will need a Certificate of Conformity (CoC) from Ducati stating the bike is homologated in Europe (should be easy, just send them an email). Since Brexit you will also need to pay the VAT again, even if already paid in UK, plus around 10% import fees, plus some other admin fees and the cost of a CT. Means 30% ish tax on the current value of the bike to get it into France. Also if the bike is modified then you may have a problem with the CT. I have a modified SR400 Scrambler which im having to put back to standard to get it through the CT, right pain in the bum. This is based on my experience of importing a few cars over the years, must admit ive never done i bike, though my understanding is the process would be the same. 

Never been to Dherby, whats it all about? We were based in Bournemouth and Bath area when living in UK, Matchams was my closest MX track. 

[ChrisCH]

Dherby are a big trials shop (https://www.dherbeymoto.com/marchand/magasin.php) with lots of bikes and kit.  We used to own a place in Montpellier and broke the journey down by an overnight in Grenoble when we could just to go buy something we didn't really need.  Grenoble is lovely (if a bit busy) and the drive through the mountains west to Montpellier was also very nice (big nut orchards there too).

We sold up recently in Montpellier as the Taxe Fonc and Hab got to nearly two grand and it was just too much, especially as we had not been able to get back during the lockdown.  I'm looking Normandy area now as there is (cheaper) land there.

Never been to Matchams though I drive past it often.  Our trials club do a once a year event at Rogershill near Dorchester.  We are based in Horton.

Thanks for the feedback on the importing.  I will have to work out the cost/benefit but I think the missus will require the Ducati to follow her at any cost.  From what I have read you need insurance to ride in trials competitions and so the bike has to have a Carte Gris.  We might bring the Electric Motion as a toy for our own land but it would be nice to ride it at the local club.  (ACL Breal are near-ish to our target area)

[stpauls]

On 7/4/2024 at 9:58 AM, GuyFawkes said:

Hi All, just joined so thought id introduce myself.

Names James, live on the Swiss / French border in a region of France called Alsace. Been riding for around 20 years but gave up road riding when the kids were born, now mostly potter about the local green lanes on my enduro bike and get out on the trials bike when i can  

Have just bought a Sherco Ty125 as i wanted something super quiet to ride in the back garden and i liked the ability to fit a seat and use the bike for some more technical green lane stuff as well as trials. Have just done a few days Trials riding in the Vosges (mountain range near here) at a Trials school called Motos 88, fantastic place with around 350km of terrain to play on. Was a brilliant few days to learn some basic skills and test the bike. 

First impressions of the bike are its a good trail bike, seems a bit lame for actual trials though. Build quality seems mediocre, keeps stalling after long climbs, hard to start when hot and the bike completely died on me during the second day. Seems like an electrical failure, not sure of the issue yet as ive just got home, will investigate and post some findings. 

Glad to have come across the forum, any fellow Ty125 owners out there i'd be keen to hear from you, likewise if anyone happens to be in my neck of the woods. 

Cheers!

 

On 7/4/2024 at 9:58 AM, GuyFawkes said:

Hi All, just joined so thought id introduce myself.

Names James, live on the Swiss / French border in a region of France called Alsace. Been riding for around 20 years but gave up road riding when the kids were born, now mostly potter about the local green lanes on my enduro bike and get out on the trials bike when i can  

Have just bought a Sherco Ty125 as i wanted something super quiet to ride in the back garden and i liked the ability to fit a seat and use the bike for some more technical green lane stuff as well as trials. Have just done a few days Trials riding in the Vosges (mountain range near here) at a Trials school called Motos 88, fantastic place with around 350km of terrain to play on. Was a brilliant few days to learn some basic skills and test the bike. 

First impressions of the bike are its a good trail bike, seems a bit lame for actual trials though. Build quality seems mediocre, keeps stalling after long climbs, hard to start when hot and the bike completely died on me during the second day. Seems like an electrical failure, not sure of the issue yet as ive just got home, will investigate and post some findings. 

Glad to have come across the forum, any fellow Ty125 owners out there i'd be keen to hear from you, likewise if anyone happens to be in my neck of the woods. 

Cheers!

I suspect it is the carburettor.  It is a Mikuni BS25. 

1.  I think you need to increase the size of the pilot jet to make it easier to start.  The slow/pilot jet is unusual and not listed anywhere.  It took me ages to identify a similar pilot jet.  The standard jet is 17.5.  This is the same hole size as a 35 in these!  I fitted a 40 which works much better.  They are here:   12xCopper Carburetor Slow Pilot Jet Assembly for PZ19 PB16/18/20 Carb | eBay 

2.  Also, the float valve doesn't shut off the fuel properly (especially when not on level ground!!!) resulting in overflow and flooding.  This is due to the float valve being slighly too short and/or the tang on the float arm offering little scope for adjustment.  After MUCH experimenting with bending the (fragile) float tang, I finally solved it by fitting a slightly longer float valve from a Honda  VALVE SET,FLOAT for TL125S ENGLAND - order at CMSNL  ( I had a few old carbs in the shed and was able to compare them first).

3.  If you have been riding through water then the wires to the electric start are very exposed to any water.  Also, many of the bike's electrics are situated low down, by the clutch actuator arm - not the best position for electrics.  

Do not cut 5mm off the overflow tube, as recommended by Scorpa for the OLD TY 125s, as they use a completely DIFFERENT carburettor.

 

 

Also the 

[GuyFawkes]

Hi Chaps, sorry for the slow reply.

Thanks for the info on Dherby Chris, looks like a fantastic place. We have family in Montpellier, great city, have had some fun times down there. We were looking to buy something Normandy / Brittany and did a few weeks scouting around last year. North coast around Lannion was lovely, we're still looking!  

Thanks for the info also StPauls, that is gold, really appreciate it! Have just bought the pilot jets so will get those sorted asap. The link is great also, good knowledge  

The electrical issue was the main fuse, replaced and now running again. Whist in there i noticed the loom was so badly installed that the wires to the clocks were being pulled tight on full lock, glad i caught it before they failed. 

The bike has now stopped idling and does not respond to adjustment of the air / fuel screw at all. Ive had to turn the idle screw up so far to get it to run that i think its not even running on the pilot at idle, hence the air / fuel screw doesnt do anything. I'm assuming the pilot is blocked so had the carb off tonight and blew it all through with compressed air, lets see if that sorts it. I had already fitted an inline fuel filter since the smaller fuel tank was full of plastic swarf when i checked inside, i guess some got through though.

The larger fuel tank is also leaking at the joint between tank and petcock, the mounting bracket for the seat was so out of alignment i had to re-drill it and the flasher relay was just flopping about by the battery, not retained at all. 280km from new and so many niggles....gotta say i wouldnt buy another Sherco based on my experience so far. Granted its a cheap one but my Beta xtrainer was only 6.5K new, and thats been faultless in 130hours. 

Regardless of the niggles i do still like the bike though. Riding a trials bike with a seat for green lane is such a game changer. Im going places i would never take the Xtrainer, its fantastic.