Eventspost 1 - Hodnet BMCA

At last I have ridden my first trial of 2007. After weather and illness it was good to actually get out and ride. The event was a BMCA trial at Hodnet (a small farm about 400yds from the entrance to Hawkstone Park Moto X circuit).

It was also the first time out on the bike with the new rear subframe and swinging arm. I had a slight problem with the silencer touching the swinging arm under full load so put some 20mm longer shocks on last week to adress the problem - it certainly improved the suspension and with the lighter weight it made moving the back wheel easier. (in fact the hardest section of the day was made much easier with a little hop of the rear wheel to line up for a tight gap between 2 trees - much to the delight of some of the hardened classic riders I am sure but I suppose its no different to a wheelie as long as you keep moving)

The weather was dry and the ground was a little heavy but with the sandy soil it made for a grippy surface. Frank Bourne put the trial on and though not too difficult it was quite tight and easy to lose marks with any lapse of concentration.

Well, the good news is that I won the trial (actually joint first to be honest with Mick Parkes) on clean. I thought that I had actually lost 1 mark but the observer must have missed it - you win some you lose some and I will probably feel hard done by from observers on occasions this year so I guess it all evens itself up eventually. In fact I think it's the first time I have ever cleaned a whole trial so it sets the year off fantastically.

Pictures are from the trial Results as follows;

Class A

1. Mick Parkes Clean

2. Bob Greenhough 5

3. Steve Neale 5

4. Dave Jones 6

Class B

1. Dave Dawson Clean

2. Alan Borton 8

3. Steve Thompson 12

4. Brian Dale 24

Class C

1. Pete Reed 4

2. Bill Bourne 6

Class D

1. Nathan Jones 6

Spritepost 4

The yokes have been revceived from Alan Whitton and as we are using lightweight MP forks on the bike, sleeves were required to step the yokes down to 32mm to accommodate the fork legs.

The bearing mounts have been machined and as you can see on the photos the yokes are now ready to go into the frame when it returns from the powder coaters

SpritePost 3

The frame is now ready for a trip to the powder coaters. A few mods that have been done are as follows;

1. the head angle has been steepened by 3 degrees - you can see that a piece has been welded into the top tube - this was done by cutting the top tube, heating the lower tubes and jacking the frame until it was at the correct head angle then re-welding a piece into the gap on the top tube.

2. all the protective bash plates under the engine cases have been removed to allow for a single ally bash plate to be fitted.

3. a change of plan on the cut frame loop in the centre of the frame has resulted in a plate being made to bridge the space between the new loop at the rear of the engine and the top tube. this has been shaped to allow an air filter to fit directly behind the carb - you can see the plate in place on the photo.

4. the seat mountings have been re-welded in place

5. a new rear frame loop has been added with mudguard mounting points attached

6. Gear pedal mounting bracket ha sben added to run the brake directly from the hub down the left side of the bike

On the swinging arm the sidestand mounting plate has been welded direct to the arm rather than being bolted on as previously

Spritepost 2

The Sprite project has now started and the first task has been to get the frame ready to use.

The engine has been left in place to make an exhaust and position the silencer. We decided to route the exhaust in a similar way to that of the more recent James bikes doing the rounds. Asking around the concensus seemed to be to use 45mm O/D pipe and a length of at least 30 inches to the silencer in order to get the correct volume so the front pipe has been shaped and welded accordingly. A silencer has been sought and fitted (the end of this still needs to be shaped to point ourwards to the side of the bike at the front of the rear damper).

The two frame tubes that formed a loop at the side of the frame have been cut out and a lower loop welded in place to take a bolt in frame that will move inboard on the frame and allow the exhaust to run down the side of the bike without obstruction.

The tank mounting bracket has been welded in place. We will be using an aluminium tank as per the Mick Andrews replica James bikes.

Next steps will be to add a small piece into the top tubes to sharpen up the head angle by about 5 degrees and the removal of the orignal bash plate sections on the frame to allow for a single ally bash plate.

The rear tubes will be removed from the top mounting point of the rear shock and will be replaced with a much smaller tube looped to offer some rigidity and provide a rear mudguard mounting point.

Pictures show current progress as of today's date.

Cubpost 5

I called in at Alan Whitton's place yesterday to get my rear spindle shortened to fit the new swinging arm on my cub.

Whilst I was there I took these shots of Alan's own cub to post. This is pretty much the same as mine, however it has a full McDonald frame rather than just the rear end and the forks are modified cub forks rather than the Norton Roadholders on mine.

Cubpost 4

Here are the latest shots of the Cub with the Mcdonald rear end (Armac Tel 01751 417371). the subframe and swinging arm are made from Trumech/CF53 tube.

In all I undertsand that it is about 1.5kg saving on the originals. It comes complete with everything required to bolt directly onto the original cub front frame.

This includes;

Swinging arm - bearings, chainguard, chain tensioner, snail cams, spindle

Subframe - seat, footrests(Gas Gas) alloy brake pedal

As you can see it is very neat, the suspension action is a little better due to the extra length of the swinging arm and the shock mount positions and is slightly narrower and lower at the seat. The footrests are also about 1 inch lower so it should be a little more stable with the centre of gravity moving downwards.

Will let you know how it performs after next weekend when it should get it's fist outing.

Dadpost 1

I mention my Dad a few times here as he is the the chief restorer in the family. I thought I would just add a picture of him in action on his Minerelli engined Cotton - not too shabby for a pensioner!

Cubpost 3

Here are a few pictures of the cub in action at recent events at the end of 2006.

Spritepost 1

This is a new project that we (my Dad and I) are just about to start. I originally bought this Sprite about 11 yrs ago and rode it for 1 season. It originally had a 360cc conversion in the Villiers engine.

I sold it in 1996 and recently tracked it down again. Fortunately the same guy thet bought it still had it in the shed, though last year he had the engine rebuilt and the barrell re-sleeved to return it to it's original 250 capacity.

As you can see, it's not in terrible condition but needs some cosmetic attention to return it to it's former glory. We will possibly try and tidy up the frame, chopping out any un needed lugs and possibly re-shaping some of the frame to make it a little narrower and lower in the seat area(however it may prove better to leave in standard form). It will need some cosmetic attention in the tank, seat, mudguards, wheels areas.

The engine shouldn't need much attention, though electronic ignition, trials gearing and a neat exhaust/silencer solution will be required to make it a competitive and rideable finished project.

You can see from the Cotton parked next to this in the picture, my Dad builds very tidy bikes and I know he will make a good job of this, I cant wait to see the transformation start to take shape. I will keep you posted on the progress as it happens.

Cubpost 2

So, now you have seen how it started. I rode 3 trials back in July/August time and found that there were a few things wrong - it lacked power to pull my slender 16 1/2 stone frame, and after riding modern trials the suspension and brakes were certainly in need of attention.

After numerous calls and discussions, plus almost changing direction completely and trading the Cub for a James, I made contact with Alan Whitton (AW Race Engineering - Tel 01246 419805) who has helped to rejuvenate both my bike and my wallett (certainly the agreed budget that I had was soon passed). Parts that came off the bike and a scour through the garage for not needed items secured the extra funding thanks to ebay. Alan is an excellent engineer and has a great eye for detail that others often overlook so any work done is certainly worth any wait you might encounter as he works alone and the parts are in high demand.

The result saw the engine increase to 230cc, a PVL ignition and trials gears were fitted, various machining done to the engine to improve performance, reliability and use in trials. In addition a McDonald exhaust and some clutch mods were made to lighten the clutch action.That covered the engine department.....

Then we moved to the rest of the bike, new billet alloy yolks were fitted along with Betor forks inside Norton Roadholder lowers, new wheels were built into new alloy pattern Cub hubs with AW Racing brake plates, new seat and tank were fitted, small kickstart and billett alloy gear pedal finished off some of the cosmetic aspects of the bike.

As you can see, this has transformed the bike enormously. In the next 'Cubpost' I will show the latest pics of the bike with the final piece of the jigsaw (a McDonald swinging arm and subframe).

All that now remains is to get the engine running on a British Carb (either Amal or Villiers) so that it will truly meet any of the various regulations that exist in different areas that run classic trials.

Cubpost 1

Its now the 12th of Jan and no trial ridden yet this year due to illness, still it has given me time to start this BLOG!!

I have managed to add a McDonald rear end to my Cub so it's now almost finished after over 6 months of building then rebuilding and needless to say, plenty of cash......

Here is how it started after Dad (Pete) initially built it for me - a good little bike I am sure that you will agree but as I have been used to both modern trials and mountain biking and the costs that go with both of them, I didn't mind sinking some more cash into this project as it wont be lost money. I am sure that really good classic trials bikes hold their value and this is/will be one of the best.

Here is how it started life when fist built from the 3 boxes of bits that were collected back in May 2006.