Beezerpost 17

Last week the bike went back to Pete Kirby and my Dad for a few mods to be done. As I have mentioned before, the clutch was never brilliant on the bike and although I could get it working well at home, as soon as I rode in a trial and the engine got hot, the clutch started to be inconsistent, often dragging and not engaging and disengaging as it should by half way through the trial.

This had been causing me some problems, considering my style of riding is really affected by having no clutch - I don't know why but riding off the clutch doesn't suit me as I like to ride sections slowly and deliberately and off the clutch it just all happens a bit quicker than I like.

Anyway, Pete has been developing a diaphragm clutch that runs dry with a belt drive for some time and as he is just about ready to turn them loose, I decided to give one a try.

At the same time I decided to try a different set of yokes with a little less offset in order to try and slow the steering down a bit and make the front end a bit more stable.

On Sunday last week, the BMCA ran a Clubman trials day to encourage new riders to give it a go and the Experts were on hand to give a bit of advise and direction to help the less experienced guys.

It was a good opportunity to try the latest mods to the bike and have a bit of practice (not some thing I do enough to be honest). I can say that the clutch is working fantastically with consistent bite and release on the lever and a good progressive feel - I can certainly recommend them if you are considering improving your BSA engine (not exactly cheap but worth every penny if you ask me - give Pete Kirby a call on 07886 745942 if you are interested - Pete can also work wonders to your BSA engine too!!). The yokes seemed to help but I think the next rocky trial will really show whether any improvement has been made.

I do have another update - I have a new frame on order..... I have placed an order for an original Mick Mills built BSA frame. These are considered the best BSA trials frames out there and are copied by many so I am glad to say that I will have an original from possibly the last batch that Mick built before he became ill. I hope to have it in the next couple of weeks so will post pics of the build as it comes together.

There really is nothing wrong with the Faber frame, it is really light and it works well, however I have chosen the new one as it is a little more modern in terms of its geometry (certainly physically lower and a steeper steering angle) and as I am always looking to improve my bike so it was an opportunity that I couldn't let pass....

This weekend will probably be the last trial on the Faber frame as we are heading for the Classic Experts Trial at Rhayader. I recall that I nearly rode this trial last year but the ignition failed on the Sprite so I didn't actually get to the 1st section - hopefully this week will at least be better than the last attempt - I will update the BLOG with a report and pics on Saturday night...

Eventpost 45 - BMCA Champs Round 2 Heightington

Great trial today at Heightington for the second round of the BMCA Championship. It made a nice change from the normal tight and twisty sections that are usually the norm for the BMCA and instead Keith Gardiner put on a great trial along the rocky stream at this venue.

The first lap was quite difficult with all of the slime on the rocks but it soon scrubbed off and made for a really good event.

I actually felt that I rode quite well and looking at the results I guess I found my level as the usual top guys scored really well. Although I lost quite a few marks I honestly think that only about 9 of them should have been saved so I am pretty happy with how things went.

Bike went well and no injuries, which could have easily happened on the slippery stuff!

Next round is at the Old Mine, Kinlet next month.

Results

Up to 350cc Experts

1. Alan Nickin 3

2. Alan Wright 6

3. Steve Hay 21

4. Chris Denney 24

5. Mick Parkes 37

6. Dave Dawson 39

7. Keith Gardiner 44

8. Alan Borton 45

9. Simon Anderson 47

10. Gary Hawkins 48

11. Nathan Jones 49

Over 350cc Experts

1. Jim Pickering 23

2. Steve Thompson 29

3. Pete Reed 66

Eventpost 44 - BMCA Champs Round 1 - Marshbrook

Today was the 1st round of the BMCA championship and with a different format this year (7 rounds with all 7 to count) I decided to ride even though I was still suffering pretty badly with the chest infection. I figured that a few points would be better than no points!

As it turned out, the entry was very good with more Experts entering than are normally seen at BMCA events. The trial was held in a wood which was on the whole very dry so the banks, although quite steep, were quite grippy and easy to ride so the organisers had to tighten the sections and make the normal tight nadgery sections that were not too testing but could easily take marks - which they did!

Although suffering with a tight chest which made breathing difficult and a general feeling of weakness, I was actually riding quite steadily with just two single dabs on lap 1. Lap 2 was similar with 4 marks lost due to a bit of a mistake at the top of section 8 which needed 2 dabs to get back on line.

After a reasonable start that I was quite happy with I dropped into section 1 on the 3rd lap which was a tricky entry down a steep bank followed by a step then a blast across a muddy bog which had got badly rutted. I had been using a line which skirted the bog then required a hop over the rut to get back onto line, however when I tried it I lost the front wheel on landing and ended on my ear for a soft 5 marks. That was instantly followed by another 5 when I stalled the bike on section 2. The rest of the lap went for 2 marks but those 10 marks were just too many for todays trial as it wasn't difficult enough to claw them back. I did the last lap for 1 mark but the damage was already done and a total loss of 19 marks was the result.

The bike went well today and as it got hot in the wood, the carburation was much better, however I did notice that as it got hot on the 3rd and 4th laps the clutch stated to go off again.

I just had the results through and it seems that others had similar inconsistent rides to myself as I finished 4th in my class with some good riders behind me - I am now glad that I ventured out as I am pleased with the final result, though without the two fives a score of 9 or 10 marks would have been much more pleasing!!!!

Results

Experts - Up to 350cc

1. Alan Nicklin 4

2. Nathan Jones 11

3. Mick Parkes 11

4. Dave Dawson 19

5. Gary Hawkins 20

6. Nick Wooley 23

7. Dave Wood 24

8. Adrian Kent 24

9.Keith Gardiner 27

10. Brian Dale 28

Experts - Over 350cc

1. Jim Pickering 12

2. Pete Reed 28

3. Arthur Browning 29

Beezerpost 16

Got the bike back (again) at the weekend and all is back to normal.... Clutch fixed and timing sorted so it feels just like it did before we went swimming! Thanks Pete..

I now really must do something about carburation to try and remove the slight cough when I snap the throttle open. I know 4 strokes generally do this but I am sure that it can be eliminated with a really good set up. I have been advised so many conflicting ideas on this relating to less cut away on the slide to richen it, more cut away to weaken it, more space between the carb and the engine - I guess everyone is an expert in their own right and are basing their thought on what has worked for them - I will need to try them all and wee which one might work for me.

I remember on the Cub we couldn't get it how I wanted it until we opted for a DelOrto carb then all was OK (perhaps that's the answer)..

Anyway, I didn't ride last weekend, instead I opted to observe at Bromsgrove to help my dad out and also get over the chest infection that has been thoroughly pissing me off.....Sleeping on the sofa because my coughing is keeping the house awake is just not fun and as i write this on thursday morning it still isn't getting any better (10 days now so I hope I get some improvement soon!).

I am planning to ride the 1st round of the BMCA championship whis Sunday at Church Stretton so health permitting I will report on how things went on Sunday night.

Old Pictures (BMX Racing from the 80's)

I managed to upload some old BMXphotos from the early 80's - please take a look here

Old Pictures

I was having a look through some stuff and found these old pictures of me in the 90's on modern bikes and my 360 Bultaco scrambler at Hawkstone Park.

Eventpost 43 - BMCA Trial, Ullenhall

Following my recent dip in the water, after the Nostalgia Trial my bike went back to Pete Kirby for the engine to be stripped, examined and rebuilt - mainly for my own piece of mind to make sure that I didn't cause any damage to it.

Pete bought the bike back to Ullenhall on Sunday so it was a bit of a testing day to make sure that it was all running well and get the settings back to where they were before it went away.

Well, all didn't actually go to plan to be honest. The engine was running fine but I had some problems with ignition and clutch.

Firstly the clutch started playing up as soon as it got hot, not engaging and dis-engaging as it normally does - I checked with Pete and we believed that it was down to the oil that had been used as I normally run AFT in the primary case. Not a major problem as the trial was fairly easy and I thought it would be a good idea to ride off the clutch and see how I got on. Bit of a culture shock to be honest as I never ride without full use of the clutch!

I then felt that the bike had lost it's punch at mid throttle and felt quite flat so I went back to the car, dropped the oil from the primary case and avanced it up a bit.

This seemed to improve things but unfortunatly the clutch had now stopped working completely.

I continued to finish the trial but I was losing marks for fun! A coupls of 5's were taken where I stalled the bike, needing a bit of clutch at the bottom of a steep bank and another couple due to over running tight turns and missing the line because I was ahead of where I wanted to be.

The problem was that I generally set quite a lot of tickover to ensure that I dont stall then ride on the clutch and this clearly was not going to work in this trial because there was no clutch and the tickover was jus too quick for the tight sections.

Anyway, as the trial went on, the bike again became flat. It was like the timing was inconsistent or we have come across a self reterding ignition system!

Needless to say, Pete has taken it back to check these bits and bobs out and I should get it back next weekend at Bromsgrove.

The result was as expected, pretty poor considering it should have been a single mark trial, however it was good to identify these issues sooner rather then later at an event that mattered.

Pics are from this trial - I decided to wear my mountain bike helmet because it was so hot! You will see that on neither of these pics do I have a finger on the clutch (pretty unusual for me!)

Results as follows;

Experts (Up to 350cc)

1. Nathan Jones 7

2. Dave Jones 14

3. Laurance Alden 22

4. Dave Dawson 34

5. Ray Barrett 39

Experts (Over 350cc)

1. Pete Peed 18

2. Jim Pickering 20

Intermediates

1. Steve Neale 5

2. Pete Kirby 29

3. Ian Bullock 32

Eventpost 42 - Nostalgia Trial Kendal

Saturday was the annual Nostalgia Trial held in Kendal, Cumbria. This was the first time I had ridden the event and it was one of the best trials I have ridden for ages.

There was an entry of 200 at the event split between pre 65 and twinshock bikes and the trial consisted of 2 groups of sections, 7 on the rocky hillside and the other 8 sections in a woodland area so there was everything from loose rocky jumbles and slippery rocky, rooty gullies in the first group to steep climbs, slippery cambers and rocky streams in the second group. In total 3 laps of the 15 sections.

Riding in the unit pre 65 group I started at section 1 and almost immediately realised that the lack of trials that I had ridden this year along with the general lack of riding on rocks for ages had taken me by surprise. The sections honestly were harder and more severe than I had expected and in due course I started holding on too tight, trying to make the bike do what I wanted rather than riding loose and the result was far too many marks lost through my lack of conviction and not believing that I could clean them!

A five on section 1 as a result of losing the front wheel on a loose rock and ending up on my ear and a couple of 5's from a stall and not enough agression on a cambered climb were the specific lowlights of a first lap that cost me 30 marks, however during the lap there were some good rides, specifically on section 7 a pretty difficult section that started up a rocky gully then turned up a slippery cambered bank over more jagged rocks then back across the stream up some rock slabs and big roots - that ride at least gave me some heart that I was able to do OK.

The second lap improved with a loss of 18 marks which included a 5 on the last section, a steep long climb that got steeper and looser at the top where I just broke grip and had to bail out.

The final lap, with sections becoming more bedded in and a clearer line through some of the rock fields was better and a lap without a 5 was a better result but still returned a lap of 17, many of which were lost because I was knackered to be honest! (note to self - go to the gym!!!)

There will be stories and reports of long queues but I didn't find them too bad and I think the longest waits were only at about 4 or 5 sections and I found the rest a bit welcomed to be honest.

The trial did tell me that I need to start to venture out and ride some more severe sections as they did take me a while to get my eye in. I think I was riding these sort of sections regularly when we lived in Lancashire but in the last few years I have not been used to the severity and it is suprising how it makes you ride so rigid on the bike when you are not so confident.

I must say though, the top guys are in a different class. The trial was won by Paul Hays on 4 marks and even thinking about it after the trial, I think without any errors the best I could have managed at my ability level would have been about 9-10 marks per lap, which puts his ride into perspective!

My total of 65 was not great but I am happy with how things went and how I rode towards the end of the trial. I will certainly be trying for an entry again next year as it was a really great trial.

Update - I have just found the results from the trial and perhaps I didn't ride quite as badly as I thought I did, considering some of the names that were on similar marks. It appears that I was about half way down the entry so I am a bit happier than I thought! See the results here

Beezerpost 15 - a wet close shave

Got the bike ready for next weekend yesterday - all spannered polished up and ready to go so I decided to give it a quick spin over on Steve's farm (on the dry sections to keep it all clean and shiny).

All was going well and good and I went to practice on a steep little bank next to the stream to try pulling 2nd gear from no run up. After a couple of attempts, getting closer and closer to the foot of the bank I had an attempt with a big handful of throttle when almost at the top I knocked it out of gear and the next thing I knew I was under water with the bike on top of me. I swam for the top of the water to find it about chest deep and the bike completely under water!

Once adrenaline had helped me drag it out of the water and up the bank onto dry ground I started to empty the water out! I stood it up on its back wheel and the water poured out of the exhaust for what seemed like ages. After emptying the float bowl and whipping the plug out to clear the water out of the barrell I put it back together and thank god it fired up 1st kick!

I can tell you I had images of engine damage but I guess the engine had either stalled by the time it went under water or it stopped pretty quickly!

So I guess it is back out with the metal polish before the Nostalgia trial on saturday. I certainly had a close shave and will think twice before practicing alone again!

Llangollen - And More

I mentioned below that we stopped during the trial at a bike show and did a timed section in the main arena - here's a short video clip of the arena whilst we were waiting for our slot in the proceedings....