Messages

1

General Discussion / Re: Suspension travel limit - which bikes?

« on: June 02, 2015, 05:53:05 pm »

Jeez,  five pages of arguing about shock travel?

You blokes need to get out more and just ride the feckin' things.

2

General Discussion / Re: Where to buy new plastics?

« on: April 22, 2015, 02:51:57 am »

UFO make excellent quality replacements.

MD Racing in the UK is major UFO distributor and have rear guards in stock in both yellow and white, they ship worldwide and their service is A1.

www.mdracingproducts.co.uk

3

General Discussion / Re: The Cadwell Park jump, not vmx or even dirt bikes

« on: February 20, 2014, 07:00:33 pm »

Enjoy!

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/moto-cross-grand-prix

4

General Discussion / Re: The Cadwell Park jump, not vmx or even dirt bikes

« on: February 20, 2014, 06:55:51 pm »

Actually this could be a dirt bike thread. Not many people know that Cadwell had a motocross track back in the day. It hosted many British championship races and also at least one European 250 round (in Bickers' time, before it became a world championship).The track was situated on the hillside to the left of the start straight and is still there.

 It was resurrected for a couple of years in the late 80s and they ran some winter meetings, the Lincolnshire Grand National. Some good riders too - Herring, Mark Banks, Whatley, Vic Allan.I remember the great luxury of a hard standing pit area, that it was freezing cold and that all race mechanics (ok, girlfriends/dads/hangers-on) disappeared to the nice warm cafe for tea, bacon rolls and a grandstand view of the racing.

They used to gather us in the pits, then send us a short distance backward along the road race track to get to the MX start - a race in itself as first there got first gate pick. I therefore have the dubious honour of crashing going DOWN the Cadwell jump hill, into the chicane. A sharp RM250, frosty tarmac and knobblies don't add up to much grip! Happy days, can find some pics if anyone is interested.

5

General Discussion / Re: Ts 250 1969 under slung or over

« on: January 07, 2014, 07:08:26 pm »

I have a 75 ts250 trailie that needs a bit more zip, but will not be a full on racer.

Will a TM top end and carb suffice, or do I need a pipe too? What years barrel and head fit? Alternatively, can I port my TS barrel and does anyone have specs?

Sorry to hijack a (v. interesting) thread, but these newfangled two smokes are new to me.

6

General Discussion / Re: KSI Thumper found

« on: July 24, 2013, 06:50:29 am »

IT HAD MADE IN ENGLAND OR SOMETHING STAMPED IN THE HEAD STEM

They all say that, 48 were made in total.

7

General Discussion / Re: Starting rollers

« on: June 06, 2013, 02:31:18 am »

Knobbly in the UK, knobby in the US.

I have absolutely no idea what it is in Oz...

8

General Discussion / Re: Starting rollers

« on: June 03, 2013, 04:27:29 pm »

Rollers, especially the small diameter ones, work fine on road tyres but are hopeless when trying to grip a wet muddy knobbly.

The us flat track boys use plug in hand held starters, they work a treat and can be taken to the start line so you don,t have to leave your bike ticking over and getting baking hot while waiting for the previous race to clear the track.

Search the ads on vft.org and you will find plenty.

CCms are usually pigs to start, mainly cos the kickstart is low geared and short. Mine also needs a different tickover setting hot vs cold. Xl350s are prone to breaking a tooth on the idler gear should it kick back, that idler drives the oil pump so it gets very  very expensive, fast. Don't ask how I know. I've now removed the kicker, and temptation!

9

Foto Forum / Re: All time classic photographs

« on: May 25, 2013, 06:38:38 pm »

If one individual defined motocross, it was Magoo. Heart of a tiger.

10

General Discussion / Re: Fear and Loathing in the VMX bunker

« on: May 12, 2013, 07:36:57 pm »

It's a fair point though that many guys in their 40s or 50s don't necessarily want to be lining up against wild-riding 20 year olds.

Classes split by rider age, or by rider ability, seem to sort that out. 

11

General Discussion / Re: Fear and Loathing in the VMX bunker

« on: May 12, 2013, 07:02:33 pm »

Anyone who thinks that kids are even remotely interested in the bikes we're interested in is clearly delusional.

That's not been my experience Firko. Our pre-65 and pre-74 scene has a number of youngsters riding and some younger 'older' guys too (35 years old or so)- and scarily, even pre-74 is 40 years ago so these guys are not running on fond memories of 'back in the day'.

I sometimes take an old bike to race in the Dads class at the local schoolboy meets,  the kids were knocked out at the sight and sound of a CCM, most of them have never been exposed to older bikes, they can't remember a time before KTMs were orange ( if they were even born then).

My 15 year old has very little interest  in MX (he prefers throwing himself down hills on a pushbike) but let him near my old Montesa and he will ride non stop 'til the tank is dry.

Old bikes are cool, more so now than ever. That is evident everywhere with street bikes but it's no less so with dirt bikes. However they don't teach mx history at school so the kids need to be shown what it is all about. Club meetings with an old bike class  (anything pre-1995 will do) are a good place to start. Give a few On any Sunday shirts and DVDs as prizes for the young guys....

12

General Discussion / Re: Fear and Loathing in the VMX bunker

« on: May 11, 2013, 05:23:12 pm »

The way to go, is to have kids. That way all your bikes are still raced and you also spread the word to a new generation.

It costs the same as racing yourself but you get to bask in the glow of being called 'sponsor' (still broke, but with a Title...) The motocross is still fun and you can actually get out of bed unaided on Monday morning.

The good bit is that the breeding is also nearly as much fun as the racing. The motos seem shorter these days though 

13

General Discussion / Re: Non serious ...Rules and regs that should be....

« on: April 18, 2013, 04:04:57 pm »

At 2 day meetings in the UK it is mandatory to drink eight pints of strong cider on the Saturday night. Pretty sure it's in the rule book but I can,t remember where it is...or indeed, where I am.

One series even has a cider sponsor. Got to be better for us than all those Camel cigarettes 

14

General Discussion / Re: Malcolm Davis biography

« on: March 28, 2013, 05:48:46 pm »

There is a magnificent Castrol period  film of Malcolm Davis, travelling across Europe to the Italian GP in an old Merc with his works AJS stormer on a trailer.

Grab a cold one, search you tube for ' Malcolm Davis sometime scrambler' then  sit back and enjoy.

It will be 20 mins of your life used wisely,  not wasted.

15

General Discussion / Re: New KSI Kit bike!

« on: January 12, 2013, 10:06:05 am »

Morning all, kinda loving the way this bike creates strong opinion - whether you love or hate is entirely ok with me - and way better than disinterest, or splinters from sitting on the fence.

We are funny creatures, visual images dominate our brains. The thing that deceives, to a quite uncanny degree, is the only modern truly component -the seat.

Weirdly, almost no one dislikes the look when they see a pic of it racing. Even TM Bill has posted that it looks cool . Maybe the rider hides the seat, or maybe it just looks better covered in sh1 t.

It's off season up top here, so Miles is busy in the cold dark man cave, tinkering with a fancy new exhaust design for next season - seems to be part megaphone, part flugelhorn as far as I can tell. Will post a pic if he ever puts the magic brazing wand down long enough.



One day, we might knock up one with the airbag rocker arm suspension that Allen Greenwod designed. The drawings still exist....