Bracing myself for the Exeter Trial starting tonight. Severe gale warnings and floods expected.... After two consecutive years of moral-sapping no finishes I've decided to enter the mildly easier Class O. The first no finish was on a 250 Greeves which was in too high a tune to make it up the hills without baulking, then came the Bullet. Pretty good for the job but last year a dispiriting front puncture, at two in the morning on a country road on a bike with no centre stand, that refused to be repaired had me heading home on the back of a truck..
I've made a few changes to the bike in the light of experience. Last minute, granted, but hopefully they will mean a few more hills crested with my slightly limited abilities.
First to come in for attention were the footpegs. I've moved them to a better trials position and they are now welded on to the frame. A bit too far back and high up perhaps but they are comfortable enough and this is the only position they can be mounted without too much fuss. The brake pedal had to be modified, not the prettiest job but functional. The pedal is now slightly shorted so a bigger stamp is required for the same braking force.
There was way too much weight over the front end so the Interceptor style headlight brackets and shrouds have gone. They looked nice but weighed a ton. Now replaced with rubber boots and 'Tickle' style headlight brackets. Usefully the new brackets allow the headlight to be mounted higher up, it used to occassionally come in to contact with the front muduard. The headlight itself is still the same old 7 inch Lucas (also heavy!) Slightly better tyres have been fitted as have, importantly, heavy duty tubes. Crossing fingers for no punctures this year.
That's it. Wish me luck. Report of the trial to come shortly......
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| All ready for the Exeter Trial! |
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| Trials pegs welded on. |
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| New set up for the headlight. |
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| I can accept that the brake pedal is not a thing of beauty! |
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