Basket Cases

[lyno66]

Hi Greg,is that movie Naturally Free the one narrated by John Laws.
Cheers Paul.

[Greg Harding]

HI Everyone,

Stu, you have ridden at my place before on some of the tracks. We have several more, all of which have varying degrees of difficulty and every where it is harder, there is always an easier line to ride around and yes, Leann can borrow a bike again.

David, great to see you enjoyed the movie! Like you I also wondered what the stunt bike was, hard to see in the night time, my thoughts were Yamaha, but not TY as well. Didn`t the DT2 have a 21 inch front wheel and DT1 have 19 inch? The sound it makes is a bit of a clue and I`m pretty sure it is not dubbed! Not sure about when the movie was filmed, I saw it for the first time at Sawtell Cinema in 1976 (my first year at high school), it is possible filming was done well before screening!

Chippy, not a problem with the footpegs, will have some TL125 ones ready and TY80 ones we will do when you come down. Yes, there will be a ride before Bucca, not sure what day, as it depends on everyone from out of town. Have ridden TL250 and TLR250 up SHERCO hill but not TL125(sounds like a challenge)! Managed to get RL250 loan bike up yesterday with a bit of a scramble at the top above the step(Very leafy)! Great to see the photos of Leesa`s taken at the TY Challenge!

Paul, yes you are correct about John Laws who I think did an excellent job, even if he did exaggerate a little in places!

Below is a photo of everyone who joined me for my ride yesterday (number300) yes 300 weekends in a row!!!!! Just to put that in perspective, thats ten months of sundays! From front to back is Donna, Gavin, Richard, Stu, Ray, Brendan and me.

[David Lahey]

I also found out today that I've bought another basket case. Haven't even seen it yet but will post photos when I get some.

Ooh what you get this time Dave?

err its a Sherpa T 250 with a slimline type tank and a blown motor but don't have any more details. It will be a few weeks till it gets here and I guess it will be a bit of a surprise to see it!!!!

err change of plans - someone else in our little Central Queensland Twinshock trials community will be taking that Sherpa T home. Of course I know who but am not saying in case his wife reads these forums!

[Greg Harding]

Hi Everyone,

David, you stimulated me to watch Naturally Free again. The bike Dave Pinkerton rides in the show under lights would definetly be a Yamaha as his trailer clearly says Yamaha. The following scenes when he is driving to trials, the trailer has been repainted with different sponsors!

Just updating the TL250 loanbike and have posted a photo below. Previously, I started to list all of the parts that I have used off my basket cases. Change of plan as it it easier to list what I have retained on the $300.00 special! Frame, motor, tripple clamps, back wheel, bashplate and handlebars. Everything else has been reworked or swapped for better bits just to get it rideable and now has 55 tooth rear sprocket. Dirt Tracker has it now for rewiring as the previous owner had heaps of electrical gremlins and wouldn`t listen to advice about geting it fixed properly!!!!

[David Lahey]

That $300 special TL looks good but sounds like the legendary 300 year old axe. Still original - but has had handle replaced five times and head replaced twice.
I'm now sure that the stunt bike Dave Pinkerton rides is a TY250A, but quite well disguised. Kym Powell has now filled me in on how the trailer roof jump-up stunt was developed. Turns out Dave practiced the ramp and roof landing at home on a dirt bank of identical geometry, so when he rode the steel ramp, he was confident of doing it just right. Same person also pointed out to me that the highish rear tyre pressure used to make the wheelies and slides easy made it pretty tricky for him to ride over the VW Beetle roof.
I was thinking that the scene with wheelies along that bitumen road reminded me about similar antics from my own youth (at least my bike was road registered!), but on thinking about the rear-wheel-locked slides on bitumen - yes that used to work well and make a pretty cool noise, but nowadays with our super grippy tyres, it would be quite a different stunt, even with high tyre pressure. Our club runs a few public riding demos and one of my favourite bits to ride are the bits where you can ride down a fake (fibreglass) rock with the back wheel locked. One thing I've found is that unless a tyre is more than a few years old, I can't get it to make a noise while skidding, but (old) new tyres do it just like the 1970s. At the last trials riding demo we did, Angela Sophios recieved some serious coaching until she could get the tyre noise thing going nicely on a downhill plywood ramp. Not sure what it has to do with riding sections, but for some reason is great fun.

[David Lahey]

Andrew, I was planning to ride the KT at Conondale but having watched Naturally Free about seven times now, the TY250A is looking like the favourite.

[gilly]

Geg, Watched naturally free movie which was a good laugh. Pinkerton was on a very chromed ty250a. The Kwaka 2up on the beach was a 350 Bighorn,Appropriate for the scene .Scaysbrook won the 6 hour on the xl350. About 2 years after that Phil Landrigan & I rode a 350 Pursang but the ignition let go 3 hours in.After seeing the photo I better get a better looking helmet.Thanks for the day . Gav

[Greg Harding]

Hi Everyone,

David, SEVEN times already!!!!! Now, I assume you understand why I kept referring to it leading up to and including the TY Challenge! Now that Gav has posted a reply, the cat is out of the bag! Gav knows his Yamahas so I lent him a copy to get his opinion!

Just updating the TL250, spoke to Dirt Tracker today and he has been riding it, Happy Days! Also, Graham a fellow local TL250 owner who I haven`t ridden with yet has been gradually rebuilding his. When he had parts sent over from the UK, kindly organised an air filter for me, as I couldn`t source one locally. This is the first time that anything has come so far for me as I prefer to buy Australian. Imagine my surprise when I read the packet, 100% Australian Made & Owned! So apparently it has been to the other side of the world and back again!

[David Lahey]

They must be pretty cheap things to freight around the world because they end up costing me about the same amount if I buy an Aussie Unifilter for KT, TY, Cota etc via UK, NZ, through my local bike shop or direct from uniflow.com.au
What else I reckon is amazing is that time to arrival here from ordering is always about a week whether it is from Sydney or the UK!!

[David Lahey]

BTW, about Naturally Free, theres a bloke I ride with might be bringing his Craig Brown model 325 Sherpa T to the Twinshock Masters. Re-enactments anyone???