Trials Australia Forums

Yeah go for it, Subaru World Rally "Blue Pearl Met", code "02C".
Put up some pics and comments once done and tell us what you think, I'm using you as a Guinea Pig before I blast and paint my SWM. ( Not a Rattle Can Job.)

Kurt wrote:I am going to use the Subaru Blue and see what I think.
The metallicness part might not look right but I’ll see when it’s finished.
A bit of sparkle might make her like me more

I wonder if you emailed Pernod Ricard if they would tell you what their blue colour code is?

I think others on Trials Central had gone down that 'Pernod Ricard' path but to no avail.
My Jumbo has been painted in a much paler blue than what I knew it should be, but I had none of the original darker blue anywhere on the bike to use as a guide.
So I searched eBay for ages looking for any part in the original blue when a set of 38mm forks complete with the blue triple clamps and mudguard stays came up, didn't need forks but bought them anyway cause they're so rare. Here's pics of the clamp showing that it does have a slight "metallic" to it.

It's got a hammertone look too or maybe its just the surface finish of the casting showing through

Hi Everyone,

Kurt wrote:To Indulge Greg, Here is the SWM TL320 bare frame weight. 7.7Kg on the scales.

1586075336823.jpg (193.49 KiB) Viewed 3869 times

Thank you Kurt but haven't you forgotten the other bit? A seasoned player like David wouldn't have forgotten the swinging bit!

Kurt wrote: I'm in the process of giving the blonde cougar a well deserved facelift.

David Lahey wrote:Kurt, to you she may be a blonde cougar. To me she is a very hot babe

Ah Yes, The Blonde Beauty has been to my place before, not only Beautiful but very Desirable! Nice to ride too!

This is the final shape for the front of the tank. It's had about 30mm taken of the front. To the fuel tanker repair place this week to get it welded

The seat base was very heavily rusted. I used rust converter and bead blasted it several times. This is the base with one coat of POR-15 paint applied. I repaired the seat base of my TS90MX the same way as I'll show for this one. Unfortunately I don't have "before" photos of either.

My repair starts with sanding the paint and a layer of fibre glass placed in top of the seat base. This is the first coat of resin, The next will be the front (lower part of the picture) and sticking down the edges

Greg Harding wrote:Hi Everyone,
Brent, can I add to your list as I am not sure where you are up to with regards to gearing and shock length? Are you going to choose 428 or 520 chain and sprockets? Just my opinion but 520 is my first choice on any 200 or bigger as there are less pivots to wear out. Working out final drive ratios and shock lengths will give you an idea where the chain will be in relation to swingarm pivot at all points through travel and that is fairly critical. The SQUEAMISH has 54T and 11T 520 chain which is about the right ratio for me as it gives me a hard to stall 1st gear for picking my way through tight/rough stuff. When it is a bit short like when punching up something, I simply use 2nd. As you know, the lower the final drive ratio, the closer the gears become and gearing is a personal choice thing like pretty much all of the variables! The shocks are 358 mm between centre's NJB Trik shocks and I am Very happy with them!

Another thing that I have learnt is IF you buy a good quality chain and look after it, you rarely need to adjust the chain tension which is helpful to know when you are setting up a bike. CZ chains used to be my first choice (Hello Geoff) as they have/had holes punched in the inside plates and flat on top and bottom that ran really smoothly over the chain tensioner. However the importer stopped bringing them in and my supply dried up unless someone else knows where I could but them now? So what I am saying is if you work out ratios, chain type and shock length, you can fairly accurately predict where the axle will be, remembering that half link chains are available.

As for the brake stay/anchor arm, it is something that I have played with as well and some of my bikes have 2 as I found the second attempt can work better. Not so critical on a as it uses an inner/outer cable so there is no variation of pedal height through travel.

Here is a photo of my spare 520 sprockets, 39T to 55 T:

1585450647176.jpg

Yeah I know, Government cutbacks so only 1 photo!

Hi Greg,
I've got sprockets here in the same ratio as you've mentioned but they are 428. When I fit the motor I'll check chain clearance etc and probably use what I've got for now. I prefer 520 as it gives much more clearance around the swingarm pivot area. I may add a roller below the swingarm pivot and use a chain guide onto the rear sprocket rather than a spring loaded tensioner. I've done this on all my other project bikes (TT500's, PE250B) and never had a problem.
When I measured everything up I found I had the same rear axle to swingarm pivot height as your bike and the shock length will need to be the same ~365-360.

Brent, I love your work, especially on the lower backbone around the relocated swingarm pivot. Very clever use of that small 'gap' in the rear of the engine cases.

Just wondering though if there's a reason you're not taking the opportunity to reduce the wheelbase somewhat given how long the RL is (53.5"/1345mm) compared to all other twinshocks. Just curious.

I do like the RLs even with all their faults. I enjoyed sampling Greg's Squeamish alongside a standard RL at his place a couple of years ago and it made the standard one feel very ordinary by comparison, to put it mildly.

Another one I sampled had minimal mods: 360mm Rockshocks, forks dropped through the triples as far as we could (which is only maybe 15mm as I recall), and footpegs lowered & moved forward as far as possible (which amounted to about 20mm ea way) while still allowing clearance for full kickstarter swing. I thought the steering might have tucked under more with even less trail, but try as we did on some practice ground we couldn't feel any. Admittedly there were no sizeable rocks, logs, sand or steep drops. It too felt a considerable improvment over a standard RL.

This is not it, but I always thought this one, with its subtle changes, looked in better proportion than a standard RL too


But I could never understand why Suzuki manufactured the RL with that obvious design flaw in the gussets on the rear uprights; ie minimal overlap of the two gussets on thin-wall tubing creating the stress concentration point causing the inevitable fractures. Even more that they never fixed it.

Bultaco notably used a single continuous gusset there.

Have often thought they would have been much better served running that bracing tube from above the rear engine mount downwards to the lower gusset for the swingarm pivot instead of going upwards to 'nowhere' (ie nowhere significant)



And Greg, I'm intrigued by what Squeamish 2 might be. How diff to #1 ??

You both may just have whet my appetite to get back in the shed on one or two trials projects.
(Been given to other projects lately)

I just wish I had half the fabrication talent of you two guys!

Blue Frame, Baby's got a Blue frame.
Like a clean Blue Suby, colour code O2C.




Rod - I'm happy with the colour, slightly darker than the original Blue but to steal a Bruce McAvaney expression it looks 'Special'.

Greg - If we add 3Kg of Swingarm to the 7.7Kg of Frame we get 10.7Kg total bare frame weight.