Basket Cases

[Twinshock200]

Great close up shots David

[David Lahey]

Thanks Roger that HTC One phone is fantastic for taking photos with

[Greg Harding]

Hi Everyone,

For around 20 years now, I have known about these s as they have been siting in a shipping container pretty much unused.
Suppose this is a bundle, wonder if that makes me a

[[[[[ -----{{{{{ -----((((( <<<<< BUNDLE MANIAC? >>>>>))))) -----}}}}} -----]]]]]

No not a maniac........just a sucker for old girls

Greg what are you buying imitation trials bikes for? I know this post will upset heaps of people but I don`t care. Remember the old trials sayings. Out of control like a wet Montesa. And, how do you pee a Montesa rider right off. Walk past his bike at machinery and say water. He/ she will instantly have no brakes all day. See that is their reputation. Have you heard what bike won the Twinshock class up at Esk on the weekend. Yep a Bultaco SherpaT! So all is right and correct in the world again. Graham.

good to see those Montys out in the sun. Isn't it great to see bikes looking like someone just parked them so long ago and forgot about them.
I especially love the odd things people do to them to keep bikes going, or to make them more suitable for whatever they are wanting at the time. Wheels from something else, exhaust made from vacuum cleaner pipes and chicken wire, shockies that have been re-oiled by drilling a hole and then welding the hole over again, fuel tanks from lawnmowers, massive frame extensions to hold up equally massive carry racks, handlebars off 1950s british road bikes and bicycles, rub pads for chains made from 3/8" steel plate welded on, frame gussets made from flattened steel water pipe, seat foam held on with 1/2" bolts and huge square washers (right where you sit), swingarms twisted miles out of square, bullet holes in gearbox casings, forks full of water, motors disassembled completely and mixed up thoroughly with chook poo in tomato buckets, stand mounts broken off - I could go on all night - yes loving your Monty stuff Greg, and please tell us what you find when you have a good look

G,day Greg, I have a similar collection of Montesa basket cases, 247's with a 172 hiding amonst them. The 172 dosen't look to be a too hard one although has the usual kickstart shaft bent up like a dogs hind leg issues. Any chance you may wanna swap ? Brett 07 41710775

Well it has been a bit of a mission, but the 172 lives and runs quite well. After many hours sorting the kickstart mechanism, I was able to source all the parts needed from the parts bike (Red one) to get it working. Then it was just cleaning the carby and ignition system and fired it up. So we decided Donna would ride it AS we found it (Except for getting it running) at the:

rusty_iron_rally_2014[1].jpg (84.31 KiB) Viewed 5418 times

So NOT YET CLEANED, RUSTY loose spokes, worn out LOOSE wheel and steering head bearings, LEAKY cracked fuel tank and almost 40 years of accumulated patina kind of makes Donna appreciate the TLM even more

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[Greg Harding]

Hi Everyone,

While I am talking about the 172, I thought I would share a little more about it. When the clutch cover was off for repairing the kickstart mechanism, it surprised me just how light duty all of the components are, no wonder the kickstart is the reported to give trouble. Luckily the spare parts bike seems to have not done much work and had all the bits I needed. Knowing that things don't improve with age, I decided to fit a decompressor to reduce the load on the gears, shaft and lever. There were a couple of options, Victa vacuum type, remote lever cable type and the chainsaw push button type that I chose because it is simple. The 172 has a blanking plug that is easy to get to, so I drilled and tapped 10 x 1.0mm thread in that, leaving a small port for venting but not big enough for the valve to pass through just in case. So just push in the button and when it fires, the button pops up closing the valve, good so far.

Here is a photo of the spare head etc and fully assembled:

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[TriCub]

Greg. Did it help much? My Ossa has a de-comp in the head and it stops the motor running when pulled in, no way it would start with it pulled in either.
Most 2 strokes with a starting de-comp have them half way up the cylinder coming in from the side. Early 360 Yamaha's had them mounted at the front and open a passage above the exhaust port into the exhaust.
This link shows a water cooled Maico setup.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/w8oV3h7VEpA/0.jpg

[Greg Harding]

Greg. Did it help much? My Ossa has a de-comp in the head and it stops the motor running when pulled in, no way it would start with it pulled in either.
Most 2 strokes with a starting de-comp have them half way up the cylinder coming in from the side. Early 360 Yamaha's had them mounted at the front and open a passage above the exhaust port into the exhaust.
This link shows a water cooled Maico setup.
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/w8oV3h7VEpA/0.jpg

Hi Everyone,

TriCub, All seems to work fine, not sure if you have ever kicked over a 172, they are awkward to say the least. Because the decompressor is designed to pop up in to the closed position when it fires, it is hard to tell when exactly it closes. It did stay open once with the motor running (sounds different) until I opened the throttle and it closed. My Stihl 090 chainsaw had a decompressor very similar and at 130cc, it needed it!

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The decompressors are cheap so I was concerned the valve might drop off and cause problems. The bung is limited in depth where it needed to be drilled and tapped so I worked on minimum clearance with the valve open leaving an option to add shims to adjust the clearance. Perhaps that is why it works along with the restriction of the ports in the head and the bottom of the bung?

IMGP8151.JPG (140.54 KiB) Viewed 5265 times

What type of de-comp is fitted to your and how big is the release port, perhaps it is too big stopping it from running? Stimulation can be a good thing so I fitted it to Chippy's , It made it easier to start and still runs when held open. I am not sure if it is another left field thing, but the exhaust is directly in the "V" created by the 2 sparkplug holes making it easy to burn your fingers depressing the de-comp, unless of course the head is on backwards

Look forward to seeing you riding your M.A.R at Conondale

[shkabir]

Hello there, I am new to this forum.
But I have no experience because I never use this personally. Now i'm curious for that! So, I want to buy a best bike...)

Do you have any tips ...

[TriCub]

Greg.
The OSSA decomp is the type that was common in the 70's not sure on the hole size but it has a 14mm thread and I'd guess the outlet was around about 6mm. It is operated with a lever on the handle bars just under the clutch lever. In the day it was quite common to use it as an engine kill lever as it was thought that a kill switch attached to a Motoplat would eventually damage the ingnition(another 70's mith). It was also used a very effective down hill brake, a bit like an exhaust brake on a truck. They were not the best of things when used as a brake as it leans out the mixture something terrible and lets in unfiltered air.

[Greg Harding]

Hi Everyone,

shkabir, welcome to the forum! What sort of riding do you want to do as it may help you work out what is the best bike for you?

TriCub, I was wondering why you fitted a de-comp to the as they are pretty easy to start. Just looking at the quality of the lever and spline which are quite robust, they don't look like they would give trouble, having said that I have not looked that closely at the gears inside. Is there provision to adjust how far the de-comp opens?

Just sharing a photo of the Rusty Dungar that I rode in the Rusty Iron Rally Grand Parade with Donna. Rock hard tyres, loose wheel bearings and forks that were stuck on full extension YAMAHA TY250B. This is the one that I swapped my Honda XL250 Motosport for:

IMGP8139.JPG (147.85 KiB) Viewed 5175 times

[TriCub]

Greg.
I didn't fit it , it was in the bike when I bought it some years ago. There is a picture of my bike on page 46 of this thread in which the de-comp can be seen, also noticed Col Phillipson's Ossa has one fitted as well.
Not used for starting, infact won't start if it is pulled in. Mostly used as a downhill engine brake or engine kill.