Tunstall Forest Trial

Here we have a write up on a trial contributed to us by Trevor Kemp of Silkolene fame and fortune. Hope you enjoy it. Please note he is from England and does write with an accent.
Thanks Trevor for your contribution!

Tunstall Forest, England. January 2nd 2006

This is an annual event which attracts a good entry,
and a well run event with good sections. This year
there were around 112 entries comprising of British
Pre 65, Pre 70, and Twin Shock machines. The
organisers ran two routes in the sections, easy route
and hard route deviations. Three laps of fifteen
sections throughout the forest, with a mileage of
around ten miles per lap. The classes are split up as
follows:

-Pre 65 Pre-Unit (easy and hard route) Here the
machines were Ariel HT-5's, Norton's, Royal
Enfield's, etc.

-Pre 65 Unit (easy and hard route) Machines were
Triumph Tiger Cubs and Twins and BSA B40's.

-British Pre 70 Two Strokes (easy and hard route)
Mainly Greeves, James, a few Dot's, and a surprise
amount of BSA Bantam's, some fairly trick.

-Twin Shock (easy and hard route) A lot of different
bikes in this class from Yamaha, Suzuki, Bultaco,
Montesa, Honda, Ossa, and a couple of CCM's and
Majesty's.

Anyway, this is how the event went for me....

I normally go back home for Christmas and New Year to
see friends and family. I rode this event last year
on a last-minute borrowed bike and riding gear. The
bike was a bit rough and the riding gear an ill-fit,
but I enjoyed the day. I had ridden this event many
times before I moved to Texas.

Last Summer when I was back over in England I picked
up a tidy 250 Majesty which needed a bit of work on
the engine top end. A rebore and new piston kit sorted
that but there was a nasty clonk in the steering, and
the swing arm bushes were worn. I ran out of time so
decided to do that on my next trip which was to be my
annual Christmas visit. Entered the trial, and had to
take the parts over with me. I spoke to Bob at
B&J Racing and he
suggested his tapered roller bearing kit for the
steering head. When I got the steering to bits, lo and
behold the cups and balls were all broken up, hence
the clonk.

On the swing arm bushing it is often that the inner
tube wears, which is no longer available, but Bob has
a mod which as it turned out works perfect.

New chain, sprockets, and brake shoes were all fitted.
Also, I set up the steering how I liked it by fitting
longer Falcon rear shocks, again all this off
B&J .

Changed the fork oil to the new Silkolene synthetic
and the transmission oil to Silkolene Comp Gear, which
is a semi-synthetic. This makes the clutch action and
gear changes so much better.Pre-mix with Silkolene
Comp 2 at 50:1, with a 3% Silkolene Pro Boost fuel
mix.

Here is a little bit of history on the Majesty. This
was a co-operation between Mick Andrews (the factory
Yamaha rider), John E Shirt, and Yamaha. Majesty
stands for MA (Mick Andrews) JES (John E. Shirt) and
TY (Yamaha). They took some of the factory mods on the
TY and modified the production bikes. The early ones
were modified frames, heavier flywheel, and a coffin
shaped tank. Majesty also produced a 320cc engine
conversion. Later, when Yamaha over produced the TY, a
complete Majesty frame was made with higher ground
clearance, different steering head angle, and a
general tidy up. Although the frame was not much
lighter it did improve the handling, althtough not to
everyones liking. It was a clever project, as all the
TY components were fitted, except the frame and tank.
Early ones, and the majority of the late model, were
yellow in colour but the last ones produced were
changed to red with a white tank under instructions
from Yamaha.

Ready to go at the trial with my own riding gear,
which was great. The day of the trial was bloody cold
and wet. Living in Texas I had got used to the warm
weather so this was a big wake up call. The sections
were good, and being wet not too many tight ones.
Mainly slippery hills and off cambers turns. There are
no rocks in East Anglia, but a lot of slippery tree
roots where good throttle control is essential. I had a
fairly good day, my only let down was it just took me
a few sections to get used to the terrain and the
power of the bike. A couple of bad gear choices where
I went to first and should have been in second gear.
The Majesty I ride over here in the U.S. has the B&J
electronic ignition on and quite a bit of cylinder
work, where as my U.K. Majesty is standard and a lot
softer. With the bigger flywheel, which was a Majesty
mod it pulls a lot better but is not as sharp so if
you are undecided on a gear choice you need to go one
higher, which I didn't.

I ended the day in 5th place, which I was fairly happy
with as my second and third laps were good despite
some of the sections getting harder. I put that down
to refamilarisation with the bike and the terrain. A
very enjoyable trial and not too many queues' at the
sections despite the 100 plus riders.