Having signed up with Dougie and Mark to do the 3-day Sport Adventure “enduro-navigation” event in Normandie in November, I needed a bike to use. I contacted the organiser to discuss a few options and explain my basic level of competence. It seemed that it might be possible to do it on the Scorpa Trials but would be very hard work and hiring a bike appeared to be prohibitively expensive, so he suggsted just buying something, do the event and then sell it afterwards. Doug did very kindly offer to lend me one of his bikes if all else failed.
I searched around for some time and actually went to try out a couple of bikes – a Sherco 250 Enduro (which just felt too big compared to the trials) and a Beta X-Trainer which felt slightly smaller but was reletively new and therefore rather expensive. And then a Scorpa T-Ride came up locally and it felt easy to ride so I bought it. This is a French made bike but again using a Yamaha engine – in this case a detuned 250 four stroke 5 valve enduro engine. Scorpa are better known for their Trials machines and the T-ride is meant to be a cross-over bike in that it is bigger and heavier than a trials while maintaining some of the geometry, but not as large and unwieldy as a full size enduro machine.
Having got the T-ride home I spent many happy (some not so happy) hours fiddling about and “improving” it.
Steering head bearings were very tight but seem Ok now Ive adjusted them.
Wiring is a bit of a mess but only because of owner mods. The handlebar light switch is broken and they have added a switch for the lights (I assume) but it doesn’t seem to work. There is another add on toggle switch but I don’t know what it’s for yet – thought it may be a manual overidde for the electric fan but now not so sure as the fan wiring seems OK and uses a thermostatic switch. Horn had heath robinson wiring, but will probably remove and use the small battery electric horn I bought for the other scorpa but will not use on that bike as I’ll use this one if I want to go for a coffee etc.
Have removed the owner add-on stickers and got back to the original scorpa ones but the white has faded in the sun? and you can’t get originals any more. May be able to get a newer set which will fit ?
One headlamp rubber retaining strap broken. Slight damage to plastic inside bulb holder – araldite. fix needed.
Kick stand needs a bit of welding to get it to sit at the right angle – had the same issue on the other scorpa.
And so it went on….
Lots of fun re-doing the wiring.
Got rid of all the wiring that is surplus to requirements – indicators etc.
Found that the rear light / brake light was not working or only intermittent. Eventually traced to a loose wire going in to a plastic connector.
Two added-on toggle switches. One for the lights – why ? Because the light switch on the handlebar is broken.
Redid the connections for this switch but kept it.
The second switch appeared to be a manual switch / overide for the electric cooling fan. But I let the engine warm up and the fan came on by itself – thermostatic switch. So the extra switch and wiring were removed.
Also removed the horn – one of the wires was broken.
I mentioned that I had adjusted the head dearings but when I did a short test ride round the garden the front end was clonking as they weren’t tight enough. Played with the adjustment some more and then decided I needed to have a look. The bottom race was not too bad but the upper race has some corrosion – replacements ordered.
Welded some extra material on to the kickstand to make it sit correctly. Discovered it was bent and already had a stiffening repair.
Out for a ride with me on the T-ride and Alexander on the Scorpa Trials…
It was all going so well, until…
More trials training around the garden – with the benefit of the tricks in the sticks experience.