samy

That's awesome. Thanks for posting! cheers

WOW! and YAY! at the end! cheers

What are you guys complaining about? Toni Bou is riding around a 10 year old Montesa and doing just fine cheers

My mate bought a brand new Ossa 280 two months back and i've had a couple of rides and i'm impressed. A couple of things that he wasn't a fan of that he pointed out to me were: 1) Kickstart rubs on plastics above footpeg and has worn out a patch 2) He's not a fan of the 'lock-in' kickstand. I had a look and it can't really be lowered by foot, you have to hold the bike with one hand and bend down and use your other hand to unlock and lower the stand, but i'm sure it could be done by foot with practice. At least it won't lower itself! 3) the rear disc brake disc seems to keep loosing bolts, you almost have to tighten it up after every lap. Maybe some stronger locktight? 4) It possibly goes through spark plugs a bit as he had to put a new plug in after only about 3-4 hrs on the bike but this is unconfirmed until he gets more time on the bike. 5) I believe the fuel pump died last week so it was back at the dealer getting a new one. The same dealer supplies Sherco's where i bought mine from. My mate bought a brand new 2011 Sherco earlier this year from the same dealer and he's had a few drama's with his kickstarter breaking internally and leaking oil and coolant like a sieve (apparently all Shercos leak from the factory?), so it's not brand related. To the dealer's credit, they have repaired and replaced everything under warranty and they are excellent to deal with so you can't ask for better service. After seeing my mate's problems being sorted this is the main reason i went with that dealer. So the morale? Don't buy a brand new bike, too many problems to sort out... How does the Ossa ride? Beautiful, it's got very good balance, the power is nice and soft down low but heaps when you twist it. I did some slow figure 8's and some wheel hopping and the lower revs are so nice to use when going slow. I took it for a blast up through the gears and i think i was in 3-4th gear at pace on a straight dirt road and gave the throttle a good twist and it almost spat me off the back - there's so much power! I could see myself getting into trouble! It does feel wider than the shercos but i found that balancing it was a breeze as was hopping and tight turns. You can almost just point it at something, bend you knees and close your eyes and through it goes. The only thing i found was that there was HEAPS of compression so kickstarting it was very hard compared to the 250 sherco and also that you can't never ever find neutral while the engine is running - you have to kill the engine to get it into neutral. This may be related to the pre- mentioned clutch drag as the bike did have some drag. It wasn't too bad when i rode it but it was definately there and he told me that it was very bad when the bike had less than 2 hours on it but it's getting better as it wears in. All in all an excellent bike. Would i buy one? I don't know but i'd definately take a ride anytime! It's definately got some bling factor. cheers

I hear Toni Bou is fitting a basket for next years competition... I carry a camelback Cloud or something, it's a little largish but quite comfy. If i'm going to do a technical section i just take it off and come back and get it. If the loop is fairly close to the carpark i don't take anything with me.

Great thread! Thanks for posting! cheers

I have just purchased a 2010 250 Sherco and i was looking around just last night for bling, mostly protectors and i found this: trick-bits.com It's a carbon look fuel tank protector but apparently they make all the parts themselves so i would say that if you emailed them they might already have them or would be able to make something similar. I am interested in purchasing some items from them as long as they deliver to Australia and i would be interested in a muffler protector as long as it can stand up to the heat. I notice in the pitcures on their site that their sherco has some sort of carbo look case protectors but these are unlisted on their site. cheers

No i never have but i've got a mountain bike with front and rear suspension that i hop around in a similar fashion to the motorbike. It's easier to balance the motorbike than the pushie due to the wider rubber. I'm not into unicycles at all but it's actually great fun i have found out this week cheers

Yes, a solution is a Unicycle. I know it sounds crazy but i bought a cheapish unicycle last week to use as a training tool to improve balance for trials. I was told this trick about 15 years ago by an "A" grade rider and i hopped on his unicycle and promptly fell off and never tried again. When i first got on it, 6 days ago, i couldn't barely sit on it even holding onto a wall. I was thinking that it would take months or years to learn and wondering what i had got myself into. However i did 30 minutes last friday, an hour on saturday and 2 hours sunday and by sunday afternoon i had let go and was riding around! I am still amazed that it took only about 3.5 hours! I'm trying to get in 30 minutes and up to 1 hr per day and at the moment i am practising turns and taking off without needing a wall/pole. I am flabbergasted with how well i've progressed in only 6 days. To give you an idea of what it's like here's a video of a 60 year old scottish bloke learning to ride. He started out on a 20 inch uni which is what i have and then in only a short time he was on a 36" monster!: When i was a junior 15 years ago i used to spend evenings watching a spare telly in the shed balancing my bike. I started with the front wheel turned and resting on a small brick. After a week or two i removed the brick and kept practising without. It also pays to lower the tyre pressures a fair bit at first. I am hopeless at mono's and getting up on the rear wheel so at the moment i am using the unicycle to try and improve my "one wheel" ability. Maybe one day i'll be able to hop on the rear wheel? LOL As soon as you master something you need to immediately move onto the next step to keep pushing your brain. Don't do too much at once as your brain needs to 're-wire' itself when you're sleeping at night. Then the next day, it's easier! cheers

What's she riding i wonder? The talent shown these days by juniors is incredible. cheers

Here's some videos from last weekend at the Queensland (Australia) State Titles, just to give you an idea of some of the stuff 'down under' cheers

Those Osets look great. I will be getting one for my daughter in a month or two. cheers

Amazing skill!

I'm in the same boat. I'm not a fan of the Rev3 look but the Evo is a very good looking bike. I have not ridden either but plan to try an Evo as soon as I can Cheers

Great result! I'm only an hour from the Gold Coast so i'll keep them in mind! cheers

I really like the look of those 4T Scorpas. They are spot on I'm not a fan of the 2T Scorpa look. I am in the market for a 2T bike. I would like to see a 2T Scorpa look like those 4T's. There is still a scorpa dilemma LOL Cheers

The scorpa in your link does look pretty darn good. But I've never seen Scorpas being advertised looking this good: All the 2011 Scorpas I've seen advertised look like this: There's no comparison I reckon, the blue scorpa looks great whereas the orange scorpa looks a bit average. Or have i got my scorpa year models mixed up? Cheers

See if you can get down to a club trial or give a club a call to see if they are holding any "come and try" days. New bikes are always surprisingly more easy and better to ride than even the previous year. The only way to know if its for you is to try one out. The last thing you want to do is buy a modern bike without trying one out first and then deciding you'd rather ride the older bikes. Try them all, to me the gas gas's and sherco's feel great, but I grew up with gas gas. Beta's always felt a bit short or like I was too far over the bars through I havnt had the chance to try an Evo. I havn't tried a modern Montesa either. Cheers

Because the current ones for peasants like me have that ugly Scorpa petrol tank! The petrol tank and frame on that blue yamaha look beautiful. Cheers

That's a great looking bike! Cheers

I'm in the same boat at the moment. I've never had a sherco but I've been looking at some of the later models lately. My mate just picked up a few weeks ago a brand new sherco and while it's awesome to ride I'm (as I expect he is) dissapointed with it's build quality. It had done literally 3 hrs of engine work from the dealer at it's first trial when the engine case started leaking gearbox oil, bright green radiator coolant and the kick start gave up and it needed to be clutch started. All from a brand new bike with only several hours' easy engine work. I'm now even more skeptical about sherco's quality but heaps of guys seem to run them without issues. All I know is that my gas gas's have been super reliable. maybe I'll get a beta... Cheers

Back when I was riding in the 1990's my 92' Gas Gas 327 had upside down forks. I was in junior grade during those years and my old man bought me the bike when it was 2-3 years old. I rode it for another 4 years or so during which time it was ridden weekly, and bi-weekly the forks were compressed for 2 hrs when tied in the trailer on the way to a comp. Also, being in junior i thrashed and dropped that bike something shocking yet it took it in it's stride. The factory fork guards did their work, the fork seals never leaked and were only changed once as part of regular servicing. Great bike, I miss it. I would say after my experience all those yeas ago that fork orientation wouldn't be a major factor in choosing a bike for me. Cheers

I'd buy one cheers