Bob runs a class act. Highly recommend you try one of his courses/training sessions...well worth the time and money, IMO.
I've found the same thing as you.....getting parts locally is a nightmare. Best bet is typically some of the US and UK trials sites. I've used the following for parts and gear:
The shipping on from the UK can add up, but if you're ordering enough stuff, it's doable, and I've found them good to deal with. Quick response. For a Scorpa, you may be stuck with ordering from the UK....not sure how many online dealers in the USA stock parts for that make.
I definitely recommend Ryan Young's instructional DVDs. Well worth it, and the best ones on the market to learn trials technique from.
I see you're a bit east/south of Ottawa area. If you ever plan ot be north of Toronto (Barrie area), give me a ping. You can come play on my obstacle course! Bring a trail bike too.....I have lots of great single track a few hundred meteres from my place!
Methinks there is too much reminiscing for the old bikes. Want to get kids into trials.....OSET now has everything up to a 20" wheel, at much more reasonable prices and decent resale from what I hear. Once they graduate from the 20", a used 150 or 200 would likely be the ticket.
I think much of the problem is actually illustrated by many of the prior suggestions that the manufacturers need to fix the problem. They are not going to....they won't jump on a market, especially in this economy, until there is a market.
That means activism at the grassroots level. Pointing at mfgrs, WTC, dealers, etc. as needing to solve the problem won't fly, Getting kids on OSETs, trials bicycles and out to trials events, including WTC level stuff to see the big stunts, is what will do it. More exposure at the local/community level.
Stop your whining about no bikes at a reasonable price, and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT instead. <sheesh> How many new kids, or adults for that matter, have you introduced to the sport this past year?
If you think it's bad across the pond in Britain, you should try it over here in Canada. The market in North America for trials is much smaller than in Europe, so it's doubly difficult to attract new trials participants, since the costs for machines are higher, parts are dearer and harder to get, and there are fewer competitions and clubs around. As a result the profile of Trials is even smaller over here, relative to the exposure that MX, Enduros and the like receive (which is huge).
The trick, IMO, is getting the message out to more people, and especially targetting the much larger MX/Enduro/Offroad crowd to convince them to try trials. I'm a good example of this....I bought my used '02 TXT Pro two seasons ago, because it looked like fun, and everything I heard/read said it would improve both my street and dirt riding. It has....greatly! There is a good marketing message there that is not being exploited by the trials community/clubs/manufacturers/etc enough. Trials riding improves all your other riding! Look at who is winning all the extreme enduros these days, and Endurocross, which leverages some of the spectacular trials stunts/obstacles with a spectator appealing indoor format and is growing a huge following very quickly on this side of the pond....all the top guys hail from a Trials background.
What convinced me to buy a trials bike was watching videos of guys doing trials sections on enduro bikes....harder, but still the same technique, and also watching my collection of hard enduro vids (Erzberg, Roof of Africa, Hells Gate, etc.) and seeing that the podium finishers were almost always trials guys.
I'm the Director and Secretary of the largest offroad riding association club in Ontario, and maybe the largest in Canada, and have noticed that many of our members are becoming interested in trying trials.....once they get exposed to it. Perfect target market, since they all love dirt bikes, family oriented activities, like new toys as a rule, plus have some level of disposable income. But many have never heard of or seen trials. Furthermore, more and more parents are being leery of getting their kids involved in motocross, as the injury level is much higher in that sport, but still want a competitive outlet for their younger kids. There are not as many harescramble/enduro options for the younger kids, but trials works well.
At our Family Fun Day this past July, I organized having some Trials dealers present, including a full demo fleet of OSET's for the young kids. Also set up a small obstacle course across from the BBQ lunch area, and we did a half time show while folks were eating lunch. The expert rider I had lined up bailed at the last minute, so I was one of the riders doing the demo, but even with my novice/meagre skills, it was very well received. The dealers present were very pleased by the reception and interest, and have committed to do it again next year and even sponsor our club to boot.
I also set up a trials section on our forum, and post cool videos of motorized trials (including the Tubby Team vid posted here), bicycle trials and related stuff, since it does interest many riders, along with notices of events. We had a number of members and their kids attend a trials training session, where they could rent bikes. All that attended really enjoyed it and felt it improved their riding greatly, and a few seem to be continuing their interest in riding trials, and buying a bike.
To some degree, this approach is preaching to the slightly converted....since they are all dirt bikers already, but I think that is a great place to start, for just that reason.
To attract the larger audience, you need medial coverage. How about some trials demos at the Supercross/Motocross events, which are televised nationally and have a huge following? If the trials manufacturers set up a small obstacle course, included an OSET demo fleet for kids, and did demos in the pit area (without TV coverage) at all the SX/MX events, that would still expose a huge number of potentially interested dirt bike afficiionados to the sport. Local clubs could team up with manufacturers/dealers to put this on.
If you really want to get some exposure, get James Bond to do some stunts on a trials bike in the next movie, both motorized and pedal.....or maybe have a younger (read: cool kid) ally or evil one do such tricks. Trials in Skyfall 2 anyone?
One of the big issues is the cost of a bike....so having dealers offer "beginner courses" with rental bikes makes sense. As already noted, this has worked in my experience, to help introduce more riders to the sport.
Do demos at local fairs/carnivals/events. Make sure you have an OSET demo fleet for the kids (with loaner gear like helmets/boots). Hand out flyers and web addresses with info on how to get involved.
One thing I have found here personally, is that getting into a competition is intimidating, and also costly. I have yet to compete....maybe next year! But having to buy a competition license/club membership fee, on top of an event fee, in this economy, is a barrier to getting new competitors. What if, like me, you just want to give it a try to see if you are interested? No....I don't want to pay to join a club just to be able to try a comp to see if I like it. There has to be more of a "try before you buy" approach for attracting newbies to trials competitions. There are also a lot of rules and terminology and the like with trials comps (like with many sports). Having a special "beginner" session where experienced competitors help the beginners get oriented would really help as well, to get them over the intimidating "hump". And promote how easy it is to get involved in a comp too....rental bikes wouldn't hurt either. Forgo a competition yourself, and offer to be a mentor/minder for a beginner sometime.
Stop vs. No-Stop? Pretty much irrelevant, if you ask me. That won't help attract newcomers one way or the other. Though there is some merit in the thinking that kids like to be inspired by the big/impressive obstacles/tricks, which leans towards Stop allowed.
The WTC, manufacturers and large/established (dare I say cliqueish, set in their ways) clubs won't drive increased participation.
Grassroots work to make it fun, inexpensive and easy to try trials riding is what will do it.
I'm doing my part, as a 2 year newbie to trials riding.....so stop whining about decreasing participation and how someone else should be fixing this and rather do something about it instead, at a personal level! With all the collective experience on TC, you should be able to come up with many more creative ideas than I have already done.
I ordered some flags from trialendurodirect.com not that long ago....bunch of blue and red ones. Planning to mark out some hill sections in the ravine on the north side of my property.
However, being fairly new to trials riding and never having done a competition, I have no idea which side the red and blue flags go on?
Would rather set 'em out correctly...so can someone point me in the right direction? Red = Right, Blue = Left or vice versa?
I use the 661 soft knee and elbow pads. They are like the flexy pads mentioned, but use the high tech d3o padding in them. d30 is a cool compound, which hardens instantly on impact, and then softens after the impact is over. Came from military tech. Extremely comfortable, not bulky and great protection. Not cheap though!
Great teeter totter I have been meaning to build one. Have you tried moving the balance point left or right? you will need to ride out a bit further before it tips but all good fun
The balance point is offset about 4-6" to one end, that way the board resets automatically after you ride it. Moving the balance point sounds like a fun idea!
Here is an idea for the spools you have as spares...
Very cool! Thanks for the pic!
I think I'm going to go with Gandalf's suggestion (split 'em in half and add slats) since then they will be more portable, and easier to set up in different configurations.
Ditto on the Ryan Young training videos. Worth the purchase price, IMO!
You should be able to wheelie the bike without the engine running if you are doing it right. Drop the knees to load the front suspension, then extend your body up and back as the suspension rebounds, pulling up and back on your bars. That should do it....adding a touch of throttle as the forks rebound just makes it easier is all.
Practicing on a slight uphill grade makes it easier too.
Wire spools make a good, movable obstacle. They can usually be found for free- just cut them off center to miss all the steel. These are about 48" in diameter . You can see the long board to the left(above)- it is three 10' 2x6s with hinges so I can fold it up and move it. Great practice!
Very cool idea, Gandalf.
I like that you get two obstacles from each spool, one smaller and one larger. Adding the boards around the perimiter is a great idea too!
I have 4 spools kicking around, and I now plan to do this with them! Since I cart the obstacles around to some club events (scorra.ca), the portability is sweet!
Muchos gracias for posting the pics.....I would have never thought of doing this myself!
How did you cut the spools? I'm thinking some rough carpentry with my chainsaw to make it fast and easy....
I'm in Canada, and bought a PAL/NTSC dual dvd player for the garage to watch European vids for just this reason.
Just finished watching this DVD.....it was OK....but the instruction is not very informative. I would recommend the Ryan Young videos instead....he really goes into a lot more detail on many of the techniques.
I've built a bunch of stuff in my yard. Funny thing.....was working on building a splatter wall out of railway ties this aft, when a small t-storm blew in and so I came inside and figured I would cruise TC a bit, and stumbled on this thread.
Just dug in a large wire spool and laid out some larger tires horizontally.
Here's what I had last year, including pics of my portable teeter totter:
Easier said than done, Laser! The damned nuts are 13mm, and they are so tight to the cylinder in spots that I haven't figured out how to get a socket and torque wrench on 'em. Of course, my Motion Pro cresent wrench extender for torquing is only in 12/14mm.
Guess I'll have to go find some thin walled 13mm sockets. In the meantime, having just done new rings and Boysen CarbonTech reeds on my '02 Pro, I just cranked down the nuts by hand. ;-(
I'm thinking of putting bar risers on my '02 280 TXT Pro. I'm 6' with fairly long legs, and the bent over stance is a bit tough on the back on longer trail rides, and on bigger obstacles, I find I'm putting too much weight on my hands. Pretty much a beginner, wtih one season on the bike and no competitions (yet!). Bar and clamps are stock.
Given the above, is getting bar risers a good idea?
I have a large compressor with an air impact wrench, but only use it on really stubborn nuts/bolts these days.
I picked up a 18v DeWalt 1/2" cordless impact wrench a couple of years ago, and absolutely love this tool! It gets all but the most stubborn nuts/bolts off, the trigger is very controllable, so you can easily adjust the speed/torque you want to apply. Lots of times I spin on nuts to just before they start to get tight with the DeWalt, and then finish up with a torque wrench. It's powerful enough to spin off stubborn axle nuts, but controllable enough for smaller stuff. Since I have almost every other 18v cordless tool that DeWalt makes, I have a pool of batteries that I can share amongst all the tools, plus spares, so there are always a few extra fully charged batteries on hand. They make 20v Lithium ones now, but it would be too expensive for me to switch from the 18v stuff I already have.
Not cheap, but a very handy tool, IMO. I use it all the time in my garage, on the trials, dirt and street bikes.
Newbie From Ontario, Canada
in Introduce Yourself
Posted
I do the static balancing thing too...but primarily in the winter when I can't ride much if at all due to deep snow.
I have both the beginner and advanced RY DVDs. The former for instruction, and the latter for entertainment. ;-)