michael_t

I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt so... lets forget the $75. Just tell me exactly what the great opportunity is? what's the plan? what are we working together on? What is it you would like me to do? I'm a great worker, I have a great job as a Sr Project Manager and am happy to bring my expertise to bear, I am ready to roll up my sleeves and help in anyway I can as an eager trials volunteer. What is the first task on the Agenda? Cheers, Michael

Does anyone know how much a FIM affiliation costs?... it seems the FIM might be to blame for all this upset at the grass roots.

Hey Steve you really should give that a read its long but it is worth reading... It seems that NATC did a great job of pulling people together for the benefit of the sport instead of insulting and alienating organizations that had different views. It is very simple for me... when I started nobody in NS was putting on events and I had never been to an event. I reached out and asked what where the pro's and cons of the 2 sanctioning bodies and decided on WTC. I then had a rule book I could use and a $5M insurance policy at my disposal funny thing my brother is a lawyer and instructed my parents that they should not let me invite a bunch of dirt bikers to ride on their property (over what some might consider hazardous areas) without insurance. After I put on events for a few years we grew from 3 or 4 riders to around 20 and I'm not sure if it was because people started to feel sorry for me but sure enough other riders decided if I could put on events then so could they so this year we had 3 other riders putting on events each with landowner permission and insurance coverage. If I went to the current riders and said we are going to do the exact same thing next year but everyone is going to write a $75 cheque to Marilynn (at the CMA) I think the question would be WHY? or maybe WTF? and what will the money be used for? So if way back when it was ploy to overturn the CMA to get the FIM affiliation that is really no longer the case and is now more about just getting more cheap *******s out riding... maybe a simple goal but it is working for us. If the CMA has a master plan for everyone's $75 they need to publish it... If your son is shooting for the TdN team and they want to spend the money on that it would be fine, people could then make an educated decision as to if they felt it was worth supporting or not... I for one am a strong supporter of the TdN team. Maybe all the money goes to pay to the FIM for the affiliation? We just don't know. I do know I'm not a fan of feeling like I am being held hostage by Marilynn's company (the CMA) with no willingness to answer what I feel is a logical question.

I think the fact that Bob has directed the forum to this site instead of continually being accused of being biased is a great move. Administering forums is a real pain in the ass and can be a lot more work than people might think and which Bob got little thanks for. Having Canadian Trials news and classified on Bob's site and the discussion here removes any perceived bias so if you stop and think about it doesn't really support Steve's comments... unless of course Andy is also part of the WTC conspiracy.

Interesting (and well written) editorial posted on the Trials Canada website today... http://www.trialscanada.com/2015-editorial.pdf

Funny thing that. I worked for a large IT company and we grew to the point we decided to go public (over 3,000 employees)and became listed on the NY stock exchange got to ring the bell it was all pretty cool. All of a sudden everything was focused on quarterly earnings and pleasing shareholders they actually even changed the companies "core values" to include "improve stakeholders return on investment" the company kind of stagnated. About 3 years later a wealthy fellow came along and bought the company and took it off the stock exchange the focus moved back towards long term growth and looking out further than just the next quarters results... It didn't actually help much and after another 2 years a huge Japanese company bought it. At the end of the day if I started a company building trials bikes specifically for my needs I would keep it small and focused and retain ownership instead of selling out to a bunch of people who just wanted to get rich off my brainchild. I might let a few special investors like Dougie join as I would know his head was in the right place. I guess we will see in 3 weeks what comes to light in Milan but I hope he keeps the focus on Trials!

Well another great year in the Maritimes After 3 years of putting on 3 day indoor shows in March we decided to give it a rest this year. It was kind of nice not having to worry about it and I had a great trip to BC to do a bit of skiing and see some of the West coast (I even had a chance to see some Trials riding on Vancouver Island. We typically have our big training weekend with Jonathan in the spring but the spring didn't work out this year for Jonathan (but he was able to get over to the SSDT for another top Canadian finish). We decided to move the training weekend to September. Our 5 events were well spread out with 3 in the valley one by the Halifax airport and one outside of Moncton. we had a really bad year for snow and Eric actually had to shovel snow on some of the sections he had laid out for our first event just outside of Berwick. We had a good turnout and a nice variety of sections the ice just below the top layer of soil in some places made for some interesting grip challenges. It soon warmed up though and since the training weekend was postponed I decided(on short notice)that I would put on an event at my parents place in a couple of weeks time (as my ST250 was scheduled to arrive). We shared in setting up the sections the day of the event and for a short notice event things worked out very well. Guy from New Brunswick joined in the fun and we gave him some pointers for putting on event #3 just outside Moncton. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make the third event but from the scores I can see we had some new riders join in the fun and I heard that the course involved a bit more riding between sections but was very scenic. I also heard that there wasn't really an 'easy" line but everyone enjoyed the challenge and had good fun... It is always great when another rider decides to start putting on events like this. Next up was our training day with Jonathan on a Saturday in a shale pit followed by a Trials event on the Sunday by the Airport. It is always great when Jonathan can fly in from Ontario to give us some pointers. He rode my X-Ride during the training and the event and it was great to see how well it could handle sections in the right hands. He would also hop onto different peoples bikes to demonstrate how thing should be done. I think the highlight was doing some decent sized splatters that nobody had really mastered before. It is one thing to say you have to commit and give it more gas it is another thing to actually see it done on your own bike. Jonathan made a good point by walking up to somebody and saying "when you are giving it the gas you are turning the throttle this far" then turned the throttle as the rider had been doing (about a 1/4 throttle) he then said "the throttle can actually got this far" and opened it up the whole way, we all had a good chuckle - it was pretty clear there was lots of room for improvement and improve we did. The next day was the NSORRA Drive to Ride which is the annual membership ride with close to 200 dirt bike riders showing up to ride Trails, Track, and Trials with local vendors showing their support and new bikes. Again we shared the course setting activities in the morning and rode in the afternoon. There isn't a lot of rock at the location but the terrain is tricky enough and with a few manmade sections out in plain view of the other dirt bikers we all had some fun showing off what our bikes could do. The last event of the year was back at the shale pit where Kevin laid out 8 good sections for us. Once again it was a beautiful day and fun was had by all. Over the season we had 18 riders in total and 4 different people taking responsibilities for setting up the different events. It is looking good for getting even more growth next year. A huge thank you to all the landowners that allowed us to ride on their properties, Jonathan for sharing his expertise with us and the riders / organizers who make this all happen. I would also like to thank NSORRA, RPM Cycle, Sherco, BETA, NSDSC, and the WTC for their on-going support for the Maritime Trials Riders. Here are the final scores for the year:2015 scores totals.pdf

Hard to believe it has been 6 months and the season here has wrapped up. I Just wanted to say thanks again to RPM Cycle and Sherco Canada for all their support this year. We had 5 events this year and one organized training day. I had to miss one of the events but made the others. The bike performed flawlessly and I was top novice rider for the year. In the last event 3 of us decided that after one lap we would move up to the Intermediate line and I still did respectable so plan to practice over the winter and stay in the Intermediate class for next year. I have to confess I did not get out and practice as much as I would have liked but hope to make up for it over the winter (best laid plans). I find that the sherco advertising is bang on when they say the 300 is for the top competitive riders and "The 250 meanwhile is reserved for intermediate riders who are looking for a certain sweetness in acceleration and an easier bike to ride." Having a bike that is easier to ride is a huge advantage in my mind. Little things like how easy it is to start compared to my 290 X-Ride it isn't that the 290 doesn't start well it just takes a bit more "technique" and more of a kick so no problem trail riding but when riding sections with lots of stops and starts a little easier starting is helpful. I also found the power to be very usable I really only used 1st and 2nd in sections and had fun with both without really worrying about getting out of control. The bike always seemed well balanced and a good fit for my 6'1", 200lb frame. I was careful about making sure there was no dirt around the fuel cap when filling. I can see it being a bit of an issue if the bike was dirty and you were in a rush but that was never the case for me. I really just had a ton of fun on the bike and really feel it has made a huge improvement in my riding abilities and confidence. Cheers, Michael

Hi Spencer, I think you really need to consider what the MCC sponsored BCORMA is doing in BC for the riding community and how much funding they are putting into helping your cause http://bcorma.geovisionenvironmental.com/...I have no idea the level of funding that the CMA is pouring into the BC trials community but I do know I seem to get little in response when I ask what there plans are with respect to investing in NS. Back when I was Pres for NSORRA I met with the BCORMA representatives and the other provincial organizations, in Toronto (MCC paid our expenses) They are a great group of people passionate about working with the Government to support motorized trail use (including Trials). You should call them up you may find that our struggles are not as different as you might think.

Not suggesting anything just a copy and paste from the Sherco forum and may be much more slanted towards their Enduro side of the house.

That is not always the case for things people get passionate about. Guys who sail in the America's Cup spend around $200 Million for no real return (especially all that lose) I'm sure some write some of it off as a marketing expense but do you know anybody who buys Oracle products because there CEO races in the America's cup? I think it is clear in that the owner is very passionate about trials and about the SSDT in particular. The whole design of the bike is about having a bike that somebody like himself can ride and enjoy. There may not be any shareholders this may be simply the pet project of a rich individual, it may have already met its objectives of being the best SSDT bike ever built. The owner has great business sense and this might allow it to be a huge financial success for him and a great boost for the sport... I just wouldn't assume it is always about the money not everyone is wired that way. This is actually a fairly reasonable endeavour compared to an America's Cup campaign and way better chance of return on investment IMO. Good interview with Dougie - https://www.joomag.com/magazine/trials-enduro-news-september-2015-volume-50-issue-9/0147954001440532610?page=94 Interesting article on the cost of the America's Cup - http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2013/09/26/cost-compete-34th-americas-cup/

Just saw this on a Sherco forum... My understanding is that Sherco only wanted the facility. That's what I heard anyway. The GG building is about 2 hours away from the enduro facility and about halfway between it and the Barcelona facility where trials bikes are built and parts are stored for both lines.

Just for comparison given it is a bit higher scale bike, I think it would be fair to compare it to other 300cc factory bikes $8499 USD for a factory Beta (2015) $8749 USD for a factory GG (2015) $7999 USD for Sherco (2016) - Factory would be more don't have an actual quote but probably $8600. So basically and extra $1,000 for an exotic Fuel Injected fully tricked out bike. Doesn't seem too far off the mark.

BTW Bob has lots of videos... checkout the top right under 2015 pretty sure there are some decent zaps in there http://www.electricmotioncanada.ca/video.html

I went through the exact same thought process last year... it is a tough one. I had the same list of pros and cons with a few exceptions: The initial cost was a bigger issue for me. The resale was less of an issue being over 50 trials is a midlife crises write off. I figure if I bought a Porshe it would drop $10K as soon as I dove it off the lot. So it really came down to the initial cost as whatever it is would be write off in my mind and I would just try to get as many years as possible out of it. I was looking at getting the light kit and ride it on the road around the neighbourhood just for kicks. Despite being in the city my neighbours have never complained about the noise so I already ride at home in my backyard front yard and the sidewalk... If this wasn't the case I think I would have paid the extra $2k. I had a long discussion over the phone with Bob at TrailnTrial and was comfortable that the bike would be well supported despite no local dealers. I wouldn't mind the attention as the more people we can get interested in the sport and in electric bikes the better IMO. My son is 6'3" and won't fit on a Oset . In the end Sherco made me an offer I couldn't refuse... so I didn't, I have been very happy on the ST250! It is always hard buying a brand new bike but it can also be a lot of fun. It is almost worth taking a drive to the nearest dealer (18hr drive one way for me) to try one out but that would be another cost to add into the equation (but possibly a fun road trip). Good luck with the decision making !!!

Three companies have submitted binding offers to buy GasGas the judge will need to decide who it goes to. the three companies are Sherco, IRG, and Torrot. not sure how long the judge will take to decide and no clue what the different companies will do if they get it. IRG is an investment fund so I would guess they would want to flip it. Torrot is a bicycle company that wants to build motorcycles so that makes some sense. Sherco is a head scratcher they already have almost the same product line maybe they just want to cut off the competition but with TRS and Vertigo out there that doesn't make a lot of sense in my mind.

It seems to me you have to be independently wealthy to even consider getting into the business of trials... small salaries, small profit, huge amount of pride and fun in producing a winning machine (it isn't always about the money although nobody likes to take a loss. Seems some of these guys might just be in it to prove they can build a better bike. If I was really rich I might give it a go myself

The WTC is now on the MCC competition council for motorcycle competition in Canada along with Enduro, Super Bike, and Flat Track. http://www.motorcycling.ca/competition-council/. I really don't think they will be going away any time soon so I guess the question "should we have both" is pointless - like it or not we do have both and hopefully they are both going to work together to grow the sport in Canada.

Not sure what happened to the white "ice" version seems all the focus is on the green "combat"

From the first of October... "With the initial test bikes now being delivered to the various distributors, and the first production models to follow shortly and over the coming months, we at Vertigo Motors are all very excited about this next and important chapter of the company and are sure that the Vertigo Combat will be well received and enjoyed by every customer that choses to join our special family."

Maybe they bought GasGas now wouldn't that be a shock!

That makes it sound way to easy - LOL.