totty79

Couldn't really say who's the best, but I highly recommend Dan Thorpe at Bumpy.

Not only ride, just preference. For easy stuff I find a 250 needs more finesse, now you've pointed it out it does feel like having to combine techniques, doesn't feel as natural to me. Hard to describe at the min though as I haven't ridden since early Nov - which is why I still own a 250, not riding enough to justify an upgrade.

I think the tank shape changes around 2013, my 2012 is different to a mates 2013

Yes, bought it before I'd ridden a 125, and it was cheap. I'll probably go SS300 or 125 next.

Personally I get on slightly better with either a lively 125 and loads of revs, or chugging a 300 in higher gears. The middle ground low state of tune as standard typical 250 doesn't suit me as well.

Use a proxy to make it look like you're in the UK.

Wulfsport boots do the job, mine have lasted 3 years so far. About as waterproof as a sieve but so are many expensive boots.

You could almost certainly put redex/ 3 in 1 or any other oil in and it wouldn't fail next ride, but I doubt they would give better long term engine wear than synthetic 2 stroke oil. There's a lot of BS in branding and marketing, the best oils are always overpriced, and bike manufacturers are always over cautious in their recommendations but synthetic and mineral are fundamentally different.

One of these oils is only part synthetic so needs to be treated as a mineral. Beta list a 1.5% mix (75ml in 5L) for synthetic and 4% for mineral. So yes either could be used but I wouldn't personally risk them at the same ratio.

To be honest I can't recall any detail and would need to look it up, there's been threads on it. A few characteristics differ to suit the intended usage which is high load high rpm for a race oil and lots of idling with brief bursts of revs for trials. The race oil wouldn't do any harm, the differences are minor, but if your only buying 2 stroke oil for trials then to me it would make sense to buy a trials specific oil.

Looks like it's part synthetic, beta list a ratio for mineral oil so you could look that up and use it, I think it's about 4x the amount. Ideally though you'd use a trials specific oil rather than either of these.

Bottoming on the frame limits how much you can lower it, but it shouldn't bottom before trimming the bolt - if it does then it may need bleeding.

My beta is like that, I ground the bit down that goes into the master cylinder to get more adjustment which helped a little bit I'd still like it lower and wider.

Unfortunately not, I'm away that weekend, but I'll pass it onto a couple of guys I practise with. It's great to see someone giving this a try, I'm sure it will be a massive help to anyone who's on their first few trials and make them more likely to keep coming back.

At some point in the day after getting over nerves and before suffering fatigue you'll probably find at least one section you can clean. If you'd be ecstatic with that then my advice would be to go with that target and leave happy, don't push yourself too hard to finish, the odd clean is easier than finishing.

The cause of fatigue has been covered.........but does it matter who it's down to? If something called the easy route is an extreme challenge for newcomers and there are very few easier alternatives then the sport is inaccessible. I think I'll leave it at that, to be honest I feel like I'm being drawn in to hijacking the thread to fight the corner for something that doesn't really benefit me, a bit of a waste of time.

Advice conflicts because to be honest it doesn't make a great deal of difference. Some bikes will run away with you a little easier when you're clumsy and that's about it.

Fits my experience, fatigue sets in on lap one or two, falls become frequent, laps three and four become just about endurance. Riding with underdeveloped skills is very physical. People tend to help in sections, it's worse to get stuck in a bog, wedged in a barbed wire fence, fall 10' into a steam, go over the bars trying to get over a log, submerge a bike etc. between sections. There should be plenty of others on here with this experience, or is that the problem do most unfit middle aged new starters end up quitting? Having said that I now just practise I don't compete.

Your post clearly has a mocking tone e.g. what did you expect a ride across a flat field Myself and many others have posted about new starter difficulties on many other threads, and its not hard to find a new starter at a trial and to check their experience on the day. All this info is already out there. For most new starters safety is the concern not difficulty, no one expects it to be easy, and between sections is often a bigger concern than the sections. They do not expect for example drop offs on steep hills with a barbed wire fence at the bottom. I still don't select things to practise based on difficulty, I pick them based on what could go wrong.

@baldilocks I've only done the easy route on centre trials, and I agree having two different things with the same name doesn't help. After all this time I don't recall venues, only the crashes. For anyone wanting to see what first timers stuggle with it would be best to follow one around. I can recall that the route chosen between sections was more hazardous than the sections, there's been several threads about this.

How very helpful, basically saying its easy to me, you're just a crap rider and don't even know what trials is about.......and some people liked that post. There's not much on an easy route I couldn't ride now, but taking this attitude to newcomers is not good for the sport. The first trial I entered had 6 first timers, the other 5 did not finish, 3 years on I wonder how many of those have sold up and moved on.

As new starter who "wanted to enjoy it and go to work the next day" the easy route did not work for me..... And I think that's the missing point, new starters aren't usually kids who dream of becoming a world champion and practise accordingly, they're people in their 30/40s who now have enough spare cash to buy a bike and limited time to ride it. For me 4 attempts caused multiple minor injuries and expensive bike repairs, I did manage to finish 3 times with 90 to 120 scores but with several weeks of pain/discomfort. After 3 years of occasional practice I probably could now do an easy route, but we can't really expect every new starter to do that can we? There are two easy solutions, lower the difficulty or put on beginner trials - and I'm pleased to see there are now beginner trials in the region.

Advice conflicts because to be honest it doesn't make a great deal of difference. Some bikes will run away with you a little easier when you're clumsy and that's about it.

I think that style of washer is only fitted on a 300 factory, but you can swap out the two thicker friction plates on all bikes.

UK 250 has a flywheel weight as standard, and there are pros and cons to it, same applies to a slow throttle. Easier to start off with them to keep it tame but you may later want to remove them.