baldilocks

He was standing up , the bone split the top of his foot and the claret was squirting out, not a good day

This isn't a serious idea but I'm just saying this for explanation. If you had the same ability as Bou you would still need to train harder than him or have a better bike to beat him. The other manufacturers don't have the resources of Honda. A few years ago the factory 4rt was lighter than ragas gas gas. That's a lot more cost than a few titanium bolts but Honda can afford it. The much criticised minimum weight attempts to address this. I expect the other bikes are merely tweaked production bikes ? Then if you look at the top riders videos they have at least one minder with them every time they go out and someone else working the video. It's very difficult for an up and coming rider to be able to train like this and get a factory bike. Unless the parents have enough cash for the rider not to work but to practice all week on an indoor trial course they have also bought they will never compete with Bou. It needs some kind of spending cap like F1 or limit on practice. Impossible to enforce I know but the best riders currently have all of the resources.

Oh and most of the boots are lorica these days, a synthetic substitute for leather. Waterproofing may still work but it's not leather

One of my friends broke his foot this year when he caught it on a rock wearing gaernes. This led to a review of current boots, gaerne, styl martin and the hebo with the wire fastening system don't have any toe protection. Forma, new style hebo, alpinestars, mots and I think sidi have toe protection built in. Forma and sidi offer little ankle support. Protection wise you can't beat the alpinestars. Some find them too stiff but it doesn't bother me. Only snag is the alpinestars look shabby after 3 trials and they are probably the most expensive

Dibs sticking with Beta

AJP levers will fit, they made shorter levers as fitted to early shercos and a mid length version. Splatshop might have them on their website.

Totally agree, trials has been in decline for some time. We have a number of issues but some if not all are related to the volume of sales. People can't get sponsorship to cover costs as the factories aren't making enough money. Clubs can't buy land as they don't have the income. Parts bikes and clothing are all far too expensive as the market is too small to achieve the economies of scale. And for the environmental lobby we are an easy target, we are a tiny minority with no resources to contest decisions. The decline in trials has continued regardless of rules and numbers of routes or laps or days in the world championships. Conclusion, the WTC doesn't sell bikes. You'd think the factories would realise this at some point.

Yes according to TRS

Toby Martyn to TRS for trial 2 and British Champs

There was an arena trial ran at the NEC a few years ago but not sure why only the once , maybe not enough spectators to make it pay ?

Got my son's off with an impact gun

All classes at a British championship round will have a time limit is how I read it. But the "new " rules don't apply to other series like s3 etc. I don't see how this is a problem for an organiser as they are different events on different days. Try it at BTC and see how it goes, s3 champs doesn't have a problem with entries. Don't see any need to have a pop at the acu.

I'm actually in favour of this rule, no stop is far too subjective even in twinshock trials. However, although well intended changing the rules doesn't change the quality of sections which is the fundamental problem. Just because you can stop it doesn't mean you need to mark out sections where you have to stop or hop. Stick with non stop sections and all the rule change does is improve the consistency of observing rider to rider and section to section. World rounds don't matter to us but the last time I recall a proper non stop section was at Fort William, 2010 / 11?Since the wtc went no stop the sections haven't!

Miguel Gelabert now confirmed Vertigo

Beta because they don't have a top level rider in Spain I'm suggesting. Read either here or elsewhere that Kadlec was quitting so all I'm saying here is that hasn't been mentioned since. Kadlec's done well on the TRS

Beta for Miguel, Casales didn't gel with the Beta last time but they don't have a top level Spanish rider ? Beta have Toby Martin in trial 2 so maybe the younger brother is going elsewhere? Not seen anything on Kadlec quitting yet?

Did they have trial 2 then ? I think junior championship as it was initially called started in 2003 / 2004? Bou was established in top class in 2005 but not sure how many years he had been riding world championship then. More classes has helped with the number of entries but had a negative effect on rider progression ? Riders would be on the most powerful bike sooner when it was one route.

Trials needs people like Andy, he has done fantastic work over many years. Thankyou.

on a different note ive seen some pics of Casales in GG gear today but it could be an old photo as he has ridden for them previously

correct, Alexz rode what is now Trial 2 in 2007 on a 125. I went to the last round in Andorra that year, very steep sections, the altitude effects the engine performance and Alexz is a big unit compared to a lot of his competitors. So on that day , in that class, that must have been the worst combination of bike and rider, I think he was second on the day. Not sure who won but I was very impressed with Alexz. Shirty was minding and just kept telling him to rev it harder, I think that was the first time I met Dabster...

No announcement from Casales or Gelabert yet in terms of who they ride for next year

I've a 10mm steel rod , I put that through the wheel onto the inside lip of the bearing then put a flat screw driver above it and lever the rod down. While it has some tension on it belt the other end with your favourite hammer. It only has too move a couple of mm and the bearing spacer will move.

So how many riders in wtc next year then?

Busto signed for two more years with vertigo

Isn't that what the jumbo had ?