ourian

For £2000 you should be able to pick up a decent bike whether its a 250 or a 200, whether its a beta, scorpa, gasgas or sherco, pick a well looked after bike and go ride, the sooner you do the sooner you'll stop worrying about which one to get. How about only spending £1500 on the bike and then spend the other £500 on tailoring the bike to you, if you're not going to take the sport too seriously anything post 2004 in good nick will do fine.

Out of the four bikes mentioned and if it was my choice as a beginner, it would be a toss up between the 2011 Beta 250 and the 2007 Sherco 250, I'd probably end up with the Sherco simply because the kick start is on the right side and no other reason, both bikes are more than capable of doing what a beginner can. But it depends on what you want to do, is your aim to win and score points or just enjoy the day, if the latter then any bike will do that. Best advice - pick one that's been well looked after by an old boy who plods around on the easy route, don't forget to check the condition of the bottom of the bash plate, its a good indication of what the bike has done in the past, also check for signs of cracking on the frame and engine mountings, does the fan kick in when it's warmed up? Good luck

Hi and welcome dingle, you'll find trials folk are a very friendly and helpful bunch There are a few clubs local to Warwickshire, one I definitely recommend for you and your lad is Earl Shilton Trials club, full membership gets you access to a practice ground open all year round. Leamington Victory hold trials in south Warwickshire their boxing day trial is a must. I second what bishyfishy says about the trial at Long Furlong farm this Sunday great venue get there if you can but bring your wellies just incase

At 9.32 his bike goes backwards by at least a foot, his front wheel is on concrete block then comes back off concrete block, realigns himself then front wheel back on block before proceeding. The two observers both indicate a clean, is this not a five? or am I being pedantic?

Turn up an hour before, unload bike and get kit on, chat to your neighbour, sign on, have a look at sections if you feel like it and they are close by When the trial starts walk each section before riding it Before having a go, watch how others ride on the route you're doing, then ride your first section, don't worry about putting your feet down, build your confidence a bit at a time. if you don't fancy doing a particular section, just tell the observer your taking a five. If you do find it to hard going and decide to stop riding, remember to ride round and tell each observer that you are retiring. Don't worry about your score (my first was 146) or whether you come last, just enjoy the experience. Have a great day, oh and the smile usually lasts until midday the next day.

Be aware that when buying a pre reg'd you don't get a full warranty, as the warranty runs from the date of first registration. Some deals might look good but you could lose six months or so of the warranty period.

I've recently bought a new (pre reg) Peugeot Partner Professional, which is a Berlingo Enterprise with a Peugeot badge on, cracking van for trials, one bike plus kit fits in nicely with room to spare. I haven't tried two bikes but I reckon they'd go in at a push, the roof height is slightly lower than the VW Caddy so fits in the garage The drive is great, all the gismos you need, air con, electric windows, remote central locking, bluetooth etc. - it's comfy and quiet with plenty of go in it (mines the 92ps version), I love it that much I sold my car. The reason I opted for the Partner against the Berlingo was - price, it was cheaper than any Berlingos I could find at the time and also the Partner comes with a decent bulkhead which seems to be optional on the Berlingo. If you're buying new, shop around, there are plenty of deals on pre reg'd vans, (some new pre reg'd vans are as cheap as second hand) if buying second hand make sure that it has full service history, even when buying from an official dealer (any outstanding warranty is void if not serviced correctly).

The problem with riding with bent bars, is that they may be fractured, I recently saw a guy come a right cropper when his bars snapped at the clamp, when we examined them you could clearly see that nearly half of the diameter of the bar had already been fractured. In the picture of the headlight I can see that the right fork (on the left as you look at the picture) is higher in the triple tree than the left one. Apologies if you feel criticised it certainly wasn't meant.

What he said

I go for definitely bent, you can see the left hand side (r/h in the picture) is bent at the clamp. Oh and the forks aren't level in the triple trees Good decals though!

Without the mod, the kick start lever rubs against the frame, so the mod is to fit an longer gear lever shaft, thus moving the lever away from the frame.

Like some above I'm a first aider at work and carry a full kit in the van, having used it only once in the last year to dress a gashed knee. If you do carry a first aid kit - make sure all items are in date, the last thing you want to do is put a non sterile dressing on an open wound.

Sometimes you have to make things fit, but it looks like the cable is more or less there anyway, perhaps the nipple is binding on the brake arm which isn't allowing it to go in. I suggest removing the 'cable joint' from the arm so that you have a better idea of how much to remove, you may find that you're then more confident at how to resolve the problem. Slot to the rear.

I think he means for you to go down there Arfur

Depending on how far you wish to travel there's a practice ground for members at Milton Keynes and also at Earl Shilton there maybe one closer to you, but if I were you, I'd go and have a chat with the guys at your local trials specialist in March, they might be able to point you in the right direction. Which coloured route were you doing? as a beginner you should be on the white route.

If anyone ask's why we don't have a 4 in our scoring just tell 'em ''the golfing fraternity got there first''

Over 250 views and no one want's to play, so here's what happens next

See if you can guess what happen's next to the rider in the video

Two strokes smoke and they get black sticky residue around exhaust outlet. General consensus for a modern trials 2T engine is 80:1 = 62.5ml per 5 litres of petrol, however a ratio of 100:1 is also acceptable. Check that you're not running too rich as this can make the smoking and residue worse.

A digital meter should be able to handle both ac and dc just set dial to ac symbol which is a sine wave, (dc is a solid line with a dotted line underneath). If you are still in doubt then connect a 6v bulb to horn wires and if it lights when you press the button you have voltage. If you wire in a battery permanently you'll need a voltage regulator and a rectifier. Alternatively just fit one of these

Put the back wheel on with no spacers, line up rear cog with front cog, the gaps between hub and swinging arm should give you an indication of which spacer goes where. Front wheel similar, put wheel on, no spacers, line up wheel equi-distant from forks, gaps show where spacers should be.

Have you checked that you are getting 6v at the horn when the button is pressed?

Well spotted, looks like I may have jumped the gun as they also produced this frame for the 175 in Europe too, under the model 1K6 (edit: No they didn't Ian you fool, the 1K6 was a 125) Come on Dombush what's the prefix on the frame and engine numbers?

It's a TY125 frame not a 175 The 125 had an ignition switch located on the left under the headstock, your's still has the lug but no switch.

Yes you can get a bike in with a bulkhead fitted, front wheel tucked up next to the seat belt pillar against the bulkhead, handle bars twisted and back wheel diagonally opposite