tricky dicky

the 225..... I mean 125....sure sounded good and not remotely similar to Jack Peace's bike. Still a good ride though by all accounts

I've had Gaerne's for many years and recently some Alpinestars and they seem to be just as good. Very comfy from day one and keep their shape well after being washed.

The brown Stylmartin's are very good, really comfy from day one and they have a better sole than the Alpinestars

I have been to a good number of world rounds here and abroad and the main difference is that abroad many of them start in a town and then the riders ride down the road to the sections. Clearly this wouldn't work over here as there is far too much red tape. In Spain and Italy, you can take your bike and pay I think 10 or 20 euros and actually ride round the course so all sections are accessible. Obviously John Kerwin is investing in this project for the long term and fair play to somebody for doing it so we have a world round in the UK. I do think that Tong location-wise is great and will definitely attract more spectators than Penrith but there is not enough there at the moment without a mammoth amount of excavating and importing of rocks etc. I have been informed reliably that John investigated running the trial at Back Cowm Quarry and the local council were the problem apparently. I personally think that Harwood Dale at Scarborough is potentially the best venue but i'm sure that this has been looked into and if it was viable it would be there.

Definitely try it on before you buy. I have just bought some Airtime stuff and the trousers generally fit the same as most other brands but the forearms (as pointed out) are quite tight on the shirt and on the jacket especially. Very good quality gear though.

There is a trial at Eadons on the 18th January starting at 10:30am. Hope you can make it.

Regs are now out for the annual Sheffield & Hallamshire MC Merle Morewood Peak trial on the much earlier date this year of Sunday 30th September. The trial is the final round of the Luscombe Suzuki Leeds British sidecar trials championship and will also run separate routes for solo clubmen and experts. The trial is starting from the usual base of the Lafarge cement works car park in Hope, Derbyshire. This year the trial is a completely different format running 2 laps of 20 sections due to the loss of the Backtor group which normally provides a sting in the tail for most of the entry. Good news is though that the club have found a completely new piece of land as a replacement which will offer some great sections. With the increased daylight and a few more sections it has been decided that the time allowance will be increased to 6 ½ hours from the previous 5 ½ hours for a more leisurely day out in hopefully better weather than the previous November date. The sections are being plotted by Richard Timperley and Robin Morewood with assistance from deputy clerk of the course Andy Atkinson. The solo routes will be of a similar standard to other road based nationals (Northern Expert, Dave Rowland etc) and the sections will be natural straightforward hazards with nothing dangerous. Regs are available for download from www.trialstalk.co.uk or they can be obtained from the trial secretary Mrs Gill Morewood at 5 Leabrook Road, Dronfield Woodhouse, Dronfield S18 8YS or phone 01246 414869. So if you fancy a good run out in the great Derbyshire scenery then don’t delay getting entries in as they will close on Monday 24th September.

Excellent post. I agree there and I am looking forward to Scarborough as I have been riding there since I was a kid. Barring the icy trial which was too hard the trials and organisation are usually spot on. In my opinion the best piece of land in the series by far and should make an excellent trial. As for the championship in general, no point whingeing about the rules as they won't change this year and we have had 2 totally diverse rounds so nobody knows if it's a success or not and won't until the end of the year.

I think that you will find that the C of C is actually from the Hillsborough club and I know him well and he was not there on Saturday. The venue is rubbish for anything other than a club trial unfortunately. In regard to your statement about the Y&G round you are correct that it would be hard to lay a suitable no stop trial out as everything is far too nadgery. Addingham is a superb venue for no stop so that is a positive move without a doubt. I can't see how Scarborough can run a poor trial with the land on offer but unfortunately I have ridden more poor trials than good ones there in the last few years. The proof however will be in the pudding.

It was limited to 55 riders like it has been since 1995 when they changed the format. I know for a fact that quite a few of the rounds last year were not full to the limit of 55 but you could be correct to a degree with the numbers although even with the old championship and expert A classes there are still more in the championship now. What beats me is how there are so many youths, they have their own championship. Trials won't ever be the spectacle that MX is and what's the point in having these demos when nobody goes to watch anyway? My reason for not doing the top route is that I can't ride very often and I literally want to turn up and ride but that's nothing to do with the subject.

Exactly. This is the point everybody seems to miss. The importers realised the sections were not possible no stop and acted on it. The organisers were there but I need to reiterate that the clerk of the course never even put a flag in and wasn't present until the Sunday.

I've been reading all these replys with great interest and it amazes me some of the rubbish that some people come out with. I have ridden both rounds of the championship this year and it's safe to say that they couldn't be much more different. In my opinion the first round in Scotland was very good and the organisation was spot on. The importers viewed the sections and any changes that were deemed necessary took place. We had a riders meeting after the practise lap and everything could be discussed. The clerk of the course was actively watching how the trial was being observed and he did give his feedback to the observers to try and achieve some sort of consistency. Round 2 at Westwood however there was no organisation at all. The importers viewed the sections prior to the practise lap and quite a few sections were not possible no stop so modifications were made. The clerk of the course was not present on the Saturday and he had no input whatsoever with the sections. There was no riders meeting after practise and there was nobody to even say the practise lap had started or finished so it was completely farcical in my opinion. The venue isn't a good venue for any rules so in this case I think they made the best of a bad job. It's easy for everybody to blame the importers but they are having an active input in the series to try and achieve consistency throughout and then it can be discussed at the end of the season whether it is a success. It's all ok moaning about having no spectators but trials is a participant sport. It's not motocross or road racing after all. So far I would say it is achieving what it set out to do and the entries are up and the results are closer than in previous years.

Dibs won the SSDT in 2007 on the Mont so you are correct Ben. I think the Future bikes are pretty trick but if you have enough

Results are on the hillsborough mcc website now

If you are describing the section I think you might be then I remember it well! The pivot turn is a skill that I use wherever possible and I am more than capable with the hopping. The young riders now do not know how to flow through the sections at all and like has been mentioned, the hopping only disguises the riding inadequacies but this is soon found out. I think after a lot of deliberation that the people completely against trying the no stop rule are the ones that can't do it. I have seen this with my own eyes as certain posters on here are the culprits. I personally think that if the hopping rule is in place then you shouldn't be allowed to dab while stationary ( as it was prior to 1997 ) and then the true skill of hopping will show rather than being able to stand there with a foot down.

It wasn't quite that complicated as if you moved the bike when you were stood still it was a five. There was obviously the limit that if you had 3 stops it was a 3 and after that you could stop or dab as much as you liked. It was brought in so that a stop was a dab instead of a five so for beginners they got a 1 for a pause instead of being fived. For me this is better than full no stop as its far easier to accept a one than a five. It worked well for a long time and there weren't many disputes at all. It made it far easier for any doubtful observers as they just awarded a one. I was given ones if I stopped and quite rightly so. If there was a big step or something that you maybe needed to psyche yourself up for then you could take the stop one instead of risking a five. It worked very well at wtc level aswell.

The stop for a 1 rule ran in WTC from 1998 to 2003 inclusive and was good. Far better than it is now and with higher entries and more rideable sections.

Well said again Woody. From what I can see everybody is moaning about the rule change and so far from what I can see apart from myself it doesn't affect anybody else posting comments as nobody else rides the BTC. The topic seemed to have strayed onto works bikes which is little bearing on the rules. The top riders will still be top riders no matter what. Not many people think because Toni is world champ on a mont that they will go out and buy a mont. The issue I see with the BTC is with the proposed format for next year. 2 routes is fine but as for no minders, I partly don't agree. I have been asked if I am going to move onto the championship route now it is no stop. My answer is honestly that I'm not sure as the gulf between what I'm happy about attempting without a catcher is somewhat different to what Dibs, Browny, Wiggy etc will have a go at. I don't see a problem with having a catcher as that doesn't hurt anybody. The other issue I see is that the only real way the format suggested can work is on a single lap course. The venues that we go to for the BTC would definitely struggle to lay out a no stop trial with no catchers allowed that wouldn't end up with 3 or 4 people clean at the end of the day. Personally I think that catchers should be allowed and keep the format to 2 classes then at least the expert A riders could have a good go at the championship route.

What a fantastic post! Well said indeed! As you say everybody who is criticising the rule change has no solution what would solve the issue. Dave Willoughby won't push it at WTC as he is on a nice little earner for sitting on the fence. I have been informed that the main class at BTC is aimed at anybody who is expert level and the support class is for anybody that isn't. The importers are pushing for trials where a good centre expert can ride the same course as the top boys and then can see how they fair. I personally don't really see how 6 events will make any difference to the top boys attack on the WTC. So what happens when nobody buys any bikes and the factories all close? The top boys are out of a job! I think the indoor championship should have more riders and let that be the showcase but in all fairness who goes to watch an indoor and would think "I could have a go at that?", nobody is my guess. Whereas at a club trial , people go to watch and will then be itching to have a go. Fair enough the BTC should be the pinnacle of the sport in the UK but with less than 10 doing sections barely anybody can even aspire to then something needed to change and it has. In my opinion if the world rounds are hopping rules then it should revert to the rules of the early and mid 90's where a stationary dab is a five. That immediately cuts out the rubbish rule where riders can stand with their feet down.

Somebody must have upset you before this rant of complete rubbish. I'm guessing you don't do much help with a club judging by the negative attitude. You say that no stop doesn't lend itself to your local terrain, I disagree as if you try to do something no stop you get one bite at the cherry, there's no way to correct yourself so therefore sections that are a bit tight and nadgery don't need to be silly tight. The ACU are only acting on the BTC to try and revive a flatliner. The BTC was dead years ago with the current format. Without expert B the championship wouldn't run and that's unfortunately a fact. Hardly anybody goes to watch at world or British level anymore. It's obvious that the recession has a massive bearing on this and I completely agree with that part of your post. I'm interested to know how you would solve the problem? It's not easy at all as the director of the FIM trials committee is British and will happily just sit on the fence instead of trying to help our riders.

You won't have any problem with it breaking down. It's dead easy to sort the problem when facing downhill, it's only float adjustment and maybe a different pilot jet at worst! The 2012 bike has completely different suspension, new ignition, keihin carb, new airbox- basically a different bike and is well worth the extra

There's not a great deal wrong with the 2011 bike. The main issue was the carb and it runs a touch rich facing downhill but it's not a problem. I've had a 10,11 and now I've got a 12 bike, the trouble is that if you try a 12 bike it's miles better than an 11 bike so it's a difficult decision. Might be worth looking around if there's any 12 bikes about on the classifieds or ex demo kind of things as you would get a bargain if it's within your price range. If not then aslong as the 11 is clean you won't go far wrong.

Unfortunately Dibs and Browny will never be world champion. Jack is a fair bit younger but I would guess Bou being only just 25 has at least another 5 or more years dominating. Colley and Jarvis never came close to winning a world round ( apart from Colley being lucky in Finland 1993 ) until the rules went to stop for a 1. The only way I can see us potentially having a British world championship challenger is to try and slow the spaniards down. Dibs and Browny unfortunately are still a mile off top 5, harsh but true.

What about having a vote for the rules to be run nationwide? Would that work? At least everybody could vote fairly. From my understanding direct from an importer, they are aiming for trials to be more approachable for the masses and as its very much a participant sport rather than a professional sport this is about right. The top riders will win whatever the rules so in my eyes it's better to make it suitable for the majority rather than the minority which is what the top route at btc is unfortunately. The fact of the matter is that the best trials are no stop and that's a fact unfortunately!

Definitely should be a survey that every single licence holder has to fill in or they don't get a licence, that would soon get the true opinion