trapezeartist

I had one a few years ago, probably about a 2014. I liked it. It had the typical Beta issues of clutch cold stick (the salesman nearly put it through the showroom window when I went to view it! 🤣) and an air filter that can hoover up mud and leaves from 100 yards away. I don't know what Lemur means about the carb rotting. It is a swine to remove and fit though, but it does go when you've found the knack. The 4T sounds lovely. I reckon it's just as good a bike as a Montesa and much cheaper secondhand.

It's hard to read your scales. What are you saying? Tubed is heavier than tubeless? Or the other way around?

As any Pre-65 is over 40 years old, I don't think it requires an MOT.

RonH. Now I'm being lazy I know, but what were the dimensions you used?

I think I might try 3D printing one. It will be a bit soft of course but I always warm my hub with a hot-air gun so it shouldn’t need much hitting.

What is a stop or a rollback is always open to interpretation, so it's important that an observer is consistent but he shouldn't be applying "his own set of rules". The rider needs to know what the rules are before entering the section. In the absence of full and clear rules from the ACU and AMCA, trial organisers should set out exactly how they want their trial to be marked and include that in the briefing for observers and riders. For what it's worth, most trials I do are nominally "No Stop" but in practice most observers will cut a rider a bit of slack and allow a "pause" or a "hesitation". I do like it that way but prefer it to be clearly stated so that there is consistency.

I can see the arguments for both no-stop and stop allowed. I'm inclined to the idea that stop allowed is necessary at national and international level but not a good idea for club riding. Both systems leave a lot of grey areas that really need to be clarified by the rules. It would really help if the ACU and AMCA (in the UK) would publish rigorous rules about stopping so that riders are no longer marked at the whim of the observer.

I don't get why so many people advocate using the right leg for a left-hand kickstart. Is it that right-handed people think the left side of their body doesn't work? How do you think left-handed people get on with right-hand kickstarts. Unless you have a particular injury or disability, use the leg the bike was designed for.

£1500 should do it, though the bike will be quite old so you check it out very thoroughly. Normally I would say £2k will get you something trouble-free and ready-to-ride.

51 is young. Many riders start trials when they feel too old for whatever they were doing before. £1k is a challenging budget if you're going to get something ready-to-go. Remember that needing tyres, chain, sprockets, whatever could rapidly increase the final cost of a bargain bike.

As an aside, what does the traction control actually do and why can't it be used on the clutch bikes?

Regardless of being on the left or the right, trials bike kickstarts are not ergonomic. They are far too high so your knee is very bent when you are pushing against compression. Get yourself up higher by standing on a log or leaning against a tree. Or solve the problem entirely with an electric bike 😃.

I finally solved the problem with great help from Inch Perfect Trials. It was a fault in the wiring loom. I changed the loom and all is now well. Once I have done a full trial or a practice day I'll do an autopsy on the old look to see if I can pin down exactly where the fault is. With the plastics and all the cable ties off, I did find that wiggling around all the wires at the back-end would very occasionally solve the problem, but then a minor touch and it would come back. Also the symptoms changed; from beep-beep whatever the throttle position to no beep and no ability to engage a map.

Sport80 is a generic sports administration system that the ACU has been using for a couple of years. I'm not sure if it has inherent flaws or is simply badly implemented in the motorcycle sport environment, but at least it's not as bad as when it started. Pre-entry of trials is normally done through Sport80, though it doesn't have to be. Some ACU clubs stick with entry on the day and some use this simpler and easier alternative system: https://mototrial.co.uk/trial-entry/ AMCA clubs are generally enter-on-the-day, but occasionally use their own system or the Mototrial one. As Lemur said, pre-entry is much better for the organising clubs (Sport80 notwithstanding!) but enter-on-the-day is preferred by casual riders who can decide at the last minute whether to ride or not.

Two very good points that I had forgotten.