rob214

hello and welcome have you ridden any type of motorcycle before? if you can ride then any bike is a good starter bike just get one and ride. for your size any bike works. but for skill level lower HP = less stress while learning. a newer bike will have a better resale value when you get some time riding and really can make a decision on what you like. any bike will do more than 99.99% of the mere mortals on the planet. just remember if you fall any bike can break and that is where most noobs spend most of there money. trials is an easy sport on equipment unless you break it. get a bike get some friends and have some fun. after a while you will get to know what YOU want. everyone has their favorite so just remember opinions differ.......... rob

cool, Glad you had a good time and improved, good photo's looks like fun. also on the right hand turn downhill get the left knee out away from the bike. rob

if my bike (any brand) doesn't start on the 2nd kick i get worried try and find out why it won't start. rob

it's almost like asking which girl to take to the prom.........blonde, redhead or brunette? i'd ride any of them but i can't get my head around the 4t's seems very well built, but just can't seem to jell with it. so far my 06 beta was bullet proof once i got past he corroded case. i learned to change the coolant often. gg & sherco only replaced what i broke crashing. rob

most trials bike are easy on maintenance, i've owned gas gas , beta and sherco. i've bought used and new. i've never had any real problems or issues with any of them. most of the time the work i've had to do on them is from my crashing and messing stuff up. from what i read on theses forums i probably do less tinkering with my bike than most, i just wash, change transmission fluids every 6 months, clean air filter as needed spark plug once a year just because. rob

love that one zippy, great photo, it's got it all drama, action looks like a possible trip back down the hill into the water. rob

i'm on the fence, at the start of the year i was a stop and hop guy. since going to the US round i enjoyed the flow of the riders. what i did notice from watching almost every round on FIM-TV was the sections are the biggest problem. most sections involve a huge run up to an obstacle an easy turn up or down then another huge run up an obstacle. at the US round i saw almost all sections and the best ones were the ones that were tight and very cluttered in the creek with lots of rocks and mixed traction. i did not like any section in the entire video from japan. seemed like an outdoor version of an indoor event mostly man made look an feel. what i don't like is that one thing we all seem to agree on no matter which camp we're in, the scoring not always fair and just from one section to the next. i watched first hand as cabastany got screwed while raga got a clean. not blaming adam but he is more popular so he must have ridden it properly? i was not happy about the scoring and neither are the riders. i talked to a bunch of the observers and they all felt they were just doing what they were instructed to by the FIM class the morning of the event. rob

hi dylan ok, my opinion, a typical practice day, warm up with basic turns make them tighter as you go along. then move to more demanding turns, camber, floaters etc. your practice sections should be set up for the hardest things you do. if you clean it make it harder, how? by cutting down on your room. less equal harder. steps drop offs get bigger as you get better but once again less run up equals harder. here is something you may not here much of but trail ride, learn to play with the terrain, bumps jumps anything learn to fear nothing and conquer everything. all your trials technique comes into play and builds endurance. the biggest thing you need is training partners that are way above what you can do. find someone way better to ride with and you will improve a lot faster. Basically I feel stuck with my learning curve. I can do the easy stuff well but am battling with the harder techniques. the harder techniques are nothing more than stringing the basics together. also don't be in such a hurry this is a hobby and is supposed to be fun. it's play time not work. ok back to the advice treat each practice session with a purpose, 1- monday turns, 2 - tuesday steps, etc. etc. but most of all lay out sections that have as many places for different techniques as possible. you can practice 10 different techniques on one step, one step can be one drop off. attack steps from different angles......... learn to push yourself outside the box. watch video of the top guys and go out and try it. also i have yet to see video of you falling. pretty much if your not crashing your not trying hard enough. thats why the top guys have 2 or 3 guys to catch them while they train. as for your list 1 - 13 should be used in every section on every ride. it's the only way to get good at all of them is to use all of them constantly. but, i repeat myself have fun it's a hobby............. good luck

if you think about it the new current trick of hopping on the back wheel is basically just a zap without hitting the front wheel on something. you need lots of compression and lots of up movement timing with clutch unweighting throttle. watching the 2nd video, i think most of it is right except for i always thought a zap was to help get the front wheel up and to help carry it up over and past the obstacle so not to let the front wheel down to early? in the vid you could easily have just did a roll up. for me i would use more throttle and clutch than shown in the vid. any thoughts?

hi guys, your timing is off a bit. bring up the front and it needs to hit it hard, clutch in compress, then bang let loose with throttle and clutch. you can do it even if the front wheel is on top of the tire / rock (softer but plenty of compression). but you need compression and a slight hesitation. not sure if i'm writing exactly what i mean but hope it helps. not sure other than to show you and i'm not going to be in SA anytime soon, lol it should be fluid but still have a slight hesitation as you go from compressing the suspension to launching up. oh and as you compress while clutch in you need to bend knees more into the bike and when you launch you need to go up more, in the video you look like your going more forward and not up enough. rob

hey cope, i usually go to ttc at least once a year for the stra events. i love that place. best trials riding spot in the US. should be there in a few weeks i think october for the fall event. rob

early morning practice riding on the bank of the mississippi river, nothing special just some loose rocks. it's about all i have to ride most of the time. rob

not bad mokwepa, from these vids i say 1st or 2nd should be fine rob

hey bust, not personal, i'm 51 my rule of thumb, whatever you bring you will not need, whatever you forgot at home will be what you do need. rob

thats actually not bad technique. rob

how old are you? you work go to school? train on the bike 4 to 5 hours a day? have top level practice buddies? ride ride ride, the best way to get in shape for riding is riding. if your over 18 years of age you need to do stretching exercise the most. cardio 2nd you don't need big bulky muscles you need to be light fit and limber. if your over 30 just ride on weekends and have fun like the rest of us. it's a hobby it's fun. don't get me wrong i'm pretty competitive and so is everyone else you will meet in trials but. toni bou adam raga we are not. the benefit of being fit and riding trials it keeps me fit keeps me young. i can do more than most guys my age and i'm not in shape like i was just a few short years ago. ride have fun. most guys my age are sitting watching the game on the tube and look like old fat men, i refuse to do that. rob

i hear the girls get prettier at closing time but man.......... she's , well , anyway cheers rob

you got through ok, like you say a bit wobbly. my advice, don't try and hop so much, work on the basics as much as you can. in reality you could make that without any hops at all. (maybe hops (beer) for zippy). it will also make your balance on the bike stronger. instead of hopping you could just as easily have turned an gone over the log. lots less energy and better turning technique. the better you get and the more techniques you can do the easier it all becomes but all advanced moves are based on the BASICS. rob

handle bar to the ribs, broke 3. took about 6 months before i was 100% good luck. rob

quote: Ps: you will see when your bike arrives, trials bikes have tiny air filters and need to be cleaned after every outing. unless i ride in a really dusty event i usually clean my filter about twice a year. now that the sherco breathes from up top i just pop the cover have look and go out and ride. plugs once a year gear oil twice a year. look for loose anything whenever i wash it. trials bikes are great for lazy people hardly anything to do on them maintenance wise. i usually keep a bike for 2 to 6 years and ride about 3 hours a week average. also lube everything before going out to ride or after each wash. rob

the first photo, you / the camera missed focus, the rider/bike is not in focus but everything else is. on the others the cars in the background ruin the shot find different angles. the headless rider not good would have been if either the rider had a head or you cropped in farther to highlight a part of the bike or something. also if the subject is moving the camera should be moving to follow it, it's called panning it will help show motion combined with proper shutter speed. trials is a very difficult sport to photograph the bike and rider is going in lots of different directions and sometimes quick sometimes slow so shutter speeds changes almost instantly. rob

seems your coming along nicely. right where i would expect you to be. just takes some time. keep practicing, the more you ride the better you get.

cool, do you eat those things? nice gun, i've got a kimber .45 6in barrel not for hunting but protection. like was mentioned before about animals not respecting fences. did you mount the rack? looks like a good trophy. rob

i got the video, it's a bit pricey, but in the states we don't get to see the top riders in action much so i thought i would buy the video just to be able to watch the best rider in the world. toni is amazing but the skills he shows are way above my riding ability. that being said it is fun to watch. i will never ever be able to ride at that level and never use most of the techniques he demonstrates. but once again it is fun to watch. if you are like most of us mere mortals and want an instructional video for your skill level there are others better suited. if you are a fan of mr. bou then you should get the video. rob

thanks that's a great video. rob