jmspear

The downside is they tend to be ridden by serious riders (cos they are the best competition bike) and get the sh*t beaten out of them, I looked at 5 x one yr old examples for my lad and they were all cream crackered as they had been hammered to an inch of their lives, if you are not at national level the beta is a better (softer more forgiving and still very very competant)bet and more "easy use" examples around, however, if you are at national level and you find a good gas gas, go for it, just check uder the skid plate where the frame acts as the skid if stressed / rough it has been hammered, remember, plastics and wheels are easily changed, as are crank and frame covers wich will have had after market covers fitted. Also check how many wheel and steering bearings it has been thro (if the seller will tell you honestly). HTH John

If all fails try John? at TY trials (he advertises on ebay) link here http://www.tytrials.co.uk/ he knows everything about TY's and is one of the most helpful guys you can come across he will def know how to road register. HTH John (no affiliation blah blah blah)

I bought of ebay and its a genuine one with right sticker etc, yours is a knock off for sure, but its the best DVD by far, knock off or genuine. I have both bought from ebay genuine copies and the steve saunders and have done a steve S training day (I live near him, he works at BVM and has advisied on buying my sons bike and fixed my sons bike, totally top guy) and a dougie training day, the ryan young dvd is the best, steve's is still usefull, do his then the ryan yound, but the dougie lampkin training day is just the best thing you can do, 1:1 tuition from the man and his dad is both technically v good and inspirational. Steve is better in mud and woods, dougie on rocks. HTH John (BTW with all this training I am still totally crap, but happy!!)

Personally I would love to do it but...... Section severity will be similar to a National Clubmans Championship Trial.The course will be 2 laps of 20 sections road based. One route will be on offer. put me off, as only been in trials for a year, am in western centre, live in cheltenham so not far and usually do the middle (clubman) route and try and do a trial every weekend, weather not withstanding. If it had different route options then I would have been much happier as could have dropped down or gone up a route when i got there and looked at it, but maybe I am a recreational trial rider not a serious competitor, but just my ten penny worth. HTH John, over 40 2009 sherco 250, road reg.

I agree with PeteScorpa, I have ridden my Sherco 250 to a couple of local trials on combination of green and black roads and it is v v hard work, not to mention range issues, carrying petrol etc, and the bike engine gets bloody hot on the road, whereas my KTM 530 eats the road work, and is still fun on the green stuff. in fact I ride from Cheltenham to Fish hill Broadway on green lanes (PeteScorpa should know I ride in his clubs trials at this venue) a few times and not too much road work if you plan it with your OS map. Interestingly I ride on my own on green lanes (i know not recommended you will die etc, etc, etc) I don't wear MX gear, cords, wax jacket, trials helmet or waterproofs and wear a daypack on my back, all my mates call me enduro farmer, but I am polite always say hello, hold gates open etc you know what, lots of the ramblers assumme I am the local farmer and have never had any hassle, cause I don't look like I have just escaped from a MX track ....... Oh and I ride daytimes during the week, which helps a lot as all the horsey folks are busy mending their landys or on the school run whatever they do during the week. So ride weekday daytimes, dress like a farmer and they will ignore the bright orange six days graphics (I think), even the gamekeeper who broadsided his landrover across the lane in front of me to stop me, ended up polite apologising and saying how much he liked my bike and would look into getting one (we were dressed the same (apart from trials helmet) which helped Oh I didn't have a shotgun either and I wasn't the one breaking the law by broadsiding my landy in front of a bike on the queens highway (which is what a green lane is)

Beta actually looks better in the flesh, than the pics and the gasser vice versa, looks drop dead georgeous in the pics and avergae in the flesh, Beta better build and you can buy a long range trail tank for it, see beta competition parts, which beats the hebo number tank, gasser seems to be the bike of choice for the pro riders

I was out on my KTM 530 this evening which has MX knobbly's on it, they were great on everything but hard packed snow turned to ice by lots of traffic, but in all honesty on packed snow turned to ice nothing will help you. I basically road in the centre of the road out of the car ice ruts and everything was fine, but still slippery. HTH John

Difficult one, I have a knackered ACL and have a knee brace CTI (the dogs B*****ks and cost me a fortune, but its excellent, my knee specialist advised either reconstruction surgery or a proper brace so went for the proper brace). I wear it for: Ski-ing - can't ski otherwise, but pretty hard core fast ski-ing Trials training, when an all day event, knee hurts after 3/4 hours Hardly ever wear it or need it for trials, but my skill restricts me to intermediate routes at best Don't wear it for green laning on my enduro Do wear it for anything a bit more hard core than green laning on my enduro Long or hard events I wear it for the extra protection, short or more gentle events don't bother But that's just me, HTH John

I bought mine direct from dennis winters via their website, good service too (no affiliation etc, etc)

I had a pair for the last year, great boot, waterprrof, supple, good protection, comfy and hard wearing, wore for both trials and enduro only issue was the insole came loose inside, but easily fixed, otherwise perfect. Have treated myself and my son to a new pair for xmas, as at this price would be rude not to upgrade, whilst you can get them cheap. Difference for the latest over the year old model was extra leather wear rubbing patches which were not present on old model so should not get rubbed by frame now (didn't have this problem myself as tend to position my feet on outside of footrests. Would recommend them!

and then there's the time spent looking, I looked at four '09 bikes travelling, miles to Devizes, Newbury, local in Glos and even Sheffield, every one was a nail which had had the best beaten out of it within a year, nobody describes a bike as having hard use, bashed into steps and generally battered at trials and practicising most days of the week, they are all mint, hardly used, but one look at the bash plate, the scrapes on the cycle parts and the replacement wheels, wheel bearings and head bearings tells the true story. The one owner hardly used bike isn't usually a 1 yr old bike, most of the 1 yr old bikes are ridden by experts who then change every year. My time ended up being more precious that the

Tony, same prob happened on my sons '05 125, it was ths stator that had given up the ghost, it is a common problem on these bikes / ignitions, the pick up dies. The local dealer fitted a new stator, problem solved, then 2 yrs later the same thing started to happen again except in slow motion, this time it started to get harder to start and would kick back like a mule, not ideal for a 13 yr old. This time sent the stator off to Bradford Ignitions (in Javea spain, run by an english guy) for refurbishment much cheaper and he turned the whole thing round in a week from my posting in the UK to it returning to my house. Top service. here is a link, will give you some clues as well as he is a serious bike ignition expert and really helpful http://www.uk-motoplat.com/ I bet you find this is the issue. The woodruff key is an obvious first check and an easy one, you will need a 30mm puller to get the flywheel off. I would bet a five it is the stator though. John

I went with a trailer as felt it was a better solution, my trailer cost me

which golf are you looking to fit the towbar to? I have fitted towbar's to two golf mk V's and one mk IV, they are very easy to bolt on, bumper cover off, remove and through away the rear strengthening bar, slide in the towbar, bolt it up through the VW provided holes, blind threaded holes already preped at the factory. The only problem comes with the electrics, as the mk V has a canbus system so you need a special relay box, (which you can buy on ebay) which reads the low power to the lights and switches a feed from the rear boot cigarette lighter socket (at least this is what I did). Hope that helps, otherwise any decent garage (or autoelectrician) should fit easily and no more than 1.5 - 2 hours labour max, @ ~

Hi Chris, I have had to replace the stator once and get it repaired once. The wiring is one piece from the connectors under the tank to the stator, However on my sons bike (2005) I didn't have to remove the raidator, the wiring ran inbetween the radiator and frame and then there was a tab on the frame in between the bottom of the radiator and the stator. I just prized the tab back and eased the wiring free. Hope that helps Cheers John

I'm with Steval, minor injuries, scrapes and bruises, responsibilities with rider, BUT the trial should have a plan and a plan that all observers are aware of for more serious injuries, plus designated 1st aider who knows what they are doing, plus enough people who are both aware of who it is and will get them in an emergency i.e they can mobilise the plan. This happened when the incident happened to my 14yr old son (it was actually academic as I administered 1st aid and got him to hospital but it was well organised.) I have also done enduro's and agree with above re ambulances sitting around. We don't need them at Trials, we don't need a trained 1st aider at every section nor do we need the French solution, but we do need a plan and awareness and capability to put plan into action. BTW, making the section easier wouldn't have helped in our case, accidents do happen and my personal experience had nothing to with section ease.

Surely the trial should have had a designated 1st aider who would have the full 1st aid kit, and the observers should know who it is and where they can be found? I would have thought it was an insurance requirement. Recently at the end of a trial my son fell off his bike after slipping over the end of drop and fell on top of it and put his hand in the fast spinning rear wheel, the spokes made a right mess of his thumb and four operations, culminating in 3.5 hrs of plastic surgery he is on the mend, just highlights the very real dangers of any sport involving machinery. Blood was pumping everywhere and his thumb was in bits, I wrapped it up in my shirt as a makeshift bandage and off to hospital, the trial designated 1st aider came over to check it before we left, he was notified by someone and came to us (i was abit busy with my son at the time - no kit in sight, but it was a little more serious than a

might be better on the Beta forum, not sure how topical an issue for Fantic owners ;-) I researched them before buying a 2010 model last month and the only prob I cam across was the rear swinging arms breaking (on hard used examples) but I believe Beta fixed the issue and I think a retro fit strengthening plate is available.

Fivemeister, I have just taken delivery of a 2010 Beta and trust me whilst it is an awesome bike, very, very good NOTHING about the design is pushing the <technical> envelope. I had a British Trial bike made in the 60's with a main spar fuel tank, this is not pushing the design envelope, I might buy the Gasser engine design as design enevlope pushing, but not the Beta. Also in terms of aesthetic design, again the 2010 Gasser is the best looking bike around by far

well my ten penny's worth is that I think it is a clever design, when the murky concept pics came out everyone talked about fuel pumps etc and how the lower cog was good but the fuelling wouldn't work, clearly they have lowered the cog without the need for fuel pumps etc, so should work in terms of balance. I applaud Sherco for pushing the designe envelope and also for seeing off the Xispa copy by undercutting them on price with the run out access models, very smart marketing. Sherco seem to be the only marque pushing the envelope in design and marketing and good on them for it, will be all to the better for us riders, if it works great, if not I am sure there will be a traditional Scorpa along in a minute, made in the same factory with a sherco engine, again smart platform marketing - look at VAG with skoda, seat, vw and audi all on the same platform. Sherco will have the boundary stretching Sherco, the quality trad Scorpa and the budget access (seeing off the Xispa) good luck and all success to them.

That will be a robot then

Can't comment on the new 125 gasser, but we had one on order and at the last minute switched to a 2010 125 beta on the advice of a number of guys in our local club and we are soooo pleased with it. It is incredibly smooth, bags and bags of bottom end power and also a really soft delivery, yet it grips like a limpet and has bags of top end get up and go as well. We went with the beta as my 14 yr old son is only a year into trials and is still learning and we were advised the beta was the way to go. I think there is little to decide between them but the advice we were given is the gasser is more for the expert and the beta more forgiving. I really like it myself and take every opportunity to ride it, compared to my new Sherco 250 which is pretty snappy it is lovely to ride. BTW the beta looks gorgeous in the flesh in the new colours and the gasser compared to the press pics is a little dissapointing, strange that, beta better in flesh than press pics, gasser the other way round. Gasser stil looks nice don't get me wrong, just in the press pics it looks like a bike to die for, in the flesh just looks good. HTH John Anys q's please ask BTW our riding mates (one of whom owns a major off road bike dealership) are both so impressed with my sons beta they are going to switch from their Gassers, (250 and 125 respectively) to 2010 beta, both intermediate riders.

If the seller was Ok about it, show's he knew that he hadn't listed the faults correctly. I sold my ty250 on ebay and it took me three attempts, the first two were buyers who didn't even show after they had bought it :-( now that is really bad, the third did and he came from barcelona ! seriously he had a big van collecting ebay bought bikes from all over the UK, he was a dealer taking account of the exchange rate. Then in reverse I bought a 2009 250 gasser pro described as in very good condition with no faults mentioned, i bid top dollar for it

Hi Nadder, I went for a 4 stroke for trail riding, a big 530 KTM as it has massive torque and is good on the road as well as the green lanes (important as in my experience (in the cotswolds) lots of road work inbetween lanes to keep legal and big 4 stroke is best.) I have seperately a sherco 250 2 stroke for trials which is road reg but just wouldn't use this for trail riding. Interesting while looking for a new trials bike for my son, I went to Haven which must be near you (just outside warminster) and they had a montesa 4rt which they had modded for the dawn to dusk with different gearing, wheels long range tank etc which they claimed had performed really well, maybe a viable option??? Having seen it, would much prefer this to a scorpa long ride or similar. however don't think you can beat decent 4 stroke for trail and 3 stroke for trails - but my opinion.

Great advice, have spoken to Lampkin (importer) he said not unusual, but to keep an eye on it and if it changes or gets louder they will sort it out. Liked their service, didn't just brush me off with they all sound like that, but took me seriously and committed to sorting it out if the noise got worse / changed or something broke in it. (Also suggested changing to a #5 spark plug as a by the way, as the bikes are shipped with a plug which suits southern european trials (hot countries) and will run sweeter with a BP5?S (i think, am travelling with work now and have written down the exact plug code at home). Still interested in anyne else has the rattle?