NAD1

Just ask the question. Maybe offer to pay him a small amount every time you ride as a gesture and reassure the owner that you will not promote the land and will always ensure the gate is closed and locked. If he is unsure, invite him to come and watch a local event or better still see if he will let you take your bike over there so he can see what you do and hear the bike. My view is that generally if the land is not used for anything else and you can show that you are not tearing it up and will pay to use it then most land owners would let you in. If he still says no, then sadly no it is.....

I heard (although not sure I believe it) that Beta were stopping the nice alloy frame and moving to a tubular frame a-la Gas Gas and Scorpa. Whether this is true or not who know's? Other than that I have not heard anything - although I dont often read through the Beta forums so it may have been mentioned before. Guess you could look at it 2 ways - not hearing anything could mean lots of changes or could mean new stickers for the plastics..... Personally I like the alloy frame and think it would be a shame if Beta changed.

The reason that some people moan (at least the people I have spoken with) about Nene Valley events is because they are probably one of the only local clubs with the balls to set out challenging sections aimed at riders who are looking to be challenged, drop some marks and hopefully improve their riding in the process. Many South Midland clubs are so concerned with upsetting/scaring off new riders etc etc that they lay out really easy sections in cr@ppy venues and in the process p*ss off the better riders. As a result most South Midlands trials will now only get between 0-5 expert riders attending. If you want to ride around all and only drop 6 marks all day then N.V may not be your first choice. But if you want mainly good bits of land and tougher sections then N.V are hard to beat - for my money anyway. As for club politics, dont know if there are issues or not as I try to avoid all that...... Anyway back to the initial thread - Dan, who are you??? Nick

1) I would defo would stay away for the first few batches, see what they are like - I would do the same for any trials bike, car, TV etc etc Already seen a couple of 'Gas Gas quality' replies which to my mind a gibberish, if you look after anything it will stay good. Had 6 Gassers now and they have all been fine apart from a couple of very minor niggles. I had a Beta for 7 months last year and while I never had a problem with it, if you look over Beta forum there are defo more issues ranging from small niggles to massive issues that have been known about for years - fuel leaks and stators. 2) No way on earth will Raga be on the 4T, Freixa almost certainly, but not worth Raga riding yet as he will want to be in with a shout at the world championship again and the 2T is the only way for that to happen As for price, if they say only

You're too nice.... Ring up dealer and whinge - A LOT! Doesn't matter what you do on it, thats what they are made for.

Anyone know?

2 things - 1: I actually have that Japanese indoor trial on video. It really was a great trial - probably one of the first really good indoor trials (apart from Bercy) and the commentator is mad. 2: How scary watching the 1986 trial?? Has trials really come on that far in 22 years?? obviously yes. I was watching that thinking how easy is this indoor trial? and when Eddy dabbed grinning and thinking what a fool to dab there. Any half decent club rider could ride that - probably clean it as well. In another 22 years will club riders look back at world indoor trials from 2008 and say 'christ that looks easy'? I look at some of the indoor sections now and think - there is no way on earth they can physically do that. Only for someone (normally Raga or Bou) to p*ss up the section making it look easy...... If so how damn tough will indoor events be in 2030??

great vid - shame they couldn't / didn't want to get him in the full WTC, he would a welcome addition as would the bike. When they had Freixa on the 4 stroke it looked and sounded sooo good.

Jeeez is that some sort of joke?? surely no one has ever bought one of these. the phrase is right - Only in America!

You joke about that, but in the original video or might have only been a picture (the one that only showed him coming down the stairs) you could clearly see that they had actually stuffed rag between the sump and the bash plate........ now thats confidence in your bike!

jeeeez great pic! never seen weather like that before.... was more suited to white water rafting than trials! 8.5 hours round trip to get uber wet blown all over the place and ride cr@p! heres hoping next year will be better and MUCH drier. thanks to the observers who braved that freakish weather.

There was a 250cc Raga Rep a trial the other week, no stickers anywhere but the Marzocchi 'M' logo was stamped into the metal on the inside of both fork legs.

The plot thickens.............. In the new Motocross Digital they have a test on the 08 Raga Rep and the specs clearly state that they ARE shipping with the Sachs forks + they reviewer comments on the Sachs forks. BUT in one of the pics, you can clearly see the Marzocchi sticker on the top of the forks - Hmmmmm! I have seen 2 new Raga Reps and they both had the 'Marzocchi sticker' on but they definitely did NOT look like Marzocchi forks. This is an Italian test, but I cant see that they would use different forks for different countries. have a butchers: http://www.motocrossdigital.com/

Probably.....wouldn't surprise me So did GG actually have a contract with Marzocchi over these forks or not? Surely if they did then supply would need to stop for Scorpa and (probably) Xispa

Christ!! so if you buy the most expensive model that GG make you get the poorer forks........ what the **** is that about? I have seen a new Raga rep and agree with 'Baldilocks' - yes they have a Marzocchi sticker on the top but they dont look the same as the Marzocchi's. Is it just me or is this all a bit weird?

Cool, so sounds like a short term thing then... I had heard both of these 'stories' - still seems a little odd that Marzocchi 1) couldn't keep up with demand but managed to make them for Scorpa 2) whilst at the same time managing to forget that they had an exclusive contract with Gas Gas!! So does the new Raga Rep have the Marzocchi's on? Sounds like they have resolved the issue now which is good news (unless you got one with the Sachs forks)

Does anyone know if this fork 'issue' has been resolved between Gas Gas and Marzocchi? and will the new 2009 bikes be shipping with the Alloy Marzocchi's?? What is/was the problem? Have heard that any 2008 bikes shipping now come with heavier Sachs forks. Is this another financial row?

yea that's raga's bike, he has used a tank like this for a couple of seasons. dont think standard raga rep will have this though.

All it says is 'new fuel tank (same capacity as 08 Pro's) Dont think that these a 1Litre though

Not even sure that it's coming with that tank over here - could be wrong. It was not mentioned on the GGUK notice on the trialscentral website. If it does, then thats gonna have severe limitations for anyone wanting one and wanting to do single lap national events etc etc unless of course built in with that price they have someone tagging along with additional fuel for you My Raga ran out of fuel twice recently at the Bemrose National trial and that was with the standard 2.8L (I think) fuel tank. Gonna use the large fuel tank from now on for these events.

That is the figure I heard which is crazy!! pound against euro aside, that is a HIGH price. The old Raga reps were considered (at least by me) to be good value for money - they only cost about

No it's a 2007 Raga Rep - so had black frame. He had it painted for Sheffield Indoor as it was his last event on Gas Gas and he wanted to make bike look different and special. He also used it in the Southern Experts

Alexz's wheels are painted red and I definitely DONT recommend that as I now own that bike and the paint comes off if you look at it the wrong way . Dont get me wrong it is a great job on the wheels but if you go anywhere near rocks it is not anywhere near as tough as powder coating or anodizing. I have paint coming off front and rear and not just in the usual place - on the edge of the rims. Alexz wanted the same red as the frame and dont think he could get the ideal match with powder coating or anodizing.If you do want them that same red I would recommend leaving the edges of the rims polished. Anyway, the company that did the frame/wheels is Normandale in Daventry - http://www.normandaleproducts.com/ Give them a call.

Best bet is to ask to see what paperwork they have with it - receipts etc etc. Where they bought from Do they have a rack/trailer in the garage? Any trials gear and boots visible Any spares - practice mudguards etc Ask where they ride and what class they are. If in doubt, probably best to walk away

'should' be end of April-ish and 'should' have the new frame. still TBC though