alan bechard

Just to look at one section, pulled somewhat out of context, and I guess I would ask, has having the WTC really developed much interest in the Duluth club's? Has it made their membership rise from previous levels? I wonder, and would be interesting to see the club membership statistics over the past couple of years. I am not sure, but I do not believe that having the WR here in STRA is increasing our numbers immediately, hopefully it will be a follow on effect. I would also put to you, and you will probably take this argumentatively instead of the way I intend it, but do you think you notice Trials a lot more because now you are involved? For instance, I never paid that much attention to Chevrolet trucks, but when I bought a white Z71 I was astounded at the number of them out there. Because I just noticed them, did not mean everyone had just got them. May be way off base, or it might be the same thing.

Call it the Phsyquie or whatever, but we had a long discussion on the STRA board about section difficulty and the complaint of several folks was that it was too much tight and technical (referring to our Sportsman class) and not enuogh of the bigger obstacles. Not sure if that applies to the instance that you are speaking of in the nationals or not. I think there are many people in the trials community that would rather just see big hits, logs, walls then the tight and technical stuff. I know many of the kids that I worked with at TTC during the Youth Nationals were much much, much happier doing logs and steps then when we worked turns and balance. I think that carries through to the adults as well.

NSAGM while you say I look for absurd ways to discredit the idea. I promise you (and only time will prove me right or wrong) that if there is a 125 class, there will be someone that proposes we need to let the 4 strokes compete in it at 250cc's of displacement. And if Lane's child was on a Montesa (that is an inside joke that would require years of reading these bulletin boards but there are many on here spitting coffee on their keyboards at the moment.) He would be the one leading the charge. The 250, 4 riding in the 125 is exactly on point in my opinion, you suggested we emulate the class structure of MX, and that is how it is done. Oh, by the way, if you have a bobcat you must be cool, what do you do with it, what model you got?

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Entertainment/story?id=1686831 So where exactly did ABC news get their info? And added on edit for those that do not want to click on the link, cut from this article. Lane Leavitt is a former world motorcycle champ who blew up in "Commando." He sets up big budget tricks like ones done in "The Scorpion King," so he understands when his wife comes home battered and bruised.

Ahhhhh, but therein lies the problem, how can you look at me and say we need to follow the MX example and have a 125 class (I will go find your post referencing that if you wish) if we are not going to follow along and do as the MX guys do and allow a 250, 4 stroke to compete in that class. Couldn't your last line also apply to the skill improvement that is touted for riding a 125 as one of the other justifications for the class? Something along the lines of "If the (sub 125's) can't compete on its merits (it has a few) then it shouln't compete."

I guess I will come at from a slightly different angle, I know nothing about your educational system over there, but I have to believe there is some form of school (we would call it Vo-tech) where adults can go to learn skills such as welding. Spend some time in there running the different welders and then evaluate what you plan on doing, and make your decision from there. As to the MIG Gas or gasless debate, they are truly the same machine, the gasless machine is just missing the gas solenoid that controls gas flow. By all means buy the machine already set up for shielding Gas and you have the ability to weld gasless (fluxcore) if you so desire. In my shop, the small mig, (millermatic 130) gets turned on and used the most times of all of them. The larger mig (Millermatic 250) would be second, then the TIG welder (Lincoln Squarewave 255) next I do aluminum Mig with a spoolgun and it very seldom get's used and I have an engine driven unit for ARC that gets used about the same as the spoolgun. (I hate field work) My dad has similar equipment but runs two baby migs, one with gas and one with innershield and he says he swaps between them about 50 / 50. If I was telling my BIL what to go buy because he wanted to weld. I would tell him to research what is a respected and long standing welder manufacturer in his country (Germany) and go buy about a 150 to 200 amp mig set up to do gas shielded welding. I would also then tell him his next purchase should be a high quality AC arc welder with about 250 amp capability (lincoln Tombstone comes to mind) to back it up in heavier work. A quality MIG will flat out weld better, last longer, and make you happier then a low quality "cheap" unit. Something along the lines of do you want a new GG or an RTX... They are both Trials bikes and do the same job. TIG is a learned skill that must be kept constantly sharp to do good work. I silicone bronze the fins into torque converters for a local transmission shop to keep myself in tune. It is not a type of welding that you walk out into the shop once a month and just do, and do well. Oh, on edit, as too welding aluminum with a mig. It can be done, but it is not normally very practical in the small job shop. To weld with Mig you are pushing, pulling or both on the wire to get it to come out the end. I use the analogy of a spaghetti noodle, a .030 steel wire is like an uncooked spaghetti noodle, and an .030 aluminum is like a cooked one, now lay them on a table and try and push them from one end across the table. Most Mig work you see in aluminum is done with either a push pull type gun, a very short stinger Mig, or probably more common a spool gun that only pushes about 3 inches of wire. While the literature will tell you it works in the little migs with about a 6' gun it is not very practical in my experience. (and yes I have done it) as someone else mentioned, you change out the gun liner, tips, and usually reverse polarity on your machine to make it go like this and my results have never been "impressive" by any means. It has been enough to get mufflers hung back onto a bike to get through an event sometimes and sometimes not (sorry John) but it is certainly not something I would sit down and plan on doing in my shop.

Hi Nigel, not sure if I am misreading your comment, or you mine. I have no problem with the abilities of the 125's. I have no doubt that a great rider on a 125 is able to do anything. My problem is with adding classes, and where do we stop. I am a firm believer in the slippery slope. Lane Said, he wanted to see the 125 class ride the sportsman line. OK, now, somewhere in these threads, I saw Ron (a very active and participating member of the NATC) say he would like to see it in the Expert Line. Now say Dean improves, and I want to see a 125 line in the Expert Support line. And of course Ronnie III has progressed at that point and wants to see a 125 class for the "pro" line. How exactly is any of that going to help these guys progress to the World Rounds? The folks that believe that riding a 125 will help them progress to the World Arena, are going to do just that in the class structure we have. (I have not spoken directly to Ron about it, but I would surmise that as he is riding a 125 in the Expert class that he believes that is the proper way to get there) Nigel, how many different "classes" or 125's (maybe I mean lines or degrees of difficulty for different words) do you guys run. And just to confuse matters. We going to let the 250 4 strokes compete on the 125 line if we are going to be emulating the MX crowd by having displacemtent classes? (just thought I would throw that in to stir the pot a bit, Andy where is that little fishing dude emoticon)

Ohhhh,,,,, Yep, hey NSAGM,,,, Mention Ringo's name,,, and uh....say something like yeah, I heard Ringo is a great guy and a real supporter of world round events.... Then Run!

I think in most kids eyes dad is always the champ, Not in my kids eyes, they see pictures of me out of the eighties and ask "who is that" and Wow, I did not know you could ride a bicycle like that. For my kids it is Ryan, David, Curt and Brad.

Congrats Ron, and hats off to being out there making it work. I am assuming Ronnie will be out there Sat and Sun at the TTC events? It will be exciting too see I am sure. See you there.

Hey NSAGM, ask Steve about Lane.

And therein lies one of the major problems with Trials in the US. Not your fault, not saying it is anyones fault, but there is a certain amount of Geography that makes it kind of moot to compare us to Europe.

Half a tire right, I think we were posting at the same time. You have the option on your screen of turning off all the posts that I (or for that matter any other individual poster) makes. I would say though, that you come into a post that was distinctly and clearly started by Lane, and directed to me and telling us we should not talk between us? Seems to me is a kind of appropriate response. Kind of like walking into the Harley shop asking why they have pictures of Choppers and similar bikes on the wall. Anyway, clearly, Lane and I do not see eye to eye on many things, but this type of discussion is exactly what this board is here for. I usually just tend to try and ignore Lane's posts, but he perseveres on beating the same drum better then I, then folks like yourself and NSAGM come in new and start taking what he say's as the truth, because nobody disputes it on this board, and I get the wild hair to jump back into the fray. Hope to see you at the World Round, come up and introduce yourself. I am the big guy that will be hanging around cabin 5 and somewhere on a hillside Fri, Sat and Sun, and probably a little bleary eyed from drinking apple juice and mountain water with those funny speaking foriegners from way across the pond.

I guess that is why I do not bother discussing things with you Lane. You ask me a question, I tell you to finish answering the ones already asked, you say I am pi$$ing you off.... Oh well.. Enough said by me. Why does the YN not alternate between West Coast and East Coast? I do not know. I did not set it up, and have not had the opportunity to attend the NATC meeting's to hear the discussions. I am not the promoter and so have no control, and too be honest, very little input into how that works. I do know that the AMA Youth Nationals for Motocross is held at Lorretta Lynn's ranch in Waverly TN every year, and that when the Trials YN was set up it was patterned after that model. As far as I know there was a West Coast YN being held by Mr. Markhem as well this year. I believe I read that in my AMA magazine this month under upcoming events.

I believe there to be several unanswered questions on those threads still.

Here is Christina's response to my question. No because i am not on the web enough Yeah it would be nice to know No I would still stay with team sherco because they are an awesome team (edited) Chrizzy -----Urspr

God Ishy, you got me rolling so hard I cannot stand it. That is so close to the truth it is painful. If you look at pictures of Dean from the 05 YN and notice a big black mark on his cheek it is where another kid poked him with a stick while playing with fire. And it sounds like your's and mine have something else in common, run a mile a minute while on the run, as Bobby Fields use to tell my dad, if we could stick handlebars between his ears we would have the fastest flattracker out there, until they wind down and get in the truck to go home, then you look over at them laying there asleep and think this is the good life. Chris, I am going to cry when we hit $3. It is already over $200 a hit when we fill the mowing truck and trailer up.... But at least they give me free coffee right..... I cannot stand fishing or hunting. Have nothing against it, love to eat, it just drives me plumb bonkers sitting there. I have tried several times and just cannot deal with it. I am very fortunate to have several really good freinds here though, and this is the heart of outdoor hunting and fishing and they take Dean out regularly. Sometimes I think I take that Village to raise a child more literally then many others do, but I think it gives my kids a balanced outlook to see things from many different angles and through many different eyes, then as they get older, they can decide where their passions lie. Certainly not sure I am doing it right, it seems with my kids I question myself constantly if I am making the right choices, but I think if I expose them to as much as possible, while keeping the risks in check, I think it is better for them. And if I am wrong, they will have a lot of cool experiences nonetheless. Look forward to seeing you guys at the YN. I will be in and out at the Youth Camp unfortunately this year. My work schedule and vacation availability coupled with a 2+ week trip to Germany this past Christmas means the kids get to stay at the cabin without dad for a couple days.... Glad the village is there to beat them into line if needed.

Oh, god, we are all dating ourselves here, I thought DeCoster as well, or maybe that upstart Hannah. Chris will you guys be able to make it out to the YN or the WR this year? This gas at $2.70 a gallon I think will put a hurt on some plans. (At least it does on mine)

OK, well, you guys speak something that slightly resembles what I speak, or at least a lot closer then the Spanish do, so I will ask you guys, When you have a World Champ from your country, does the number of riders /participants / spectators go up and when you lose the world championship does it diminish? I am speaking on a general kind of basis. Said another way, do your club secretaries (I think that is what you call them) see an increase in membership when Dougie is World Champ and does your membership fall off if he loses?

So, my question of the day to those of you with kids, please ask them, Who is the World Champ in Trials? Do they Care? I know my son has no idea, and could honestly care less, then again, he had a choice between going fishing yesterday on the big lake and running around in a bass boat and going riding and he went fishing. I have to e-mail my daughter to ask her if she knows, but, I better check myself becuase I am not positive.. To those of you that have no kids, Does who is world champ influence your trials riding at all? Would it / does it, influence what brand of bike you ride?

So, You are proposing, to add another class to the classes that are already there, that the sole criterea for entry is that you compete on a 125 machine. That class would ride on the already existing Sportsman Line. By Who, I meant Name Names that this was going to help, (or in other words, who would actually sign their name and pay their money) to compete in this class. (I personally doubt it would be well attended in the scenario that you have described) I must have mistook your past posts, as I understood you too have the stance that we already had way too many classes in the NATC championship. So, when the youngster (or I guess whoever) comes up and wins this class this year (I guess I mean this proposed class) and as you are proposing for the Youngsters (I thought, but now it seems to be just a displacement class) Where does he go in the progression? I obviously have not ridden the Jr. World Championship's, but I do not believe it to be a direct progression from our Sportsman Lines, to the Jr. World Champ Lines. Would we then add a 125 Expert Support line the next year?

Ken, I think part of what you need to remember when you go onto a BB is that you are not walking in to a "clean" conversation that starts at the top, and ends at the bottom. The nature of a BB is that the talk wander's off the original topic many times as people bring up different things and the conversation progresses along. Also remember that several folks here have been in these same conversations for a LONG time. Before this BB was around and through several of it's predecessors. I hope you have taken the time to go to the bottom of the screen and look at how long you are displaying the news for, then go back a ways, maybe a year, and wander about through the threads. Sometimes it can give an insight into the current discussions. You coming to the WR?

I think discussions are great, but when it get's to just beating a drum over and over again, I think it is counterproductive. There needs to be some give and take and some adjustments of position and some seeing the lights of the others side that occurs in a discussion. Two Base questions on the 125 "class". What Line? Who rides?

I never said modify the youth nationals here. That is why I do not normally post on the same posts as you Lane, it is impossible to keep on target. 5 posts from now you will be saying how I said I wanted to change the Youth Nationals and someone will believe it. I believe that the National series going on, The Youth Nationals and the local events that the youngsters participate in make a fine formulae to provide an avenue to greater things if that is the desire of the child. I also believe that John sums it up quite well when you compare geography versus number of riders.

NSAGM, No, your lack of experience does absolutely not negate your input. You have shown, and demonstrated by going out and working with the Duluth crew that you are exactly the type of person that is needed in the Trials community. Just be aware, that not all the people that talk the most on these boards do the same. Are you coming to the WR in TTC? Look me up please. (Cabin 5) I cannot encourage you enough to make the effort to come down to the Youth Nationals (and maybe more importantly in my opinion) the Youth Camp that preceeds the Youth Nationals, with your daughter this summer. I think you will find that you have an excellent time, you will make a lot of shared memories together, and both of your riding skills will improve greatly. Sincerly