rabie

short answer - no (for serious competitive use) long answer - don't throw them away, they've not been made for years (decades?) but if they've been kept out of direct sunlight (UV) they won't have cracks, etc and would still be good for trail riding, roadwork, a bit of fun, etc. BTW I think every new tyre is now tubed for the front

normally it would be an entity eg "devo8 trials park" applying for public liability, rather than an individual. i'm pretty sure that locktons insure one of our local enduro practice tracks.

i work in the sign writing industry and it's a pretty common thing to do. just make sure you get a decent (quality) bit of vinyl

let me phrase the answer differently, in mx, if anyone is offering a practice track for under £20 a rider then they *tend* not to have the correct form of public liability insurance. now the risk in trials is a lot less so the premium shouldn't be as high. re NFU - i'm not aware they do motorsport public liability (this is a really specialised field). my club deals extensively with the NFU for various things that the ACU's policies don't cover (but i could be wrong). re Locktons - who did you speak to? btw - if you run out of leads just try asking any practice venue owner where they buy theirs from

the ACU's insurers (Locktons) offer one day "RTA" cover ie you get your bike insured by the usual suspects you list, then for the day of the event you pay a little extra to cover this (just under a £10). similarity if you want to do courier work, pizza delivery, etc - your normal policy doesn't cover you, you need extra cover.

surely you can get insurance for your competition machine regardless of it road registered status or the owners (lack) licence. aren't people like MSM insurance and carol nash advertising in TMX all the time (aimed at MX bikes)

no, as above, it is the riders responsibility to be road legal. now some areas are murkier than others - eg everyone put on a huge (legal) number plate for the MOT, and then puts on a sensible/survivable one for the rest of the year - yes its too small, and you could get done, but its a risk everyone takes. tyres wise, there are (as said) a number of road legal tyres out there, you could run the risk with an IRC, as it's very unlikely to be checked by the boys in blue but it could happen. IRC aren't a major European tyre player, thus they and their uk importer don't seam interested in acquiring the necessary paperwork....

i *think* you mean "public liability insurance" locktons motorsport - 0161 828 3300 doodson motorsport - 0161 419 3000 the first insure the ACU, the latter the AMCA and others. i can't recall who MCF are with off the top of my head. other brokers like MSM insurance, etc may be able to help. on the bigger picture i'm not really sure how one could hope for the traditional image of a trials practice ground (here the key, go enjoy yourself - ie no supervision) to comply with the conditions one would expect of such a policy - but it may be possible. in addition to public liability there are many other conceivable insurance components you might require, think carefully!

midas or mitas --> mitas being part of the trelleborg/barum/etc east european tyre group. its a budget trials tyre like the vee rubber. cheng shin (part of maxxis) list one but last i herd maxxis uk don't bring them into the UK - again a budget tyre. there where some heidenau budget trials tyres - don't know if they caught on.

i would recommend you check up a bit more first off the top of my head and i'm not 100% sure there are two different form of wordings often included on tyres, one set is for the states the other for Europe. some tyre have "not for highway use" but that is for north America only.

pirelli used to sell two types of mt43 rear's as TT (tubed) and TL (tubeless) - then about 4 years ago (can't remember now but i was working for watling tyres at the time) they stopped and issued the new ones as both TT and TL. ie they used to be physically stamped on the tyre wall as TT or TL, now it says TT & TL. now they've been like that for some time with no reports of greif (untill now...) as above for competition use the everyone is using michelin x lights, x11, dunlops and IRCs (pro and cons to all re price and suitability tot he terrain your ridding). the pirrelli is cheaper and great for enduro bikes, trail bikes, pre 65, real cold weather and road use, etc. beyond there 5 tyres a variery of cheap buget trials patterns exist that are really uncompetive but cheap (and thus have their uses)

IRC's seam the most popular down here in the muddy south east. you get the very rare odd problem but they seam to be very good. x11 the next most popular, x-lites are bling and about but most people don't seam convinced. Dunlop don't sell at all down here and Pirrellis are only used for extenisve road work or enduro bikes needing trials tyres.

we airlifted a bloke at one of our LDT's last year - he fell off on a flat byway (not in a section). all sorts happens but in the scheme of things we hardly get any injuries in trials at all (we run mx and enduro too)

almost certainly Bob Bond from Wickham club - see http://www.southeasttrialscombine.org.uk/se_trials_combine_clubs.html

a lot of the LDT types got it into their head that the riders couldn't walk the sections. as above the insurance advice is that the riders must be able to inspect the section/race track/etc and say they are incapable of doing it (ie not be forced to do something they can't do) - BTW not sure how that works for enduro? it doesn't stop you from laying out sections in such a way that most (99%) riders can't be bothered to walk it....

lots of enduro clubs use forestry down here, i think croydon used tilgate for a group trial a few years ago and have run club trials at west harting down. last i herd they are hot on odd things; like environmental mats, no pressure washers, ruts on fire roads, risk assessments, crossing footpaths, setting out, etc

There are 3 tiers of trials bike tyres - Michelin (x light and x11), IRC & Dunlop are the best. each one has it's pro and cons for different situations. us southerns love IRCs for Mud. I'm told Dunlops are great on rocks, etc, etc. Pirelli are middle of the road, loved for road work and frozen/icy conditions. The cheap tyres like vee rubber, cheng shin, etc, etc are cheap - there are guy out there who like them (esp price), others hate them.

scottish (and NI ?) schools break up earlier but go back earlier

it's a real grey area but due to the relatively small number of claims on insurance (when comapred to the other motorcycle sports) i don't really think anyone (insurance, etc) has stumbled on it in a big way. if you've a spercific question then i'm sure the T&EC, directors, Gary Thompson or Eddie Bellars of the ACU can be contacted. obvisouly there are real issue about "duty of care", "risk assement" and other health and saftey if riders just go off "free riding" / "practicing" anywhere (ie how are they to know about huge drops, dene holes, mineshafts, barbed wire, enviromentlay sensitve areas, etc, etc) so it's a tricky one to answer.

in pre65 (and now i think twinshock) you can ride a bigger bike (detail in handbook somewhere) in AMCA trials you can ride a 250 at 14 in mx, grass track, H&H, road race, etc, etc we put younger kids on bigger cc *and* more powerfull bikes (anyone seen the power of an 85cc mx bike?) while there is certainly an argument for keeping kids on 125's till they are 16 (be it to keep costs down, improve skills, or for some euro parity thing) down here in the silly south east this "issue" is high (top?) on a list that is causing many of our clubs aingst - to the point several are jumping ship (ACU to AMCA). i personally really struggle to see what the problem is of putting 14 & 15 year olds on a 250cc but a lot of clever people down here have been unable to articulate the case sufficently to persuade the rest of you (centres & T&EC) that this is the way to go.

i've run an old techno for some time now, only real big issue has been the stator issue (see the beta forum), but i'm sure the scorpa has its issues. as above any old bike that has been little used can often be better than a newer bike that had been thrashed and crashed.

We (the south eastern centre)are the ones of those rocking the boat. We have on many occasions had someone come along with their kid who want to try trials (but are big enough for an adult size trials bike). So why not let them jump on someone bike, or the even better example - why can a 14 year old lad have a go on his dad's bike?. Thirdly once you've got the kid interested what are the cheapest most available second hand bikes about, above 125cc bikes - ie the cost of a 2nd hand 125 is so high (vs say a 250) and availability so scarce that it is a barrier to entry to our sport. As stated above there are a few things going for it; * AMCA have a different rule (allowing a limit of 250cc at a younger age than 16 - i don't have the number to hand, could be 14) * Other motorcycle sports (road race, grass track, enduro, mx, etc) put under 16 on much higher cc bikes. Eg in MX you ride an 85cc 2T (or 150cc 4T) then go straight to 125 2T or 250 4T. * Pre65 & Twinshock - under ACU rules we let under 16s ride large cc bikes (i think tha handbook gives a cc limit) if they are pre65 or twinshock. Obviously you might want to put a cc cap on British championship and even centre trials so your not over biking the kids (esp you probably don't want them on 290s straight away but the jump is not like the gap between a 125 2t MX bike a good old CR500 2T arm puller!

south eastern centre championship trials are going non stop of the 4/5 groups in the centre i know NKTC and EKTC have gone non stop, off the top of my head i don't know about STAR, TVTC and SCG (the latter are AMCA). As for club trials, in NKTC (9 clubs) and EKTC (6 clubs), only Bexleyheath, KYTC, OWLS, and GEST run club trials (i think)

how are a few sticks any more dangerous than a trial on rocks ??? - seriously i'm a southerner and we don't have rocks by and large, so from my perspective rocks are novel and dangerous, but every trial down here (it seams) is marked out by some sort of wooden sticks of varying scales. yes there is the minute risk one could impale themselves on one, but so is there the risk of falling off rocks, down a gorge, into barbed wire, etc.

i am a passionately committed organiser, occasional competitor, with deep and passionate heartfelt view about the topic, but the thought of being invited to another talking shop up in rugby (2hrs15mins / 128 miles) where we might all express very different views but actually get nowhere ... i understand how the system works, but i couldn't in all good conciousness even try to persuade someone to go (unless they are desperate for the one vacant TEC seat in November) if someone could thrash out some sort of agenda maybe by floating so topics online (hence this sub forum), to centres, to clubs - appointing delegates back to a proper meetings that would be representative of all stakeholders (be it every centre, youth, pre65, modern, road trials, etc). running the sport with 8 committee members who have to spend half their time on enduro isn't perfect by a long shot, those 8 can't hope to represent the whole sport country wide, but we do seam to lack a better idea in the mean time