pete_scorpa3

With the extra bank holiday to celebrate the Royal wedding on Friday 29th April, I was thinking of applying for a permit to put on a little Friday afternoon trial on the Cotswold Hills near Broadway. Ten sections with two routes on each, probably be self observe in the main, but just for a bit of fun. I could tailor it to suit a particular need. Mega hard A route or Begginers Easy route, trail bikes, you could let me know what you want and I'll make it for you. Would anyone be interested, or will you all be watching the big event, glued to your tv screens? Pete

Sounds like the old Rev3 '04 kick starts, they became really brittle when it was cold.

Brilliant caption to a brilliant shot!

The Scorpa is ideal for my limited abilities, this is the second one I've owned from new and it's over five years old. The original tyre has lasted so long because we don't have many rocks in the Midlands Uk, especially riding on the easy or middle routes at club trials, you generally find section after section of tree roots and mud although there is one rock we try to put in every time we set out a trial just to say we've got one. I could look through my results and tell you how many trials the tyre has done, but I guess it's probably 100 to 150 with at least 10 road trials (two or three a year) so I can't complain about changing it at last, it's certainly cheaper than getting a new bike.

I've owned my '05 SY250 since new and it's done everything I've expected it to do but is getting on a bit now. I am impressed with the Evo 290 and seriously considered getting one, but the cost of the new bike in comparison to any gains in results I might get has made me decide to keep the old Sy and give it a bit of a make over instead and save the money for another time. So I changed the tyres today, the original has not been off since new but being five and a half years old it was way past it's best. I've gone for another Michelin and as you can see from the picture it looks a little better. I've also fitted a new rear IRC but given up on the rim tape and stuck a tube in. I know other people can make the tape fit correctly but making it air tight as eluded me for the past four years and I am sick of pumping the tyre up every time I ride it. It really is getting a once over as I've put new chain and sprockets on too. With a bit of luck it'll do another five and a half years before I feel the urge to change it again. Pete

Hi Owen, welcome to TC. One piece of advice that would have helped me at my very first trial was to choose the club and the event carefully. I turned up at a club that I later found out had a reputation (at the time) for putting on demanding trials. I thought riding the Easy route was going to be just that. Sadly it proved to be anything but easy for a complete novice, I lost 112 marks and only had one clean. Talking to people after the trial, they suggested that I rode with another club the following week who had a name for putting on easy trials. Their easy route was just that and I lost 20 odd marks, had a number of cleans and felt a lot more encouraged. All the best. Pete

One thing that suffers if you only ride occasionally is bike fitness, the muscles you use never get built up so you always feel tired and stiff when you do ride. If I can't get out every week (which happens a lot now I have small children) then I always try to get 10 minutes on the bike in the back garden, it helps to keep the bike running nicely and just keeps the muscles active. Obvioulsy the more the better, but every little helps. Pete

Alternatively, only give out awards to the Youth riders riding in the correct age/class and then you know that they are getting the right awards. We give out adult and Youth trophies for the top three on each route every season and it's always dissapointing how many riders fail to collect their trophies at the awards ceremony. I don't mind not giving out the trophies if people let me know they can't make it, but more often than not they just don't bother to turn up and I'm left standing like a muppet calling out their names to a round of applause only to find they're not present. We usually have an entry of around 50 to 60 but although nwe see the same faces year after year, very few do every round which makes a championship a little pointless. I will be giving out awards in 2011 but it may well be the last year that we do it, I might as well simply drop the entry fee by

Carol Nash are happy to insure my Scorpa and they even removed the exclusion for use in trials when riding on the road wen I questioned them about it. I've now been with them for three years. MCE were slightly cheaper but would not remove the trials exclusion and did not put my bikes onthe insurance data base meaning that I could not insure them online. They also set off the Police onboard computer warning meaning that I had a pull for not being insured, fortunatley I was near home and they accepted the covernote....... not once, but TWICE! MCE never did update the insurance data base, despite being requested to do so on three occasions. So I moved to Carol Nash. Only speaking as I find! Pete

It's just a term applied to riders new to the sport, a begginer is certainly someone in their first season, however someone can be a novice indefinatley.

The long running problem I have with my Scorpa rim tape was caused by me when I changed a tyre. I just nicked the rim tape with the end of a tyre lever, damned thing has leaked ever since. I really wish that I'd been more careful. I've tried the Sikoflex trick whch slowed the leak down to an acceptable rate, it stays up for about a week, so I live with it.

The other thing I can't abide are editors who obviously don't watch bike sport. You can tell who they are, they show slow motion clips without the normal speed shot first and always manage to cut to a close up of the riders foot, face, back tyre, face, tyre, foot just as they're doing the hard part of the section, then cut back to a distance shot as they ride out of the ends cards. Multiple quick action camera shots might be trendy, but it is so much better to bea able to focus on the subject and watch the action all the way through.

If it won't fit your new shiney Gasser then it's not worth much, so I'll take it of your hands if it's any help?

I always used to enjoy the Havoc Crash videos, but they now play loud music over every crash and I can't bear to watch them. I know it's me showing my old age, but all of the news breaks on Radio 1 also have constant background music playing during the reports, my old ears find it almost impossible to hear what is being said. For some reason, many people think it's wrong to have a simple accurate real life sound to any entertainment which is a shame. Pete

I think you are spot on there Ian, but there are others (such as myself) who fit into a different category. I like easy trials and always do well in events that are low scoring, but self preservation (or lack of skill if you like) takes over when I'm faced with anything harder. I'm far to cautious (Ok scared) to move up to the Expert route, so will always be found on the Clubman route. Thankfully there are better riders than me on the B route, so wins are few and far between, so I don't look too much like a pot hunter, but I can understand why riders who should be capable of moving up stay on the easier route. We are all there to enjoy ourselves and go to work the following day. Pete

No far from it, he always thanks me for putting on the trial and reminds me not to put him inthe championship, he rides as a guest. I have had riders comment (definitely NOT complain)that the C route is too easy and the B route is too hard! That kind of makes me wonder what else I can do! I already put on four routes (D for conducted youths) and am reluctant to do five. I know the ESTC do a green route which is between the C and the B, but I'm not sure how popular this is and whether it's worth the effort. The Midland Centre is running a 50/50 championship in 2011 (I think they've decided to call it the Masters class, but don't quote me on that) so that the Easy route can be genuinely easy. Over the last few years a number of older Experts moved down to the easy route and rode as over 40's and thus the Easy route became harder to cater for these fellas. In this case, the 50/50 idea is a good one and requires little or no extra work for the organisers.

Agree with you! :thumbup: I often ride my DRZ400 on the C route for a challenge, I've got round for one or two marks lost in the past, but certainly wouldn't be able to ride it onthe B route. We've also got a rider in his mid 70's who rides the C route and he was a very good centre expert 25 - 30 years ago, he usually gets around for a dab or two but since having his hips replaced doesn't want anything harder. The important thing is that everyone has a good time on their bikes. Pete

The longride version is perfectly acceptable in a club trial, but unless you intend to ride it far there's no major advantage over the standard trials version. That said, it is easy to convert if you wish to. As far as the 250F is concerned, some may disagree but I found it harder to ride than the 2t version. ie I would loose more marks on the F than the S. Try to blag a go on both before you buy if you can. Pete

I know what you mean and it's something that's wound me up in the past, but as I've got older I've mellowed a lot. I take it you are talking about an event where there are awards? People who like an easy route at a trial and win the awards time after time are only kidding themselves, but there again aren't the majority of club riders only riding for the fun of it anyway so what's it matter? If there's no awards, it really doesn't matter, everyone knows who the culprits are when they see the results and one day you might even get the satisfaction of beating them and moving up a route yourself. Pete

If your mx repairer is happy to do a trials bike, why not let him do it? Another thought, did the bike run ok in warmer weather? I wonder if it was just suffering from carb freezing?

That's within the rules providing you are riding as an adult.

How about the new Beta Alp, use one bike for both? Just take the tank cover off and your LDT bike becomes a trials bike.

If the bike is only a year or two old you may be able to get a Cert of Newness from the importer, failing that they will give you a dating letter than you can use at the DVLC. There will be a charge for a dating letter, expect to pay

Buy by condition, a clubman can wreck a bike just the same as an expert.

The simplest way to make your bike look a lot better is to bolt on a fully road legal number plate. Take it off when you get to the venue if you like, but a big plate will impress the Police and might just stop you getting a pull in the firt place. Pete