Long Rides In Big Mountains

[greg watts]

I've had good results from the Acerbis 3l and 5l tanks that attach to the forks. You can also get a siphon kit for them that attaches to to the main tank's breather. I don't bother with the siphon kit but keep a short length of hosepipe in my backpack and use that to siphon from the header tank to the main tank.

I contacted Greta at Acerbis in Italy to find the local importer (greta.m@acerbis.it). The price is about 60euro.

The photo shows the 3l tank.

For me, trials bikes are the answer in the mountains, I highly recommend one.

I just had a look at the Acerbis website and that looks like the perfect solution to me. I'd only seen a 1l one before which I thought was too small to be of much use, but a 3l one would be spot on. Thanks for the info. That's the proglem pretty much solved!

I checked my gas mileage a few weeks ago on a trail ride in the mountains over here (Sierra Nevadas), I received about 25 miles per half gallon. This is on an '02 sy250 scorpa with a long ride tank. I had a '91 or so Fantic 305, and the mileage was about the same.

Thanks. That gives me something to work on in deciding which size auxillary tank to order up.

[hutchph998]

Hi Greg just 5 cents worth.....I ride trails and GR routes down in the SW on my GG Pro 250 with a couple of mates one with a SY 175 4t and one with Sy 250 long ride we all carry spare fuel on our Camelbacks in poly containers[water bottles,i think a couple of euros,when it's the season of course] from LeClerc,normally were out for up to 4hrs and never ran out of fuel,plus's I suppose is there's less weight on the bike and after half way through your ride just top up from the bottles the weight on your back is negliable....don't get the Sigg type bottles anyway cos the fuel melts the screw caps[i tried them].

If i was buying a different bike I'd go for a SY 175 or 125 will do everything you want to do and sips fuel and good value,have a look in the French YOU HAVE USED WORDS OR A PHRASE WHICH ARE NOT PERMITTED ON THIS WEBSITE. PLEASE DELETE YOUR POST/TOPIC. DO NOT TRY TO CIRCUMVENT THE FILTERS IN PLACE ON THIS WEBSITE for dealers near you on there dealer map,trials bikes and just about every motor vehicle holds there price well regardless of condition so be carefull out there,get a pocket GPS as well it 's wilderness out there!! It's a pity trials are few and far between over here but "randos" rock for fun and discovering places you'd never find from the road....oh yeah lights are a legal requirement even when your up a mountain a gendarme stopped me once when I had them turned off......let me off though

H

Edited January 6, 2007 by hutchph998

[jordi]

Well you could always have the fuel tank on the board and then use mountain biker lights? these could be attached to your helmet/bars so could easily still work

Thats an idea. Although it seems most people out here in France leave their light kits in place on their trials bikes anyway, so I think the majority of 2nd hand bikes will come with lights. Been looking on French ebay and small ads. Seems the Beta Rev 3's are the best value. I don't mind too much what I buy as they'll all be a massive amount better than the machines I rode in the 80's and will no doubt be way better than my ability to ride.

I think you will find that fitted lights are compulsary in France. Always have to have them fitted and working

to ride in any French trial.

[greg watts]

Hi Greg just 5 cents worth.....I ride trails and GR routes down in the SW on my GG Pro 250 with a couple of mates one with a SY 175 4t and one with Sy 250 long ride we all carry spare fuel on our Camelbacks in poly containers[water bottles,i think a couple of euros,when it's the season of course] from LeClerc,normally were out for up to 4hrs and never ran out of fuel,plus's I suppose is there's less weight on the bike and after half way through your ride just top up from the bottles the weight on your back is negliable....don't get the Sigg type bottles anyway cos the fuel melts the screw caps[i tried them].

If i was buying a different bike I'd go for a SY 175 or 125 will do everything you want to do and sips fuel and good value,have a look in the French YOU HAVE USED WORDS OR A PHRASE WHICH ARE NOT PERMITTED ON THIS WEBSITE. PLEASE DELETE YOUR POST/TOPIC. DO NOT TRY TO CIRCUMVENT THE FILTERS IN PLACE ON THIS WEBSITE for dealers near you on there dealer map,trials bikes and just about every motor vehicle holds there price well regardless of condition so be carefull out there,get a pocket GPS as well it 's wilderness out there!! It's a pity trials are few and far between over here but "randos" rock for fun and discovering places you'd never find from the road....oh yeah lights are a legal requirement even when your up a mountain a gendarme stopped me once when I had them turned off......let me off though

H

That's really useful advice. Thanks. I'd actually forgotten about lights being compulsary! Durrr. Scorpa's look like they have a reasonable size fuel tank even without the long ride kit. Don't know if that is the case or not as it seems hard to find fuel tank sizes quoted on the manufacturers websites. If that is the case then yes, maybe the 175 is a good idea. I had been thinking that bigger engined bikes (like 280cc 2 stroke) would make the jeep tracks and easier trails nicer to ride as the bike would have to work less hard, but maybe that's not really the case?? It's such a long time since I last rode a trials bike I am really out of touch with what the modern bikes are like.

So anyway. It's looking like carrying the fuel on my back is the way to go, although I did see a Gas Gas on French ebay with an aux tank fitted to a cross brace on the bars, which is quite neat (or at least it is until you smack your face into it and knock all your teeth out!) as it leaves yer lights in tact.

As for GPS, I find the navigation pretty easy here in the alps. It's either very up, or very down :-)

I'm assumming I'd need a licence from the French version of the ACU to compete in trials, but I'll work that out later. First I need to contact the clubs in my area (seems to be a lot of them) to see if any of them run trials events. But that'll only happen in the spring once the snows have gone and skiing is off the agenda.

[brendan]

Update about my fuel mileage. I did a ride this past weekend that was rougher than the prior, and I received about 17 miles per half gallon.

[hutchph998]

Have a look Greg at the www.alpestrialancelle.fr site, has english as well.......loads of insight into the French trials scene in the east....Good luck finding your bike.....

H

[hutchph998]

Don't no why I didn't think of this Greg but I've got my mint GG Pampera only 480km with a 6ltr tank and more plonk than your average vignoble up for sale in a local dealers if your interested.

H

[ridgrunr]

Here in Utah we have a cross country trail called the Five miles of Hell http://www.geocities.com/utahtrials/5moh/5moh.html . Very intense single track trail that requires that we carry extra fuel for the Trials bikes. We've tried everything. We discovered early on that the tanks that replace the number plate or headlight are not a good idea as they really throw off the front end balance. We had a lot of over the bars experiences with them. After all the whole idea here is to be able to let the trials bike do what it does best, and you don't want to screw that up by messing with the bike's balance.

What we finally came on was 2 liter pop bottles, Coke, Pepsi, etc. You can put two of them in a back pack comfortably, and still have room for you camel back liquid and lunch. The things don't leak and are super tough. I guess you could break them as you could anything in the right fall, but we've had guys fall on them over the years and I've never heard of anyone breaking one. They are air tight too, and don't leak. They also have a fairly small opening that can easily be filled up and works well for pouring into the gas tank. All day long, as you get more tired, your pack gets lighter too. So if you carry two, you have almost three times the range that you normally would.

They weigh next to nothing empty and are disposable (plus you get to drink whatever was in there first), so after you empty one, it can be crushed, taking up even less room in the pack. Then when you are through with the ride you just throw them away in the nearest trash can. Leave the lid off when you throw them away so the fumes don't build up in them.

One word of caution. Make sure you mark them "GAS"! We had a really thirsty rider one year who thought he'd take a swig out of a buddy's bottle of pop. You guessed it, he got a mouthful of premix! Then he was thirsty and sick!

Edited January 8, 2007 by Ridgrunr

[greg watts]

Don't no why I didn't think of this Greg but I've got my mint GG Pampera only 480km with a 6ltr tank and more plonk than your average vignoble up for sale in a local dealers if your interested.

H

Thanks. But I've been through the whole Pampera and Beta Alp debate and decided a full on trials bike is what I really want. I'm just going to buy one and carry some fuel in bottles for the randonees and see how I get on. I think it'll be fine.

I've gotta say, this is a great website and forum. I've participated in others for other hobbies in the past, but none compare to this one. I've been really impressed with the advice I've been given and the sheer number of replies to my questions. Thanks to all. It's appreciated.

I'm sold! That's my solution. Cheap and easy and I think 6 litres of fuel (2 in the bike and 4 on my back) will probably get me as far as I need to go (or am physically able to go) in 1 day of riding.