Beginner Advice Much Appreciated!

[rog5150]

Hi All, I'm Roger and I'm toying with the idea of getting a trials bike, first things first, I'm just west of Cardiff on the coast, where can I practice?

Next questions are probably in this order

Which club should I go see/join and do they have practise/training sessions?

With a £2000 max what sort of bike should I look for? CC, Make, age etc

I'm hoping trials is layed back and friendly on club scene, with advice and tips freely given, does that sound about right?

I've been riding since I was 16 and I'm now 52, just thought I'd throw that out there in case it affect the sort of bike I should consider.

First things first I guess

Where can I ride, if I can't ride no point in going further!!

Cheers Amigos!!

Roger

Sorry I type as I think so the above is pretty garbled!!

[hrmad]

Hi Roger.

Check out this site http://www.welshtrials.com/ they've got all the ACU events on the events tab, you can download them. Contact details of several different clubs there too.

I would advise don't enter a trial that has 'championship' as a title as your first trial! South wales is excellent in that there are a lot of beginner trials down here.

As for practice areas they are few and far between, but if you can become a member of a club and get chatting to the members they'd probably know farmers that you can approach.

There are training days throughout the year with Project 2000, they even do bike hire so if you wanted to give it a go before taking the plunge it might be a good idea, here's a link to their site, http://www.trialstrainingwales.com/ For all abilities. The next one is on 21st March.

With 2000 you could probably get a really tidy 2010 to 2012 bike, but it's a good idea to spend a little less on a second hand bike so you have spare money to get the bike to suit yourself. All the makes have their problems, just browse through the bike specific forums on this site! 250cc will go anywhere you want to go, 125s are good too but in some ways are more difficult to ride as you have to work the bike more.

And a nicer bunch of people you couldn't hope to meet, from observers to organisers to riders, at least that's been my experience.

Hope that helps,

Heather

[rog5150]

Hi Heather, Thank you very much for the great reply. I never would have guessed you could hire a Trials bike! All the forum say '250' but the last thing I rode (showing my age here) was a Honda TL125 and that would climb anything available to me. I'd like to try a modern 125 just to see if it was for me.

I'll pop along on the 15th and see what's what

Cheers

Roger

[hrmad]

Hi Heather, Thank you very much for the great reply. I never would have guessed you could hire a Trials bike! All the forum say '250' but the last thing I rode (showing my age here) was a Honda TL125 and that would climb anything available to me. I'd like to try a modern 125 just to see if it was for me.

I'll pop along on the 15th and see what's what

Cheers

Roger

No worries

Yeah 250s can be a bit much sometimes, I find my 200 is the best of both worlds, with more torque than a 125 but not intimidating so you can open her up. You'll find a big difference between a modern 125 and the TL. The ideal beginner bike would probably be a beta evo 200, but you don't see many used ones about. If you do plump for a 125 go for the latest year possible as I think the trials companies have improved the power across the rev range over the years.

Plus used 125s are usually from youth owners so they can be subject to a lot of abuse. The ideal find is an older owner who prefers tinkering to riding, haha.

It's a easy trial on the 15th so no silly sections, you'd be more than welcome to come watch and ask about, trials folk are a friendly bunch in general. Hopefully see you there

Edited March 3, 2015 by hrmad