pittbull Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 Hello, I'm new to the sport of trials and have to say I'm loving it. So much so that my poor 2014 Husaberg TE300 is just sitting in the garage getting dusty. I bought a 2015 Sherco Factory Edition 300, what an amazing bike. I decided right away after bringing it home that I would make a video series to log my transition into the sport and see how or if any progression was made. I've been riding some very extreme terrain for years now but have developed allot of bad habits due to lazy riding practice compensated by speed, momentum and a pimped out bike. This little Sherco is teaching me a few lessons. If there is anyone like me trying to make the transition back into a more pure form of riding and overcoming years of bad habits then you might get some enjoyment out of these videos. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pittbull Posted July 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 Video links for those who are interested. Warning to advanced riders, I am not an advanced rider so don't expect to see any epic splats onto 10 foot walls or huge jumps from a rear wheel balance point. I can only home that someday I'll be able to do some of the stunts that I see some many experienced trials riders accomplish so efficiently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmqS3EjtPMg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkosMGxeNKQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcxm0nFIGDI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuVNZPM7lM0 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shercoben12 Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 hi pitbull, welcome to trials what an epic place you have to ride! that climb you have in the first bits of part 2 looks soo good. where are you located? your doing well considering you just started. keep practicing, you will only get more confident and better. i heard in the video you made a comment about suspension being too soft, you can adjust the preload etc on the rear shock. they are designed to be pretty soft and the front forks should use most of their travel regularly. nice bike keep us posted on how you get on! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collyolly Posted July 23, 2015 Report Share Posted July 23, 2015 My apologies in advance for not watching all of your clips, I skipped through the first two and you have a super place to ride but you are not riding trials ! This is the type of riding we do between sections, check out some event videos or better still go to an event ( of course you may not be near to one, but having purchased the bike from somewhere someone must be able to get you into the sport properly ) Hope you continue to enjoy learning on your new bike but you have not experienced 'Trials' yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copemech Posted July 24, 2015 Report Share Posted July 24, 2015 You are doing well. Pity you are gonna scratch up that beautiful bike! Just takes time. Learn to ride squatted, this way you can load and unload the suspension on demand. Learn to steer with the feet! Peg pressure and/ or a quick jab will move the bike under you quickly! Bars for fine tuning. Get that clutch finger into shape! A quick dip and pop can save you. So can slipping to control power application. Try riding an easy section a gear too high forcing you to use it, then go up another! That front brake on the skinny tire is 90% of your stopping power downhill.. Get them arms straight and butt on the fender! Control momentum! Most of us loose the bark busters to avoid broken wrists! Hit the boulders/ logs in the middle with the front wheel. This will propel the front UP to clear the skidplate! Have fun and get a riding buddy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shercoben12 Posted July 24, 2015 Report Share Posted July 24, 2015 are you using the trials bike to help your enduro riding or want to get into trials ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heffergm Posted July 24, 2015 Report Share Posted July 24, 2015 So... you're basically trail riding a trials bike. Which is fine, but really an enduro bike is a whole lot less torment. If I were you'd I'd go out to those trails, find a nice rocky section where you can spread your self out, and basically ride it like a trials section. Go as slow as you can, tight turns, a few obstacles, etc. You can spend an hour in the same square of space. You need to spend less time going straight Enjoy! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pittbull Posted July 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 (edited) Thanks for all the input so far. I will work on some of the suggested skills. Yes I know I'm not riding trials as most may define it but then again I've watched a few YouTube trials videos and some of what I have here to ride is no different. My whole purpose here right now is to up my game and improve my riding skills. Until I have a little more trials riding under my belt I don't know if I will make the switch to just trials riding, maybe / maybe not. The area where I ride most of the time has some insane spots to conquer, these spots however can be a bit of a trail ride to get to and unless I wish to carry the bike there I'll have to ride it there(McNutt has over 100km of trails). There are other spots I can go to ride this bike and some are 100% trials areas, trouble is they are an hours drive where as McNutt / Blue Mountain is 15 minutes. That gives me (45min x 2) an hour and half extra ride time. I'm going to continue to search out the more insane spots on my local mountain to build on skills for now but will venture out to a trial club soon to check it out. I'm also not so sure that my hands can take take me up into a level where I know some of you are at skill wise. I'm sure going to do what I can to try though. Edited July 25, 2015 by pittbull 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pittbull Posted July 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Didn't get to ride this weekend but did manage to play with the bike tonight for a couple hours. Just riding in circles, practising balance techniques, slow wheelies.....things are real slow to happen for this old dog. The balance thing is a real struggle. I've watched so many training videos on this but it is just so much harder than it looks. Took some advice from more experienced riders and moved my bars forward and levers up. So far so good, hurts the hands a bit but I think I can deal with it. I'll see what it is like on my next ride. Going to try and ride after work this week, maybe even a play hooky (miss a day of work) and go ride to make up for not riding all weekend due to horrible weather and way too many chores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
collyolly Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 You have a superb place to ride, I would suggest you take a riding partner with you as even the simplest practice can turn into an accident, just because trials is slow it does not make it risk free. Sorry to sound like your Mum but it can happen very quickly where you slide off with the bike on top of you or leg caught under it. Your video gives the impression of being miles from help if it goes wrong and anyway it is always better to spark off a riding buddy to push your technique. Lecture over, enjoy your day off ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pittbull Posted August 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2015 So I have a couple new videos but again they may only appeal to those of you who are not "die hard" trials riders. What I do still to this point is mostly extreme enduro and am just now doing it with this bike instead of my Husaberg TE300. As I gain more confidence I will venture to some of the many trials only areas that are near me but for right now I'd rather drive 15 minutes and ride my own pace than drive an hour to learn that I have so much to learn. I don't record all the hours I spend practising, riding figure 8's as slow as I can, balancing, trying to slow wheelie and so on, just turn the camera on when I head to the mountains. A video from last Friday, nothing to crazy but some good footage. Just kept it short this time, 10 minutes. https://youtu.be/H_06-zYOk3I Here's a video from my Sunday ride. Decided to just ride and cover some ground instead of worrying about going real slow or trying obstacles several times until I got it right. This was an all out enduro ride on a tiny little bike with no damn seat. https://youtu.be/SPjajOYa5Us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pittbull Posted August 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) Boy it sure is quiet in this forum. I'm used to seeing hundreds of new posts everyday on sites like TT. Guess trials just isn't as big as it should be. Edited August 28, 2015 by pittbull Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
still trying Posted September 10, 2015 Report Share Posted September 10, 2015 Hi, Great to see your loving the trials bike. Don't stop. Blue mountains = Aussy. I'm thinking. I'm next door in NZ. I do similar as you, trying to stay feet up and either find a challenging place to try riding too or up, (e.g. Up and out a steep tight gully) or mentally mark out a section (tight shortish track) and ride that. It's the having a pre-planned track before riding that starts to make things tricky, as you can't change track just because you've gone off line anymore. But just doing really tight steep rocky trail riding on a trials bike is definitely a blast! I used to ride enduros, and trials, until a big off and bad concussion. I came to the conclusion massive fun with big jumps etc, but just as much riding massive rocks and banks etc (for me anyway). The only real difference was that when it goes wrong doing trials, minimal damage to me and bike. I have looped off two story high banks much to the amusement of my mates. Interesting to note nobody in NZ has been killed or seriously damaged riding trials in NZ. Now your challenge is to convince someone else to go trial riding with you. Then making sections gets more fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fivebrick Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 Gotta say, gorgeous bike. Could look at that Sherco all day. Just have fun and practice turning and all the basics. Basics rule, I have learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pittbull Posted November 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 Been riding the hell out of this bike now for several months and I'm seriously impressed with it in most every way. Seems the only time I bother taking my video camera (GoPro) along is when I go for a mountain ride and that ends up being more of a tough enduro ride than a trials day. So sorry if I don't post up more trials type videos. The other day it was real wet and mucky as we'd just had several days of intense rain. The trails turned to rivers and the puddles were small lakes. Sadly my GoPro ran out of gas at the same time the bike did but as I did have spare gas, I didn't have my spare battery's. The trails we rode on after the video ends were crazy for mud and water. This bike has its air box up front with the intake just behind the steering column. I was going through water so deep that if it wasn't for the spare gas tank on the bars deflecting the water I would have drown the bike. This thing handles the nastiest of terrain better than any bike I've ever been on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIljfSCDugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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