old trials fanatic Posted January 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 Hi Guy's . Hi OTF. Would a "British Rival" be alright for your trials? has we have one lurking in a dust covered corner of one of the sheds. And I stubbed my toe on the spare Sachs engine under the bench only yesterday. Now it looks as though the "TRAD" trials thing is something that is not going to take off, I need to turn my attentions to something that might.? I can replace the space in the corner with the "Mini Otter" from last year. Regards Charlie. Charlie we would welcome anybody who wants to ride anything at our trials. I'm not sure what a "British Rival" might be but i'm sure we would have a class for it and if not then it would be interesting to see it being ridden anyway. If it has a Sachs motor then i am sure it would be in the spirit of "Forgotten era" . We had a home brewed MZ "trials special" at one of our events last year along with a Ken Ives replica Honda using a pit bike motor in a Honda 90 spine frame and very pretty it was too. I want to make our trials inclusive not exclusive. From this season riders of over 350 4 strokes machines will gain 2 bonus Championship points in their class and riders of rigids will receive 3 bonus Championship points. So potentially a rider of a rigid 500 would earn 5 bonus Championship points per ride on top of their normal Championship score. Hopefully this might inspire more riders of heavyweight and older machinery. We have routes from Clubman ( very easy) to Expert ( hard ) routes. So should be something to suit. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie prescott Posted January 25, 2016 Report Share Posted January 25, 2016 Hi Guy. Hi OTF. Check out the "Twinshock" Page. Below Ken Sedgley, builder of the one time "British Rival". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old trials fanatic Posted January 26, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2016 Never heard of the " British rival " but Dalesman and Wassell of course I remember them and they are precisely what the forgotten era class was created for. Be great to see them ridden again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old trials fanatic Posted January 26, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2016 Thanks Deryk. I fancy getting a Cotton Cavalier myself to enter on if i can find one cheap enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie prescott Posted January 26, 2016 Report Share Posted January 26, 2016 Hi Guy's. Deryk, Just see what happened by 2007 though when Gerald got a trick Cub, even Eric was amazed! Old Stoney Mountain IOM classic. Regards Charlie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old trials fanatic Posted January 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Hi otf, I had, for a very brief period, a Cotton Cavalier - I regret to say I would suggest a name change for you to 'old trials masochist'......... I swapped mine very quickly for a Greeves Pathfinder, which was almost as gutless until I changed the exhaust for the Comerford's alternative developed by my old mate, Reg May. That transformed the bike and made it an enjoyable proposition - also the Wilkinson's swopped their exhausts to the Comerford's version on their works bikes. Ok perhaps i am but i have fond memories of the trials and bikes of the late 60's and early 70's which was when i first started. never had a Cotton but thought the later ones looked really nice with the one piece tank and seat. I had a Sprite Goldfinger with the Zundap motor but would have preferred the big fin Sachs one. A mate had a big fin Saracen but i seem to remember that always suffered from a lack of ground clearance. Swapped the Goldfinger for one of the first slimline Bultacos which i really really regret selling. Always thought the first 5 speed Bultacos looked right. Never liked the Montesa and i did once own an ex Chris Milner Ossa Pennine which was awful. VERY fast but terrible trials bike. always fancied a Pathfinder but remember them as really awful trials bikes but that was just possibly because they were never popular locally. Suppose i just would love to see all those old bikes that were around when i first started being used again. There must be some left that are rideable surely ? Perhaps not Oh well if you dont try eh ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2stroke4stroke Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Cue rapid increase in prices of these scarce early machines as demand soars in order to take part in these events. A side issue of which is something that always puzzled me; why, after selling a trials bike in those days, did they never seem to be seen again - who bought a trials bike not to use it? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trialsrfun Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 (edited) I think it was due to owning a new but completely undeveloped, uncompetitive bike that was quite unsuited to trials especially when compared to the rapidly improving Spanish machines. Also they had very little residual value depreciating as fast as a freefalling brick. Edited January 27, 2016 by trialsrfun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2stroke4stroke Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 I think it was due to owning a new but completely undeveloped, uncompetitive bike that was quite unsuited to trials especially when compared to the rapidly improving Spanish machines. Also they had very little residual value depreciating as fast as a freefalling brick. I never had one of those, it was my very early Bultacos then Ossa, Montesa and Suzukis that disappeared. And, to answer Deryk's point, the young lads weren't buying them as showpieces for there was nowhere to show 'em really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old trials fanatic Posted January 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 I think Deryk is referring to today. It really pains me to see these bikes polished to death and wheeled in and out of halls. For the life of me I just don't get it. To me these people are a bit sad or is it just that they can't ride and prefer to pay others to do the hard work while they just put it back together then make out its all theirs. Never understood all these "what's the correct shade of Bultaco blue" queries. Who really gives a toss it won't make it go any better! Competition bikes were built to be ridden. So you now have somewhere to ride them no more excuses. Sorry rant over. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie prescott Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Hi Guy's. Hi OTF. You know I have done the page on the "British Rival"! well I brought the spare engine home to take some photos of it for the page. So I thought, I will spend an hour to see if I can find any parts for this engine , a gasket set and that is about it .So unless you know any different anyone? You can see why there are not many of the machines fitted with the Fichtel and Sachs 1252/7A engine still competing ? well you can't get the parts. Simple has that, so they may be all sat in sheds with the engines in boxes. Regards Charlie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norman_wisdom Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 (edited) Hi Charlie, I think there are a few places doing bits. Probably not the cheapest motor but what is these days? http://www.sachsparts.se/ http://www.pentonpartsusa.com/4A%20Sachs%20engine.htm Edited January 27, 2016 by norman_wisdom 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old trials fanatic Posted January 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Hi Guy's. Hi OTF. You know I have done the page on the "British Rival"! well I brought the spare engine home to take some photos of it for the page. So I thought, I will spend an hour to see if I can find any parts for this engine , a gasket set and that is about it .So unless you know any different anyone? You can see why there are not many of the machines fitted with the Fichtel and Sachs 1252/7A engine still competing ? well you can't get the parts. Simple has that, so they may be all sat in sheds with the engines in boxes. Regards Charlie. You may well be right Charlie and this might explain the people who spend more on Solvol Autosol than i spend on tyres. Thing is with garage queens there doesnt even need to be any engine internals. Then again bearings are just bearings. A con rods just a con rod. You can always find a piston from something to fit. Cranks can be rebuilt. gears can be recut or modified. FCS we keep P65's running how hard can it be. Motor Minerelli engine parts are available which might be something to do with me thinking about a Cotton Cavalier There's a guy competes locally on a pre WW 2 Japette doesnt seem to need to leave it rotting in the garage worried about parts. You may well be right though. People seem to think everything must be on the shelf and have part numbers blah blah. We are supposed to be talking about Classic Trials bikes made 50 years ago after all. Nothing to do with the thread but it still amazes me how many times i get e mails asking for the post code for a field in the middle of nowhere. Dont people know how to use a map nowadays ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old trials fanatic Posted January 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Hi Charlie, I think there are a few places doing bits. Probably not the cheapest motor but what is these days? http://www.sachsparts.se/ http://www.pentonpartsusa.com/4A%20Sachs%20engine.htm Nice one Norman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hulmie Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 Hi OTF not wanting to rock the boat but this weekends event at Clifton...... I could do with some directions as I've never been to this site Cheers Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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