Where are all the entries????

[cabby]

2 hours ago, turbofurball said:

Dunno about that, you can be conpetitive on cross country on a £2K bike ... anyway, this is getting away from my main point, which is that modern mountain bikes are super convenient, multi-purpose, low on faff, and can be ridden anywhere.  The cost is a more minor consideration.

Another thing is that riding a trials bike is less environmentally friendly, which matters to many young people.

Your forgetting something.....you have to do the work yourself 

I have various mtbs/cx bikes, and everytime I make a decision on which one to use, it's the one with the two stroke engine in it wins every time  

[baldilocks]

£65 to enter the MTB Enduro event at Alwinton this weekend. For that they get practice on sat pm and to ride the event on the Sunday. 

[huski]

Southern enduro MTB series is £42.50 to enter for 1 lap with 5 stages practice,then another race lap of the same.Most of the bikes look nearly new,roughly £4 k.The entries are over subscribed at around 200,so I don't think cost of trials would put these people off,but hardly any of them have heard of trials.Most people can ride a pushbike,a lot perceive motorcycles as too dangerous and won't go near one,These mtb riders also go out during the week for practice and training,it's a way of life for them

Somehow our beloved sport needs promoting far more,but I can't think how and by whom 

[cleanorbust]

29 minutes ago, huski said:

 

Somehow our beloved sport needs promoting far more,but I can't think how and by whom 

Exactly what people were saying...twenty years ago. I think they've largely moved on to other pursuits. 

And we're still here.

Beloved? Yes, and what makes it so for me is the down-home, low key culture.

Edited September 25, 2017 by cleanorbust

[baldilocks]

By the way the event I mentioned is full, 450 entries. They have a brewery attending with a beer tent, a band , a dj and a mobile pizza company. It's a different scale altogether 

[cleanorbust]

23 minutes ago, baldilocks said:

By the way the event I mentioned is full, 450 entries. They have a brewery attending with a beer tent, a band , a dj and a mobile pizza company. It's a different scale altogether 

Quite.

[baldilocks]

Ah the second favourite pastime of the keyboard warrior.

The first is spending other people's money. Why don't the trade / acu / fim pay for....

The second is the same principle but it's people's time. I'm not saying that isn't a good idea @oni nou just asking who in the acu or local clubs has the time or money.

[boringac]

With technology now direct promotion in my eyes isn’t the problem. The hobby/sport needs to be a spectator sport; this means harder sections and better riders.

Have local events catering for this too rather than only the average clubman rider who doesn’t care about fitness/practicing, and the likes of Facebook/Instagram etc.. will do the promoting.

Far too many people who ‘ride trials’ don’t ride trials, they ride around in circles and make the usual excuses ‘it’s too dangerous/work in the morning’ for not improving and doing the hobby/sport justice.

But this is just my point of view.

[b40rt]

Golf is losing numbers too, can't say its not well catered for, no venues, no media exposure ...

[2stroke4stroke]

19 hours ago, huski said:

Southern enduro MTB series is £42.50 to enter for 1 lap with 5 stages practice,then another race lap of the same.Most of the bikes look nearly new,roughly £4 k.The entries are over subscribed at around 200,so I don't think cost of trials would put these people off,but hardly any of them have heard of trials.Most people can ride a pushbike,a lot perceive motorcycles as too dangerous and won't go near one,These mtb riders also go out during the week for practice and training,it's a way of life for them

Somehow our beloved sport needs promoting far more,but I can't think how and by whom 

I doubt whether mountain bike riders have that perception, of trials certainly, the mountainbike mags have columns to show off photos of one's injuries so they don't seem averse to danger. Plus, they know that the pros use trials or motocross bikes for training purposes.   The last published photo of a trials "injury" I can recall was Malcolm Rathmell's gloveless hands after the Scott, which was a wee while ago.

And I wouldn't want all the razamatazz at a local trial. Just running the basic events in a year stretches most club's resources ie it's the same few people putting in the effort.

Ironically enough, a few guys up here who disappeared to mountain bike competition twenty years ago (it was not feasible to do both at a good level) seem to have come back to trials.

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2017 by 2stroke4stroke

[gavin]

i dont know if this comment has already been made, but to me coming back to trials after well over 30 years, and based on the two events i've been to in the last month there really are no older cheap bikes entered (except me). i did see the same at enduros when i looked at a few in the last few years with a view to racing again (when i started racing enduro in the very early 90s there used to be a dedicated old cheap bike class and it had good numbers of entrants). same with the schoolboys i see, when i was a kid starting out in trials most of us had something ancient that our dad's put together yet now its all shiney new kit for everyone no matter what class they ride in.

the irony is that to enter a trial is ridiculously cheap, i pay more for a basic club running race and at least double the trials entry fee for a larger event so its pocket money pleasure really.

so maybe if you could encourage more of a run what ya brung it might bring in some entrants.

oh, that and the acu website is an utter joke for both joining the acu and searching for events.

[turbofurball]

I've not seen any barriers to people riding old machines, there's lots of people entering events on modern style bikes over 10 years old; at the sportsman level I don't think any working machine stops people from doing well

[johnnyboxer]

One of my bikes is 10 years old and the other is 20 years old, both fine and miles better than me

[dadof2]

On 19/09/2017 at 10:36 AM, on it said:

why will more practice areas be better ? will that give riders some were to ride and NOT go to trials ,as we are trying to get entrys ? as for entry level motorcycles ?at what cost against 2nd hand bike is there a profit in it ?   so if its cost  why do you see some new riders out on factory replicas or new bikes ? DavidBaker  summed the problem  with  new riders  ( trials is a sport so why get a trials bike ) ?

 

 but trials is a sport 

Practice areas - perhaps I should have used the phrase "pieces or rough ground" where anyone can ride what they want without interference from the police. Quite a lot of youngsters would love a motorbike or quad but their parents will not let them have one because there is nowhere convenient to ride it. many parents will have seen press articles about the police seizing and crushing kids motorcycles confiscated on housing estates. I am not saying all kids who play on bikes will end up as trials riders, but without this basic pool of off road riding interest far less will.

I am aware of quite a few parents who have some idea of what trials is, they do have some access to land and they decide to buy a secondhand bike, typically spending £800 to £1500. Child then crashes the bike, mudguard and master cylinder broken - there goes £160. Dad fits the parts, junior looking forward to get back on then guess what, the brake won't bleed. Frustration and another night in the garage but no fix. Then £30 at the dealer to have the brake fixed. All goes well for a couple of weeks then the bike starts getting hard / impossible to start and much pushing and frustration. Dad then takes the plug out and its oiled up and sooty, New plug fitted and same problem happens again. Dad advised (by friend who has never actually seen the bike) that carb needs stripping / cleaning / adjusting. Dad then finds he has to strip half the bike to get the carb out. Dad (who has never worked on a carb before) strips cleans and refits the carb - the bike now won't run properly. Several more carb strips (mounting frustration) no fix so off to the dealer. A few days later and a £70 bill and all is well again. By this time the kickstart has started playing up, then in the middle of nowhere it fails completely. Long push back Dad takes the case off, spring and broken bits fly out. Off again to the dealer for another big bill.

By this time junior is well fed up with unreliability and starts wanting a new bike (which dad can't afford) Dad is well cheesed off with always having to fiddle with the bike and spend on it. By now Mum is sick of the the whole damn thing and the cost in wasted time and money and Dad should be doing domestic DIY instead of fiddling with and wasting time and money on a nasty motorbike

The above is a scenario I have seen several times, the end result the family give up on the idea of trials and sell the bike. I have seen the same series of events in Karting and MX. That is why trials needs reliable and easy to fix entry level bikes with cheap parts.

Trials is "competing" with lots of other sports and activities for participants. I have no interest in playing computer games but some kids have, and I can see the attractions. They and their friends who live several miles apart can link up to form an SAS or SEAL team. They then spend several hours clearing buildings of terrorists or some other enemy. They work together as if they are communicating by walkie talkie. their friends provide covering fire whilst they reload of clean their weapon, it very realistic (visually) and they can enjoy it all sitting in an armchair with drink and pizza close at hand. Trials are not attractive to youngsters brought up on this type of activity.

 

[breagh]

The bikes are too complicated but so are the rules and the way multi routes have developed.

The whole sport needs streamlined .

Generally speaking the more enjoyable a hobby the simpler it is and Trials flies in the face of this at all levels.