Trials Questionnaire for a school project

[section swept]

On 30/08/2018 at 3:44 PM, BGS_90 said:

I am doing some research for a project about Trials Bike safety features and would appreciate anyone who would answer the questions below

Thanks

Durability and Safety of Trials Bikes 

How often do you damage or need to undergo repairs to the bike? (Give examples)

How easy are these repairs to fix?

Do you ever hurt yourself when riding a trials bike? (Give examples)

What, if anything, do you think could be done to improve the riders safety?

Trials bikes have many safety features, do you think they go far enough to protect the rider?

 

 

You have a very thin profile. Surely you mean that you would appreciate answers from anyone, rather than your stated ‘would appreciate anyone’ how are you going to do that? If you are genuine then I hope you get enough information for your project, talk to your teacher about correct English, may be both will learn something! 

The title is incorrect, subject matter should be first and then the areas of question, ie Trials Motorcycles their durability and safety. 

Your questions are not phrased correctly and some are negative, speak with teacher.

However in the interests of helping with data collecting, I will answer your five questions.

How often do I damage my bike? I try not to as repairs can be unpredictable and usually involve time and money. The type of trial and other factors such as weather and condition of the trials area, or practice ground will have an effect upon damage. An example could be a sideways drop onto rocks, protruding tree stump or worse a drop from a ledge. Repairs might be a new tank, handlebars and a few levers, ripped saddle, bent wheels, bent or dented frame, broken mudguards, exhaust crushed, holed engine cases.

How easy are these repairs to fix ....or more correctly....How easy is it to get the damage repaired? Well if the Trials Motorcycle suffered the above listed damage I may well think about competing in another sport or giving up due to the prohibitive costs. After careful assessment (see the pun) of myself and the machine I would draw up a list of parts needed and shop around to see if the parts are available. Then I would need to decide about who will carry out the repairs, I might need to enlist specialists for the repairs beyond my skills.

Do I ever hurt myself when riding a Trials bike? Well I try not to hurt myself when riding any motorcycle, I don’t hit myself in the face as this tends to upset my balance and it would look very strange to other road users! Twisting my wrist with my other hand whilst riding....anything also tends to be very dangerous! I do hurt myself if my foot slips off the kickstart, this is not intentional and you may find that this will create a spike in your data as many people could give a similar example. Another example would be where I have to dismantle part of the bike and a spanner could slip and the potential for damaged fingers.

What if anything ( this is very negative..but full marks for comma placement) do you think could be done to improve the riders safety? This question poses more issues for other sports where a rider could be considered to be in danger such as horse riders, they sit much higher up than a rider on a Trials motorcycle and only wear a little safety hat. If a Trials motorcycle rider takes a tumble it could hurt but then again it depends how they fall and what they fall on. As I am sure that you are aware a MotoGP rider would look ridiculous riding a Trials motorcycle in their protective leathers with back and chest protectors and full face helmet. Motorcycle Enduro riders wear as much protective equipment, but it is less obvious and a lot of Trials riders do wear similar safety equipment but as the speeds are so much slower it comes down to a personal choice as to what each individual wears for the type of trial entered, or practice ground chosen. Now take a look at the stunt/ bicycle rider who wears virtually nothing but a tee-shirt, baggy trousers ( good title for a song there) and trainer shoes but regularly falls off and more often than not ends up soaking in surgical spirit or in A &E. I think Trials motorcycle riders are already very well catered for in the safety department!

Trials bikes have many safety features, do you think they go far enough to protect the rider? The direct answer to this question is no Trials bikes (see last previous answer)have no safety features at all, some don’t even have any brakes. These aren’t even legal to use on the road or footpath. But Trials motorcycles do have some safety features that are equivalent to any road going Motorcycle. All have front and rear brakes, an engine de-activation system that might be an ignition kill switch, engine decompressor valve or both systems employed. Many have lights fitted for road use between trial sections when the weather is poor, some are road legal but do not have lights but do have an audible warning device and these equate to safety features. In the case of the latter, when the weather is inclement it is safer to not operate a daytime use only vehicle on the public roads, this is another safety requirement as opposed to feature. Do these safety features on Trials motorcycles go far enough to protect the rider? Go far enough? Are they developed enough would be a clearer question. They match the current regime of devices deemed sufficient to be related to safety. A kill switch stops the engine which is useful if the rider is underneath his or her machine, allowing the rider or a third party to operate the device and prevent potential injury from rotating components such as the rear wheel and chain drive. The decompressor has the same effect but may take a few seconds to stop the engine. Other than that it really is the responsibility of the rider to take steps to look after their safety. An example could be where the rider makes the decision to enter a section and attempt to complete it or decide to miss that section as being too difficult for them. The top riders competing in today’s events are fit athletes who employ minders to literally help break the riders fall if they get a section wrong. In club trials there are spectators and officials or observers that will offer help when a rider has problems. So Trials motorcycle riding is a relatively safe sport involving slow speeds and careful planning, unlike most other forms of sport that involve speed. There are more people hurt crossing the road than in most forms of organised motorsport! I think safety has kept up with motorsport and all its derivatives and currently is at its best.

Now before you print this lot off and re-edit it to submit as your work like so many students before, consider that it’s taken me an hour of my time that I won’t get back. If you are an insurance clerk carrying out your bosses instructions then ok, but if you are a serious student I hope that you can use some of this input to good use. Pity I can’t add you to the list of students that I have helped to get into Uni.??

Edited September 4, 2018 by section swept

[bikerpet]

How often do I damage my bike? - Not often at all. I fit handguards (plastics largely or completely removed) to avoid busting levers. I replace rear mudguard bolts with cable ties that break before the guard does. I'm old enough and have enough imagination to be somewhat cautious.

Repairs - generally pretty easy with some reasonable mechanical knowledge, and for a motor-sport fairly infrequent.

Do I hurt myself - yes, but not often or badly so far. Bruises and sprains.

Rider safety - I wear good quality MTB knee guards and protective shirt (chest, back & shoulder pads). Sometimes elbow pads as well if it's rocky and I'm planning on extending myself. Magnetic kill switches are a great thing - yes sometimes they cause problems but mostly they save things. Clutches & brakes do the same but I'd not like to ride without them either. Not carrying a spare magnet (they grab onto any spare bit of steel) and having to walk is operator choice. I sometimes think boots could be improved with impact absorbing insoles for when we jump off onto hard ground from a height.

Bike safety features - they have very few really. Guards on the discs & sprockets and sometimes a magnetic kill switch. Perhaps a pad on the handlebars. For the most part they have few sharp edges on "body work". Exposed headers are a potential hazard that could be better guarded on many bikes. On the whole it's not bad for an inherently hazardous activity.

[b40rt]

13 minutes ago, bikerpet said:

Not carrying a spare magnet (they grab onto any spare bit of steel) and having to walk is operator choice. 

 

Unplug the  kill switch from the circuit, ride home ......

[lopez]

On 30/08/2018 at 4:44 PM, BGS_90 said:

I am doing some research for a project about Trials Bike safety features and would appreciate anyone who would answer the questions below

Thanks

Durability and Safety of Trials Bikes 

How often do you damage or need to undergo repairs to the bike? (Give examples)

How easy are these repairs to fix?

Do you ever hurt yourself when riding a trials bike? (Give examples)

What, if anything, do you think could be done to improve the riders safety?

Trials bikes have many safety features, do you think they go far enough to protect the rider?

 

 

A couple of the responses in this thread are really out of order, I can see there has already been some "cleaning up" done.

 

1) Not often. In 18 months I have replaced 1 mudguard, 1 brake lever, 1 gear lever and 1 set of handlebars. Most of these were from contact with the scenery, ie bashing against rocks/trees rather than actually falling off. Generally I'd say the fit and finish and durability of trials bikes is poor though - bolts come loose, finishes tarnish quickly, stickers fall off.

 

2) The repairs above are generally extremely simple (no harder than fixing a bicycle) bit sometimes costly (£110 for a plastic mudguard)

 

3) Yes, minor abrasions but mostly bruising. I tend to get most bruised on the insides of my knees and legs where they are not protected by my boots

 

4) Magnetic lanyard kill switches are okay but I'd like to see a more fool proof or advanced method of disabling a runaway machine.

 

5) Overall yes I do. Motor sport is inherently dangerous and trials must rank as one of the safest forms of motorsport, often due to the low speeds involved.

[feetupfun]

On 9/4/2018 at 3:54 PM, lineaway said:

 I guess you have never scratched your nose while at high speed? You have never seen the magnet remove itself from a hard hit into an obstacle? You have never seen a thorn kill the bike and the rider crashes from a sudden stop? Said device does not work properly and there is no other kill switch on the bike to turn off a high rpm motor. These things all have happened many times. Also if you lose the magnet (A bush grabs the tether and it takes off like a missile into no mans land) you now have a non running 150lb Strider.

 Tell me of another moto sport that uses this cheap device.

Speedway solos and sidecars, MX sidecars and probably others I don't know about.

There is no rule against fitting a second kill switch of any type you like.

[turbofurball]

On 30/08/2018 at 3:44 PM, BGS_90 said:

Durability and Safety of Trials Bikes

1. Damage due to accidents is probably once in every 6 competitions for me (a low level rider on classic bikes)

2. Usually easy to repair, however parts need to be ordered and posted etc.

3. I have received bruises and a couple of grazes so far, but that's all.  I'm 41 now so tend to be quite "risk averse"

4. In my opinion, making engine stop lanyards mandatory would help.  Also, some knee, hip, and elbow protection in trials clothing would help with the injuries I've sustained - I've tried wearing normal motorbike armour, and it's just too hot.

Full face helmets (as used for downhill mountain biking) have been proposed as being more suitable for the risks in trials, over road legal open face ones.  I quite fancy getting one, but I think that again heat would be a major problem.

5. The bikes themselves do enough, but clothing could be improved in my opinion

[lineaway]

6 hours ago, feetupfun said:

Speedway solos and sidecars, MX sidecars and probably others I don't know about.

There is no rule against fitting a second kill switch of any type you like.

 Many forms have used a dead mans or tether for decades. Just not a magnet.

[turbofurball]

26 minutes ago, lineaway said:

 Many forms have used a dead mans or tether for decades. Just not a magnet.

I've had a non-magnet lanyard before, it was a bit crap but if you want one then knock yourself out ... I've had zero issues with mine this far, whereas I had a couple of drops where the machine kept running for a while because I couldn't get back to a traditional kill switch quickly.

 

On 04/09/2018 at 10:27 AM, section swept said:

... some don’t even have any brakes. ... All have front and rear brakes, ...

Ummm ...

Also, both my bikes are registered and legal to ride on the road while in competition trim