lopez

Bold new graphics, finely tuned clutch springs, refined mapping, etc etc etc Old wine in a new bottle as per usual from Beta. Hope the Factory will at least look a little more exciting

Overall I thought it was pretty well organised and had a nice almost "clubman" feel to it. There are not many sports where the top competitors are literally walking around/riding around amongst you - I like that. I was amazed at the lack of merchandise/trade stands though. I've been to hundreds of sporting events over the years, this is the only one where I literally could not find anything to spend my money on other than your standard overpriced festival/show burger and a programme which I declined. If it had rained 80% of the people parked in that field would have been screwed, so I'm glad it didn't.

Same thoughts here. I've never been to any kind of sporting event where there was literally no merchandise or gear you could buy!

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.

Saw one today at Silsden. Black plastics are now red, bold new graphics, and some of the wiring shizzle has moved. Beta are really taking the "Evo" name literally.

Pretty much how I feel. They should just work!

Well as I was taking the switch off to send it back, I tested it once more. With the switch off the handlebars, it works fine. If you put it back on the bars and tighten it, it stops working. If you have it on the bars but fairly lose it still works, as you tighten it it stops working.

2016 Beta Evo. Was fitted with a standard push-button kill switch. Remove old kill switch. Take 2 wires that used to go into the kill switch. Wires separate, bike runs. Wires touching, bike stops. So there is no loom issue or anything like that. Fit new Apico lanyard kill switch. Brown wire to brown wire on bike, black wire to black wire on bike. Lanyard magnet on, bike runs. Lanyard magnet off, bike still runs. Switch is brand new, and when you remove the magnet you can feel/hear a faint tick which is, I assume the switch opening and closing inside as you would expect. Dodgy switch? Seems unlikely as it's brand new but anything is possible....

Very good service from John Lee in my experience.

Ha! No, she lives abroad, and likes the Beta because it's the colours of the Slovakian flag, so no issues there!

I keep my Evo in the kitchen. I wash it outside, dry it down and then wheel it through the door. It's not completely theft proof but it's a lot better than keeping it in the wooden shed in the garden.

There has to be a balance You can't stop complete beginners who can barely stand on a bike from learning in competition trials. Unless you want to have a complete shake up of the sporting regulations If you do that, you start defeating the object of trials being a true clubman/grass roots sport and you make it inacessible We have another big thread on this forum about how the sport is struggling for entries, and more people need to take the plunge and start competing, and then we have a thread here saying that people they shouldn't be entering events unless they can complete their sections and not cause a hold up for everyone else I'm not taking offence, just trying to offer a balanced view. The sport cannot have it all ways. As for me, if I fail, I swear at myself and then get out of the section as quickly and easily as I can without getting in the way. Sometimes the only viable route is the remainder of the section, sometimes there is an easy exit path. At the trial I did recently there was a lot of queueing where there were 2 tricky sections back to back, causing a bottleneck - but the only pushing in I saw was from kids being encouraged to do so by their parents.

When I lived in Wales, observers at our club trial got free egg and chips and a pint if I remember rightly.

My 300 Factory is physically hard to kick (as in it has a good amount of compression), but easy to start in that it fires first kick 99 times out of 100. In fact, other than when it's running out of petrol or been parked up for months I don't think it's ever not started on the first kick.

I can't even take my test on my bike - it's road registered, but I'd have to buy or hire something else, as it doesn't fit the criteria set out by the government. You might have taken your test on a 240 Fantic, but you cannot do that now. 120-125cc is a "light motorcycle", then the next category is "standard motorcycle" which means a capacity jump to 395cc - neatly cutting out the huge majority of trials bikes old and new which cannot be used to take your test on. My local practice ground is ten minutes away, so the ability to ride there would be great - but I think the cost of obtaining a motorbike licence today just isn't justifiable for lots of people, particularly those who would seldom actually ride on the road.

Earl Shilton does training days at a very reasonable price. Inch Perfect was expensive but included bike/kit/food and I got a lot from it, they pushed us much harder than I expected they would.

Thanks, I've been practicing there a while but this was my first event. I really couldn't believe how boggy it was around the back (sections 6 to 8), never seen it so badly chewed up and sticky like that.

Earl Shilton

Well after lots of time mucking about but never actually competing, I entered my first trial at the weekend. It felt a little bit unfamiliar/disorganised to me because I've never entered one before, no inherent organisational issues, but nobody died and everything overall went smoothly. I just followed everyone else. The hardest things for me were 1) Following the route marking. With different routes for novice/expert etc I personally found it tough to remember where I was supposed to be going all the time and I didn't think things were clear on every section sometimes even after walking them a few times. 2) I was KNACKERED by lap 4 3) Conditions were really really muddy and slippery compared to what I've practiced in, but I guess that's the same for everyone There were 69 full entries I think, and I : 1) Didn't come last 2) Improved during the event 3) Cleaned some sections 4) Learned a lot 5) Didn't fall off 6) Didn't break or damage anything (me or the bike) Overall, really happy I entered, great day, great value, can't wait to do another. Totally different world to practicing free format. Loved it!

I bought a 300 because I could not find any 250cc examples for sale. I'd agree with most of the feedback in this thread - you aren't going to die in a ball of flames or anything but I do find it tires me more than my previous 250. When I get really tired I feel the bike is riding me, rather than me riding the bike. I did 4 laps of 10 sections at the weekend, and by lap 4 I was really knackered to be honest. I think a 200 or 250 would have been less tiring, but it wasn't like the 300 was completely unsuitable or anything like that.

I have a 2016 Factory that spends more time upside down bouncing down ravines than it does on it's wheels, and so far no mudguard issues. Actually the first time I dropped it was at the top of a 50 foot embankment and the rear mudguard hooked under a tree root and stopped it near the bottom. Didn't break but was bent back 180 degrees.

Looks like something Evel Knievel would ride. I haven't read all the blurb yet but I'm guessing at things like "optimised clutch springs" "significantly lightened master cylinder caps" and "reprofiled outer cylinder head for aerodynamic maximisation" or something along those lines.

I'm only hypothesising, I haven't been involved in the sport for 50 years so I don't know myself - I'm just looking at the feedback within the thread

But they don't have to die out. There has already been a lot of discussion in this thread about some of the reasons that new riders don't enter trials....... The common themes seem to be 1) Accessibility/ease of use from an administrative perspective - ie joining, knowing when events are on, knowing where to go, facilities, advertising 2) Once you find an event, general bewilderment/finding the sport confusing or difficult to break into as a novice 3) Actual section difficulty. Multi course addresses 3) although it can actually inadvertently add to the issues caused by 2), but I don't think things like bike training and free entry and multiple classes/routes actually make the sport easier to get involved in.

You make an awful lot of assumptions and have a very black and white view on matters. Why go to a trial which is only a competitive sport then? I guess because you enjoy the riding without feeling the need for competition. I used to do a lot of road rallying, you get plenty of people who enter for the enjoyment rather than the competition. They don't care if they are way behind on penalties and time, they just want to drive around the course and finish. Same goes for lots of other "clubman sports" such as various types of running discipline, cycling, all sorts of things. Have you found out as a hobby rider you have no were to go to ride (which could be more of the truth) If you are referring to me, no - I have a club with it's own practice ground and I can use it as often as I wish. Off road bikes will always present a challenge when it comes to riding locations - which is why I checked before I bought one. Observed Trials is a sport, and sports are competitive. This I understand. But surely you can appreciate that some people (not talking about me) will just want to ride around a section without getting caught up in the competitive element and have a good time, just as they do in countless other "sports" around the world.