General Trials Talk

Who is the Sportsman class really aimed at? With my very limited experience of trials i assumed non-competitive, new or older riders wanting a non dangerous ride. But i keep seeing what look like rather good riders taking the class very serious. This doesn't bother me at all, but am a bit botherd when i hear them complaining it was ''too easy'' and see they drop very few points. If organisers heed thier complaints and make sections more difficult where do riders like myself (frankly a bit rubbish!) or new riders go?? For various reasons i just don't want to ever ride a section that requires skills i simply don't have to avoid injury. Whilst they could easily go up a …

I have talked about this on the forums before i think. I have narrowed it down to 3 bikes. The montesa 4rt 260 cota, 2016 sherco 300 and the vertigo combat camo. All are excellent bikes. The problem is O cant decide on which one to go for. When i test rode the vertigo i thought it was great. I felt like I could do very good on it. The sherco I felt a bit unsure it didn't seem to ride as nice as I thought it would. But I still feel that I could do good on it. The montesa I thought rode great but i am worried it may effect my results. For example I am worried about the extra weight. I feel that the montesa would be the more fun to ride but I am worried about it effecting m…

With plenty of talk on all the forums and at your local trials as to which rule is which thought I might have a crack at this poll thing. Also hopefully added what you prefer to ride and what you think is the best way forward no pun intended, for Trials at all levels whether that be competing, observing or sticking the flags in!!!

January see

Having recently won a bike on a popular auction site i wish to offer a word of warning, Having not used this before i wish i had been warned myself described as "Bike is in excellent condition. Has had a full service and is ready to ride." on the phone the young gent said it was a "minter" i am new to online auctions and thankfully opted to pay cash when collecting then drove from north of dundee to north yorkshire This is to the best of my opinion and am sure other faults exist. wheel bearings front and back, swinging arm bearings and linkage collapsed - pads rear on metal damaged d…

I'm pleased to announce the addition of a new feature to Trials Central - The Trials Central Garage! This addition to the TC Forums allows you to show off your bike(s), upload pictures of it/them, describe them and detail and rate any modifications you have carried out. This new feature is available to ALL registered TC Forum members, not just Trials Central Supporters. You may upload up to 3 images per bike. You may upload up to 3 images per modification with an unlimited number of modifications. You may create details of up to 50 bikes (it had to be that high to cater for Big John!) Image sizes are limited to 300KB per image and a maximum resolution of 1024x768.…

1. Bou 2. Raga 3. Busto 4. Fajardo 5. Casales 6. Cabestany 7. Fuji 8. Ferrer 9. Tarres 10.Karlsson

In this weeks T&MX news, Rappers states that he believes all trials should now go over to FIM rules. ie- one for stopping. He suggests that the "better riders" get away with shorts stops because they are feet up and in control, where as the "strugglers" who foot through a section making similar length short stops are frequently given a five. I must say his argument makes sense.... or does it? Is this what happens?

I need to get my head round why the likes of trials UK and others on here state that to calm a bike down, you can DOWN tooth the front sprocket ? Yes, I know there are various other ways also, but specifically this route ? Coming from a road riding perspective, as I do, and fairly new to trials, this flies in the face of what happens with road/track/race bikes. Can anyone give me an explanation to this.

Back in the day, when men were men and badly suspended twin shock bikes bounced into your nuts so often it made you sound like anything but, we all kind of knew the pecking order as to what was the best piece of kit at any given time. We had the most popular evolution of roughly Mont, Bultaco, Ossa, Yamaha, Fantic and SWM. Each taking the previous ones crown and moving the game on significantly over the last ‘best thing.’ There were many others, like the Beamish Suzuki, but they never quite gained the kind of popularity needed to give real credence to being ‘the best’ at the time. We may not have personally ridden them, or even liked them, but purely as a machi…

At the risk of feeling like Rappers here, taking his weekly flogging for his opinions, I am going to throw out a few things that may or may not draw opinions from others that may be interisted. As the title states, much of this is "seat of the pants" as I am not fortunate enough to have a DYNO sitting in the shed to prove or disprove anything! Some of this would need "Myth Busters" money to prove or disprove! Firstly, Spark Plugs make a difference! I believe they do! Many bikes run the standard plug such as a BP5ES closed down to as little as .020 or .5mm in an effort to accomodate the low power ignition systems on most bikes. You simply have to take advantage of what i…

Ok... up on my soapbox now! There is a complete bias towards off road motorcycles here in Australia and especially trials bikes because they cant be registered for road use. I dont mean I want to ride one on the road but if you have a trail bike or enduro bike you can trailer your bike to any state forest and ride your trail bike so long as you have your on-road motorcycle licence. Hell! You dont even need a permit! The only place you can ride a trials bike is private land and anytime you say any word with motorcycle in it the land owner says "Sorry mate, not on my land you might freak the animals", or you'll tear up the land and make noise. The nearest land I can ri…

does any one know of some videos on the internet that i can download?

Here we go... love it or hate it? I'm currently running Castrol TTS but was told that a teaspoonful of Castrol R in the mix will give you the classic 2 stroke smell, without the associated running problems. I'm off to make the woodlands smell nicer... Boner.

I’ve kept my bikes in a shed for a few years now, but this winter it seems extra damp. my bikes are constantly wet, I’ve tried a small tube heater but it hasn’t helped Does anyone else have this problem?

Didn't realise that Barry and Heath had an Italian branch of the infamous r2wtrials team, check out this Cheers Martin

just how reliable is buying a bike off ebay? commiting to buy a bike you haven't seen. has anyone had any trouble?

Just before the purist's start going crazy, this is just meant as an observation but why are there still trials that have a 'road' element in them. I understand from the early days that most trials bikes were road bikes anyway so it didnt matter, but nowadays, a modern trials bike just aint suited to the road. no seat, a petrol tank that holds sod all and tyres that are just crap to use on the road.( as well as they dont last long either) So whats the point? The other obvious observation is it excludes youths who arent old enough to get a licence. What does riding on the road add to a trial ?. If its regarded as an endurance test then thats better to be done off road s…

I’ve decided that I really don’t enjoy competitive observed trials riding... but love riding my trials bike. This dawned on me as I rode between sections at a competition today... Other than observed trials competitions what riding could I do with my bike?

im looking for a good quality bike wash easily available by mail order or whatever i used to use a product called moto wash which i beleive was made by ipone but can no longer find it locally ive tried a product called ( rather amusingly) fuchs off which i was given at the bike show but its still not as good as the ipone product ......... HELP !!