Trials Training And Technique

I'm never gonna be great on a bike, I can live with that but the last 2 trials (a week apart) I've been failing to live up to my own low standards. Bit of background, been an occasional rider for the last 3 years, but now I'm competing every week since December now I'm riding my twinshock SWM.....I've been getting much better, can track stand whilst waiting my turn to my surprise stop mid-section etc but if its a little slippy I'm all over the shop struggling for grip, sort of flopping around like a bag of dirty washing....so 1 step forward 2 steps back. I'm lucky in that I have my own small practice area with small obsticles and my riding was awful last week when pract…

Can anyone give tips on the technique for this? I'm referring to getting up a boulder from a stop with the front wheel on the face. Even balancing that way seems difficult to me but I have had some luck finding balance long enough to zap the back tire up on top. The problem is once the back is up I end up falling over backwards.

Thought I would share this 'top tip' with my Trials brethren which has been helping me recently. If I find my concentration going towards the end of a practice session, I'll start 'self-minding', ie talking out loud to myself about what I should be doing as I'm doing it. Curiously I find it most effective when I adopt a thick Yorkshire accent, specifically that of Martin Lampkin. "Come on Dougie! PerFECT! You've got about two inch. ForWARD!" Etc. it also helps that I practice alone so no one can hear me. Give it a try!

When turning to the left, full lock or close to it, what do you do with your right foot? Assuming the knee is way out as I have been taught it should be, where is the foot? Real question I'm getting to is, is the foot still in position on the rear brake or not? Or depends? Any experienced riders have some insight? I have tried to get that knee way out and still have the foot close to the brake but it's hella tricky.

for 1-2 ft logs, I think I have been doing it all wrong. And it has really come to light as I try to do double blip. Basically I have been raising the from wheel with the intention to hit the top 1/4 of the log approaching the top of arc of travel of the front wheel lift. Then a buddy pointed out to me to try to land the wheel to hit the top 1/4 of the log, but **on the way down** of the arc of travel of the front wheel. As soon as I touch, another blip to raise the front again, to expose the back wheel and over I go. Attached are a couple of pics. What do you all think?

I'm getting ready to go out in a bit and need some inspiration. I've got to the point I can lift the rear wheel consistently by compressing the suspension, applying front brake on rebound, then pushing the bars down and about the front wheel. I'm having trouble getting the back to get any kind of lateral movement though. Tips please!

Does anyone have advice on how to get used to progressive lenses while riding trials? Or is it a bad idea in general? I have the common failing of close up vision that comes with age. I normally wear progressive lenses but do not wear any glasses to ride or drive on the street or in the dirt. Distance vision is probably starting to fade a little so I started to think wearing glasses to ride may be a good idea and gave it a try. Problem number one is that all obstacles look at least 30% bigger. They really magnify the bottom portion of an obsacle where it first becomes vertical. The second problem is that looking up and down by rotating your eyes produces a diffe…

Yesterday, I took my first ever ride on a trials bike. I had known that there was a substantial amount of skill required to do this correctly, but boy, was I ever unprepared for what trials was all about. I had watched the Ryan Young and other Trials related how to videos on line. I knew that trying to climb a six foot sheer rock face was lunacy for a guy my age, but the examples of correct riding positions and techniques were pretty much counter intuitive to what I knew from riding a dirt bike. Luckily for me, no sooner than having pulled up to my parking area, a guy on a trials bike rode by. I flagged him down and explained my rather clueless situation with trials ridin…

Hi all. I can balance well with the engine off, on full or double pressures. What I struggle with is balancing with the engine on. Especially trying to balance whilst rolling to a stop. I also struggle with full lock turns, I'm not at the point yet where I can stop and balance mid turn. Mags has suggested in another thread to balance with the bike in gear, full lock and use the clutch/throttle to move the bike forward and then to stop and balance again. I've tried, but it's quite difficult. Does anyone have any tips? Why is it harder to balance rolling to a stop? Should you keep your body upright and the bike upright when doing a full lock turn or use the leaning the…

I've been riding around this area for years and never thought about how amazing it is until I bought a trials bike. I rode there yesterday and it's about as good as I can imagine. It actually looks even better up close Anyone care to come to Reno and give me some riding tips!

I'm really glad I found trials and this is why... Here's my list! Please add to it, ok?!? Trials is great exercise! Outdoors, and fresh air! No one cares if you're terrible! Immensely challenging! Can practice engine on or off! Bikes (arguably) can run forever! Events are cheap to enter! Trials folks are friendly! Can do trials in any climate! Way safer than most (all?) other forms of motorcycling! I feel lucky to have found trials and all of you on TC, Happy Holidays all

Well i got out and gave it a go today. I still have some setup issues like the bars feel too low and the suspension bottoms too easily and feels too slow in the rebound.. Might need different springs. Anyway i went up behind my house and tried a few double blips. Laughing because it seemed like i was going so slow and looking at the video i think i was still going too fast. The second one was the best i think. I set the front tire on top of the rock even though i was aiming for the face. The on top technique feels more natural so i might concentrate on that for a while before i go back to bashing the face. Despite what ive read all over the place, i still wasnt ready for …

Was thinking a bit about the physics of trials- in a laymen's sense. Is it possible that a heavier rider may have an advantage over a lighter rider, all other things being equal? The heavier rider gets more traction presumably, and has a greater weight to bike weight ratio. Perhaps the heavier rider has more control in the sense that the heavy rider is less prone to being influenced by the bikes actions. Over a rocky creek for example the bike is reacting to the terrain, can a 200 lb. rider influence the bike to do what he wants more than a 150 lb. rider of equal skill. Does the extra weight make the bike have less "say" in its trajectory and give the rider more control? …

I would have thought there would be a thread on this already but my search came up with nothing so I thought it would be good to start a discussion. I've watched everything I can find on both of these techniques as well as read through threads when I can find them and I am still very unclear on what a zap is and how it differs from the db. The db makes perfect sense to me. I can see how it functions and have seen it in slow motion. The zap from what I can tell is basically a db on steroids. More throttle with a clutch drop in the second blip. I have read somewhere that it is important to turn off the power as the rear wheel contacts the obstacle. If this is the case is it…

My first post after lurking for a while....Hello! I used to ride trials as a lad (a few decades ago when twin shocks were still cutting edge!) and really fancy having another go. My 'skills' will be pretty rusty but I've been racing MX til a few years ago so am not totally lost off road......however, I'll be pretty rubbish!! I'm looking for a Trials school that provides teaching + bikes for a day's try-out. I live in SE London so anywhere nearish to there would be perfect. All the ones I've found are right oop north and just too far to travel within a day In another life, distance wouldn't have been a problem, but now I've got a young family so am very 'time-poor'. …

Currently I don't have access to much trials country as my bike is down south of where I live (2 hours away) as I don't have enough room for it in the City (Australia/Sydney/CBD) so currently I only ride on the weekends. I was thinking about buying a trials bike to muck around on during the weekdays. I'm wondering if this is a good form of cross-training for moto trials? I have noticed that a lot of the guys who a very fluid on the motorbikes are from a bike trials background. If I was to buy a bike, it would most likely be a mod 20" and mostly would just dick around in small areas up stairs and what not. Thoughts? Anyone else done the same? Did it help?

I've been watching some video of Tony Bou and it occurred to me how amazing he is at hopping on his back wheel. What I'm wondering is, when you are hopping in wheelie position, but staying in place, say maybe just spinning around, is he on the gas and feathering the clutch or just the back brake?

Having trouble with downhills... Do you pull the clutch in and just use brakes? Or leave the clutch out and use engine braking? I've been getting conflicting advice from different people, not sure what to do. I find I tend to stall the bike down hill with the clutch out, but my friends say keeping the clutch in will make it more likely to lock up the rear wheel...

I picked myself up a 2001 Beta rev 3 last week and have been watching a bunch of Australian guys on you tube (brilliant video's) and trying to put what iv seen into pratice. Ill put up a little vid, and would welcome any comments. I have no rear brake pedal st the moment, but hope to get one sorted next week. Shay

Which of the two do you use when making tight turns, figure 8 etc?. When riding on road bikes, I have been always using rear brake only when making slow speed turns, u turns, etc, in order to prevent losing balance if front brake is applied to abruptly. Is it the same with trial bike?