mattr

I heard that it was between Guatamala and Antartica... and Guatamala won. Looks like Antartica will be the following year. Hopefully, they will return to the USA someday. I really enjoyed the Duluth and TTC world rounds the last couple years.

The blue and green routes at TTC are exactly what our Experts and Pros need to compete on at every National event. If you want easier sections, then don't compete at this level. If you don't raise the bar on section difficulty, there is no motivation to improve as a rider. We are not talking about Intermediate or Sport riders here... these are Experts and Pros. They are supposed to be our best. If they can't handle the World Junior and Youth sections, then they don't deserve recognition as "Expert" or "Pro".

I think our National guys train and compete on sections not up to "world" standards. It looked like the Experts and Pros were riding this type of terrain for the first time in many cases. Why not make our upper class sections more difficult (more world-type sections)? Sure, the points will be higher for all competitors but that is part of learning. Increase the overall challenge and our top guys will improve over time. If our top guys are scoring low points in our normal Nationals, then the sections are not challenging enough. Not to point fingers here, but Geoff Aaron is a great rider but looked like an amateur against the World Juniors.

This year the Nationals are being held in conjunction with the WTC. So... Geoff Aaron should be riding at TTC this year, but for National points most likely.

This was my dilema. I bought a trials bike and rode for a few years. However, there were no good practise locations nearby and the only chance I got to ride was in competitions. I had to drive several hours one-way to the event, ride all day, and get back late at night. With a family, it was just to hard to get away for trials in my area. I ended up selling my bike and now only ride my enduro bike. I love the sport of trials, but not the way we do it in America.

You indicate this is at full closed throttle right? My bike will chug along in 1st gear with closed throttle (idle only) and feel choppy like you indicated. If I did this in a higher gear like 2nd or 3rd, the motor would probably stall. When riding at closed throttle in a section, I am always lightly slipping the clutch to smooth the power transfer and/or cracking the throttle open slightly. Note: if I tried this on my enduro bike, the engine would easily stall in any gear. I think the only reason you get away with it on a trials bike is the heavier flywheel.

It would be nice if the TTC (or somewhere else) was selected. Duluth was a great location, but after 3 times in a row and new location is needed.

Bruce did a nice job spotting the gap between the rock and marker. You could even hear a guy in the background asking if the marker was still there. A pro should always look for these advantages. If the event organizers wanted to prevent this, all they had to do was attach the marker to the rock. No way around it but up the rock face.

Alfie did good for his first trial. Seeing how the obstacle was less than shoulder width, he got through with a three. Dougie did a good job as minder. I wonder if he argued with the observer for a clean. All humor aside... congrats to the entire family!

Just thought I would pass this along... I was watching Two Wheel Tuesday on Speed TV and noticed that Greg White (the host) had a clip board with a ERE sticker on the back. I thought it was cool to see a bit of trials advertising.

Sting32, I've been to both 2002 and 2004. I hope to make is again this year. The weekend pass is cheap like $30. I chose to fly into Duluth and rent a car. I didn't feel like driving 10 hours which is similar to your distance. The cost of the trip can be a cheap as you wanted depending upon hotel vs. camp, fly vs. drive, etc. For me, I treat it like a vacation, enjoy the trip, and cost is last on my list. I would highly recommend going to see the World Round. Those guys are simply incredible to see in person. Videos don't give you the full perspective. You can find out more details at www.worldroundusa.com Hope you make the trip! Matt

GasGas USA site should have been listed too. They have regular updates and provide a great technical section by Jon Stoodley and Jim Snell. The Sherco site is also very good with the technical/service information provided. My vote goes to GasGas USA (www.gasgas.com)

Andrew, If I understood correctly, the low gear is up and the high gear is down. Kind of backwards from a normal bike. Anyways, it is a great tip and when my little ones get old enough the Kawa-zuki will definitely be considered. Do you know if the Yamaha PW50 has multiple gears? Also, how did you find out about this modification? Matt

Johnny, Johnny, Johnny... how could you let my deep hidden secrets out? Speaking of dressing up... we all know that you like running around in your hula skirt shaking that fat a*** of yours. So where are the photos that Copemech asked for... we would like to see you in your prom dress.

Now, if only Ringo's bed-buddy ChrisUK were on this site... it would be like the good old days. Wait... maybe Ringo is ChrisUK??? I always thought Ringo liked to play with himself.

Thanks for your feedback. I have also talked with Jim Snell (Gas Gas USA importer) and he confirmed that all bikes come from the factory that way. Like biff said, it was to keep the packing from blowing out the holes over time. I rode my bike last weekend and definitely felt improvements. Previously, my bike was sluggish/hesistated when you cracked the throttle. It is more responsive on the bottom end and that sluggish feeling is gone. Of course, the sound is better too (more like a brup, brup sound then pop, pop). I attribute this mainly to the new packing and not the lack of mesh around the inner tube. In case your interested, the old packing was very saturated with oil and carbonized around the tube. I'm definitely repacking the silencer on a regular basis. Jim Snell mentioned that the World Champ guys repack their silencer every trial and replace the middle chamber every couple trials. This is extreme but illustrates the importance of keeping your exhaust as fresh as possible. As a final note, it is important not to wrap the new packing too tightly around the inner tube. This will hurt the performance like it was old packing (too dense). I'm still not sure about the mesh versus no mesh thing. I will have to compare the next time I repack. Matt

I think it is the lack of bike availability in your local bike shop and places to ride for practice. In SE Michigan, people can go down to a shop and put up a dirt bike (Honda, Yamaha, KTM, etc.). There's a few tracks nearby for the MX folks and the Enduro guys can ride at Maumee State Forest or a few private areas. There is nothing suitable for Trials other than competitions. I rode at Maumee Forest before and many people were interested in my trials bike. Unfortunately, the land there is flat and only a few logs are around to play on. Not your ideal trials heaven. I think if better practice areas were available and people got to see others ride, then people may start crossing-over to our sport. Also without shop support, the average joe biker who doesn't work on their own bikes can be discouraged from buying a trials bike. Everything is mail-order and you are the mechanic. Matt

Up here in Michigan, we have the following classes: Youth Beginner Novice Intermediate Senior (over 40 yrs old, rides the intermediate lines) Sportsman Advanced Expert I have noticed in Michigan trials that there is a big jump between Novice and Intermediate. Many times the Novice lines are too easy and the Intermediate lines are too hard. People in the Novice class are sometimes scared to switch to Intermediate due to the difficulty differences. I think there are too many classes and some consolidation would help. I would like to see the Beginner class get more challenging (like using some Novice lines once in a while). I would now call them Novice and get rid of Beginner class. To me, a novice is a beginner in any sport. Combine the current Novice and Intermediate classes and decrease the difficulty slightly. I would call them Intermediate. Keep Sportmans as the bridge between Intermediate and Advanced. Expert would remain the same. We don't have a Pro class, even though some of our Expert riders are sponsored. I guess you could call them Expert or Pro. There's only a handful, so having two classes doesn't make sense to me. Just me thoughts... Matt

I have a 2001 TXT280 and need to re-pack the silencer with new fiberglass. Last night, I drilled out the rivets and removed the core. I noticed after unwrapping to old packing that the inner tube was also wrapped with layer of woven steel mesh. Is this standard from the factory or did the person before me do this (I bought it used) ? I decided to leave this mesh off since it was clogging the small holes of the inner tube. I think the performance should be better with only the inner tube and fiberglass. The only benefit that I seen with mesh was that the fiberglass did not stick to the tube. I would like to hear your opinions. Does your bike have this layer of mesh around your inner tube? Also, what are all of the benefits with re-packing (regarding sound, engine response, etc.)? Thanks, Matt

The way I see it is... UK is about the size of Oregon. So we can fit your tiny country into one corner of the USA. Based on land area sizes from www.nationmaster.com: total area of UK = 244,820 sq km total area of USA = 9,629,091 sq km ---------------------------------------------- USA/UK = 39.3 Therefore, the USA is 39.3 times bigger than UK. In the end, USA drivers consume much more gas than you and end up paying more.

Bigfoot, I have a 2001 TXT280 and have adjusted the spring preload before. I would recommend using a spring compressor to take the load off of the spring seat collar. If you took everything apart, here's what you will find. The shock has a round retaining clip on its outer tube. The thread sleeve sits on this retaining ring. The spring seat collar and locking ring are threaded onto the sleeve. Under spring loads, there is a lot of pressure between the threaded interface of the seat collar and sleeve. Therefore, as you turn the seat collar, the entire sleeve will turn since it can spin on the retaining ring (it has the least resistance). By unloading the spring, you will be able to turn the seat collar by holding the sleeve by hand. If it still wants to stick together, then use some penetrating oil to free up the parts. Also, note that the seat collar and locking ring is made of Aluminum. You can damage the threads if trying to turn it under spring loads. This is why I recommend unloading it first. When I did my adjustments, I took the spring off entirely. Hope this helps, Matt

I have also considered doing BikeTrials recently for cross-training. There are several sites worth visiting for more information. http://www.biketrials.com/ http://www.trials-online.com/ Go to trials-online and click on "Trials Bikes 101". You can read about modifications on a standard XC mountain bike to make it trials-worthy. Matt

Be patient young grasshopper... Good things develop with time. I just found out about this new site. I think it has more to offer than the old one. Give it about another month or so and I think others will convert. It can happen even faster is Andy posts a sign on the front page of Trials Action and says "Go to Trials Central because Trial Action is no longer being updated"

I would like to see one of the younger riders as a wild card. Steve Colley is a great rider but he has been in the event previously.