cleanorbust

I wouldn't let the fact it's a 290 put you off too much. A slow action twistgrip and retarding the ignition a bit should take the edge off the power delivery.

Hmmm, best bet is going to be taking as thorough assessment as possible of each bike, including a ride to test all gears, clutch, brakes, check for smoky exhaust, lack of damping in the suspension, leaking forks, buckled wheels and making a judgement on how mechanically noisy the engine is. If it sounds akin to a food mixer best leave it alone. A bit of a lottery but if someone has taken the time and expense to do a rebuild (best check on what exactly that entailed if possible) on the Sherco then chances are it may be better than average for its age.

The Sherco could be a good bet given that it's had a rebuild - that could save you quite a wad of cash if you're looking to keep the bike more than a short time, and £995 seems a reasonable starting point for negotiation for an '04.. In my view the Sherco is also more of a modern bike than a 15 year old Gas Gas. Yes, Gassers are popular now but the present bike is quite a long way from what a 1998 model represents. Much really depends on the overall condition of each bike. It should be easy to see signs of neglect or poor maintenance, eg corrosion on vulnerable points such as exhaust, spokes/nipples and bolts/allen screws around the bike. If either bike has loads of dents or scratches (though any trials bike will have some signs of use) it's probably had quite a hard life which doesn't usually coincide with conscientious maintenance. Try asking the owners how often they change the oil or clean the air fiter - a blank look can tell a lot. Good luck.

Yeah, sure. Mind you, being adult doesn't seem to put off locals round my way from taking to local rough land every Sunday despite copious signs advising them of the illegality of doing so. Tread warily, keep to the law. Our sport depends on it.

Yes, penalties for walking or pushing a motor vehicle on the road without the required tax, insurance, licence etc can be pretty severe. As can those for trespass on private land unless correct permission is obtained to ride there. Presumably your mates are in the clear on that front?

Interesting to read the complaint about queue jumpers in the Bradford Club trials results posted this week. While queue jumping may be annoying, it's certainly nothing new. It brings to mind an interview with Mart and Rastus when they were near the top of their game some 40 years ago in one of the monthly bike mags (at the time they were running a coal delivery firm together). They freely admitted to parking their bikes at the front of a queue ready to slot straight in at the front after inspecting the section. As they put it "most people think it's because we can't be bothered waiting" but actually it was deliberate so that after they had prepared the section as well as possible with some careful bootwork, making sure the rocks were placed as advantageously as possible, they didn't want their gardening work messed up by twenty people ploughing through in front of them after they got back to their bikes. Certainly when I was riding nationals in the 70s/80s it was commonplace for the works riders to wedge their bikes in by the start cards ready to ride the section straight after looking at it. This never bothered me as I was happy to finish the trial and wouldn't be held up by an expert going through in front of me, and as most people understood, their income depended on them getting the best result possible. Mine didn't. This isn't to condone rude behaviour, just an observation that some things never change.

Top level athletes use a technique known as "staying in the now", ie keeping the brain focussed on what is happening this second, not on a mistake you just made or what is approaching that you might be fearful of. This applies very well to riding a section, where it's important to "flow", keeping to the line you have planned. Missing markers is a classic example of not focussing on the present. It's also important to be able to switch your brain to 100% concentration on the challenge. If you watch a top rider keying himself up to enter a section he will probably go through a series of actions such as pumping the forks up and down and repeatedly prodding the gear lever while the observer waits for him to make his attempt. This isn't because he thinks his bike needs checking over, what's happening is that he is focussing his brain onto the section, mentally rehearsing how he will ride it. He goes when he has shut out all distractions and when his brain is fully tuned in, and not a second before. You have to be able to switch off from all distractions to make your best attempt. A classic situation is when a rider is at the front of the queue and his mate who is returning to his bike after looking at the section asks him "second gear for this?" or "are you going to the right of that rock?" . The rider then needs to re-tune his mind from this distraction onto exactly what he is about to do. You can use a technique of using one particular action to help you shut off from distractions before setting off into the section, for example giving the bike a rev. As the engine settles down, imagine your brain also calming down to it best operating mode, where you can start to use the "stay in the now" technique as you let the clutch out. Fascinating stuff...

A well known problem on the 320 I believe. Advice has been to kick it over gently rather than using a strong swing on the kickstarter, use zero throttle when kicking it over (do not even touch the grip to avoid any instinct to twist it). Lowering float height may help. I think there was a hot starting kit done for them at the time. Malcolm Rathmell Sport may be able to advise on this via their website. Or just go back to a 2T.

Was it really that bad?

Anyone know if the rationale for belt drive is anything more than weight saving?

Not so much the weight of modern bikes, but their design that makes feet-down grip difficult to find. T'old twinshocks had a seat height which meant you could plant your bum on the bike to increase grip and paddle through for a three. Sitting on a modern bike doesn't increase grip in that way or allow the same leverage to push forward,

To ride a trials bike you need four working limbs (though I've seen it done with three, but that's another story), a sense of balance, some mind-body coordination and on occasion a good spadeful of bravery. Two points to note: - the age of these components doesn't matter as long as you have them - 51 isn't that old anyway There are plenty of people riding well who have 10 years or more on you. If you are unhappy with your performance practice, rather than youth, is most likely to improve it.

Go ahead and get it turned. Does the fitter have an interest in selling you a new one, perchance?

Get hold of some medical syringes, will do the job nicely for engine/fork oil and mixing fuel. The tip will fit in the narrowest of filler holes and you can measure precisely how much oil you're putting in (gauge on side of syringe and no residue left after you've finished).

Good decision. The B route is only too easy if you clean it! If you're riding through the sections without any bother then just think of it as an exercise in concentration, which will be a very useful part of your skillset in future trials. Good luck, why not post back on here next week to let us all know how it went.

Could be that the extensor muscle of the finger (the one that straightens it) is going into spasm. Rotating the lever clamp on the bars so that the lever is further down from the horizontal position may help a bit.

I believe back in the day Peter Gaunt and the supported riders on Gaunt Suzukis used motors bored out from 118cc to 128cc, using a piston from a Suzuki Super Six (250 twin). This involved a change of bore from 52mm to 54mm, therefore if you can find whether your dad's bike has the 54mm bore then that would tend to show it is the genuine article. Also if it's road registered from 1967/68 then it would probably be one of the originals rather than a later copy. Any chance of putting up a photo?

Could be worthwhile doing a bit of fishing around on www.trialonline.org, which gives individual riders' results going back to the European championships of the 60s.

If the general public are ignorant of trials, then it may be no bad thing. A proportion of the population can be relied upon to view as all as bunch of irresponsible hooligans who are destroying the environment and polluting "their" countryside just because we ride off road on motorcycles. If they realise we're doing so in the woods down the road from their home they would do their best to stop us; the fact that we do so perfectly legally and without offending others would be an irrelevance to some.

Glad to hear you're OK! I agree people bump their heads all the time doing work, DIY etc and usually are able to ignore the results until they wear off. Occasionally though the consequences can be serious. Could be that a more cushioned liner would be worth looking out for when buying a new helmet, and of course it's helpful to be able to try on before buying but as there are relatively few stockists of trials helmets across the country this can be difficult.

Some observations which may be of interest: Any blow to the head which remains painful a day or two later is worth having checked out by a medical practitioner I remember the boss of a well known helmet company saying that what causes serious injury in bike accidents is not so much a hard object hitting your head, it's the brain hitting the inside of the skull when your head comes to a sudden halt (as in the incident described here). A helmet's ability to absorb shock as it should after an accident or the passage of time cannot be determined by a visual inspection. For the cost involved, might as well replace it. The automatic wearing of helmets in trials is (relatively) recent. The major driving force initially harks back to the days when most trials involved road work and helmets became compulsory for road riding in the 1970s. Prior to that almost nobody wore a helmet, a woolly hat or flat 'at was the most anyone bothered with. It may seen strange, but I can't recall a single case of any kind of serious head injury in trials in those days.

betaboy - good idea to take some basic tools with you: allen keys, spanners (for example I like to know I can adjust the chain tension part way through a trial if necessary), spark plug spanner, screwdriver, low pressure tyre gauge and pump, some tie wraps, adhesive tape, spare fuel, and a rag for general wiping up before/after any work you find yourself needing to do on the day. Parts such as handlebars/levers/gear lever if you have them (in case of needing to replace them after an unplanned get-off) can be useful. No-one seems to carry any tools with them while riding these days, whereas when I started many years ago it was pretty much compulsory, and admittedly never seem to have mechanical problems either, but I like to know I have the means to carry out minor repairs with say a tie wrap or tape at least until I can get back to the car.

So rob if it's not too personal a question, how old are you? I don't believe age to be a barrier at all, lots of people who I looked up to as a youngster (I'm 56 now) are still riding well.

Well done on balancing in a relaxed fashion on both left and right lock, I'm definitely better on left than right. If your bike has bolts for steering stops you could perhaps screw in longer ones to restrict the side to side movement, so forcing you to balance with the front wheel in more of a straight ahead position - definitely harder but worth persisting with. Remember about trying it with tyres pumped up hard as well. A few hours of this sort of thing will have you saving marks in the sections in months to come!

Good stuff indeed, until he get-off. Hope the recovery has worked out OK. I recall a Bob Akrigg riding trials in West Yorkshire in the 60s/70s, involved with the Huddersfield Falcons I think - Chris's dad perhaps?