ianj

Forget the trials........Jake's got it nailed!

We used to have this Beta TR32 that went around the guys....you know, bought and sold between trials pals over the years. Anyway, it's 3rd owner was out one day wearing wellies and fell off. The gear lever went through the side of the rubber, into his leg, hooked around the fibula (smaller of the two lower leg bones) and "hauled" it out. Serious "OUCH!" We gave the bike a nickname "Damien"......from the film "The Omen". It was an uncontrollable ride......serious trials rubbish..... In hindsight though we should have called it "Christine" (also from a film), because it only started "attacking" it's owner/riders after I had it (2nd owner) having restored it from a bucket of c**p to the pristine bike but crap bike it ended up. It's gone now........I wonder where it is now? Ian.

Maybe the police didn't like that banner being parked there.......

Hi, Me and the GF were up on there on Tuesday.......her first time at a trial and she really enjoyed it. First time in years I never took any photos........except this one!

Hi, A pal just bought a good condition '04 Sherco. The rear disk broke up whilst riding along flat ground. He hesitant to put a stock replacement on incase it happens again.......so is there something better, an earlier or later model disk that's got better, stronger fixings. Cheers, Ian.

Thomas, Sorry to hear about your "new" gasser..... Here's my experiences:- http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2338 Flawed bikes IMHO. Ian.

Yep........remember that famous vid clip of a spectator throwing a twig in his path and watching him go off on one........ Ian.

Welcome to the club.....and what a great prezzie!!! My 40th birthday was in January, but I finally got my prezzie last Sunday......an offroad 4x4 course at Knockhill, Scotland...........great fun!!! Ian.

Perhaps he saying "that's the lesson over, there's the exit" Ian.

It's the dog simple I/O boards they are copying...... boards that just aren't worth re-designing to try to stop it........ We also do some work in India.....and it's almost laughable the repeated methods they use over there when contacting western businesses for "possible" work. Via email:- Indian client - "we have about 20 rigs were are involved with the design of right now, can your company please quote us for the Control System on-board....here's the spec." We then go and build a bid package based on the supplied spec (which looks a read right out of our competitors manuals) and send it to them. Indian client - "ok, got it, it looks REALLY good...hmmm, price is a bit high though...please remember there are 20 rigs....can you quote us cheaper?" We re-do the bid and send to them. They come back more eager and happier than ever, they ask some technical questions, we answer them. A relationship LOOKS as though it's beginning to form....... Then we get another email, Indian client - "ok, can you send us much more spec on your actual design, do you have schematics.....our client got burned a few years ago on bad hardware so our policy is to scrutinize all detail design....oh!, and what software do you use". STOP!!!......It should be apparent at this point what they are trying to do!!! On other, smaller jobs we have been asked to supply 1.5 pieces of kit....they cite the other 0.5 as "spares"......but we know it's so they can rip it apart and copy it. Business is tough....... Ian.

I work for Malaysian's, and China is one of our fairly big markets. We manufacture electronic control systems for the rigs out there. One of our service engineers was out there and called me to say he had fixed the problem they were having and that he'd bring back the faulty circuit board. After the call I'm thinking....."hmmmmm, that particular rig never had that particular circuit board....the neighbouring rigs did, but not that one, hmmmmm" The engineer arrives home and hands me the faulty circuit board, a buff coloured board. Now, all of our boards are green.....I don't care what anyone says, all of the boards we have EVER manufactured are green. So what's THIS!!! Our own dang Chinese customers copied our electronics for their systems. I also mention that we scrub the numbers off all the IC's when we ship, but still they managed it. Ian.

Hi, To tell you the truth it's technique & skill that gets you through mud more than anything else.......however, in saying that the 250 is probably your bag. The clubmans bike. Ian.

Hi all, I find it frustrating that world trials info (official site) cannot manage to publish scores.....yet they manage to publish dialog. There's no excuses....just complacency me thinks. And I don't believe this "be thankful for what we got" talk. Achhh! Ian. PS. Well done Andy to at least trying to keep up......

Hi all, If the ignition is adjusted on the 2stroke 315R, a straight perforated silencer tube added.....as per what a few folks have done including me.......then the power and torque advantage is significant.........so what does that do to the graph! http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/index....197&hl=ignition Ian.

Hi, Actually Canon is one of the worst for low-light autofocus (to lots of Canon user utter annoyance).........I think Sony have a better AF system. But if you are looking for a cheap but exciting good AF camera then actually the Ricoh cameras are causing a storm. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0501/05010401...h_caplior1v.asp There is fierce debate from the Canon users on the Dpreview forums that a side channel outfit like Ricoh can beat Canon and lots of others to a better AF. In saying all that, Canon is 2nd to none for picture quality.....and you can beat the bad AF with some attention to pre-focus n such. Ian.

Hi, PMA 2005 is on the horizon....a lot of the manufacturers will be announcing new cameras in the next few weeks......as you'll see on DpReview.com's home page. http://www.dpreview.com/ Worth also persuing the forums there also for info. Ian.

....only when it gets worse. If we let them get away with it then the coverage will be even worse next year! On the other hand, if we battle with them they might just realize how passionate some folks are about the sport, take another look at it......and give us something better. Ian.

..........and remember the great Tarres fell off the top step twice to make a come back the following year..... 1987 - Jordi Tarres 1988 - Thierry Michaud 1989 - Jordi Tarres 1990 - Jordi Tarres 1991 - Jordi Tarres 1992 - Tommi Ahvala 1993 - Jordi Tarres 1994 - Jordi Tarres 1995 - Jordi Tarres Btw, there's some great photos on Tarres's website:- http://www.jorditarres.com/ Ian.

Hi all, In previous years I believe it was Greenlight that manned the cameras.......I seem to remember their logos etc. http://www.greenlight-tv.com/ Note sure about this time as I wasn't there. Edit:- Found this info here about a previous Sheffield, http://www.presteigne.co.uk/news/news4.htm Quote:- Greenlight was commissioned to cover the UK stage of the prestigious World Indoor Trials. This world-touring event had it's UK leg in January at the Hallam FM arena in Sheffield. This particular sport tests the balance, strength, and concentration of the world's best trial bike riders. The aim being for the top six international trials superstars to guide their machines over huge sections and obstacles within a custom built environment - against each other, and the clock! Greenlight Television approached Presteigne to supply another Digital Portable Production Unit to help capture this dramatic event, as they have done for the previous two years. The live video output from the event was sent to an in-house screen, seen by the buoyant capacity crowd of 8,000 and to aid the official referees in their decision making. The event was then edited by Greenlight and sent out for broadcast on Sky Television and other networks around the world. I'm not putting any blame on Greenlight, for all we know it could have been Eurosports own editing that dropped the volume of the bikes......all I'm saying is that overall end product that Eurosport transmitted........sucked! Ian.

Hi all, Well, it was on at 6pm and I watched it. Once again, a good event ruined for TV by not letting us hear the bikes enough........just a faint whisper of the engines. Come on TV people.......PLEASE do something about it........and don't bore me with such things as "the ambient arena noise is of the house commentary and has to be masked down" etc.....coz there are plenty directional mics that only need to point in the same direction as the camera does to pick the bikes up and less of anything else. I firmly believe that better videography and better post editing will make a better, more exciting overall armchair program and will tempt more people to the events the following year. If other sports can get it right then why not trials? PS. No offense to Jack Burnicle, I think he did a great effort considering. Ian. (climbing off soap box for the night)

Hi, I think if the organizers (Mart n Neil) could have done a better job then them most certainly would have. You can't force companies to sponsor events, you can only put your pitch forward and see if they bite. Perhaps Jake Miller could get involved......he could sell sand to the arabs. Ian.

I'm a soundman part-time.....and this p****s me off when I read this........grrrr, the folks at the Arena just don't care......they got folks in the seats bought and paid for...what follows doesn't matter.....grrrrr....!!

Just sounds too much like "The Archers" tune to me....... Ian.

Hi, Some hints/tips:- Media is cheap these days....so always, always, always shoot with your camera set to the largest & finest detail. If you use software to "downsize" a photo then you will lose pixels, i.e. you'll lose information and detail from the photo. Now, this is not to say you will necessarily lose "quality".......but I suspect you mean "detail". So the answer is yes. However, you may be thinking that since you always downsize then why not use a lower resolution in the first place straight out the camera.......and save yourself some room? The answer is that most of the PC software you get these days are much better at down-sizing than the camera in-built software. In addition, you may find you want to crop a larger photo, or process it in some way (like sharpening).....and those functions are always best done on the largest and finest detail pic out the camera you can get....then re-size after. Ian.

Hi, On the Panasonic I think it's the wee 4-pin firewire, whilst most computers will have a 6-pin firewire connection.....so you'll need an adaptor. Does this adaptor look like it would fit your Panasonic? http://www.trianglecables.com/firad4pinmal1.html Regarding software and conversion, I have had a lot of help from these forums on all sorts of matters:- http://www.avforums.com/forums/index.php And this place is very useful also:- http://www.videohelp.com/ Have fun! Ian.