02-apr

The "straight line" was oft mentioned by older observers thirty-odd years ago but I never saw it written down and it would have meant a five for everyone when riding up a twisty burn unless an absurd amount of markers were used. However there's riding the intended route and there's taking the p***.

I can recall that Malcolm Rathmell was having a less than successful time on the built for him Beamish then John Reynolds won first time out on it but can't remember the trial.

Well this one's definitely '79 at the Ben, digitally rescued from a very poorly exposed slide so apologies for the quality. And, just out of interest on the Suzuki theme, from the same year Chris Sutton at Allt-A-Chaorruinn, one of my favourite sections. Let's have a no prize competition to name the rider in the background and can anyone remember what he was riding that year?

They can be bought from survey supply companies. Google York survey for one.

I have absolutely no quarrel with the proposed SACU measures but will have an old man's ramble. Back in the mists of time when section cards in Scotland were all the same colour we followed route markers on the road - if you saw a red marker you turned right and if a blue marker you turned left. Now, as I recall, the idea behind introducing different colours either side of the section was so that you would know which way to go when faced with a card "in the heat of battle" (in those days pairs of markers could be quite widely spaced and not necessarily both visible when bearing down on one having forgotten where you were in a longer section than now usual) . For some unfathomable reason convention was reversed such that when you saw a blue marker in a section you went right and a red marker you went left. Needless to say the opposite remained true on the route outside of sections. At least that anomaly will go. I always thought the then North East centre idea of only having one marker where the terrain prevented you passing any way other than the intended (ie no need to put markers all the way along at the foot of a six foot vertical wall alongside a stream, was quite sensible and used it when laying out sections with the "new" colours) but I suppose with the capabilities of modern bikes this would be subject to abuse nowadays. Now I'll just have to get my old two stroke fume addled brain to remember to look for and pass through pairs of the same coloured markers.

Said by one M Rathmell when his hands were pictured looking like mince in the trials column of one of the weeklies aftre riding, I think, the Scott. We used to put a ring of insulation tape round the base of the thumb to keep the blisters at bay.

There's also Construction and use Regs etc which the Club has to run within and can't change. I don't have a copy, but add on tanks may well fall foul of this sort of thing.

The fact is it must be easier to list the handful of brands that have not made a trials bike. It depends how far back you want to go. I imagine nearly every British manufacturer had a trials bike, or comp model as they were called, on the books at some time as it was just a case of a high level exhaust, smaller mudguards and possibly tyres with guaranteed sales to the Promenade Percies if not the real comp boys. Even George Brough rode the eponymous Superior in trials. And BJ still hasn't contributed so there must be more to come.

If you google bead breaker you should find a few diagrams for maing a bead breaker from some 3 x 2 anda couple of hinges. Much easier than the vice and works every time.

Fetching 2 grand there may be a few more coming out the woodwork?

I wonder how much the XL based Jefferies Honda that Peter Gaunt rode in the SSDT weighed. Thought I had a photo but it must be in my brother's collection as I can't find it.

27 years and hasn't managed to get it started? That's even more kicking than my old Ossa needed. Seriously though what are the internals going to be like.

Yes but you wouldn't want to ride one in a trial. I had one in the day and got rid of it before I damaged it and slashed the value. Weighed an absolute ton. More details next time we meet at a trial.

After struggling with a wayward front end yesterday (it won

I wouldn't say useless - bit more of a fiddle than they should be but they do mean there's no need to do anything else. However , not for a trials bike, the thing would get wiped off inside five minutes on rocks and get choked with mud elsewhere.

I don't know about areas to practice there - not much I suspect, but it's a bit if a dead corner as far as events go since the Edinburgh based clubs stopped running trials in East Lothian. You will have to go to Fife or West Lothian in Scotland or the N/E Centre in England for events. Life will be hard for a beginner on an old Cota. The trials that have twinshock classes along with the modern stuff don't often seem to make any concessions as far as I can tell. For what a good 247 would cost overall, or not a lot more, I would have thought you could get a reasonable modern bike that would allow you to progress quicker and be easier on the body. Whatever - good luck and welcome to the fold.

You've beaten me to it but I recall a pal fitting a new throttle cable to his Bulto and firing it up in the garage - you've guessed it, revved on full chat then the ignition flywheel broke off round the steel collar taking the outer casing and part of the crankcase with it but straight in to the front wing of his father's company Viva van. Another pal got the cam that was left to make it easier to set up the timing on his own Sherpa so not all bad news.

I have the sad duty to let you know of the passing of Stan Young. Apparently Stan went out on the KTM in to the hills whilst in Italy and did not return. He was found two days later: I don't think the exact circumstances will ever be known though he was found lying some distance from the bike. Older Scots will recall Stan as a top notch trials rider before moving to enduros whilst younger competitors will probably be unappreciative of Stan

Back in my youth it was the advice of a well known local trials rider, now living a bit north of you as it happens, that this problem was best avoided by sleeping with the boxing gloves on!

Whilst the nomenclature of the Michelin may be the same as ten years ago I can't believe that the compound, at least, has not moved on.

First find your bargepole then don't touch the bike with it. A beginner, particularly one on a restricted budget, needs a reliable bike that runs well and has a ready spares supply. I suspect the RTX qualifies on none of these counts. The only two I ever saw seemed to have a power band somewhat narrower than a road racing two stroke.

Can I put in a plea here? I've been riding for many years and if there's one thing that really annoys me it is someone popping off a flash, particularly at very close quarters as is often the case, when I am trying to ride a section. I have also been taking pictures at trials for many years with fairly basic equipment (using mainly reversal film in the old days) and have not yet had to resort to using flash and would not impose that on riders anyway. I suppose the pros absolutely have to get their picture so we have to thole that. The "spectator" does not have that imperative so, if it is too dark to shoot without flash, than I go to another section and shoot there.

I suppose it might remain parked outside a college for as long as five minutes before being stolen. Sorry to damp your enthusiasm, I used to ride a trials bike to college but that was in a different world long ago. Better to cycle there and get fitter for trials at the same time.

I can't help but agree - we didn't bother doing anything about it in the day but a pal did have to resort to the sophistication of a scaffold tube to straighten out his blue Sherpa when it went end over end at about 30. Quite impressive from behind as it went for a good way on the front wheel with his hands on the mudguard before flipping over.