ringo

Hey Mick, Great topic. I'm not trying to take away any of your glory by starting another post. I just know that people love to make fun of how I ride and wanted to put a different spin on it.

I saw Mick started a topic asking everyone's worst crash and for the likes of me, I don't know where to start. The comedian in me allows me to make fun of myself and not get upset when other people do so I thought I'd ask my fellow riders about the biggest "ringo" they've ever witnessed. To verify: Anytime someone crashes big or wads up their bike or car in So Cal it is defined as a 'ringo' Getting the idea of how I ride? So, all of you So Cal guys that read this and never respond, feel free to chip in a story. I'll just start with the last time I was able to ride my bike: I was out last weekend setting up sections for our upcoming National when I decided to ride the Pro line. I had great traction and an excellent feel as I manuevered the last corner and headed up the 20 foot accent. I realized when I got to the top of that part of the section that I hadn't 'walked' the rest and wasn't sure where to go so I went to dab but the 8 foot step off was a bit longer than my leg. I was able to get enough lift from my outside leg to jump off and land on my feet below but my bike came down sideways, all the way to the bottom and introduced the lower fork tube to a rock. It was noted as a 2.3 on the rictor scale as the other workers felt the ground tremble and I had to ride back to camp with no slide play in the fork. Of course this was a pretty mellow 'ringo' but my bike sure didn't like it.

Well now, I have to say that this has turned out to be quite informative for everyone, myelf included. Thanks to all! HondaRS, I certainly hope I didn't offend you. If you happen to come to our nationals and El Trial I'd like to offer you a cold beer. That goes for any of you out there. I'll be at the gate along with the rest of my buddies so have your $10 bucks ready and plan on the best trials weekend you've ever had.

Sorry Aaron, I thought you were Al Miller. Good to meet you anyway!

Ride on Al, Now this will show my lack of knowledge: Are you saying that Av Gas is leaded?? If that is the case, most of you have heard me say before that most of my buddies have been running Av Gas for many years in our trials bikes and it is awesome and I would have to agree with HondaRS in that the leaded is obviously fine. For reference, I run the p*** out of my trials bike, racing big bore bikes across the desert, Tecate Hare Scrambles, Malcom Smith 'No Wimps' trail rides etc. I will tell you that the trials bike doesn't sound so good after a long desert stretch after it's been pinned in top gear. That's when you get the knocking sound but never when riding like a normal trials rider. [As if I could do that] Some screw is loose in my head wherein I have been racing the trials bike against the fast bikes in the desert and my KTM 520 on national trials loops. Then again, I enjoy beating the crap out of my self. Good to hear from you Al!

You know, I thought about the old banter that Race Gas Guy and I had years ago as I'm writting about the petrol thing but he and I had out our differences, shook hands [figuratively speaking] and were good with it. I still use Aviation Fuel for my bike and that is why I am wondering about the leaded thing. Av gas is only about $3 per gallon as opposed to the $8 for race gas. If I could fun leaded with higher octane then I might do that but I'm certainly not going to use it off the advice of some backyard Louisiana boy who spends most of his time cooking his own alcohol. Now, I'm not saying that HondaRS is that, I just don't know. Hell, if my buddy "the Beave" is back and hiding behind a Honda name that would be too cool. I think there are a few people that might remember him And to clear that up, Lane and I are buddies so any bashing we might do and no matter how heated up it might get, we WILL share a beer at an event [iF HE EVER COMES OUT AGAIN] So, How about it Honda??? Have you given up the fruity boys on the sets of Hollywood and come back to play in Trials land?? Of course if you're not Beave then please disregard.

Yeah, I've heard about that lack of petrol problem you guys have. You should hear the whiney little britches complaining that gasoline is $2.50 per gallon for their worthless little electic/gas car that gets 50 mpg. I laugh at them as I drop $100 into the tank of my F250 crew cab long bed diesel that get 6.2 mpg towing my toybox full of motorcycles. It get's me to the next diesel station anyway. I guess we'd have to pay your prices if we didn't go kicking some middle eastern ass once in a while! Cheers brotha

Whoa there big fella, I appologize if you took my post the wrong way. I didn't mean to imply that your information is incorrect in any way. I simply wanted to know if you are an industry expert or the like as I would gladly head your advice if I knew who you were. This board has an incredible number of experts in many different areas and I'm guessing that you are one of them. I'm sure you can imagine how some prankster might offer some bad advice just because he has some sort of mental derangement. I honestly don't know if it is safe to run leaded fuel in my motorcycle and would be apt to use it instead of $8 per gallon race gas and I'm sure there are thousands of other people that read this board who would be equally interested. You are absolutely correct in that we all have the option to ignore advise. My posts can be a perfect example of that because I tend to add just a little bit of sarcasm in them and there are some who simply don't know how to take it. Anyway, as I said, no offence was intended, just wanted to know if you had used the leaded fuel in your bike before or had some inside knowledge on the subject. My name is Johnny and I live in Big Bear, California. It's such a small community that pretty much everyone knows who "the tall blond guy that snowboards in a Hawaiian shirt and drives the huge red truck" is and could point you in my direction for a cold beer and chat about motorcycles and such. Anyone talking trials is always welcomed. How about you? Where ya from friend?

Just Curious: If leaded fuel would not cause any harm, then why would you suggest running a mix. Also, as many people on this board assume the person giving advice is legitimate, would you care to tell us who you are and qualify yourself with regards to giving advice on whether or not leaded fuel is ok to run in a trials motorcycle? Is this advice from experience, knowledge career??? Don't get me wrong, just asking as I'd hate to ruin my moto on the advice of an unkown.

"Security, this man doesn't have a proper bib and has entered the section illegally. Remove him from the premisis and restore my score to zero."

Right on Boofont!! My KTM 520 has become my favorite rock hopper lately.

There weren't any Montesas hurt were there??? Oh yeah, I am very happy to hear that none of you were hurt any worse. THANKS GOD!!!

Hmmm, So I'd be able to ride my KTM, wear my Hawaiian shirt and dingle my balls without getting tossed out?

Dave, You are an amazing artists!!! That video is ALL TIME!!! Very nice production complete with soundtrack. Thank you for all that you do for the ATA.

Interesting to note that I walked into Del Amo Suzuki last week and saw a brand new Montesa 4 stroke with a $9,000 price tag, set off to the side of about 200 other rice burners, wheelchairs, and jet skis. Boy, am I glad I know my local dealer farther south!!!

Hey Al, We called Dwain and he has a really nice deal for Hans. I'm just trying to find out if anyone from this area will be at TX this weekend to bring it back. Thanks for the hookup.

Art Webster has to be the most profound and dedicated trials promoter in Southern California

Ishy, You can't imagine me being in any other club could you? Plonkers not only puts on raging BBQ, rock exploding firepit, live music and good times parties for our events but we've had to step up and create the same scenario on Saturday nights wherein the other clubs have been too busy knitting their doylies for finisher pins on Sunday. Steve, I'll make a report with it's own topic just for you Dude! I'll get some pics posted in there as well. Just give me a minute.

The ATA will be hosting the final round of this season's events at Reed Valley this Sunday. Plonkers will be hosting the final party of the points series and it will not be one to be missed. Rather than wait until next season, I've decided to compete on my new Gas Gas. I opted for the Raga replica due to the lighter weight. I have noticed that the extra strength I've had to use to maneuver the trustworthy Montesa around has given me much more endurance when riding the Gasser therefore I'm able to maintain higher energy levels through the end of the trial. My intense training up here in Big Bear has also helped increase my endurance. I will give a full report on Monday.

I hear San Fransisco has a quite a few places to get the type of clothing you'd want to wear when riding a gas gas.

Hey Andy, make sure you get there before security does. I'm looking forward to sharing a cold one with you... adult style entertainer, that is Oh Geez, can't you people take a joke?!?!?

Thanks Al, I'll call him tomorrow

Hey Craig, Thanks but something from the past decade would be preferable. Any chance you're coming to El Trial?

Hey all, My friend rode a trials bike last weekend and is now hooked. I need a beginner bike asap. Hopefully in my area. Price range to $1500. Don't need anything pretty as he's going to be learning with me and we all know what that means. Any ideas send to my email ringomoto@yahoo.com Thanks

Remembering when I left the big bore 2 stroke for the XR years ago it was the thing to do. The rides the boys were embarking on were tailored to the the 'street legal' bike for sections and the xr technology had finaly created a bike that was ridable. I held on to my KTM 520 for a year then finally realized that I hadn't ridden it for a year. The only thing that I had given up was that hard hitting power that would take me up the monster hill climb much more effortlessly than the XR, some hill the XR simply wouldn't go up. Now were talking trials bikes. The trend is going to the 4 stroke. The 4 stroke doesn't have the same hard hit off the bottom that the 2 stroke does, DUH! Trials, however, has been progressing with sections each year that seem to defy the previous years. The progression of the sections are not going to slow down because some of the riders changed to a different bike. In time the 4rt technology will allow it to ge the hit of the 2 stroke but in the meantime it will have it's advantages and disadvantages. Look at supercross, there are more 4 strokes than ever before but the top guys are still on 2 strokes [at least in the 250cc class] Ishy is certainly right that sections can now be taylored to the different bike but, again, the spectators are looking for the boys to go bigger and bigger every year therefore it is going to take the hard hit of the 2 stroke to be competative indoor. I'm actually very surprized to see guys like Dougie move to the 4rt simply because of the difference in the bikes. They've had plenty of time to practice and realize that you simply can't do 'some' of the things that you can on the 2 stroke. Of course it could be strategy and we may find that Dougie and Fuji will have the outdoor advantage with the 4rt due to traction. All in all I believe that the 2 stroke will reign as an indoor champion and the 4rt may just be the outdoor bike.