steve

I'll tell you what's not the best. My Montesa 330 at the moment!! Just about everything that could be messed with has been, the deeper I look the worse I find It's not looking promising for the TC Trial.

Well done Stu, and PA you may have a point there with the Yam. As for Crankcase induction (excluding rotary valve) I think it was the 93 Gasser. They turned the reed block by 90 deg. and put it on the crancase so the mix fed in-between the crank, I believe Beta followed suit when the Techno came out in 1994? So what's the big deal about crankcase induction? well I don't know exactly but It had an added bonus of making it more compact. I remember trying a 250 Gas Gas in 1994 and made the decision there and then the my tuned Yam was no longer competitive. 2 weeks later I was driving back from Buxton with a big box full Gas Gas to assemble.

One thing that I did notice from the stats is the number of Sherco's entered. Considering how young the company is that's quite impressive don't you think.

There's a couple of bikes that spring to mind. The Yam TY250 mono of course, and the Beta zero from 1990. The prototype was ridden in 1989 to amazing success by Jordi Tarres. The bike featured an Aluminium frame which doubled as a fuel tank (a first I think) A water cooled engine Upsidedown forks Later on Hydraulic clutch It was definately the bike to be on in the early 90's - look at the team John Lampkin had! The 1994 Gas Gas also made a big leap in engine design with crankcase induction. But I still believe the TY Yam was the best bike of it's time, never has any bike stayed so competetive for so long, and could be ridden by novice or expert. Quiz time. How many World rounds did the Yam win?

The fact that the bike didn't manage to finish the toughest Trial in the world at the hands of one of the hardest riders in the world should not be held against it. His Gas Gas didn't make it round when he was on that either!

Well said Rennie, spot on.

I am not sure if it is still available but when I was involved on the committee of my local club there were funds available for training from the acu. They had money set aside every year for training which my club applied for and got so we could pay a couple of top riders to come for the day. If you don't ask - you don't get!

You've now got me thinking about buying a Canon G3 ! I found what looks like a cracking deal on the 7dayshop.com

From what I hear about your riding Ringo you're gonna need a 3 voulunteers. One to put the kicker in and two on the roof as catchers

Point taken, sorry if I was out of order but once I made the original comment I needed to explain why. And thanks for correcting my grammar. I don't have an english degree but I normally try to make sure my posts are readable if not 100% gramatically correct, I know you do the same - However if you want to be picky - "not exactly a 'seasoned' rider with the knowledge or experience background to provide a 'considered' opinion" Perhaps 'experienced' would have been better

Hi, Thanks Ian, I have to admit the camera is usually set on auto flash but have noticed that it activates 90% of the time even outdoors. That's a great shot, the bluring actually adds to the effect but it is in the right place. Pretty much understand what you're saying but not too sure about lens speeds? Is it the f No that counts? If I had taken that same picture on a canon A80 set on idiot (auto) mode would it have turned out any better? or do you have to tweak the settings for each piccie?

Ok so this is not strticly trials related but the camera will be used for Trials photo's so here goes. I have an olypus c-220 2meg pixel. The first problem is shutter response time, by the time it take the piccie my subject has gone ( even when pre-focussing) The second thing that annoys me is blurring. I have posted a picure I took of my daughter, it's nice and colourful and she has a lovely smile (hard to capture) but she was waving her arms and consequently the hands are blurred - picture ruined Would a newer more expensive camera with perhaps a faster shutter speed cure this, I am sure there was plenty of light and my camera is supposed to have a shutter speed of 1/1000 I have been looking at a Cannon A80

I will try to explain my comment without naming or offending anyone (but it certainly wasn't Aaron), after all it's only an opinion which everyone is entitled to. Every thread I look at in every topic the same lad seems to have an opinion or advice which is often totally wrong (in my opinion!!). I think this forum is great and I have helped people many times on topics that I feel I know enough about to pass comment. What I don't do is simply post a reply for the sake of it or just to try and make myself appear clever. When myself, or others ask for help or advice I think it is important to ensure that when replying to that post you give good honest advice. Far too often I see " bike A is not as good as bike B" Why not? Tell us. If you recommend a specific part for a bike e.g. a spark plug, make sure you have your facts right about the grade. As for my qualifications to pass comment? I rode Trials for over 10 years winning hundreds of Trials and several club championships. I retired from riding due to injuries and spiralling costs. I have minded and prepared machines for several top European and World riders in indoor and outdoor events. I have owned and ridden a wide array of bikes from my first Ty80, right up to Factory prepared works bikes and one off prototypes.

Are you doing the Trials central trial Mr Dabster? If so which route / class do you ride?

Looking at Andy piccies the Flags are Red to the left, now it's been a while since I rode a Trial but surely that's gonna get confusing or does every trial set out this way now?

Is anybody else getting a bit fed up with the misjudged opinions of self appointed experts?

I am also going down the Twinshock road. I could buy any modern Bike and win Trials every other week, but it's not about awards. I have an attic full of plastic trophys already. I have a family now and can't afford to travel all over the coutry riding nationals, I want to pull a bike out the garage every now and then and have a laugh. If I turn up to a Trial on a modern bike people will expect me to win - myself included, after a while the enjoyment fades and it starts becoming a chore. Hopefully with the Twinshock there won't be any expections to win, especially if I ride the expert route. I don't know why Eric and others want to ride Twinshocks - hey perhaps they enjoy it!

Hey Billy, nice to hear from you. What's the story on fuel injection then? How far away is it? Steve.

In Motor cycle news this week there was an article about bike development and they also predict 2-strokes will get the fuel injection sorted. They said Bimota nearly have it with the V-Due Quote from - Motorcycle.com "Interest in two-stroke power plants has been widespread within the motorcycle and auto industry for the last 10 years, sparked by the development of a new breed of fuel injectors by the Australian company Orbital. The new system provided a granularity of fuel atomization that made their application in a two-stroke engine a practicality. Two-strokes are of interest to the automotive industry due to their simplicity and high power-to-weight ratio - if only they weren't so dirty and fuel inefficient. Both these phenomena are caused by the two-stroke principle of using fresh, fuel-rich intake air to clean or scavenge the cylinder of exhaust gases. The tuned exhaust systems try and prevent much of this charge from escaping out of the cylinder with the exhaust gases, but a lot still does. With direct injected fuel, this is no longer a problem as air can be used to expel the exhaust gas, and the injectors only fire at the moment the exhaust ports have closed. Result is nice clean exhausts, free of unburned hydrocarbons, and un-polluted clean fresh charge waiting for the big bang of the next ignition pulse. Two-stroke heaven. " Sorry to go a little of topic here but I find this development very interesting

Isn't a four stroke or isn't a picture? If you think there isn't a four stroke then you are very mistaken. If it exists isn't in question, what's it like? how good is it? when can we buy it? There's the questions. I saw a fourstroke prototype in 1999, I am sure there has been more than a little development since then. If Honda do turn up with one at Japanese WTC then I don't think it will be too long before other manufacturers show us what they have. If they leave it too long they will be only accused of copying.

Have Sherco made their own engine?

This one had better grip though -

In my opinion the best twinshock is a Fantic 240. At the time Fantic were winning everything. The 240 was actually 212cc and was middle of the range. They did a 200, 240 & 300. The 240 was the best motor, smooth off the bottom, plenty of torque and willing to rev. Here's a piccie.

No it's not fair to ask Joe Bloggs who has no interest in WTC to pay extra licence fee's. Sponsorship, Team training days, Team merchandice (T-shirts, posters, stickers, replica riding gear, video's etc....) Team exhibitions, Lottery grant? It's gotta be cheaper to take 1 truck with 10 bikes as opposed to 10 trucks with 1 bike. As and when riders improve and are offered works deal's they move on to create space in the team for younger talent. Even the French have better support than we do!! (not that it's done them any good -sorry Jerome!)

Traveling is by far the biggest cost. There's Diesel, ferrys, peage (toll's), plus the actual time it takes. For a Sunday Trial in Portugal you need to leave on Wednesday really and you won't be back for work until Tuesday / Wednesday the following week. Remember that's not just the rider but the Minder aswell. The bikes are probably bought at dealer cost and then sold for around the same secondhand. Spares will be mostly supplied by the importer or sponsors, as will clothing and oils. But I doubt if Tyres are free and at that level you need a new one for almost every Trial. So where does the money come from? If you're lucky the parents. If not then you probably don't make it! I remember when Doug staret on the world scene, I think Martin & Isabell sold the family business (newsagents?) to help finance the first years. When I was Minding for Crosswaite he had very good sponsorship from Gas Gas plus a Tyre deal with Michelin but still needed the majority of support from his Family. After Martin scored his first World championship points (14th at Hawkstone park) Neil said it had cost him