michael_t

It was a nice overview of trials with Geoff Aaron and Gary LaPlante showing Chris Denason from Dirt Rider Magazine how to ride a trials bike. They even entered him in a trials competition to give him the full trials experience.

Almost didn't look at this post as when trials riders "have a thought" you never know what might happen. Maybe you should change the title to - "Hey, who the hell are you anyways?". Hi my name is Michael and I am addicted to trials... I realize admitting you have a problem is always the first step . I live in Nova Scotia and work as a Project/Program Manager in IT. Started out writing Navy combat systems then moved into managing teams of developers in the insurance and finance side of things. I am Currently looking for something new so if you know of any cool opportunities out there please send me a PM. LinkedIn is pretty popular here in Canada as well... here is my link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtraves1

It is on Canadian TV which very rarely sees anything Trials related. Hopefully they will post the video on their website so we can share it with the rest of the world . Exciting times in Canada with both the CMA and WTC pushing to improve the sport across this very large country of ours.

Just saw an ad on discovery channel saying there will be trials riding on the "Daily Planet" TV show tomorrow. Not sure who they will have on but nice to see some main stream coverage of the sport.

Off to a great start Might try hitting your front wheel just at the top of the pallets (instead of landing it on the top) this will allow you to compress the shocks then bounce the bike up on top of the pallets often called the a zap or double blip... just another way to accomplish what you are already conquering.

Hey Kevin, That is awesome !!! Thanks again for putting on such a great event this year. With that t-shirt we will need to make the sections a little tougher, as I am sure it is going to take your TY to the next level of competition.

Used to try and round up the cows on my parents farm with my dirt bike... even popping a wheelie onto their backside didn't phase them much. I'm guessing a few trials riders wouldn't phase them much - LOL.

I know there are lots who feel a forum like this is a great place to get back at people who you feel did you wrong... but I don't see how naming and shaming gets you anything. You will probably just get more stress and create bad feelings with anybody who has had good experiences with the dealer, you just get caught up in defending what you posted. If you have a valid complaint take it through a valid process as that is the only way to get any sort of recourse... p****** the dealer off by posting on here or standing outside his shop with a protest sign really isn't going to warm him up to doing you any favours. If you get a legal settlement and it does not involve keeping it private you could decide to share at that point so people know how to proceed in the future. I have seen situations like this on other forums where it ended with the forum admin removing the post so a bunch of bad blood was stirred up all for nothing (which did not make anyone happy). If it does go to court and you lose will you want the tables to be flipped by the dealer suing you for knowingly tarnished the dealers reputation This of course is just my opinion... I am not a dealer and I don't even live in your part of the world... opinions are like ass holes - we all have them .

Worth noting that the suspension on a trials bike is very different than on an Enduro. Here is an example of a friend of mine following me on my EC while I was trying to get a little speed out of my trials bike... Still not 100% sure what happened but pretty sure it wouldn't have happened if I was on my EC .

I have arranged land use agreements with 5 local land owners (3 of which ride trials and 2 have MX tracks) and we put on all the Trials events and practices for free. I do charge when we bring in a top ranked rider for a day of instruction... I use the money from putting on an indoor trials demo (after paying the riders) to fund things like tape etc. We can run trials events under the local dirt bike associations insurance including $5M liability coverage for the landowners. Given they are not timed events (races) there is no additional insurance charge for a trials event. Despite all that we only have about 12 riders who come out to events and 1 or 2 make it out for practice nights... We do get a good turn out for the training day. Maybe people feel they get what they pay for and if it is free it isn't worth anything. I really don't think anyone realizes just how good we have it here in Nova Scotia .

I had a friend who broke the frame on his new Beta without any big drops... I don't have any exact numbers but I would say they are all similar. You are correct landing on hill is much easier on the bike than landing flat!

My X-ride and GasGas are both very quiet compared to an enduro bike so your neighbours will be happy. I wouldn't be too concerned about breaking the frame doing a run like the one in your video... I would ask the mountain bikers before thinking about riding a motorized vehicle on there trails. Trials bikes are VERY different from enduros I would strongly suggest trying one before buying as they are totally different than what you are used to. here is a 35 meter jump - that is 7 times bigger than you are thinking http://youtu.be/CBCGHeLKBOw

Julien DuPont and Arthur Coutard are probably the most watched trials rider on you tube this one has almost 4 million views. http://youtu.be/t0zhYJ5x8Wg Funny thing the top remark (when I viewed it) was "this is nothing compared to Danny on the ridge..." Arthurs out of Africa video seems very well produced but is not as well viewed so who knows ???? http://youtu.be/i9Z3WEp05Ew I agree it is not always the top competitors that make the best videos Danny does lots of stuff that you would never see in a true trials competition and so do these guys.

http://blip.tv/peckhammertv/trials-first-trials-last-2075760

Great video! Do you plan on riding actual trials events or are you more interested in just having a really light trail bike? There are bikes like the Ossa explorer and the Sherco X-ride that are trail bikes with Trials motors. Depending where you live there are also light endure bikes like the KTM freeride that are designed more for trail riding than racing. What are you riding as an enduro bike today are you going to keep it for racing enduro events? Sorry for answering your questions with more questions but there are many directions you could go with this.

What an Awesome day!!! 9 sections 4 laps new record number of sections for us . 11 riders out today we seem to grow by a couple of riders each event... it may not seem like a lot but it was only a few years ago we only had 4 or 5 riders locally now we are over 25 (even if they don't all make it to events) it is great to see the numbers growing. Looking to have 4 events next year + training session and a 3 day indoor demo at the outdoor show.

Speaking of TV I thought that having the Smage brothers on America's Got Talent a few years ago would have really peaked peoples interest. We currently have no trials coverage on TV here in North America that I am aware of so it would be a tough road to introduce a weekly show like kickstart but that would be awesome . http://youtu.be/Es6NNyUG0b4 just over 2000 views - but the show was very popular so it did get the sport into a lot of NA households

Pirelli MT43 is a DOT tire that should hold up a bit better on the road. They sell it as a "competition tire" but it is no Michelin .

If the clutch is working I would guess it has already been updated... just a guess.

At 60 mph for 2 miles you are only talking 2 minutes you could most likely hold it wide open but would be more concerned about your safety than the bike. My Sherco X-Ride has a 290 trials motor and transmission when I am riding on the road I try to vary the throttle and not just hold it in one position for prolonged periods of time I will also pull in the clutch and just let it idle every now and then. I do run it at 50:1 as per the manual and I am thinking of going to 40:1. I like to idea of rigging up a cold start lever on the bars but wouldn't bother for a 2 minute burn down the road every now and then. Be sure the bike is warmed up before hitting the road wide open.

Kind of like trials riding itself. It is little wonder that we have an interest in this topic it is one of those things that is harder than it looks and you can always be improving on. I still think the largest issue is people can't relate to it and it looks to hard to even give it a try... kind of like riding a unicycle. I tried a unicycle and never "got it" for some it becomes more of a frustration than a rewarding experience. I have had good enduro riders try my bike and just feel strange on it too small too light just not what they are used to and obstacles they could power over are just a frustration without the proper trials riding skills to tackle them on a trials bike. I guess it is fair to say it isn't a sport for everyone at that may very well be a good thing. I am not sure what I would do if 100 riders showed up to one of the events here, I'm afraid it may take some of the fun out of it (although our hare scrambles have gone from 20 people showing up 4 years ago to 110 this year so you just never know).

wow 156 members and we thought trials was struggling with popularity - LOL

Took the X-ride out for a rip and have decided I don't care how popular Toni is... riding makes me very happy kind of sad that so many people are missing out on a good thing. I will keep riding and promoting just for the pure fun of it .

Hey guys I "liked" the video , It is interesting that organized practice days with some instruction seem to be more popular than events. I guess if I think about it I am more likely to pay for a training video that I think I can learn something from than an event video. This whole discussion kind of reminds me of sitting around high school with a bunch of fellow nerds wondering why we weren't popular despite being smart and having good sense of humor after all we could all recite any Monty Python movie we had ever seen LOL LOL. Life is just full of mysteries, think I will put this one behind me and go out for a ride.

Sorry I didn't mean to offend the 300. As I stated IMO the best way to know if you like the "feel" is to swing your leg over one and give it a feel. My personal feeling is they have more than enough to satisfy the majority of riders and not everyone needs the extra power of a 300 didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings it is just my opinion.