michael_t

I think by the time you built your frame and bought all the parts like brakes, forks, shocks, tank, plastics ... you would find things really added up, the gearing and clutch would not be ideal and your resale would be very low - but maybe a fun project none the less ?

Careful guys.... I was reading in a UK bike magazine yesterday about a guy who found a Honda TL250 on Craigslist in the US for a decent price so shipped it back to the UK... We already have enough of tough time finding good bikes we don't need the UK shipping them all out of the country

I would think it would be fine but you could ask your dealer. I never changed the coolant in my Sherco but I don't usually ride it much below -10c.

Yes -10c I typically don't ride colder than that as fingers on the leavers get really cold even through gloves. Petrol isn't an issue even at -40 (which is the same for C and F) but below -10 you need to start thinking about changing the jets - I suppose the EFI on the TW200 would actually be a benefit as far as that goes.

I was out riding yesterday at -10 and at that temperature even my Michelins can get pretty stiff. Riding on frozen ground can make it tougher than you might think... I made a silly error riding last winter and ended up falling over it wasn't anything drastic but I can tell you that falling onto frozen ground is nothing at all like falling on the ground in the summer. It really knocks the wind out of you and makes you ride a little more cautiously when in similar conditions

ahhh yes... now I remember why people outside the UK hesitate to post here.

People can ride whatever size bike they like here in Canada... I would guess that there are probably less than a dozen trials bikes in the whole country less than 175 cc. Just a very different mentality on this side of the Atlantic. I do agree with you that a 125 is plenty for most people but nobody ever listens to me ?. I really think this TW200 has enough power and is light enough for any adult starting out but that is just my opinion.

I don't think anybody is suggesting this as a replacement for an Oset to start kids on or really promoting it as a "youth" bike... sorry if I offended you by saying a KE100 wouldn't be the worse bike to start out on... I was really just saying that if your dad had put you on a modern 250 or 300 cc bike (wasn't really thinking about the smaller ones at the time as they are very rare here) you would have had a whole lot of different difficulties but maybe not... It really depends on what sort of 11yr old you were - everybody is different - different strokes for different folks.

First demo ride went well - apparently the fellow bought it after the demo :).

Well you have me there I have tried a new Beta 80 and it really is a brilliant little bike and would be great for a youth starting out ... but still don't think I would be complaining about learning to ride on a KE100 or were you bragging? - sorry but can be bit hard to tell sometimes. My point is that a few extra pounds (like 10 or 15) and a few less HP really should not hinder anybody starting out. I would suggest it is way better than what we see very often here in NA that people feel better to get the "best" so buy a 300cc factory edition... get tossed around and then decide trials isn't "fun". From what I have seen of this bike it certainly seems it could be a lot of "fun"

I would feel better about putting an 11 yr old on a 78 KE100 than putting one on a modern day trials bike... a little more weight and a little less power isn't the worse thing for a beginner … it was tough to stall those old bikes (you could slam on the brakes and they would just keep riding along - hahahah)

Resale is an issue and you will always lose less buying second hand but if you compare buying a 9 to 10k new bike that will be worth 4 to 6k in a couple of years to buying a $5.5k new bike there is little chance you will lose as much. If you can buy a good used bike and sell it for more than you paid for it after a few years of use that will always be your best deal (and what I have done in the past before biting the bullet and buying a brand new Sherco) but not always possible.

It really isn't that overweight and in Canada the most common place to sell stuff is on kijjij if you search all of Canada there are currently 20 used trials bikes for sale from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean (which is a huge area) only 10 of those bikes are newer than 2001. We can buy new Beta, GG, Montesa, Sherco, Scorpa, EM, TRS, Vertigo and now TW but finding a used bike for a good price is really tough. https://www.kijiji.ca/b-motorcycles/canada/trial/k0c30l0

I think they are both targeted to a similar buyer. The Sherco also has an inexpensive Chinese engine both have electric start the Sherco is air cooled the TW water cooled, TW has EFI...

Lots of chat on the ADV rider trials forum about this new bike. They just had a good showing at the Toronto motorcycle show and I am hoping the distributer will lend me one for motorcycle show here in Halifax. The Canadian market is very small compared to the UK and a reasonably priced starter bike may be a big help to the sport - there are lots of opinions on the subject but my opinion is that anybody trying to grow the sport is way better than anyone who sits back and complains about things without doing anything positive to help out.

Riding "events" is way more about riding for fun than it is about competition -everyone is "good enough" as you only have to be as good as you are... don't be shy give it a try you will most likely be surprised to find out just how much fun it can be even if you have never ridden a motorcycle before you can have good fun riding with like minded riders enjoying a day messing around on bikes.

the terminology might be an issue are you trying to do this which I call a rollup: Or this which is what I call a double blip/zap

I am far from an expert but from playing the video over and over again I would say that is more of a roll up technique than a double zap/bleep... from the sound of the bike there is just one blip of the throttle not 2 and the bike isn't jumping up it is rolling up. The front wheel is just grazing off near the top of the rock which is great roll up technique and is allowing the front of the bike to get enough hight so the bashplate doesn't hit the rock which seems like a great techniques for that particular obstacle. I believe a double blip would require you to slow down a bit and really drive your front wheel into the rock much lower so it compresses your front and rear suspension, then once the bike starts to rebound back give it the second blip of throttle and hop to the top of the rock. You could try standing at the rock without your bike and just hoping yourself with both feet to the top of the rock and then think about the fact that you need to hop yourself and the bike to the top of the rock... you really need to squat down hard and compress everything to get the energy to hop you and the bike up on the rock. if you try to hop up without first bending your knees and squatting down it is super hard to hop up... I am lousy at double blip but there are lots of videos out there and that is what I have gleaned from them... hope it helps - give it try and post another video if it works (or doesn't )

here is another take on a rear wheel holder... I would say I find it simpler to practice hopping the front wheel while moving (slowly) so you don't have to worry so much about the static balance part of the equation just drive along and hop the front wheel as high as you can and from left to right to get the proper knee and body motion and the flow of one hop into another then apply the back brake stop and toss a few hops in and get moving again if you start losing balance (instead of dabbing)… can do it in circles if you are tight on space :).

A great Canadian trials rider...

Sounds like fun... Probably worth posting on adv rider http://advrider.com/index.php?forums/trials.73/ and Trials Canada as well...

I didn't see any advertising for this one but it looks like a great time was had by all !

Wow you are seriously out of touch with reality... Steve and I are both way past our prime as far as participating, I will give you that but we are both very passionate about growing the sport for the up and coming younger riders. Both Steve and I are heavily involved in putting on events on different ends of the country. Just last weekend I put on an indoor demo at the local motorcycle show in conjunction with Honda's red rider jr training to encourage more young people to get involved. Guess what the first question I was asked by the show organizer ... "do you have insurance" to which I was able to reply the same I do to the 6 local landowner whos properties we put on trials events at - "Yes we do! $5M in liability to cover the landowner." - I don't really give a sh!t about what anybody else in the world thinks. I do care that we are able to continue to put on events in our local area and we are making a concerted effort to improve the sport locally, nationally, and our riders are able to compete on the international stage if they so desire. The past Canadian distributor is a great individual and has been extremely supportive of the sport of trials in Canada - pretty hard to build the sport without access to bikes! You are not truly suggesting OSSA going out of business was in some way the distributors fault are you? The role of distributer in Canada is far from easy - ask anyone that has tried (I know 4 personally and consider them all friends) I wish somebody would pickup Sherco as a distributor but it is a lot harder than you might think. Sometimes fossils have a lot of very valuable history to share I wouldn't underestimate them if I where you. BTW - Exactly what have you done to improve the sport (ever) ???

Hey Steve, A good PR person would be awesome. In the past I would typically just asked Marilynn directly and she has always been very friendly and forthcoming. This was the last notes we exchanged back in 2016 in relation to CMA supporting international events... Great news if CMA has changed this position. From: Marilynn Bastedo To: Michael Traves Subject: RE: information sharing That’s fine and never expect to be thanked. It seldom happens. Marilynn Bastedo, CEO Canadian Motorcycle Association Website: www.motorcyclingcanada.ca From: Michael Traves To: 'Marilynn Bastedo' Subject: RE: information sharing This is what is currently posted (I have removed the dates and contact info)… please let me know if you are okay with it… Marilynn agreed that I could share our my conversation with her so as far as supporting TdN goes... The CMA has never been able to provide funding for any of our international team projects and there is a policy that stipulates that they can't even if we had the money. The reasoning behind this (many years ago) was that if funding is available it should first be provided to projects within Canada and which would benefit more of the members. But on further discussion (as I noted before) if additional funds are raised (outside your $80 CMA Fees) then: ... Priorities TAC is looking for funding for. are - support for riders to attend the CMA National Championships support for riders to attend the FIM North America Championships support for riders attending the Trial des Nations. I did make an effort to find support for these priorities but people preferred to support local efforts. I will continue to look for support for these priorities although some times it seems a little thankless. Regards, Michael

Hey Steve, who is sitting on the current TAC? I haven't seen much news recently other than you and John working on the FIM NA initiative.. I didn't realize that Marilynn was FIM pres for all of NA - When I spoke to her before she said CMA would not support events outside of Canada but I see she was a member of the Jury for the TdN last year has CMA changed their position on out of country events (or was this in relation to her FIM NA role) ?