michael_t

Put on a little demo at the motorcycle show this Saturday and Sunday. Had a great turn out with lots of people asking about the sport ... good fun was had by all! https://dualsport.smugmug.com/2018-Ride-Reports/Trials-Exhibition-2018/

Yep ! no argument from me ... I guess time will tell and my guess is nothing will happen anytime soon.

Interesting indeed... Probably worth noting that this is about "ALL" off road motorcycling not just trials. MCC is backed by all the large bike companies that put money from each bike sold in Canada into a pool to support the MCC as far as a I know it does not include GG, Beta, Sherco, Vertigo, TRS... etc. My sense is (no facts to back it up) this is way more about KTM, Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, BMW... having a cohesive country wide race program through their current provincial off road organizations that they already support (I used to be president for NS) . It does say they want to work with all organizations to make this happen (something I have always supported). Unfortunately CMA has a policy that they do not want anything to do with bike manufactures (that is a fact). FIM seems more than happy to work with well funded organizations for the benefit of the riding community - It will be interesting to see how it plays out. End of the day Trials will be a small part (TAC is 3 or 4 people with CMA and WTC is about the same with MCC) but if we work together (especially with Honda now on board) this may very well be just what is needed to reunite the sport. I am just on observer but figured I would toss in my .02

These are a bit on the short side but always happy to see more training clips out there. Kind of fun to see the Spanish version as well...

Just curious did you have a place to ride when you bought your bikes ? are you losing local riding area or did you move to an area that has less places to ride. ATAQ seems like such a large well run trials club and the FQMHR advertise over 10,000 km of off road trails accessible to off-road motorcycles... probably hard for guys in the UK to even imagine that amount of trail :).

Actually only 70 riders but still a great turnout !!!

There are tons of threads on how to build the sport if you look under the Canada section of this forum there are some Canadian specific issues discussed - size of the country and the great divide between World Trials Canada (WTC) and the Canadian Motorcycle Association (CMA) - which is Canada's FIM affiliate. There was an event in Ontario last year that had about 90 riders (I think it was hosted by Dual Sport). There are a couple of great riders in Ontario that I'm sure would be willing to help you out. I'm sure once you attend a few events you will gain a better knowledge of the local challenges your particular club may have. Don't worry about getting flats - nice thing about trials events.... you are never far from your car :).

It shouldn't be an issue but give it a try before you buy... You could always consider a GG contact with electric start as a starter bike.

I would note.... probably better to post questions like this under the "training techniques" section of the forum.

If you can get somebody to take video of you giving it a try it could help you to analyze how you are doing.... and if you post it I am sure lots of people will have opinions. You may not have seen this video as it is a guy on an enduro bike but he does explain the timing pretty well...

just found this one out there on the interweb.... thought it may help.

Not sure on the personal side of things but as a person who puts on events trials are not considered a "timed event" or race they are considered more like trail riding on a dirt bike or an ATV compared to racing an Enduro or MX type event. I would certainly think it would be worth asking the question... the insurance company I work with understands the risk of serious injury is much less when it is not a "timed event" (that is there terminology). Do you knw how much more you will have to pay for your coverage based on your answer? If it doesn't cost you anything extra I would call it a motorsport and then if you ever do decide to get into a race with somebody you will be covered. The tricky bit is finding a person at an insurance company that has heard of trials before!

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and may all your loved ones (or Santa) find the bikes, parts, and riding gear that you put on your Christmas list.

LOL thought you might enjoy that... I figure if you aren't living on the edge you are taking up too much room. - Feel free to hit the "report post" button !

The way I read it he was trying to comply. I don't know the guy (don't even live in the same country) I just liked the fact that he was very knowledgeable and willing to share his expertise on issues such as this at no charge. I never had any issues with any of my GasGas bikes and have now switched to Sherco so personally I don't really care - just felt it might be helpful to let people know that he is still out there on other forums - He is no longer with GG but I believe he still may have one of the larger stock piles of parts.

I didn't think they were even available last year... I did see some pictures of a new 2018 but not sure where you can buy one?

still too bad ... as he is a great resource to answer these sorts of questions when allowed. Just glad he hasn't been kicked off other sites. When you think of all of the videos he has created and free technical advice over the years to support the maintenance of trials bikes it can really only be seen as a loss to this forum in the bigger scheme of things... but hey rules are rules. I guess it isn't an issue posting diagrams that he has created such as the one above "rising sun" was his company after all.

In that picture the lever is off - up would be on.

I believe the key to being really good at rear wheel hops is being able to engage the clutch just enough to put pressure on the bike to keep the tire in the air but not so much that you are moving forward... kind of like holding a car on an uphill by engaging the clutch enough that you don't need the brake but the car doesn't roll backwards (sorry to those that don't drive a stick shift as you might not know what I am talking about). here is a video that you can see that clutch finger hard at work...

You also need to keep in mind "cover the rear brake" doesn't mean "slam it on" often a little pressure will create enough drag... just realizing brakes and clutches are not on off switches can raise most peoples skills to a new level - people typically figure out the throttle isn't an on off switch fast enough, although I used to ride my street bike that way WFO "on" to go and no throttle "off" for braking - pretty sure my son drove his 50 that way as well LOL!

This might help...

A little tough to tell but doesn't seem like you are using your clutch to hop? try keeping your throttle open (not necessarily full open) then drop your clutch and jump at the same time... pull in your clutch in the air and when you land drop the clutch again on the rebound... it seems to me that is the way the top riders do it hoping from rock to rock... The trick is in the timing and the comments above about body position... letting the power of the bike kick you into the air is a great skill to master (I have yet to master it myself so take my comments for what they are worth and don't blame me if you end up on your a***).

Canoe polo ??? didn't see that one coming. We thought it would be popular here bought 10 boats set up 2 nets on the lake then this video hit you tube and they have been gathering dust ever since but trials is really starting grow...

I saw this on ADV I guess the thief sold it to somebody who was not aware it was stolen... once they figured it out the new owner gave the bike back to its rightful owner Even more amazing is the trials community has pulled together through crowd funding to make things right... https://www.gofundme.com/stolen-trials-motorcycle Makes me proud to be a trials rider... got to say $1,500 for that bike was one heck of a deal !!!

It gets dark pretty early here so I have some experience with this. I have found that the light on the bike to be of very little use especially if you are doing a lot of work on the back wheel as the light end up pointing into the sky so tough to see where you are going. A light on your helmet tends to be a bit better as it points where you are looking you can get some that fit to a go pro mount. I usually just try to light up the whole area that I am practicing with either a string of lights or a few 400 W lights shining down on my practice area (backyard). A real advantage of being able to practice trials in a smaller space compared to MX or enduro riding... riding under the street light in the front yard works well also :).