laird387

Hi, As soon as the theft was discovered Alan Ford rang the police with full details and - very fortunately a call went out to alert police vehicles to be ultra suspicious of closed vans with anything dodgy. As a result the Calderdale police investigated a suspicious van, which proved to be stolen, which contained three stolen motorcycles - amongst them Julian's Matchless. The theft had been very well organised beforehand because although the garage was supposedly very well alarmed, complete with an external automatic bright light controlled from inside the garage, the thieves had been able to destroy the alarm and the outside automatic light, giving them time to load the bike and get away. The moral - don't believe alarm salesmen's claims, don't hope to get an inexpensive alarm system if you have something worth safeguarding - and don't delay informing the police with full details of the machine that has been stolen, frame numbers, etc., etc. Julian's family are well pleased to get is well pleased to get his Matchless back, it has great sentimental value since Julian sadly passed away several years ago - now they have to get all the white dust of it put on checking for fingerprints...............

There are photos in my offroadarchive of Bolsover events which will all eventually find their way into our digital magazine, if only somebody could invent thirty hour days................

A woman customer called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer. Tech support: Are you running it under windows? Customer: 'No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his printer is working fine.'

The late Julian Ford’s 500 cc short stroke Matchless trials machines was stolen from an alarmed garage in Halifax in the early hours of Sunday morning (today). The much modified Matchless registration number is UTS 138 and the year of manufacture is 1961. Julian and his father Alan Ford worked on modifications tight up to Julian’s passing two years ago. There is a mobile number for Alan Ford it is 07768 373194

Nigel, To quote you "don't see how there any need for any other "review" weeks after?" Well, it was only weeks after because the photos were requested on behalf of T+MX, then not used - so sooner than let them go to waste I put in the effort to create a supplement - do you still feel it was a waste of time?

I've needed spectacles for distant use and different for close up for years and stopped using varifocals years ago simply because of the problems of needing to look down, such as when descending stairs or worse still, grassy slopes. I shudder to think what it would be like on a trials bike............. But, first and foremost in my mind is safety, so I will continue using two pairs, one for all normal activity including driving and a separate pair in my pocket of 'reading' glasses (I have a neat folding pair that fits into a small alloy tube rather like a cigar tube, so it's not a problem.) I have had Zeiss lenses, but the best ones I ever had were from Leica. Nowadays the plastic lenses are getting far more development effort and the strong Reactalite type lenses in plastic are surprisingly effective and much quicker to react both lighter and darker these days.

Hi Nigel and Johnny, I agree with you entirely, why would anyone who is satisfied with the quality achieved by 'phone cameras and Facebook or YouTube ever need to see what a highly experienced photographer using an expensive professional Nikon has to offer, even a photographer who has been actively involved with all aspects of the trials for many years, not only riding but marking out Scott routes over the Reeth moors, etc., has to offer - even when it is EXCLUSIVELY available supporting the very forum you are both happy to use. Then again maybe you are not worried what the outcome of rubbishing the efforts of people who have spent lifetimes supporting and helping to create and promote the sport might be..............

Wow, the Scott trial is over for another year - all the usual trials and tribulations - every one who took part be it as rider, valiant observer, helper with the course preparation or whatever will have their own tales to tell that will keep them going through the long winter's evenings at club nights or pub sessions.... But what did you think of the press coverage this year - to me it seemed a bit sparse to say the least. But the Scott trial is the oldest event on the calendar - it was the first event of its kind any where in the world so surely deserves better. Well, I'm no longer involved in the sporting motorcycle press but with my very good friend and colleague, Barry Robinson, have clocked up a mere ONE HUNDRED AND TEN YEARS active photojournalism between us - moreover both of us have been involved in various ways and tasks at the Scott from the outset of both of our riding experiences. We decided to try our hands at something a little different this year so we have created a digital magazine supplement of our established reference source of offroad motorcycle sport, ORRe. Exclusively available from this trialscentral site very shortly will be a twenty-eight page Scott Trial Supplement in which every rider who finished in the top forty is featured. What is more the supplement is totally free to everyone who is a paid-up supporter of ORRe - and that means that for a maximum fee of £12 you get instant access to all FORTY-EIGHT back issues plus the Scott Supplement and also all the issues that will be published in the next twelve months. Daylight robbery, I call it............... To whet your appetite here is another look at this year's winner, James Dabill, photographed exclusively for ORRe by Barry Robinson at a section where no other photographers were working. Enjoy!

After being married for thirty years, a wife asked her husband to describe her. He looked at her for a while, then said, "You're an alphabet wife ..... A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K." She asks ... "What the hell does that mean?" He said, "Adorable, Beautiful, Cute, Delightful, Elegant, Fabulous, Gorgeous, and Hot". She smiled happily and said ... "Oh, that's so lovely, but what about I, J, K?" He said, "I'm Just Kidding!" The swelling in his eye is going down

NOVEMBER 27th 2016 at UNDERBANKS, REETH, N. YORKS. Start time 11:00 am All classes Sec. Graham Sanderson 01740 65391 / 07801 631555

Once upon a time ... The king called on the royal weather forecaster and inquired as to the weather forecast for the next few hours. The royal weatherman assured him that there was no chance of rain for at least 4 days. So the king went fishing with his wife, the queen. On the way he met a farmer on his donkey. Upon seeing the king the farmer said, "Your Majesty, you should return to the palace! In just a short time I expect a huge amount of rain to fall in this area." The king was polite and considerate, he replied: "Thanks for your concern, but don't worry. It's not going to rain today. I hold the palace meteorologist in high regard. He is an extensively educated and experienced professional. And besides, I pay him very high wages. He gave me a very different forecast. I trust him." So the king continued on his way. However, a short time later a torrential rain fell from the sky. The King and Queen were totally soaked and their entourage chuckled upon seeing them in such a shameful condition. Furious, the king returned to the palace and gave the order to fire the professional. Then he summoned the farmer and offered him the prestigious and high paying role of royal forecaster. The farmer said, "Your Majesty, I do not know anything about forecasting. I obtained the information about rain today from my donkey. If I see my donkey's ears drooping, it means with certainty that it will rain very soon." So the king hired the donkey instead. And thus began the practice of hiring dumb asses to work in the government and occupy its highest and most influential positions. The practice is unbroken to this day...

Squirrels The Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrels. After much prayer and consideration, they determined the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will. At the Baptist Church, the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistery. The Elders met and decided to put a water slide on the baptistery and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week. The Anglican Church decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creatures. So, they humanely trapped their squirrels and set them free near the Baptist Church. Two weeks later the squirrels were back when the Baptists took down the water slide. But the Catholic Church came up with a very creative strategy. They baptized all the squirrels and consecrated them as members of the church. Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter. Not much was heard from the Jewish Synagogue, but it's rumored that they took one squirrel and circumcised him. They haven't seen a squirrel on their property since!

Stan Wellback is totally correct, worrying about the style of engine would be very low on my list of priorities during the creation of a rideable classic offroad bike, the handling would be my first - and in many cases these days I am seeing AMC power and gearboxes slotted into replica Ariel frames and used very succesfully in pre-unit classes - just look at all the examples in our digital magazine and judge for yourself. For anyone trying to decide whether an engine offered is an alloy unit, here is the works illustration as a guide.

Sorry Jon, I was guessing the date - and hadn't time to check on my lists of the entry lists and riding numbers for the period - just wanted to get an image out where people could see it......... And no, sorry, I still prefer the actual original sprung Ariel HT5s as the most likely looking of all the British trials models - even though I did start on a competition rigid AJS as my first real bike........

Hi, For those interested in the history of our sport, another image from our digital magazine, of Steve Saunders in action on Fountain's Fell in the Allan Jefferies trial. Enjoy

Hi, Many thanks to all who posted views in answer to my query - it has helped me considerably! How? Well, forty-four years ago, as a young working man with a growing family there was a revolution in the trials world when the first Spanish models appeared on the trials scene. They had been designed specifically with trials in mind and were suitably specialised. Those of us left with older British bikes AJS, Matchless Royal Enfield Bullet, BSA Gold Star, etc. were riding models designed for everyday road use, lightly adapted over the years for use in trials - but that was all we could afford, buying a new bike was out of the question, so when organisers set sections to stop the Spanish models it killed any chance of riding our old bikes. We had two choices - literally. Take up some other sport or recreate a form of trials suitable for our old machines. We chose the latter and I created, eventually a national series of older style trials. We needed a title to identify the 'new' sport and I used the description 'Pre-65' since 1964 was the last year that any British manufacturer offered an old style machine in their sales programme, the AMC catalogue. The name stuck - but it was flawed, because there were British bikes made before 1965 that were almost as competent in sections as the Spanish models, the works BSA C15Ts, the Greeves Scottish being two obvious examples. With the perfect vision of hindsight it is likely that Pre-unit would have been the better title............ But that was then - and this is now, and I am trying to produce a digital magazine that is both interesting to as many people as possible, and also as useful as a reference source of images and information as possible, so whilst it would be easy to describe it, perhaps as a 'vintage' magazine - a dictionary definition of vintage being more than twenty-five years old - or maybe as 'classic', but the various postings have revealed several competing ideas as to what precisely is classic. Fortunately my image archive is still growing - or to be more accurate, those of us contributing to the archive are converting film negatives to digital format for easier storage - so I can adapt my ideas to include in the magazine henceforth any image requested or suggested by any of the subscribers, we have already widened the scope to cover the additional interests of all forms of off-road motorcycle sport and now I will include more images similar to those above in this posting - but also of the other makes available at the time. The next issue that I am working on at the moment is our fiftieth issue, which is already busy answering requests I have already received - but the other real advantage of the digital system is that the size of the magazine and the number of images included is not limited by the cost of printing or postage - so if YOU have a particular interest - just join in the fun and drop an email with your request - you could be surprised how much is there in the archive to see.............. We already describe the ORRe as our classic magazine - that is totally apt and will remain, because there are no other comparable products covering off-road motorcycle sport from the earliest days right up to the present.

Hi Jon et al, If you enjoy images of the 1986 Honda RTL, then our digital magazine is your next stop! Here is a 1986 Scott Trial image which will be included, with many others in our serialised feature on this premier of all trials. Enjoy.

Hi Jon, "I think some bikes are instant classics, in the trials world I remember seeing Steve Saunders riding his works RTL 250 Honda in the Bath Knut trial back in 1986. The look and sound of that bike and the way that Steve found grip where there was NONE, will stay in my memory forever. It also made me feel like giving up! How could I ever get within light years of his talent?" Not long to wait now for a treat in store - 'cos in issue 49 in the feature on the 1986 World Championship round hosted by Wetherby there are three different views of Steve on the Honda - along with all the other stars in the fully illustrated feature - but here's an appetiser to help reduce the wait................ Enjoy!

Hi spen, I know what you mean - but I think there were exceptions - like the model that I have depicted, actually the development bike that started the whole two-wheel era of the 'Invacar' empire................ This is just one of the aspects of the fully illustrated Greeves story which is available in our digital magazine (without the irritating watermarks) - along with the histories of their competitors at Francis-Barnett, Cotton, Saracen and, in the next few issues, the story of the DOT, starting from a three-wheeled delivery float!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy

My apologies for the typo - it was, of course, 1986.

An intriguing query - and one, I suspect, where the answers depend entirely upon a personal point of view. But in my opinion events from more than a quarter of a century ago - already 'vintage' by definition - are classic. Why does it matter? Because in the next issue of our digital magazine we are including a photoretrospective by Barry Robinson of the British round of the 1988 World Trials Championship series organised by the Wetherby club. The feature includes a series of photographs such as the one attached of Luis Gallach on his Montesa - although in the magazine, of course, we are not troubled by interfering watermarks. Enjoy

As is the case with all external finishes the real secret is in the preparation BEFORE the coating, and years of experience restoring various models taught me that usually the quality of the primary finish is a personality thing. When you find someone doing the work not only competently but also thoroughly, stick with them - almost whatever the cost. Powder coating correctly applied on a correctly prepared surface will stand virtually any test, in my experience - if it chips it usually means not enough care in the application under vacuum - so find another supplier, the main problem to remember is if you get it poorly powder coated, that is often the end of the story - the bits that don't chip will likely resist any attempt to remove them and start again. Your first port of call should be a recommendation from someone you trust........

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Senior citizens are constantly being criticised for every conceivable deficiency of the modern world, real or imaginary. We know we take responsibility for all we have done and do not try to blame others. HOWEVER, upon reflection, we would like to point out that it was NOT senior citizens who took: The melody out of music, The pride out of appearance, The courtesy out of driving, The romance out of love, The commitment out of marriage, The responsibility out of parenthood, The togetherness out of the family, The learning out of education, The service out of patriotism, The civility out of behavior, The refinement out of language, The dedication out of employment, The prudence out of spending, The ambition out of achievement. And we certainly are NOT the ones who eliminated patience and tolerance from personal relationships and interactions with others! YES, I'M A SENIOR CITIZEN! I'm the life of the party.....Even if it lasts until 8 p.m. I'm very good at opening childproof caps.....with a hammer. I'm awake many hours before my body allows me to get up. I'm smiling all the time, because I can't hear a thing you're saying. I'm sure everything I can't find is in a safe secure place, somewhere. I'm wrinkled, saggy, lumpy, and that's just my left leg. I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps. Yes, I'm a SENIOR CITIZEN and I think I am having the time of my life! Now if I could only remember who sent this to me, I wouldn't send it back to them. Or, maybe I should send it to all my friends anyway. They won't remember, even if they did send it. Spread the laughter Share the cheer, Lets be happy, While we're here

Hi Charlie, Yes it is the Kendall brothers, Ken and Des, with the Kenman in the 1965 trial photographed by Bill Cole. Their outfit was powered by an HT3 based unit, simply because the HT5 and HT3 had been carefully engineered to give similar power characteristics, the only difference being the ultimate power output and Ken felt that the 500 all too often had too much on tap if you were turning up the wick and suddenly found grip - he reckoned you were less likely to kiss the headstock on the smaller motor - but still enough in hand for every need.