tricky dicky

How I have read it means that she is throwing the towel in completely which to me means that she isn't enjoying it. I remember seeing Joanne at trials regularly in the past but over the last couple of years I cant remember the last club trial where I saw her. I genuinely thought she could push Laia this year and would improve moving to a bigger bike. I have seen excellent riders come and go during my time riding and they all expect to be world champ overnight and its not quite that simple. It is like an apprenticeship and at 18 surely is just the beginning. I'm sure there are sponsors out there who would jump at the chance of sponsoring a young lady riding a motorbike who is top 3 in the world but I could be wrong. They do cover the ladies trials on eurosport now which can only be positive for the sport.

Do you own a Sherco as it says 05 Gasser? There is a procedure to wash the new Sherco and you dont have to clean the carb as nothing gets in it so unless you own one your opinion is not valid as you don't appear to be the owner of one. The guy asked a simple question as to the differences between a 2010 and a 2011 Sherco and you are on about a GasGas for some reason when that was not his question. If he wanted to know what bike was best then he would have read the discussions that crop up all the time in the general trials discussion.

I had a 2010 290 and am now on a 2011 290 so I think I can validate this. It was only the first batch of 2010 bikes that had fuel tank issues and they were all changed under warranty. The engine is slightly different on the 2011 bike as it has new casings and a different cooling system. It all depends if you are thinking of a 250 or 290 as the 2011 290 has the flatslide vhst dellorto carb on it so revs far better than the 2010 bike. The 250 comes with the standard dellorto carb. I used to ride a GasGas for many years and find the Sherco grips far better. It does require a different riding style to a GG though as it needs to be ridden off the bottom end and is not as zippy as a GG. I find it tracks far better riding up a stream than a GG ever did as the GG's are notoriously twitchy on the front end. Some people have said that the back end feels heavy against a GG which is probably true but it isn't when you get used to it. The maintenance is also far less on the Sherco aswell as the carb does not need cleaning after every wash. As was mentioned with the buid quality I dont agree tha the Sherco is worse as they are all terrible apart from a Montesa! If you keep everything greased and tight you wont have any problems at all.

Red and blue is the main route and has been in the acu handbook for as long as I have been riding. It just seems to be confusing having the hard route which is the main route as anything different. I set plenty of trials out and ride every week and have done for 20 years now so i'm not one of these that doesn't do anything to keep clubs running. I dont know if you have anything to do with the Colmore in regards to setting out but I am guessing it will be blue/red flags with deviations as thats the norm.

I dont agree with that Pete as you dont know how many are going to turn up. I think the main route should always be the hardest route. In the BTC they dont have the expert B route on red/blue flags as it isn't the main route. Otherwise the championship class and expert A would do a deviation from the easiest route which is nonsense in my opinion.

I do see what you are saying and it is quite logical but surely the main route is the hardest route and any other route is a deviation from that? I have ridden at trials and because the hardest route is not the main route then the sections do not make sense and the observers and riders cannot figure them out. I quite like the concept of just having paired arrows like they do in world rounds. The easiest to follow from what I have seen is like a world round and there is tape down either sides of the section and you can go anywhere between the tape but you have to go through the deviated flags when there are any. I understand that this is very land dependant but it does work and is dead easy to follow. I know its a pain putting tape out but it does mean less flags and more options for everybody. The beginners and clubmen love it as it is very easy to follow. My club does not personally use this method but we can always learn from others what goes well and what doesn't.

Very interesting. Its funny how its going back to basics in the youth trials but in the adult BTC we have 3 routes and the B route is by far the most popular. If the sections are set correctly then it could work for the youth classes but I doubt it very much. The difference in skill level between a final year A class rider and a first year B class rider is massive. It wont increase entries unfortunately, more likely to be exactly the opposite and put people off riding them. The problem is easily solved to gain more entries. Keep it as it is with 2 separate routes as it always has been and make the sections have something for everybody. I.E 12 section trial have 4 easy sections that the lesser lights can get a clean on, 4 sections that the lesser lights can have a good go at and can get through but will also take marks from the top riders and then have 4 sections to sort the top riders out so that they dont have to worry about having a daft 5 and its the end of the day for them.

If you have been watching the dvd's then from your description then you could see them both in the same day provided the route does not change. We normally ride Pipeline on Saturday morning then Leanachen Saturday afternoon. This is usually the last day of the trial. We very rarely ride Pipeline other than Saturday. Hope this helps.

Most of the clubs I know have been using this system for years now albeit using different coloured flags. We run red/blue for the hard route, yellows for the clubman route and whites for the easy route. We dont call it a beginners route as its not entirely fair as some of the riders dont want to push themselves onto the clubman route which is fine as it is all about a good days sport. We used to run a 50/50 route and I see a lot of clubs are adopting this. I personally think it doesnt work. The Macclesfield club run 3 standard routes and then 50/50 between expert and clubman and also between clubman and easy route. The 50/50 will work if the sections for the expert route are set out as normal and not taking into account that the clubmen are riding some of them. From what I have seen in the last few years since clubs are adopting this method is that the sections are clearly laid out easier when the clubmen are riding a hard route section. This therefore achieves nothing as the clubman route needs a few mark takers anyway to sort out the results. All it achieves is that the majority of the clubmen clean the so called "harder" sections and the hard route end up riding 5 or 6 rubbish sections which dont on the whole take any more marks from the clubmen than the normal clubman sections. I see this happen at the majority of the trials that run a 50/50 route. The other trials that run 50/50 seem to make the hard route easy and the hardest hard route sections are being ridden by the clubmen. To me that doesnt make sense as the idea of the 50/50 is for the clubmen to ride half of the easier hard route sections not the harder ones! The whole idea of the 50/50 is to give the clubmen more of a challenge and not for them to ride the sections the experts are struggling with! I just think the hard route should be layed out to take a wide spread of marks then if the clubs want to run 50/50 then the 5 or 6 easiest sections are picked for the clubmen to ride. That is the only way it will work othwerwise it is false. That is in my opinion why the 3 seperate routes works best.

Its my 10th SSDT this year and I have ridden it on GasGas, Beta and Sherco. I geared up the Beta as standard first gear is far too low for sections. I always ran standard gearing on the GG and Sherco but I know a lot of people do downgear slightly or upgear. If you are thinking its too fast in the sections then downgear as there are 180 sections and it would be better to be comfortable in the sections rather than it getting you there 30 seconds earlier to the next group. Instead of going a tooth lower on the front why not try either a 43 or 44 sprocket on the back and see how that feels. It will just take the edge off it in the sections but it will still go plenty quick enough. You will probably find that if you downgear slightly you may be able to use a slightly higher gear over the moors and you wont be changing gear all the time so you can go a bit quicker. No doubt somebody who has never ridden the trial before will tell me i'm wrong but never mind! I hope it helps you.

Between 5 - 7 psi in the front and between 3 - 5 depending on riders weight. Practising on a knackered tyre has never done me any harm and if you can get grip with that then when you put a new one on it will be easy (or maybe thats just me being tight!) I was once told by Yrjo Vesterinen that you should practise with your bike as it would be prepared for competition. I am quite sure that Bou etc will all practise with good tyres on.

The next round of the x-trial is on the 22nd of Jan which isnt that far away really. Jeroni wont have had much time on the Ossa as the Spanish indoor series has been running nearly every week before xmas. I heard that Diego Bosis had tested the bike in late summer and had said it was very underpowered. Shame Jeroni isn't riding at Sheffield but its not the end of the world. Remember there is a world round in Fort William at the end of July where you could all see him. I personally think that the bike is not ready for WTC yet and that is the main reason but as mentioned before the sponsors do hold the reins. I just think that they dont want to look fools with a bike that isn't ready like when Doug, Fuji and Freixa had to ride uncompetitive 4RT's when they were launched in 2005. Cant really blame them for that with all the hype.

As the topic title states, Sheffield & Hallamshire mc will run the annual Xmas trial at Eadons Fields near Dronfield,Derbyshire. The access roads to the venue are clear and the trial will have 3 routes to cater for all abilities. We will run 4 laps of either 10 or 12 sections depending on observers so come along and burn of some of that xmas excess! The trial will be signposted with yellow/orange arrows from the main road into Dronfield. If there are any significant changes in the weather then either call the secretary Judy Farrer on 01246 414022 or text 07545 468341 to check if the trial is still on. Any updates will be on here aswell so please check before setting off if the weather does turn nasty. Merry Christmas to all and hope to see some of you on the 27th. Cheers

I am with Jordi on this one. Wiggy - Sherco Browny - GasGas Doug - GasGas Dibs - Beta Only real unconfirmed one is Doug but it would be no surprise if that was kept quiet until at least xmas!

Must be a Scott weather forecast! Fine and dry every other day than Saturday! It does say that the rain will clear though!

Doug has also signed for Beta. He renewed his contract at the San Marino world round.

I think Pune wants a ride at Beta, thats more like it. I've heard he's been testing the Greeves and can really make it talk!

Sheffield & Hallamshire motor club are hosting the final round of the Challenge Lusky British sidecar trials championships in the vicinity of Hope in Derbyshire on Sunday 7th November. The trial will have the usual sidecar classes but will also have a solo Expert and Clubman route. This year a new team is running the event and we have made significant changes largely to the route of the trial. For any regulars we will be starting at the usual Blue Circle cement works in Hope village and will take in the usual starter group of Elmore Hill farm at Brough which is only a couple of miles from the start and then the ride over to the excellent rocky stream at Offerton Hall and back to the finish rather than the long haul up to the usually freezing cold Berrystall Lodge. There will be plenty of time for a quick butty and refuel, change punch cards etc before the revised second loop of the trial which will be a 12-14 section finale at Backtor. This significantly reduces the road mileage in the trial and will be a lot warmer for riders and observers. The trial has been notoriously tight on time in previous years and it is hoped that this year will be an easier ride round and will solve the previous fuel problems as the route was just a fraction long for a modern trials bike. We have a new secretary this year which is Gill Morewood and she can be contacted on 01246 414869 for regs or alternatively download from the club website which is www.trialstalk.co.uk. We are hoping to encourage some more of the riders that give it a miss this year and the sections will be aimed for a good day out for clubmen and experts. Entries will close on Monday 1st November to give chance to type up the entry list and send it out to the riders. Any enquiries contact either Robin or Gill Morewood on 01246 414869 or Richard Timperley on 07545 468341

All depends on cash really. The word on the street at the last 3 world rounds was that Fajardo would go to Ossa. Who knows though.

I take it u had an interesting dream. Cabes is still Sherco next year and Sherco cant afford Raga aswell. Apparently Bou has been given a contract for next year but has not signed just yet but it is 99.9% that he will. Fajardo has tested the Ossa and rumour has it that he will be the main man there. Fajardo is Colomer's protege so that would all make sense. That would leave a Mr D Lampkin as no.1 Beta rider for 2011!

What I suggest is that you just get on it and ride it!

Well that is a 100% improvement from the last effort. If its reasonably priced and rides well i'm sure they will sell a fair few. It actually looks like somebody with a bit of artistic flare has been involved this time. Still slightly looks like an 09 Sherco though!

Its not impossible by any stretch at all. It only needs a few slippery streams and it could fall right into Doug's hands with the current format.