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And some people can't have a healthy discussion without throwing their handbags . Come on lads - keep it friendly.

... not if the power is easier to control. I've got to agree with Nigel. The grip is going to be no different. Clutch/throttle control is the key. Just because the power's there, you don't have to use it all the time. If you think you may not be able to control the power, then the 200 may stop you losing it, but I think it can work the other way. On a 290 I could leave it in third, (taking the kick out of it) and wind it on up a hill from low revs. Gives you the power to wind it on more while you're geting the grip and coast over the slippy bits. With a 200 (at my weight anyway) on the same hill I may have to leave it in second and wind it on earlier. The low down grunt of the 290 doesn't mean lack of control, unless you let the bike take over, which I suppose is more possible if you're tired, which I suppose can be more likely for Novice riders. My two penneth..

There's a whole load of short vids at www.trialskings.com including the one Andy posted. Go to Videos - Page 5 is a good one for those with dialup that can't sit through all of them. This site started me off a while ago searching for this sort of vid all over the place. These blokes are amazing - If they're not famous they should be. They're probably Novices in Yorkshire

I'll fork out for Hebo trousers because I've not found anything else that's as comfortable to ride in, and the limited padding seems to be about right. I bought a Hebo trials jacket over a year ago and must have worn it about 4 times. In the wet it's not waterproof enough and it sweats too much at any other time. Whichever way you end up wet. Most of the year I leave the Hebo jacket hanging up and use a fleece jacket. I've sprayed it with waterproofing stuff - Funnily enough the tin was supposed to do a full 3 man tent and it just about did my fleece - I should get the message eh? No way I'm going to pay

I had the 2002 Pro. Had a fair bit of trouble with it. Spent over

19% for GasGas. 13% for Scorpa. Obvious then that people are just voting for their own bikes whether they were the best or not. No way on Gods earth that either of these two could touch the others. GasGas have developed an excellent machine through 2003/2004 (No I have a Sherco), but the 2002 Pro was undoubtedly the dog (in general). If I still had my 2002 Gasser I would be voting for it too, just to boost the selling price.

I think you've got to try them yourself before you buy. I've got the 04 290 and I absolutely love it (Had the 280 GasGas previously). The 290 certainly has similar power to the Gasser - which can be enough to rip your arms off if you let it. I've ridden the 250 and it did seem to have a little less torque, but to be honest I think I could quite happily manage with one. I'm probably one of the larger riders in the expert class (to say the least) so I like a bit of grunt there when I need it. Even though the 200 was billed as the perfect clubman bike, I've not seen anyone on one yet. Maybe people think they need more than they do. I think no matter what anyone says you could do with trying both (or all three). I know at our club trials no-one would mind you asking for a ride if you're thinking of buying. Good Luck

Hawks nest is an excellent venue. Big rocks on a hillside and a stream in the bottom. Manchester 17 are usually bloody good trials. Their masters trials are usually spot-on, hard but nothing stupid. Have a look on www.macctrials.org.uk They have the regs on there (front page). Mentions awards for Expert, Inter, and Novice, so I would say there will be at least two routes, possibly more. I live nearly two hours away, but I'd be there if I wasn't organising a trial down here in mid wales centre. Bill Brown does Macctrials web site and I notice he's a steward there so you could drop him a mail. He's on pretty regularly.

I read through TMX tonight and thought I had experienced a deja vu. Couldn't think for the life of me where I had seen the photo before, or how I could have. I decided they must have used a library picture and it had been it TMX before. Just realised now from this post that it was Rabie's avatar. Well done Rabie!!!

It means you could well be gay. The rest of us hadn't noticed any rocks.

We seem to be talking like we've ruined reliability by making the bikes lean mean trials machines. Bikes used to fall apart twenty years ago too, we just don't remember it as much. Maybe the engines have suffered a little through lightening but I think the rest is vastly improved. I rode a Fantic 301 in a time and observation trial around 1986. By the end of the trial I had gone through: almost total loss of front brake (which were nowhere near as good as todays) throttle stuck wide open (suspected muck got through to carb and jammed slide) about 2 inches of lateral movement in the rear wheel (build quality better now - dunno?) swinging arm bearings shot away clutch slip almost to the point where I had to push up hills Plus the odd breakage of brake lever, mudguard etc (which seemed to happen every couple of weeks in those days). Maybe I remember this particular day because the throttle wide open caused me severe pain. Back then you didn't need a kill button once you got to 17 year old and stupidly (probably to prove I was 17) I didn't have one. I shot out of the top of a wet gulley in fourth gear and throttle jammed wide open. I flew across a muddy quarry in between moments of pulling the clutch in and hearing the bike scream its head off. I could hear a big repair bill coming so I elected to let the clutch out and try to pull the plug cap off at about 40mph. Unfortunately I was soaking wet in bare hands (no gloves in Yorkshire back then) and I did about 200 yards being electricuted, before I finally managed to get the plug cap off. A few seconds of horror followed while the bike still revved with the cap off then finally died. I reckon my adrenaline shake did the back wheel in What I was saying ......I think we've got it pretty good considering I seem to remember the All New Eddie Lejeune replica Honda coming out at nearly

Give us a clue - Holectomy?? I can cope with Andy's Unix but can't speak Inglish ferry well. He needs sealing up tighter than a ducks Ah - It all becomes clear now I realise which post he was replying to. I even asked my better half what a holectomy was. She didn't know either and she's a nurse thing. She'll be asking them tomorrow at work - wonder if any of them will work it out. Whats this about Playstation 2 helping your trials though?

Give us a clue - Holectomy?? I can cope with Andy's Unix but can't speak Inglish ferry well.

I reckon it's got to be pasta. You can make it up on a Saturday and just microwave it in the morning. Stuff as much pasta as you can get, but got to be about 3-4 hours before you ride. Couple of bananas an hour or so before and as much water as you can guzzle down. I used to do this for Rugby and carried it over. Believe me, if it gives me enough steam to get my middle aged 18 stone round the expert route it can't be all bad. No - I don't normally feel much like pasta on a Sunday morning either but gotta carb up.

The best club I've known for land is Scarborough. I used to ride there as a lad over 25 years ago. Low North Park - Harwood Dale. I think it was a bloke called Peter Race some of you may know him, who pushed the club to buy it years ago for just a couple of Grand (Probably a lot of money at that time). I would say its a couple of thousand acres of ex MoD land with streams, rivers, rocks, mud, slippery banks, trees/logs. Not sure whether its true that they sold their clubhouse for it, but I'm sure everyone there would agree it was worth it. You could actually run about 3 trials there on the same day with separate parking on hard standing and not cross paths. Will get back up there some time for a trip down memory lane.

Thanks for the tips. I think that's settled it, they just seemed pretty cheap. I'm going to try it on the Polo first though to save marital hassle. The car is surprisingly bigger than you expect for a Polo, and I think the estate has toughened springs. My 18 stone doesn't have any great effect standing on the towbar, and the 1.9TDI will pull the weight OK. The width thing - Could be a bit embarrassing as I'm HGV. I'd never live it down if I clipped something with a bike on the back It does give me the option to take 2 bikes with my trailer when I need to as the drawbar is pretty long. Thanks all. Gaz

Just looking at getting a bike rack. as I'm sick of the trailer for one bike. Dave Cooper seems the best advertised, although their web site is a bit poor as far as photos of the racks are concerned. Anyone got views on these. My concern is how good they can be for only

You might be surprised how cheap the full fuel tap is. I bought one for my Gasser just before I sold it as the plastic fell off ages ago. It was about 6 or 7 quid.

Any news from the Vic Brittain? Not seen any news yet. Been travelling down the country from Yorkshire after last nights entertainment.

I think on the whole most of the views were fairly well balanced. I gave my criticisms, some of which have been sorted. I just tried to play safe and went to Sherco (for now). There's no denying that some (enough to be worrying) of the 2002's were dogs and unfortunately sh*t sticks. My 2002 was a dream to ride, but it cost me dearly developing most of the faults that I had been warned about eventually. They do seem to be riding the storm so to speak and I will look at a Gasser again next time I need to change. The most popular brand of anything are prone to abuse - it's just the way of the world.

Totally agree with Boofont. I went through the same hassle - trying to get my house insurance company to charge me extra to insure it, but to no avail. The best I could get was that it would be insured against theft if it was fixed to the floor in a brick built garage, by a Thatcham approved device. And I would pay about

I've just got rid of an 02 GasGas, so maybe I've become immune to water in the airbox, but my 04 Sherco is pretty damned good for it. A good soaking in filter oil - Is your black 'clamp' held down tight by a metal clip? Mines just a thin metal clip that hooks under the frame and screws in to hold the black plastic down tight. Do you seal between the mudguard and the frame (under the mudguard and put a big chunk of sealant in gap between the mudguard/frame/silencer, AND a strip of sealant al the way down between the silencer and the airbox AND if you're still getting some in, sealant under the plastics on the left hand side between the plastics and the airbox? Is it getting in when you wash it, or when you're riding? I just use a tube of kitchen sealant and replace every week. A tube lasts about 6 months. Gaz

I had a nightmare with it a couple of years ago, after a 17 year break. I wanted to be riding expert while my body was fit for the conducted route (nearly). 'Bike time' is the best remedy I think, but you can speed things up with those squeeze things as someone mentioned. I also used dumbbells resting my forearm on my legs and twisting the weights up and down with the wrists (not much weight just loads of fast reps for as long as you can). It may be to do with hanging on too tight, but I found not hanging on so tight left me some distance behind my 280 Gasser. Not sure how safe this last suggestion is, but its amazing what a bit of 'udder mint' does to relax the arms. (If there are any vets about please let me know if this could be the reason for the 44DD beautifully soft breasts?) There may well be human alternatives available, ralgex, etc, but not many farmers have ralgex hanging about. On reflection, probably worth investigating the human alternative - I'm on a different scale to most trials riders :-)

Following on from the release of the new Sherco 125 'Academy', you may be interested in the latest release. The new Sherco 290 'Puff'. It may not be too easy to see on the relatively low quality photo I am able to attach here, but hidden quite ingeniously behind the handlebar brace is a fairly unobtrusive 32,000 BTU propane mix space heater. I've not snapped a single rear mudguard since fitting mine - I used to come off the back all the time. I do tend to go over the bars downhill a little more often than I used to, but at a rosy cheeked 600 degrees Kelvin you soon bounce back to your feet with a smile.

Gears which rely on a cable under constant tension to stay in the same gear. They were a nightmare - and those seats just tore up the first time you looped it and slid down the road. Chain guard snapped off the first time you sumped it. Am I taking this too seriously? :-) Can't believe someone voted for GasGas. They're only easy because anything is easy when you spend 10 hours a week doing it.