trapezeartist

It's been a while since I had my Beta 4T. I can't remember now why I had to remove the carb several times, but it was a PITA although it did get easier with practice (and I was getting too much practice!). Once I got it sorted though, there was little reason to remove it again. I wouldn't see it as a deal-breaker.

It's worth bearing in mind that bearings and seals are a "commodity". Whatever the application and bike manufacturer, if the OE bits are cheap Chinese junk (see the pun?), you can always go to a bearing specialist and buy SKF or some other reputable product.

So here's a naive question that has been niggling away in my head for a while. Why are trials tyres the way they are? Is there a rule somewhere that bans MX or enduro tyres? Or has years of experience led to conventional trials tyres being the best for the job? I occasionally watch an X-Trial video and wonder why no-one has tried a slick tyre.

Will Paul Nash be the importer for the new Dragonfly? They need a good importer if they hope to make an impression on the market.

Putoline Nanotech in my case. I used it on my Beta to get the best clutch behaviour I could and just carried it over. It’s probably unnecessary as I don’t use the clutch on the EM so it only has to lubricate the primary gear and a couple of bearings.

The throttle changed from Madura to Domino part way through ‘22 model year.

The frame changed from white to black. I don't know of any other changes, but there might well be. 2020 was the first year of the ePure so it's natural that they should iron out a few early bugs. There was a Lite and a Sport. I think they were identical except that one had steel forks and the other aluminium. There is no hour-meter or charge counter. I keep that info in a spreadsheet.

Full throttle at cranking speed means the airflow through the carb is too slow to pull any fuel through the jet. So the air just vaporises some of the fuel in the crankcase. It will splutter and smoke for a while, then suddenly clean up and rev properly. Hold the throttle wide open while it is spluttering.

I wondered what this was going to be. The topic title I saw was "tire rubbing on muff...". 😳

Why not ask Mr Duckswax (Martin Chivers)? Personally I have Gaerne boots because they were the online that claim to be waterproof. I jetways them after every trial and then give them a rub over with dubbin. After 5 years I'm still on my original boots (slightly battered now) and just invested £3 in my second tin of dubbin. And the boots are still waterproof.

I've had 2 Betas in the past, a 4T and a 2T. They are a very competent bike but you're right, they shouldn't still have the clutch issues after 20 years of making basically the same thing. I did the "Beta Clutch Fix" on both my bikes but it was only a marginal improvement. The 2T was not so bad. I had to hold the bike firmly on the brakes when first putting it into gear. Once warmed-up a bit it was a touch draggy but not really a problem. The 4T was really bad from cold. I still remember the salesman launching towards the showroom window when trying to demonstrate it 😂. I used to put the front wheel against the wheel of my car and sit my weight on the bike when putting into gear from cold. Again it was OK when warm. Welcome to the world of trials. You'll love it! While waiting for the right bike (or budget) for you, ride the 125. You'll be surprised how capable it is.

That's what I had in mind to use. Well, brake cleaner of some sort anyway. It's a simple basic chemical so I don't think I need to pay extra for a brand name. BTW, don't use carb cleaner on anything except a carb. It softens paint.

What did you use to remove the old adhesive"?

I would have thought you are far more likely to stall the motor if you have no idle. Unless you ride electric, of course. 😉

I generally use 3psi in the rear and 5.5psi in the front. I suppose I would have to go up a touch if I was riding in rocks or was heavy.

I would guess that there are typically 3 women riding at the trials I do, alongside 60+ men. So we have a long way to go. I can't imagine women ever making up 50% of entries but that could be the potential target, and would double the size of the sport. I accept that this comment is just an impression rather than a measured fact, but I get the feeling that the kids doing conducted routes are pretty close to 50/50. But by the time we get to the teenagers who are the future of our sport, the ratio is down to the same as the sport in general ie about 5% girls/women. We can all appreciate what fantastic value-for-money trials are, but that does mean that there is very little money swilling around for promotion and education, whether that is targeted at the fairer sex or any other objective you may care to choose.

A custom app for that should be super-simple. I think even technophobic observers would be able to cope. Especially on dedicated phones where you could clear out everything not required. Reading glasses would be less necessary than with a typical observer sheet (I struggle when a trial is self-observed as I don't have glasses when I'm riding.)

Full marks to bikerpet for having the integrity to admit he was wrong. Not many people would do that.

I use a lever under the clutch lever for my FRB. For me, it's ideal. John Uyehara in Hawaii makes them. I think it is basically a pushbike lever or possibly something for a small quad, that he mounts a magnetic switch in and then adds a wire with the correct connector. I thought about buying a batch from him for re-selling in the UK, but never did anything about it.

That was the sort of thing I had in my head. The problems I foresaw were: 1. Observers don't want to use their own phone for the task. 2. Difficulty downloading the data at the end of a trial. 3. General resistance to change. If those obstacles can be overcome, it would be a great step forward. I've seen the punch card system used at the Southern Experts and it was very good. Of course you need lots more cards than observer sheets, but the cost would not be great. The biggest problem was that it required two observers on each section as one must be standing by the Ends card. I suspect this may be the killer for club trials. Even without a scanner or lightbox, transcription to a spreadsheet would be much easier, especially with one person reading and one typing.

A PLANE IS ON ITS WAY TO TORONTO , WHEN A BLONDE IN ECONOMY CLASS GETS UP AND MOVES TO THE FIRST CLASS SECTION AND SITS DOWN. THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT WATCHES HER DO THIS AND ASKS TO SEE HER TICKET. SHE THEN TELLS THE BLONDE THAT SHE PAID FOR ECONOMY CLASS AND THAT SHE WILL HAVE TO SIT IN THE BACK. THE BLONDE REPLIES, "I'M BLONDE, I'M BEAUTIFUL, I'M GOING TO TORONTO AND I'M STAYING RIGHT HERE." THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT GOES INTO THE COCKPIT AND TELLS THE PILOT AND THE CO-PILOT THAT THERE IS A BLONDE BIMBO SITTING IN FIRST CLASS, THAT BELONGS IN ECONOMY AND WON'T MOVE BACK TO HER SEAT. THE CO-PILOT GOES BACK TO THE BLONDE AND TRIES TO EXPLAIN THAT BECAUSE SHE ONLY PAID FOR ECONOMY SHE WILL HAVE TO LEAVE AND RETURN TO HER SEAT. THE BLONDE REPLIES, "I'M BLONDE, I'M BEAUTIFUL, I'M GOING TO TORONTO AND I'M STAYING RIGHT HERE." THE CO-PILOT TELLS THE PILOT THAT HE PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE THE POLICE WAITING WHEN THEY LAND TO ARREST THIS BLONDE WOMAN WHO WON'T LISTEN TO REASON. THE PILOT SAYS, "YOU SAY SHE IS A BLONDE? I'LL HANDLE THIS, I'M MARRIED TO A BLONDE. I SPEAK BLONDE." HE GOES BACK TO THE BLONDE AND WHISPERS IN HER EAR, AND SHE SAYS, "OH, I'M SORRY." AND GETS UP AND GOES BACK TO HER SEAT IN ECONOMY. THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT AND CO-PILOT ARE AMAZED AND ASKED HIM WHAT HE SAID TO MAKE HER MOVE WITHOUT ANY FUSS. "I TOLD HER, FIRST CLASS ISN'T GOING TO TORONTO."

I've never done any scoring but it has always stuck me that the worst part is transcribing the results from observer's sheets into the spreadsheet. I have wondered how it might be automated but not come up with a workable idea yet.

There's plenty to like about AMCA. I ride far more AMCA trials than ACU. But site maintenance should only be an hour or two at most.

Another little advantage of the FRB: when queueing for a section I hold the FRB on. No possibility of opening the throttle by accident (which I did once, with a somewhat alarming result).

The website is down for "maintenance". It's been down for at least a couple of days, which is pretty poor.