trapezeartist

My Fantic 200 had a plastic bash plate so I assume most/all twinshock Fantics would have similar. It worked for me.

Put the barrel on the paper, then draw around the cylinder. Cut that out with a scalpel or Stanley knife. Then put the part-made gasket on the barrel and use a small ball-peen hammer to gently tap around the periphery and the ports to cut the rest of the shape.

And the good news is….. the FIM have seen the error of their ways and withdrawn the no-minders rule effective from Portugal this weekend. Too late for Toby, but at least it makes it a bit safer for everyone else.

That would require the club to have a suitable bank account with someone like Square, and it would also require an internet connection; something that is frequently lacking at a trial venue. There's no reason why a club couldn't mix pre-entry with pay-on-the-day. Sufficient pre-entries would give the confidence to go ahead with the event, and if 75% of the entry was on pre-entry that would be 75% of the entry list already written for the results team. Just the remaining 25% for be transcribed from hand-written entries on the day. This would be just like the application of the trial observer app (https://mototrial.co.uk/observer/) which can at least bring the club 50% of the benefit if 50% of the observers use it.

That sounds crazy! Every 40 hours seems more reasonable to me, which is what is in the Beta owner's manual. It's about what I have done with all my bikes but I don't get obsessive about it and probably run over sometimes. On the other hand, I probably overestimate how many actual riding hours there are in a typical trial.

Now that sounds like a plan! 😃

Is there much trials activity on Madeira? I'm going there in the autumn.

Toby's crash was alarming to watch. Apparently he has chipped two vertebrae so I suspect that will have him out of action for a while. Would it have happened if minders had been allowed in the section? Opinions?

Interesting website. I think I looked at it before, but had forgotten it. What do you use for degreasing before sticker application?

The stickers on my Electric Motion are beginning to look a little tired so I'm thinking of getting a Jitsie sticker kit rather than taking out a mortgage for the EM OE kit. Just to be a bit different I'm thinking of getting the "Stealth" version that is virtually all black, white or grey. I can't see a photo anywhere of it fitted though and I'm concerned it might look drab, especially against the black frame. Has anyone got one? And what do you think of the look? And what's the quality like?

Trials bikes get a hard time while being ridden, but a lot of them get babied in the workshop. Filter cleaning, oil changing, new bearings, etc.... Most are probably far better cared for than the average road bike.

I don't know how to contact Admin, so I'll put it here. Could we please have a Mecatecno sub-forum in the bike-specific section?

I have a system almost ready to go. It's simple, and would just work for a club without all the complexity that the ACU system has (which would be great if it worked, but ....). It would be free for any club to use if they want it; just my way of giving back something to the sport. Having said that, not every club does want on online system. I certainly know some who prefer enter-on-the-day.

It's not a closed shop. There's AMCA. I ride a lot more AMCA trials than ACU. (But I agree, the person who adopted the Sport 80 system should be taken outside and shot.)

I've just hit that mark, and have every intention carrying on trialling for a long time yet. Interestingly, the trial I did last weekend had riders ranging in age from 8 to 82. There can't be many sports where those extremes (and everyone in between) can compete on a more-or-less equal footing.

I have a wheelchair-adapted Doblo to carry my trials bike. The lower floor gives much more headroom so I would guess a MX bike would fit easily. The ramp is a bonus for easy loading. I put mine in corner-to-corner and have the passenger seat well forward, but I don't turn the front wheel much so it would be possible to fit in a slightly longer bike.

Personally I much prefer competing to playing or practising. (I'm using the word "competing" in a very loose sense, of course.) I'm not very good at judging how hard something is going to be so having a trial organiser to mark out what I should be riding is much more helpful and enjoyable. And sometimes I actually clean something that I never would have thought I could.

You really couldn't go wrong with Inch Perfect, but there may be others closer to you. I wouldn't know.

+1 for the experience day. That was my first initiation. For £100 or so you get hours of riding, someone to guide you and you don't even have to wash the bike when you've finished. If you decide trials is not for you (though I can't possibly imagine anyone thinking that!) you've had a fun day out. +1 for the Mechanic gloves too. Just as good as the trendy brands and a quarter of the price.

Some people have the strength and flexibility in the their legs so kick-starting is no problem. For others, the high position of the kickstart shaft on a trials bike will always be a problem, whether left or right. I think there is a massive benefit in electric start, though I chose to go the whole way and bought an electric bike. I believe the TRS e-start carries less than 1kg weight penalty.

I had the same thing with my Beta. It wasn't out by a lot so I taught myself not to look at it and worry. My assumption was that the wheel had been laced with a bit of an offset. Loosening all the spokes on one side and tightening on the other should have fixed it, but with no experience of wheel-building I could have made it a whole lot worse. So I left it.

You're getting very indignant about this. You're right, any trials rider could wear a MX helmet with face protection if they want. I'm not advocating such a thing being made mandatory. I was just querying why no-one does wear one, why no manufacturer produces such a thing specifically from trials (I've only just learnt about the Arai), and whether anything would change in the light of Gabriele Marcelli's crash. Given that the risks of injury in X-Trial are considerably higher than for us wobblers on the easy route, I think it could be the top riders who might take the lead. BTW, why are you so vigorously opposed?

I've just looked at the Arai Penta Pro. Its an interesting alternative to the MX style helmet I was thinking of, and it would almost certainly provide adequate protection for the low speed impacts that are most likely in trials. Provided it can't shatter and make injuries worse in a heavier impact, I can't see any reason not to. Except fashion and cost.

No, I'm not riding with a full-face helmet at the moment. Although it was something grumbling away at the back of my mind, it only came to the forefront after seeing Marcelli's crash (and hearing the noises he made immediately afterwards!). As there are currently open-face helmets that are supposedly designed specifically for trials, I think maybe it would require a combination of the features that make a "trials helmet" with the face protection of a motocross or enduro helmet. It's interesting though that turbofurball wears an enduro helmet for trials without a problem. The proof of the pudding ....... Getting a face guard caught on a branch? Like you could get the opening of an open-face helmet caught on a branch?

I can partly agree with that point of view, but sometimes people need a nudge. Trials riders didn’t wear a helmet at all until it was legislated. Perhaps the first step would be a top-level rider (Marcella himself maybe) working with a helmet manufacturer to develop something suitable for trials.