ChrisCH

Depends who is wearing it..

I also have MX trousers (they were gifted to me so might as well use them). They are fine. If it is warm and dry I just use my work trousers, there are lots of them about in Wickes or Screwfix type places.

Ssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh............. Everyone will want one.

Any sort of leather treatment is best applied from new. Once the leather is dirty the treatment is less effective. (Unless they are factory treated - don't think the trials boots are, some walking boots are) I have Wolfsports and gave them two good applications one when brand new and another a few rides later. Have not bothered since and they are still OK. The critical thing is the boots to be clean if you are putting more wax on. I am lazy - far too lazy to really deeply clean mine and will buy some new boots at some point.

It is and a jolly nice job you have done - very good.?

One of my customers was a keen rider. His wife was in the British ladies team. They called it a day as they could no longer afford the money but mostly the time. The hassle was tearing their relationship apart as well. She is off work at the minute and nipped over to us to pick up some goods for her husband and the bikes are sat in the warehouse. You could see how much she missed riding and was showing my missus static balance and so on. I think the "enjoyment" aspect tends to get overlooked as people become too preoccupied with the competition aspect.

Since we are back to posting links... https://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/media/how-to-convince-yourself-social-media-is-more-trustworthy-than-real-news-20201203203145

Could be good for the viewing figures?

The lithium battery technology is very different to lead acid. A lead acid battery has all sorts of bad habits and needs care and attention that they tend not to get in light automotive use. A good lead acid battery charger has the facilities to do something called conditioning which the experts tell me my battery needs. Generally the charge is varied during the process as best I understand it. This certainly is the case with our fork lift. Lithium batteries are just replenished. Trickle charging is so the battery doesn't get hot and bend the (lead) plates. Motorbike batteries are much smaller than car batteries and so require a more gentle charge, hence trickle chargers for bikes. I can only guess that the bike's charging circuit is OK with lithium (unless it was the OE). They do seem to be "the thing" for bikes in the last few years. Very sensible for a dirt bike where it might spend the odd minute upside down or on it's side, a bit overkill for a road bike.

Here you go - So for the UK we need B&Q.

All true. The big difference between us and the broader bike scene is that trials bike buyers are buying to ride in the sport. If Suzuki (for example) are the winning bike in the GP it might well see a lot of road riders buying a new gixer as opposed to a Kawasaki. Even if the Repsol was the super-duper go-to machine it is not the one most of us are going to buy as we are not super-duper go-to riders. Just read the number of times a Beta 200 is recommended by other posters as an "ideal" bike. One sponsorship item we are overlooking though is the obstacles on X Trial. They all seem to have some sponsorship logos on them. Maybe that is what we need to do? Find a sponsor for the obstacles? Is there a big cash rich company out there?

I would think that is the case. Out the loop for a week. Factory sponsorship is designed to promote a brand and encourage people to buy that particular bike/brand. If Bou rode the six day and won it everyone would say it was him not the Montesa so hardly a good investment. More likely that the importers would stump up a few quid to see a top name or two.

He had a school session booked with John Lee earlier this year that got cancelled due to the rescheduling of competition events due to Covid. I had booked up with it and both the missus and me were going. £100 a head IIRC. The wife was looking forward to meeting Adam but not entirely about his teaching ability.... I don't claim to know what sort of payment these guys get for X Trial and the like. Pat Smage did a couple in France and they are on YouTube. He slept in the van (provided by the factory) so I doubt there was a big budget for him. The GoPro footage from his helmet over the obstacles was interesting. Not for the faint hearted.

No accounting for taste I suppose. I used to go to the Le Mans 24 in my youth but the bikes go round and round and round and round. I drank a lot of beer. Never seen the point in track racing personally. My trials bike is at work (in the dry) and a huge number of people that visit us make comment about it (and my wife's Ducati, ignoring my Suzuki). I think people that like motorcycles probably would like X Trial. My nephew and his mates were keen to go to the trial at Anglesey but it was cancelled. He has graduated now and the other lads gone their separate ways. One of his mates is a keen push biker and he was looking forward to seeing the trial. The virus has changed everything now of course so I doubt we will see anything this side of the channel very soon. Shame.

Nearly all UK pumps have the ethanol content displayed on them now. Super is generally E5 the same as normal. I run the TRS on Shell V Power as it seems to run better, it has E5 on the pump. As I already have this fuel in a can I also run my plastic tanked lawn mower on it as well. It stands over the winter in a garden shed and starts first pull in the spring with no additives (Or maintenance). The "swelling tank" thing from what I have read is the water in the ethanol that makes the tank swell. So if the bike is stored in a damp place that might be a factor. If you read enough internet sites and forums you will eventually read someone telling you on pain of death they have experienced the diametric opposite of another poster with equal sincerity in their posts. The truth may well be out there but you will not find it easily. If you read up about fuel then you will understand that ethanol alters the octane rating so removing it is possible but will result in a different petrol that might not be high enough in octane for the bike. (Although you will find people that argue this is also not true of course) I have pretty much given up bothering, a lot of the people complaining online are actually fruit loops. I fail to believe that any manufacturer can produce a bike in 2020 that will not work properly with petrol from Sainsburys. If the wife's Ducati blows up when E10 comes in I will let you all know.

Its the old ones that have problems as far as I know. Lot of internet traffic about Ducati but the wife's Monster (2012) is fine on E5.

The lack of X Trial in the UK is odd. Why does it have a big fan base in the rest of Europe and not here? Is it a lack of venues or costs? I think most people would get bored watching me make a knob of myself but X Trial is designed to be proper entertainment.

As someone new to the sport my own view is that perhaps the UK weather is not the best for producing the sort of riding that you see in the competitions. I went to watch X-Trial in Rennes last year and it was very entertaining and well worth the trip, but not relevant to the sort of muddy riding I do. Our club is busy and our meetings are well attended. Everyone has a great time and it is genuinely the most friendly and pleasurable thing I have found to do since we moved here. It is not likely to produce any champions though. We have one young lad who is really good but probably a bit too old to set the world on fire. Everyone encourages him but he is late teens and so unlikely to be next world champ. He seems to me to have lots of fun and that is what is important. If you were in Spain with endless hot summers and sunshine and started when you were 3, like Tony, then you might get to be really really good. Nowt wrong with that. Nowt wrong with just having a good time. Today it is raining and cold, we are locked down and cannot ride. I don't have a private estate (like Tony) to practice in. I am missing my fun. Missing my friends at the club. Missing watch my wife fall off but have a good time nevertheless. We are very lucky to have such a good grassroots trials scene in the UK. It encourages lots of us to get out there and ride, but the friendly nature is not going to produce a massively competitive group of top riders all aching to be the next Bou. And - to be fair - I like it that way.

Gentlemen, gentlemen, how very sexist. I think you will find a UK rider is World Champion. It's the men that can't cut it. ?

Isn't the newer one (master cylinder) a braktec? I can see that there is a replacement one in that brand available. Wondered if this would help on the wife's bike. Also there is an aftermarket disc, might help. The Beta back brake is a bit wooden compared to my TRS. I find it OK but she doesn't really press it hard enough. We fitted Galfer pads on the front and this has improved the braking, but again a bit wooden compared to the TRS. A friend has a late model Factory Evo and the front brake is noticeably sharper and again a braktec master. (Std on Factory) I like the Beta but the brakes are pants. (That's "shorts" for the US contingent)

The wife and I bought a bike to share and for a few weeks it was just fine. But only a few weeks. There is only so long you can argue whose turn it is.... Probably best to start with one each if you can. ?

We import from the EU and the lack of any agreed deal on intra-community VAT will almost certainly noticeably increase prices. Some products will also be subject to tariffs, again dependent upon whether or not some sort of trade agreement is done. I think (as do most people) Johnson was waiting for the US election results and will now be forced to avoid the hard line no deal that would have been the outcome if Trump had won. I have had countless letters and emails from HMRC telling me to "get ready" but not what to get ready for. We are near the end game now and soon it will become obvious whether or not EU imports will have to go up by a tiny bit that no one much notices or a lot, or (unlikely) not at all. My best guess is that it will add maybe around four or five percent to the cost of goods to us on the warehouse floor. The primary cost will be the need to appoint an import agent and to pay bonded warehousing or other customs costs. If tariffs are imposed then you can maybe look at 10% on motor vehicle parts and complete bikes, so what, 5-600 on a Beta 250. It is harder to judge the effect on the pound and we are already pretty low in terms of the Euro exchange rate. I think it is unlikely that this will be a big factor in the short term but going forward downward pressure on GBP has to continue as exporting becomes much harder. Chinese and other non EU goods are mostly already subject to the same customs and VAT issues and so will be less affected. Time to buy a Tenaci Wong.

It is an unfortunate reality that humans are not very good at risk assessment or statistics and especially things they know little about. I would hazard a guess that doing DIY in lockdown is more "dangerous" than riding in a trial. I never know quite the right way to react to such a comment, I guess it depends on the person. You could ask her (stereotype on my part - or him) why pedestrians don't have to wear a crash helmet, but (and I guess) the irony would probably be lost.

Likewise our club. Everyone has been sensible and it has been as near to safe as you can get without a full hazmat suit (bit sweaty I think). ACU doing a good job.

ACU website still taking booking at present but I think the details are not yet fully known. My best shot at it is we will be shut down. That seems to be the news media view.