ChrisCH

Salve! I am new (October last year) also but so far. Had old Beta Rev 3 - several fork seals, strip and repair carburettor. Now have Beta Evo (2014) for wife also fork seals so far. My bike 2017 TRS - no repairs. We ride about once a week. You need to change the gearbox oil much more often than road bike engine oil, but it is easy and not very expensive. I don't know about prices in Italy but in England it is probably better to buy a newer bike than an old one, the older bikes seem to need more work than the price difference. My TRS was only about 1,400 Euro more than the Beta but is much better mechanically. (Both are nice bikes)

I don't know the details but at our last club meeting I was told the ACU fees have gone up (our entry fee has not). I would think any return of money to the riders is therefore less likely now if I am honest.

If anyone is interested X Trial have recently added a Rennes trial for Nov 23rd. Not too far if you get a ferry from Portsmouth. Ticket sales open Sept 1st.

Can you show me - it is taking me too long ?

People really are weird aren't they? Why would you watch snooker? Or some fat bloke throwing darts? They are not all that interesting if you play them (good excuse for a beer though). Bou throwing a bike up a two metre vertical block of stone then bouncing on the back wheel? Somehow that is boring? There's no hope for the non motorcycling part of humanity.

At club level maybe. However the indoor X-Trial is certainly worth watching. Many years ago I took a friend to watch at Sheffield. She tagged along with us blokes but I think was anticipating a boring evening (we had to reciprocate and watch Rocky Horror Show a while later - now you want to talk about boring) Her boyfriend liked motorbikes but she had no interest at all. After looking at the obstacles trying to figure it out she asked. "from there to there"? "really"? She sat open mouthed through the whole thing. A great evening was had by all. If you could just get people to go in the first place. (I did pay for the tickets on that occasion)

If it were a certificate or something that costs less than a quid it might be nice for some people - doesn't have to be for "winning" could be for best presented pre65 bike for example. I can see the attraction of such a thing. If you are going to give cash for the best score then I agree with you - the entry fee has to go up to provide the winnings. Either way it is more admin and work for the people that administer meetings and from what I can see they have enough to do already. Our club is certainly over reliant on one person's enthusiasm to sort out meetings (at which he doesn't ride). Also people get funny when money is involved. Even a fiver/tenner and there will be arguments and disagreements. You will also have to have observers as it will become difficult to trust people on the sort of self scoring that we do routinely. People would be much less likely to "cheat" for a certificate or rosette. (I think)

Cool - good to hear you are enjoying it. I really must make the effort to try one. I think the OEM price of shocks is probably not that big a deal and if you buy enough I doubt there is much to choose price wise. The rear shock on my TRS is nice but you would need to be a much much better rider really to get to the point were it is an issue. As a useless noobie it is pointless to me, but reassuring that I know it is good bit of kit. (The missus '14 Evo is fine as well) I can see the braktec front caliper is the same mounting so I can upgrade the front easily and the new rear master cylinders are also braktec. Is the rear caliper the old one? It seems to be the weak point (reading posts on here it seems that way to me). I have yet to do anything with it but it is soft and spongy compared to the TRS. Front not so bad. I will get new pads and a full bleed done at some point, just wondering if it makes sense to bite the bullet and just replace? Missus is fine with it all for the time being. Thanks for the feedback. Interesting.

It would be easy to offer a prize if that were without (any real) monetary value I guess, but if not we are back to some sort of sponsorship or increased entry fees to cover the prize money (fishing contest model). A rosette and a certificate perhaps? Do people want that?

The purpose of sponsorship is to make money for the sponsor. The fishing contest prizes mean more entrants so more people paying for boat space, more bait sales and so on. Since most trials are run by clubs who make very little if anything from entry fees and have limited capacity for numbers of entrants trials is not an obvious place to spend marketing budget. Sponsorship for a big event that brings in spectators like the cancelled Anglesey event is a better bet if you are looking to get companies to part with their profits. I think it is a shame we cannot attract enough people to come and watch stuff like that. Also why only Sheffield for the indoor trials? Can we not attract enough people to other venues?

Fair point. My experiences of crappy old Japanese road bikes is influencing my thinking. I guess a good chrome coating is a different beast. The OP asked about modern coatings and there certainly are places that can do that procedure you just need to be a bit more specific in the search engine. I am surprised that no one has made a stock replacement for the Paioli items given how many must be out there. Tarozzi make them for nearly every road bike.

I would look at a coating other than chrome as it chips. Most OE trials forks are something like Titanium Nitride. This is available if you look, there are places in the UK that do it just search specifically for that. https://www.brooksuspension.co.uk/stanchions-inner-tubes-titanium-nitride-coating/ That W3 shows the price at £200. (Pr) Whether that is a better option than new forks is hard to say - they might charge you extra on top of that to fill in the pits. Lots of secondhand Evo forks about. The 38mm Paioli were ubiquitous until they went bust. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sherco-Trials-Bike-38mm-Paioli-Forks-Beta-Montesa-Gas-Gas/254330194703?hash=item3b3742cb0f:g:6WQAAOSwGVRdU53p If you are going to have to shell out big time then you are getting close to replacement with the new Tech forks - maybe a grand with the new yoke. Depends on the rest of the bike I guess and if you intend to keep it or change it in a year or two. Whatever you spend on it you will not get it back in the sales price. If you keep it for yourself then what you spend is for you so it doesn't matter. Well that's how I look at this kind of repair anyway.

I started last October and I have found the videos on You Tube to be helpful. There are a number of sources but the channel "Learn to ride trials" has some good stuff. The key thing is balance and you need to master that - I am still working on it but much improved. If you want to balance you need to spend time practising balance. I have the bike at work and try to get fifteen minutes in most days - engine off and just stand on the bike. I have just now cracked full lock turns so it is paying off.

Would fuel injection be a game changer? I am not sure that it is a massive (commercial) advantage if I am honest. Having just got a half decent secondhand Evo for the missus I am wondering whether we should both have the same bike (easier for spares etc) and if so both go to TRS or Beta. I would like to try the "factory" Beta to compare to my TRS. The big difference between the two bikes I have is the brakes. The old Grimeca stuff on the Beta is nothing like the braktec on the TRS. But the Beta is an older bike and it is possible it is just worn out by comparison. The TRS suspension is better too, more crisp nicer feel, but that too might be just the older and more worn out bike. If I were head honcho at Beta I would look at whether sourcing improved components might not be a better marketing strategy than engine development. A more complex engine with fuel injection might be a really big deal to some top end riders but my first thought is the increased cost of routine top end rebuild. The current Beta is a longstanding machine with massive spares back up and a world of secondhand stuff to choose from. It would let me have two matching bikes and a spare engine to renovate and rotate so you are never without two working machines for example.

Thanks guys - will try some of this and see how we go.

Thanks. I will have a session on the clutch at some point and do the "Beta fix" and fit softer springs. I am not sure about the adjustment you mention - I think I understand but will this not mean the levers trap the grip fingers? We still have some adjustment left on the nut and grub screw assemblies but if I take them in any further the clutch lever hits her fingers before it has fully disengaged. For road bikes you used to get a "dog leg" lever if I remember correctly? I wondered if something like that was available? There must be a lot of other women and youth riders that have the same issue.

The missus is struggling with clutch and brake control (Evo 250). She finds it difficult to grip the bars and operate the levers at the same time so is slipping into bad habits of using two fingers on the levers or not covering the levers while riding. The bike has AJP levers on it at the minute and I wondered if anyone else with this issue has a better recommendation? My bike has Apico and they really don't look any different if I'm honest, just a bit longer. I'm also tempted by some of the clutch modifications in the Beta forum to make it easier to pull the lever in. Any thoughts welcome. Thanks.

Yeah, keep trying matey. Epic fail. Sorry - this is the wrong forum to do this. Please stick to bikes.

We have a few observers that routinely turn up but not enough to cover all the sections. So where there is no one the rider observes the next rider and passes the sheet on to them. Or - mostly - we just score ourselves and everyone trusts that we are honest.

Fat bikes are definitely cool. I love mine. I don't wear my motorbike helmet on it though.

Sadly I think it is a feature of electric motors that they whine like that. I agree it is nearly as annoying as the idiots that spend all Sunday morning with a petrol strimmer. I am sure we will get used to it in time.

This on my recommended list on You Tube this morning by coincidence - Cabestany on the electric Gasser.

I might have missed the points but it is not wilfully. We appear to be at cross purposes. Widescale adoption of EV might effect a slight reduction in CO2 but I think it is overstated by people looking only at the running "cost" CO2 and missing the elephant of manufacturing. As we agree the electric must be clean or the effect is negative. I am against the destruction of existing vehicles due to the legacy CO2 in manufacture. I never mentioned peak oil. There is - I agree - enough of the stuff to kill us all and then three times as much natural gas left to do it all over again. The peak of oil production economically is already here, hence the moronic activity of fracking. Air pollution is the big hit for EV and the reason for the push for EV in cities. Personally I think the miniscule output of a few trials bikes can be ignored. I am nearly at the bottom of my 2 stroke oil so that must mean I have used about 80 litres of fuel. That is less than a tank in the van. I fill the van up every week. Air pollution has moved on as per the earlier post about soot on buildings. The NOx and particulate issues are the reason for the current attack on diesel engines, combined with the breathtaking fraud by VAG and their fraudulent software fitted to millions of vehicles. A lot of that can be overcome with existing ICE technology, for example by using gas rather than diesel. I have a place in Montpellier in France and all the buses there run on gas. No soot, no NOx. Neither Livingstone nor Johnson took the opportunity to bring that in in London and the present Mayor is overlooking it as well. Outside of London the bus system is nearer to the wild west so not much hope. Again - I think the electric engine is the way forward for trials. I would like very much to read about your Yam conversion as it progresses. I too would like an electric road bike it would be ideal for the limited mileage I do and even better for the missus and those annoying Ducati timing belts that cost more than the fuel bill. The Zero looks like a nice machine. Bear in mind that particulate emissions also originate from tyres and this too requires some rethinking in our technology going forward.

Just to get back to electric bikes this PDF is interesting reading. https://mcia.co.uk/en/the-route If we assume that the industry is keen to promote electric two wheelers it makes a lot of sense for Gas Gas to be an early adopter in that market space. As a motorbike enthusiast I am keen to see bikes not only tolerated but encouraged and their ability to reduce congestion should be a key selling point. Not that I am about to start commuting to work on the TRS.

Sorry but you are completely wrong. Plants do not breathe CO2 - I learned that at school when I was 12 as part of my O level biology. Your misunderstanding of the difference between respiration (breathing is not respiration, plants do not breathe at all) and photosynthesis is excusable to some extent, but wrong nevertheless. Plants create CO2 just like animals and their respiration is exactly the same process. The oxidisation of carbohydrate to create energy. This is the basic chemical process of life. Plants also have the ability to use sunlight to create sugar which they store in their tissues. This sugar can be "burned" later on to create energy. This process creates O2 which the plant excretes. At night there is no sunlight and the process reverses. The night time plant closes its stomata and the excreted CO2 builds up in the leaf. In the morning the CO2 is used in photosynthesis. Reducing the CO2 to levels below which it is available for the process would impair the plant but all plant life would not die as eventually CO2 would be replaced into the atmosphere by plant or animal respiration. Plants can grow in a sealed glass vessel, something the Victorians did widely. The plant does not use up the CO2 and die. The amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere affect the level to which the sun's radiation is retained on earth as opposed to being returned to space. Whilst there is some disagreement about the correlation - mostly driven by lies from the fuel industry - the scientific facts are quite unambiguous. Human burning of fossil fuel is increasing the warming of the planet and we are now at a tipping point beyond which much of humanity is threatened by the changes. As per my earlier comments the use of electricity as a motive power isn't going to make much odds to that. I had hoped my earlier post would allow us to discuss the merits of electric as a motive fuel for trials and how that affects the future of one of the biggest manufacturers without the usual hyperbole and lies about climate change that seems to accompany discussion of electric powered vehicles. This is a trials bike forum and not an environmental discussion group after all.