ChrisCH

I can't imagine a dealer that would stay in business letting a bike sit there that long. Perhaps things are more time sensitive than they were 10-15 years ago but it has always been the case that the new model launch sees a big drop in the price of the old one. It hasn't depreciated, it was overpriced on day one. It is simply that the dealer can get a better margin on the "new" model from those who absolutely must have the newest, latest thing at any cost. In the 80s there was a big thing about discounting new bikes and a lot of dealers wouldn't put their price in the adverts as they would have lost the franchise. I can't remember the company but there was a big outfit in Doncaster that had that business model. To be fair that was all road bikes and not trials. Also remember that there is VAT on a new bike so the dealer is getting 16% less than the headline figure. When you sell it second-hand the government have already had their cut. Mountainbikes certainly can be 20% cheaper for last year's model. My budget doesn't run to new in trials bikes...

So 4166 net. So the trade in is about - err... three and half grand. It is generally accepted with most motor vehicles that the bulk of depreciation is the first owner. I am sure that the value would be more in a private sale - the dealer has to make a margin on the trade in as well as the new bike. It seems a bit harsh but I don't think there has ever been a time when that was not the case.

The weather looks nicer in Spain. It's still Great Britain as it is Big Brittany. Maybe we could include all the other bits of the UK and hold it in Gibraltar? Might annoy the Spanish though

I am sure there is some truth in this and a UK rider would probably generate more UK interest. Assuming that to be the case how do we generate more world class riders? We have some pretty good ones already, how do we get that next step? I see good facilities and a lot of people interested in the sport at club level. How to convert that?

You have far more experience than me so I can only offer you a new rider opinion on the 250 Rev 3. The bike is very good and certainly good enough for club level trials. The Mikuni carb is not brilliant and the exhaust rubs on the tyre and is a pain. For those reasons I wish I had spent more and bought an Evo. However the Rev is a cheap ride and you can get a decent one for a grand if you look hard enough. I would part with mine for a couple of hundred more than that. Read the Beta specific sub forum and the clutch issue specifically. You need to factor in the job if you don't want the cold stick issue. I have moved over to Nano Trans and now on the third oil change and it certainly is a better oil and the clutch is much better. I might do the full job when the weather warms up, too cold to be bothered at the minute. The suspension is the same more or less as the modern bikes and so despite the age and the issues it is not that far from a 2019 model. I very much like my bike but I am looking at upgrading for the reasons outlined. My budget is going to be more than yours as it is my only bike not a second machine. As a second bike I would be very very happy with it.

And very good it was. Big turnout today. Excellent.

For a good quarry as a base you ideally need limestone. Somewhere like Hope in the Peak District has big quarries nearby. The problem is probably that the cost of renting then cleaning up afterwards is too high. All these sorts of places are run by commercial companies and they might be open to the idea or not. Weymouth is a venue where the quarry (Albion Stone) is used by the local club. http://www.bridportandweymouthmcc.co.uk/ This venue is probably good enough and the location was the Olympics sailing village. Very "tourist" venue with B&B and hotels and facilities there plus the ferry port. Of course I am not at all biased by it being just up the road. Oh no.

Hmmpph. What a shame, I was looking forward to this and had planned to buy tickets for my nephew and his mates. No idea what the venue is like, but the island is a great place to visit and would be nice at that time of year I am sure. I can stop visiting the website every day to get tickets now. The Belgian event is not too far if you are in the Southern part of the UK. About 3 hours from Calais. Might go to that. You can buy tickets on line for that and plenty of places to stay overnight in Liege. Expensive with the ferries or Eurotunnel added in though. I would have thought a more central venue than North Wales would attract more visitors? The peak district for example. It's a superb venue with some great scenery and wonderful places to ride, plus there is a wealth of accommodation and food and so on. UK has more TV channels than you can shake a stick at with programs like 5th gear surely we could muster a little media interest? 35 grand hillary? is that all? Seriously? All the more shame, a village fete is more than that.

Yes, it's nuts!

Try https://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=110andtyp=R-268199andpartner=1andm_s=1andpartner=1andCountry=UKandID=css_rd_uk_Froogle_Shopping http://www.123tyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=420andtyp=R-238408andpartner=1andm_s=1andID=psm_rdd_uk_shopelloandCountry=DUK https://www.wheelhousetyres.co.uk/tyres/classic/3-25-19-54t-heidenau-k67-classic-trials-t-t.html

Back to steel then.

I guess you would need to know what particular plastic the motorbike tank is made of. There are gigabytes of discussion on the matter and lawsuits in the US. My understanding is Ducati also replaced some tanks under warranty. The on going problem appears to be if any European models are affected and what if any comeback there might be on a bike that is 5 or more years old and the problem is the petrol spec has changed from that when the bike was manufactured. The tanks are - I think - PA6 made by Acerbis who also make tanks for dirt bikes. There was a class action filed in California against Ducati US in (IIRC) 2010. A fix of a liner material was as best I know the solution used and the Internet rumour machine revolves around whether the EU spec machines were not getting the same problem as E10 is not widely used in the EU and not in the UK. personally I think if E5 is OK then E10 will be as the percentage of ethanol is unlikely to make any odds to it being absorbed or not. Therefore I think all the BS on the 'net is the usual agenda of making a problem where none exists. The weird thing is I notice a smell of fuel now and then from the Monster as you walk past it. So you add 2 and 2 and get twenty-two

The ethanol write up is interesting (particularly as E10 is going to be the new UK standard) but nothing is said about reaction with plastic. I have read about ethanol being a problem with plastic tanks and in particular Ducati. Now, I really don't know what to believe, the Internet is not a reliable data source. Firstly the petrol cans you buy in a filling station are plastic so someone somewhere thinks it is OK and a million gardeners with a few litres for a lawn mower are all very silent on the matter. Second Ducati seem rather silent on the matter too. (Missus has a Monster). I have also read that ethanol gums up over time and so is not ideal if you don't use the bike over the winter. My road bike (Suzuki 650) sits most the winter and doesn't gum up and starts first push with months old fuel. My lawnmower does not gum up either and doesn't get the TLC of the bike. One problem in the UK is the ethanol content is not shown. In France for instance the pump clearly shows E5 or E10. Here you just have to assume it is E5. I have read (and again don't really trust) that Esso Super (97ROn) is only 1-2% ethanol or even 0%. I can report both the Suzuki and Ducati run just the same on whatever you put in it and normally get supermarket unleaded (95RON). My Beta pinks on standard unleaded, but is OK on Super. I have recently tried V Power which is a Shell 99RON product but it doesn't make any difference I can see. The technical pdf says what I have read and ethanol increases the octane rating so in my mind the higher the octane the more likely it has ethanol and yet the Internet reports suggest the opposite. We were in France at xmas and saw E85 at the local supermarket filling station. I had to look it up to see what it is. It was €0.63 a litre (unleaded is €1,29). This fuel seems quite common in the US. Could be becoming more common over here now? No real point to this other than my observations - ethanol seems to me to be inconsequential and the scare mongering about it mostly nonsense. i would love to know if there is any actual real data to suggest otherwise?

This is the one I bought (there are several sellers) You need to bend the bracket to fit the mudguard. The hinge has a thread in it so you tighten up the bracket to get the angle right. I doubt it would stay put if you rode it - I just fitted it for the MOT then took it off. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Motorcycle-Number-Plate-Rear-Light-Holder-Adjustable-Bracket-Metal-Motorbike/232778157571?_trkparms=aid%3D555017%26algo%3DPL.CASSINI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D55149%26meid%3D7ccd702227644ad7a453d79f068ae456%26pid%3D101006%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26%26itm%3D232778157571and_trksid=p2045573.c101006.m3226

That's a rather good idea. You could run a couple off the office printer and laminate them so if one gets torn off you have a spare. Like you I think if one shows willing then you can hope that common sense is the outcome. Ride sensibly and slowly, be polite to other people especially horse riders and pray that the coppers are not anti-bike. In some places pit bikes and stolen crossers are such an issue that any kind of off road bike is a "fair" target. Don't forget that to be road legal you need a speedo. If you get PC Misery Guts that will be on the list too.

There is an element of US society that appears to be proud of it's decision to trash the planet for their children. I like my motorcycles as much as the next person and hope that we - all of us - can find a way to leave the planet in good condition for the next generation of riders without the need to remove every item of pleasure from our lives. Every gallon of fuel burnt by some moron in a gigantic pick up hauling a quart of beer is a gallon of fuel that would give 8 hours fun on a trails bike. The CO2 is the same but I have had a full day's riding and the truck has driven to the local store and back. If people cannot be responsible in their own right at some point it is imposed upon them. I don't much like things imposed on me and really wish people would just grow up without the need of the government to impose anything.....

The legal requirements for a motorcycle number plate are laid down by the transport ministry It must conform to the British Standard for number plates. No other format is acceptable either for road use or for the MOT test. It must be clearly visible from the rear of the vehicle. To comply with this law in order both to get an MOT certificate and to operate the bike on the road the only option I can see is to fit a BS approved plate under the rear mudguard with a bracket bolted to the mudguard. To MOT my bike I bought a cheap (fiver) bracket off eBay and drilled two holes in the mudguard and bolted up a number plate. The bike passed the MOT. After which I removed the idiotic contraption from the bike as it would have broken off in seconds if you were daft enough to ride it like that. If you want to ride on the road you must guess what the reaction of the police will be to your illegal bike. personally I think that the legal numberplate could easily go on your back in something like a camelback so when on the bike the number is clearly visible. This is illegal but at least the numberplate is legal. A micro small numberplate or an upward facing one is illegal. In addition to breaking the numberplate law you have a non visible plate. At least a legal plate that is not actually on the bike is "legal". You can test out my theory with your local coppers easily enough. Or buy an illegal plate and test out whether your local coppers can be bothered to fine you for it. I guess the results will vary between whether you are having a nice ride on a green lane or at a trials event with a lot of other riders (so a whole lot of paperwork for Mr Plod and his mate to do - naaaah too much hassle for most of them). Which was a long winded response to your question to which the real answer is "there aren't any".

Yes, Euro 6 is urea. We have this spec van as it is now impossible to deliver to some city centres with anything more polluting. Automatic van is about 0.05% of the market here at best. Owner operator only. No petrol option on commercials. The trend is definitely smaller in terms of engine. The old Isuzu 4WD pickup was 2.5L and is now 1.9L Bigger engines only on the consumer oriented vehicles for people that are wannabe US red necks. A few Dodge Ram trucks round here now (US spec engines and ridiculous fuel consumption figures to match). I had to laugh at the Nissan panel van in the Autotrader review. It has a bulldozer engine in it. Very useful if you want to drive through the side of a house for some reason. I guess a lot of the fuel consumption is hauling round an engine that is bigger than the payload on a lot of small vans.

Don't forget US gallons are smaller than UK ones. 30mpg in US gallons is 36mpg UK. Also is the van automatic or shift? Automatic uses more fuel as a general rule (some new auto are very good). The new European Transit Connect is Euro 6 which is (as best I know) far stricter than any US emissions regulations. The new models are returning about 60mpg UK (50mpg US) [1.5 diesel] The US petrol van is described as having an "impressive" 21mpg. I am impressed. In fact I am amazed anyone ever buys one. https://www.autotrader.com/best-cars/6-best-cargo-vans-your-business-226694

If you haven't got far to go how about this? https://theusatrailerstore.com/the-dandy-motorcycle-hauler/ Kinda neat!

Any sub-compact that can tow a small trailer will give you reasonable fuel economy in relation to a big van or similar. Your biggest problem is that fuel efficiency is not a feature of the US vehicle market and so a light panel van like the Ford Transit has a 3.4L petrol engine for the US and a 2.0L diesel for the real world. A trials bike is about 70Kg so two bikes and a trailer is less than a quarter of a tonne. Your issue is therefore wind resistance and that is not an issue if you are only driving at 50mph or so. Don't forget the fuel saving when you are not towing is the biggest factor. Our panel van (Renault Master 2.3 diesel) gives 35mpg (US) and carries 1300Kg if needed.

I think most people in Europe would want a European engine though. Otherwise just buy the ready made Chinese bike. There is real consumer resistance to Chinese stuff (as we can see on the thread). I was thinking originally about a UK brand like AJS or Matchless that could be a real marketing tool. If I am honest I have no idea if there would be a market for such a bike - the Triumph bikes are mass market road bikes and the new Norton (I want one...) is a top end machine for rich people but again a road bike. Trials is more about competence than branding and the top riders already are brand ambassadors. You might just get Rotax powered bikes seen as "British" but not a Chinese engined one.

I think you could easily learn on the Scorpa 250. You can learn balance with the engine switched off. Have a look at the Laurent Ammazini short videos on YouTube. There are lots of others in English too, but these are good (helps me with my French as well).

Where are you? The biggest dealer in France (in Europe I think) is Dherby in Valence. They can deliver anywhere in France. Their current stock list starts with a Beta Evo at €2970 up to a Sherco ST250 at €3970 - there are 16 250cc bike to choose from. If you want a 125 (I think you want a 250) they have 2, a Gas gas and a Sherco. https://www.dherbeymoto.com/marchand/moto_occasion.php?sortby=5andsens=croisandpage=moto_occasion#liste I am sure they can give you lots of advice and will alter the throttle or add flywheel weights if this is what you feel you need. I have only just started riding trials and have a 250. My wife and I share the bike. I don't think a 125 would be any easier or better, the 250 is not difficult to ride. The left hand kickstart on the Beta is not a problem - the bike starts very easily. You can ride the bikes at Dherby before you buy them. At least if you went there you would be able to look at a very big selection of different bikes and find what you like.

Please tell me that is -10C not -10F I would think the petrol gets a bit stiff at that temperature never mind the tyres.