rob214

not a metallurgist but as long as the metal pieces don't touch each other. not sure, i didn't find anything when i did internet search. is it possible to find aluminum fittings? or make fittings out of straight and weld to the proper angle? good luck rob

also work on turning without using the clutch or brakes, that's the best thing for learning.

hi, what skill level class do you compete in? if your not doing a lot of trick riding stuff then i think your handle bars are to far forward and it's affecting your turning. your head needs to be over the front more and it seems your back kind of far with your butt. more weight on the bars equals more traction in the loose stuff. try turning without stopping at a slower speed no clutch and no brakes. that will help with body position. inside leg and inside arm should be straighter and outside leg / arm bent more. keep practicing, good luck rob

cool, well no pun. as a very southern stra member it may take a while before anything around here freezes it was 98 today. but seriously that's a good challenge and with an stra event coming up in a few weeks maybe we can do a vid and donation also. rob

i agree exercise is very important, i workout regularly, but if you have torn ligaments like i do, for me the choice was braces instead of surgery. muscle strength helps support the knee and braces while riding have kept me from injuring my knees more than they are. most top mx pro's wear knee braces for a precaution theses days from what i hear. while trials can be a lot lower impact sport i think the braces would be more for someone who already has a weakness vs not have knee issues. i think everyone should workout and train for their respective sports or weekend warrior activities. mags glad to hear your girl is doing good and doesn't need surgery. rob

i forgot to add the cti's require a dr. visit to get a prescription. they are custom fit, i highly recommend the custom fits ones. my knee design or how my knee is made would not lend itself to an off the shelf brace that i didn't find out until i was being fitted. also insurance paid for all of mine over the years. rob

i've been riding with cti's since 1990, both knee's. torn acl's both knees, the braces are cheaper than surgery. good quality. after all these years i'm only on my 2nd set. they last and take a beating. instead of your knees........ rob

welcome, i'm so glad i don't have to relive my youth, i never left it............... rob(52 years old)

i don't have cable tv, only internet but my brother does, he loves that channel and is recording the trials shows for me, can't wait to see. rob

the most important investment you can make to your bike riding / equipment is "gas", go ride. ride all you can. get used to the stock bike. riding is the most important thing 2nd is have fun riding. don't over think this just ride. find some trials buddies and ride. don't start off trying to be world champ just go ride. just remember it's not the bike it's the rider. go out and have fun riding. enjoy yourself and welcome to the world of moto trials. for a beginner i don't even recommend trying to do stationary balancing, you won't even use it in a section for a long time. riding and learning the techniques for steps, logs and turns are most important. even thought our club uses rules that let us stop i can ride an entire advanced level trial without stopping in sections. novice and intermediate level section are laid out so the rider won't need to stop. i guess your from an enduro background, well take your bike out to your familiar spots and go for a long ride and just have fun playing in the woods until you get used to what the bike does. no adjustments needed to the bike other than adjust the bars and levers for your comfort and go. did i mention to have fun? gotta go ride rob

i agree with what's been said so far, but with motorcycle anything you have to start young very young and then if the kid is good enough the kid and probably family would need to move to Europe to live, train and compete. i think if he's not riding the european series and support classes for the world rounds by the teen years then he's out of luck on the world championship level. i don't know of any parent that would send a pre -teen to live on his own in Europe? back in Bernie's day the top riders were older and old enough to live on their own? maybe someone knows for sure but that's my feeling on why it's hard for US riders. rob

i usually clean mine twice a year unless i ride a dusty event. just pop open the box cover inspect, clean when dirty.

congrats rob

down is easy as falling off a …… well you get the idea rob

good job rob

i never clean my chain, after washing i shoot maxima chain wax on. my last chain sprocket set lasted 6 years. i usually ride 3 hours a weekend most weekends every year. rob

cope, do you use a shell or camper top on the truck. i really miss my truck and love trucks but i want the security of out of site out of mind as well.

i'm in the market for a new vehicle. i'm wanting a truck but would love a van for security. anyone put their bike in a mini van? i was looking at a dodge caravan. i need to bring my wife and daughter along as well as doing the typical day to day daddy stuff. van is more practical but truck is what i really want. with regards to a full size pickup anyone use a camper/shell type thing for security? can you put an alarm on the camper shell? any ideas. thanks rob

your neveer to old, get riding

the reason i mentioned jetski and boats is that's another area where the green attack on 2t's started and the premix oil had to become enviro friendly and later would also carry over into offroad bike and atv's the industry doesn't separate their thinking the way we do. when one part of their business is under attack or being changed with regulations then they have to be concerned with every product they sell. if premix oil works for enviro friendly on water then it would work in bikes and atv's. what we see in our offroad fight for land i had to deal with years ago when i was jet skiing . i would hear it all the time people didn't want those noisy, smokey things in the same place they were trying to lay out and get a tan. speaking of boating honda even fought on that front with making outboard boat motors and bringing the enviro fight there.

false statement sort of. 4t's burn motor oil, bad for the environment. 2t's can burn oil that is safe for the environment. premix oil came under fire with outboard motor's for boats and jetski's. oil manufactures came out with safe enviro friendly oil but it was to late the green tree huggers had already won. honda's 4t campaign began before the dogooders got going real well and honda just used that excuse to fuel the fire. yamaha actually beat honda to the punch by producing a 4t to win a championship before honda in the US, 97 or 98 i think. 4t's burn oil that is all bad just like cars. also i don't want to get into an argument about the enviro, i don't believe in deliberately trashing anything but i don't believe what bad science is telling us at the moment. world governments are using this against us to increase taxes world wide and basically try and shut down forward movement with anything other than batteries. which is worse for the enviro than any gas engine. axulsuv, i don't know if anyone outside honda knows the weight of bou's bike but based on what we know about works bikes, you build it then add weight where the rider wants it and then meet the limit. it's like that in all forms of racing.

this is one reason i don't like honda. way back when honda went on a quest rid the mx world of 2 stroke bikes. luckily i was done with my mx career and moved on to trials. i know lots of folks around here love their 4t's but not me. not interested. i can appreciate a weight limit that is done in the name of cost savings, reliability and so on. adding weight is not a real big deal and in real world experiences for the likes of me 10 lbs probably means next to nothing. but once again i love my light weight bike. i can imagine that the top riders would be able to ride, win and do their current level of magic with or without an added 10 lbs. but i can also imagine it sure is easier with a lighter bike. i think i could bet that honda still tries to advance their bike but i think it really hasn't changed a whole lot in the last few years. bou seems very comfortable on it and consistency is important. they have had that bike working great for a few years now and have a very limited amount of production bikes for sale from what i see compared to the other manufactures. the rest of the manufactures seem to have to update their bikes regularly for marketing purposes just to try and make sales. weight limits won't grow the participation at WTC events neither will no stop vs stop rules. i guess it's always the same, a new guy comes in and thinks he can do something better and change is usually the answer due to his beliefs. i'm not sure if the FIM and trials works the same as the FIA and formula one with a working group of manufactures voting on technical stuff but it might need it. i know the current top riders are not crazy about no stop so lets see what happens next year. even with the no-stop rule change we really didn't see any real difference in the results. i think the biggest problem is the same old problem. consistency of the observers around the world. that i think is more responsible for the results than the rule change. rob

since i'm from the USof A I CAN SPEAK FOR THOSE I'VE WITNESSED IN PERSON and yes for the most part we ain't got much sophistication. hold my beer and watch this………. rob

if it's only at start up then i wouldn't bother if it was all the time change the o ring it's not hard but sometimes can be a pain. it might be that as the temp goes up everything swells and seals? not an expert but someone else may help out with advice rob

if it was an electric fiddle and Miley cirus was half naked it would have drawn a bigger crowd in the USA. forgive me if i spelled her name wrong as i could care less about the little witch but you get the jist of it. rob