old trials fanatic

Very true as most of us know to our cost. Then again Motor Sport isnt cheap at whatever level. Strange thing is, well perhaps it's not strange i dont know, but now i am trying to make a crust selling stuff i find it's the Trials riders who are the tightest. It's funny how the motor crossers dont balk at spending money on the right parts and the Road Racers hardly ever ask the price but the Trials lads umm and ahhh over 50p Fact of life sport isnt cheap and never was or will be and Motor Sport isnt even at the cheap end of something that isnt cheap.

Wanna buy a Beta TR34 That bike is probably going to sell to somebody to get it's engine for transplant into a 240 or 300 pro. On a serious note that was why we introduced an air cooled mono class but hardly anybody turns up. Last year if you ahd rode once you would probably have come 2nd or 3rd in the club championship. Wont happen this year as we have had to amend the criteria to you must have ridden in at least 5 events to count for championship points. Shame really as we genuinely thought it was a way into trials at a reasonable cost on lets face it a potentially reliable bike with good spares availablility. Oh well the best laid plans ..........

Was talking to a man who should know the other day about this very subject seeing as he had an Ossa Gripper engine on his bench for a rebuild as someone had seized it due to the two stroke mix beeing too lacking in the lubrication dept. So i asked the same question "what ratio should i be using?". The answer was not what i expected. Apparently a lot depends on the oil used. Some oils mix better than others and some offer better protection properties than others. He had done tests as part of development work with amongst others Motul and they had found that the mix ratios varied from 40:1 to 60:1. Remember we are talking Classic Bikes here. Air cooled, large tolerences etc plus as we mostly run Trials bikes the requirements are different to a moto cross bike or even road and race bikes. His recommendation was always err on the higher, more oil, ratio than leaner. Full synthetics in his opinion were a waste of time and in extreme cases didnt perform as well as semi synthetics as the engines dont spend much time on full throttle or get that hot to burn the oil effectively. He did say he had seen more engines coming in for rebuilds due to under oiling than anything else of late. Not a lot of help but for what it's worth i run Castrol TTS at 50:1 in the James and the Ossa and wear in the James engine, havent run the Ossa long enough yet, was after two years negliable.

Yeah and where can i get one of those swingarms OOOOOOOOOOOH i like much i like

Good point Javier. We have a mutual friend who lives locally who i get to ride with, not as often as i would like, and he can make a bike, almost any bike, talk even at his age. Dont tell him i mentioned his age I always enjoy tinkering and modifying the bikes so what they look like is purely down to personal preference. Me i like a minimalist form follows function look, always loved the look of the Fantic 300 pro, so my "dream bike" would always look "much developed" when compared to a std bike. Had some photos sent me of Angels Delay Fantic the other day and that looks really super. As for performance i'm that bad a rider i think i'm beyond technical help so the bike wouldnt make much difference maybe even make me ride worse as some of the better riders bikes i have tried did. Do like to see bikes being developed though. Bring em on. Any piccys of a "developed" OSSA MAR ?????

Welcome to the wonderful world of sales and marketing. Thats why after 21 years i got out. Ok i may now be skint but at least i've got my integrety and self esteem back.

nice but looks a bit too std for my liking. The exhaust could surely be improved and the steering angle then what about shock position and swing arm. Thats why i liked the one in the video soooooo much. Looks pretty though but not cutting edge in a form follows function kinda way. Down to style and taste i suppose.

OK lets get some sanity into the arguement. Yes perhaps i am living in my own little Classical bubble if so fair enough. Have you made representation to your ACU centre rep clearly stating your views? Dont know wether you have or have not but that would be the first thing to do. Some clubs who have been around for a long time have long standing traditional dates so best when putting forward dates to avoid those dates if you dont want to suffer low entries due to date clashes. I dont know what else to suggest other than for some clubs to close and therefore leave those date free as they no longer exist. I understand your frustration but i cant see any other outcome with the number of clubs in the centre all wanting to put on events. The dates clash because there are the number of clubs there are. So which clubs should close? Peace and love peace and love.

Acksherly i normally ride 3 times a month at three different clubs one of which is"my own" but correct i dont ride at S&H or Sutton Falcons because i dont have a suitable bike or enjoy those sort of events. My main point was it is a coincidence that you state your clubs as S&H and Sutton Falcons. Sutton Falcons tried to bring a motion in to stop clubs running as many rounds as they wanted solely for the benifit of Sutton Falcons. That motion was quite rightly defeated. S&H just happened to be the club that a c of c had a rant on this very forum about poor support from riders and decided to cancel his event. Is it just coincidental that you are members of those two same clubs? perhaps it is. Does it matter? not really. But to lay the blame on other clubs in the centre who are organising well supported trials is a bit rich. That to me suggests that the organisers of those clubs seem to think they and only they have a god given right and riders must come to their events. You say there are too many trials in the East Midlands Centre on the same day. OK why doesnt your club choose to run on a different date or run less trials a year. Same also applies to Sutton Falcons BTW. It has also been said that there are too many clubs in the centre and some will fold due to lack of support. Well if nobody wants to ride at those clubs is that not the way it should be? I just get a bit sick and tired of hearing the same old moans and whining from shopkeepers, organisers whatever. We live in a society founded on freedom of choice but as soon as people use that right there are always those who want a totalatarian regieme that forces people to shop where they say do what they want when and where they say those people should. That aint the way it is. I again repeat IT WASNT ME WHO STARTED THIS THREAD AND IT WASNT ME WHO MADE THAT STUPID PROPOSAL.

Woodys right on the elegability Javier. I dont know if you were thinking Scottish as i know also the event is a very aspirational one in Spain still but you might, then again you might not, have problems with elegability using those sliders whereas Norton ones with modern internals no problem and they work better. You know it makes sense

As Rappers said in his collumn "easy pickings". "The cop who stopped him then visited the start but his arrogant attitude and bullying nature did nothing to help" have you ever met one who wasnt? When i complained about the local scumbags and scroats on the local playing fields and canal towpath on nicked bike i was told "have you ever thought of moving?" i replied "have you ever thought of getting off my property?" You might pay their wages but as a house owner, registered keeper, community charge payer whatever youre on their data base and are an easy target and they know you wont give em any hassle unlike the scroats who stick two fingers up, most cant count any higher, and get away scot free as always. Dissalusioned ? just read my "community charge bill" now theres a missnomer if ever i saw one. Yes i am !!!

Just remind me which two clubs you are involved with again? Wouldnt be Sutton Falcons and Sheffield & Hallamshire, see previous rant about only 11 riders turning up, would it ?

Javier doubt if they are Norton. Probably Ceriani, MP or REH. I assume you mean the fork stantion is a sloppy fit in the alloy slider? If that is so then you need to have the bush in the alloy slider replaced and reamed to the exact size of the chrome stantion. Most of these forks did not have bronze bushes fitted so you will be best getting a machine shop to bore the slider out then make a bronze bush to an interference fit and then ream it once insitu. Going to be expensive and probably might be better to have a set of new Marzocchis fitted into the alloy sliders you have? At least then the forks will perform much better more to modern standards. Choice is yours matre.

Very good bigfoot would you mind if i copied that to my Clubs website and had copies at the start of the Trial ?

Hope we never come to it but thats a damn good idea and worth considering. Nice one Bilco.

Wasnt this the same bloke who had rant last night because only 11 riders turned up and he decided to cancel the event? Wonder if only 11 turned up because of the car parking and idiot landowners reference ? Nah surely not

That rule only applies in Gods own country

The point of the dates meeting is so that clubs can send a representative and petition for the dates they want their trials to run on. The provisional calender is published and unless you strongly protest at that point it is then ratified. I'm no big fan of the ACU or the AMCA but they are all we have at the moment so use them to your advantage as happened with the Sutton Falcons proposal which was defeated due to an almost unanimous lack of support and a lot of Clubs objected to the proposal and quite vociferously made that clear to the ACU rep. As some have quite well stated before most Clubs stick to the same dates so to aleiviate the "problem", i dont really see that there is one but you obviously do, somebody has to change their dates. Perhaps some could move to another weekend? some could move to a Saturday trial ? some might even opt to hold less trials but try to make the ones they do hold better ones?, some as has happened locally could just change the "trial" to a training day? I dont know the answer but what i DO know is that riders will go to ride the trial they enjoy riding now that may be down to the venue, severity or lack of, where their mates are riding or just thats it's closer but going from experience the vast majourity, some travel 60 miles to our and Dales Classic events, will ride where they enjoy the ride so give the riders what they want and they will come but diont ever think you have a God given right to get entries just because yours is the only Trial on that day. Fredom of choice the customer will decide.

I dont know how the landowners work oop there but we still have to pay rent for the land wether we run the trial or not. We cant just decide on the day "ooh we havent got enough people err lets save money and cancel and go down Meadowhalls shopping" me i'd go down the pub Meadowhalls is er indoors stomping ground. So you are telling me the landowner of this "one of the best venues around, but expensive to rent. " will now take pity and not expect payment?

As a matter of interest where did you ride ? I had a smashing day out at the Dales Classic Trial at Burycliffe. Sensible sections. Over 60 riders agreed and lots of smiling faces

Why dont you announce that you are canceling your trial on the 11th now then and save 11 people the time and expense of coming?? I am sure Mansfield Maun and Cheadle wont mind

"I'm not a good enough rider to tell the difference when I try different ones" Think youve answered your own question there. Just buy a cheapo pair. Have you ever thought of a rigid ??

Oh here we go again. I have no vested interest because my club doesnt have a trial till next week but lets get a few facts straight. You say there were five club trials. Two of those were AMCA events. Then you rant on about "WHY O WHY DO THE EAST MIDLAND CANTRE NEED TO HAVE SO MANY TRIALS ON ONE DAY" so what do you suggest the ACU do about AMCA events ? Launch a premptive strike on their HO ? I was at the Dales Classic event, i have no connection but i did enjoy myself and had a good bay out on my bike, where they had i would guess at 60 - 70 riders. You had 11 who was offering the riders what they wanted ???? You started the rant may i remind you. I am sick and tired of clubs, bike shops etc in this region thinking they have some god given right to succeed. GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD CLUBS, BIKE SHOPS WHATEVER HAVE TO GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT WHEN THEY WANT AND THEY WILL COME!!!!!! The Sutton Falcons proposal failed because it was flawed. Why dont you have a rant about the Captains Trial also on today where at least 6 people went who would otherwise have been at the trial i was at. Did Dales Classic spit their dummy about that ?????? NO THEY DIDNT !!!! As for you canceling the trial because ONLY 11 people turned up well what do you think that says to the 11 people who did turn up ??? Do you think the very same 11 people will bother turning up to your event next time??? well if i was one of those 11 i am damn well sure i wouldnt bother. Why have the expense and effort if the organiser spits his dummy and cancels at the drop of a hat. I suppose the East Midlands Calender is a new thing and nobody noticed this before? Lately the attitude of some people in this centre makes me wonder what goes on in their heads assuming thats the bodily part that governs their actions.

As always well put Woody. Obviously somebody has seen a "Commercial Business opportunity" and is doing their very best to hoodwink potential buyers. As i said in a previous post the so called financial reasons just do not stack up once examined properly. Even on flea bay i have noticed quite a few useable twinshocks for well under

I would just like to categoricaly state that neither i nor Alan Whitton have ever made or passed any judgement or commented other than favourably with regards to Jim Pickerings Drayton Bantam frame. For my own part i have never even seen one in the metal. All i was trying to find out was more about a Bantam i had seen on the Don Smith Memorial site. I have spoken to Jim with regard to his Bantam products and found him most helpful and once i can afford one will most probably buy one of his products. I feel agreved that i find it necessary to post this but i feel i should due to phone calls that Alan has received infering that he may have made derrogatory comments about the Drayton Bantam frame. HE MOST CERTAINLY HAS NOT AND VALUES JIM AS A FRIEND AND CUSTOMER. I realise that there is a bit of a campaign locally against me at present but find it reprehensive that some people are twisting an innocent request for information and using it against me and my friends to further stir the excrement. PLEASE STOP NOW.