rabie

VAT is like your sales taxes but slightly different (i think Michigan uses it - its own Wikipedia somewhere). since everything in the EU has VAT on it (bar a few things like food), and all the VAT is semi similar (15% to 25% i think), everyone pays VAT, but can do "tricks" when importing and exporting between states to pay the amount in the state with the lower rate. also the exemption rules vary from state to state. most importantly businesses that make stuff can claim the VAT back, because VAT will be paid by the buyer of the final product. this leads people to say run their bike through their business as advertising, so they don't pay/save the VAT. the other trick which criminals do is the carousel fraud (best explained by wikipedia).

what the others have said basically at an ACU sanctioned (ie it has a permit number) event, with your ACU licence you are covered. if you are a ridding official and have signed on you are covered (3rd party liability) the road traffic act of 1988/1992/1993 (whatever), mandates that anyone who use a mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place (which can be anywhere including a stadium), or you can be prosecuted (it's a catch all law to get boy racers in car parks). so if you've slipped a farmer a tenner to use his bit of land, then you could still get caught out (although i haven't herd of a prosecution, the police tend to pursue the police reform act, 2003, section 59 - which is when you cause offence and can have your bike seized). if your running a practice venue you should be contacting specialist insurance brokers about this cover, i know the motocross practice track have to pay some serious money for this cover, hence it costs

we (as year round trials riders) need to convince a system that deal mainly with seasonal sports (eg grass track, road race and mx) who for them have an off season, and thus find it eminently convenient. i can see and sympathise with where you are coming from, but we've (as reformers) have yet to convince the powers that be/answered sufficiently all their concerns

try drive one in a straight line for a start!!! sidecars truly are the dark side !!!!

Chrylser have shut down north american factories for a month (to stop the stock pileup), and both Chrysler and GM (Vaxhual/Opel, et al) claim they haven't got enough cash to get very far into 2009. ford isn't much better.....

the Talmag trophy trial is a big pre65 trial held on the MOD bit of land called Hungry Hill (by Tesco's in Aldershot). it's a great bit of land for pre65 trials, (i've been to almost every Talmag for the last 20+ years), but it doesn't look the most challenging bit of land for modern trials. sure i can see a great novice and inter route out there, but a hard inter and expert route would be really challenging. but because the local MOD comand is keen on getting cash in, and land is hard to get in commuter land, it's (hiring MOD land) an easy route for a lot of clubs to put on event

we're running one of the first trials (a big centre trial) of the year, and our observing team in the main aren't trials regulars, and i really don't look forward to explaining it to our observers personally (as an observer), i'm of the opinion that a real p*** taker might need some penalty, but the way i read it, the rider has carte blanche to take all day ......

re card, as a club that does a lot of mx and trials and a few enduros, we find that most MX & enduro guys have a wallet full of cards, often the last few (3+) ACU cards, and 6+ different clubs (ACU, AMCA, OPRA, etc, etc). having a different coloured ACU card is a brilliant move for checking validity instantly (although no one seams to examine if they say trials, mx, etc on them). on the other hand we as riders/member would find it much easier to have a rolling 12 month membership (say from your first joining date or your birthday). trade off i would think ......

there are lots out there, we use one local for engraving and then one a bit further way for mass mail order out awards. the latter is "Roger Brown Trophies" on 01273 559110, he is trials rider (among other things) so should be able to sort you out with something good

the situation in the UK is very different to the states (even RI, the smallest!), the different legal cultures mean what we do here is very different to stateside, where from my limited understanding the issue, use and the presence of "waivers" is commonplace/if not universal. in the UK (well England and Wales definitely) under the 1988 Road Traffic Act, since you are in a public place (which could be anywhere as this was anti boy racer in car parks legislation) you need 3rd party insurance whenever you use a mechanically propelled vehicle (ie a trials bike) - since this costs money, not entirely legit trails practice grounds are a grey area .......

some forest in the SE of NI, check the lightweight club website

there are so many clubs in kent, that there is almost a trial on every weekend of some level. some are club trials or wobbler trials designed for real beginners to have some fun at. check out ; http://www.nktc.org.uk/ for clubs mainly in west kent (check out Bexleyheath, OWLS and Double Five), there is a wider listing at http://www.southeasttrialscombine.org.uk/ which will have clubs further afield around Kent, Sussex & Surrey really for insurance and other reasons there aren't any proper kosher legal trials practice grounds out there, but with events for

dates - due to the devolved nature of the ACU, the ACU nationally (ie the HQ in Rugby) only knows about the national dates, and thus can tell the public through hosting the national dates list somewhere on the ACU website. that sort of list then gets on sites like trials central. each of the 20 centres (plus Scotland and the non territorials) has it's own dates for local events be they of centre or even club level. my centre does a dates list, with is very comprehensive and i'm sure most do the same, but they are never collated anywhere to make one master list. beyond that there are the club trials, which often only the club publicises to it's own members. now on the other hand the AMCA, although it doesn't have many trials, because of it's centralised nature, is able to publish (in TMX and on it's website) a very comprehensive list of events, contact details, etc. given this technical impass, many people, including this site have tried to construct a national dates listing, but due the enormity of the data entry required, it depends upon willing volunteers from each club to enter the data. i struggle to remember to enter my own club's events, let alone the vast number of events in my centre....... TMX's dates is probably one of the best ones out there, but not as complete as you desire....... so no really good answer for you on that one

roughly speaking where are you? UK, states, etc, and where about in said country. i have herd/read write up's of places where you can hire bikes and learn some trials...

the 25mph reference could be to do with the law tractors are put though as, and since many of these road legal quad's are going through as tractors (tractors with hydraulic steering - most - are capped at 25mph) now the boys in blue could be reading up on that law to get some of the hooligans on road legal quads.

the ACU in HQ, in Rugby won't have anything, but your local centre trials recorder (South Midland Centre i guess) would have been sent the results, worth asking .....

Sherco is at Hook Woods (Surrey), they were advertising at the end of the BTC at Hook Woods

we at home used to use lots of tyre leavers and even sledge hammers have fun and games, but my dad now runs a tyre depot, so they have machines for getting tyres off the rims, with a bead breaker, etc (sooo much easier than the old skool method). i think most tyre shop will change a tyre if you don't want to do it yourself for a small(sih) fee, i know my dad often has various bikers (road and off road) come in with their wheels or even whole bike and they get them to change them.

i take it this is *not* the Inter Centre Team Trial ???

cheers for the replies guys from the guys over at the TBM forum, http://www.shandhigson.co.uk/products.php?id=46 appears to be really good deal on the really cheap and nasty stuff (perfect for our woodland based trials), with 10 roll of 500m for

fundamentally we've had this argument on this site (and its predecessor ) and almost certainly since before the internet - the result? there is NO answer that will please everyone! the TSR22A of ? to 2008 was not universally liked but by offering TSR22B (ie non stop) you catered for the people who want to run pre65 and modern events of a non stop style. at the same time there is a group of clubs/events that want "FIM" (ie timmed and/or carte blanc). Each club/promoter/event/rider has a very good reason why each of these 3 choices is valid and even why the whole UK should move to that system. The new TSR22A (2009 onwards) i suppose offers some relief to hard pressed club/promoters/observers but i won't (and i don't think it is or is intended to be) be the magic panacea to all our making problems. we need to remember that we as a sport (of trials) need to be a very "broad church", encompassing these divergent opinions on trials marking. down here in the south east, we lost a good chunk of our centre trials (the South Coast Group) to the AMCA, primarily (but not totally) over helmets in trials. to everyone i can find today, not wearing a helmet sounds crazy, but back then its was incredibly divisive, and our failure as a governing body nationally and locally to be able to accommodate these divergent rules is really a tragedy - why? the Ramblers, government, greens, and other assorted "anti's" are not going to care about which alphabet soup oppose their attempts to destroy our sport, but they do care that there will be one powerful, well funded and supported body stopping them in their tracks. so back to trials marking after the unity rant , there is no magic solution! we need to have options (and that is what this new rule change gives) to enable clubs to run non stop anywhere in the UK, to prepare riders for the world championship, but to also run sensible modern trials in piddly little woods in the south east where we don't have vast open moor lands and great natural stream/gulley sections that are non stop embodied.

Hi all We're (Sidcup & DMCC) about to buy another load of tape and we've been using a company called Boddington's for years (website). other than seeing the odd roll in a hardware shop (often for a hefty markup) i was wondering where else the other clubs out there sourced their tape. we use a a few rolls for trials but do use a lot for our enduros. It would also be useful to know what strengths of tape you guys use, you can get the really weak but cheap stuff ("eurotape") and stronger (wind proof - "superstrong"). We also for enduros have to get blue tape, which when we buy it from Boddington's they say we're the only customer. The ACU retail it from Rugby (75mmx500m) but charge

enduro forum for the UK - try http://www.trailbikemag.com/forum/ , or mxtrax.co.uk (click forums, then "trail and enduro")

if the kid is under 18, then the parent/guardian needs to sign the kid's license form if the kid is over 16 however, they don't need an adult to sign on next to them on the day so you only need the parent to countersign for under 16's clear as mud!

generally you don't see trials bike in enduro or H&H (unless its some think very hard, like the WOR's "tough one"). that said no reason not to, i do CofC / Marshal on my trials bike rather than enduro bike. for a start depending upon lap length fuel is going to be a real issue, that and your going to knacker yourself standing up all the time......