rabie

to stop air leaks through the rim tape! some trials bikes have the spokes on a 90degree flange, so you don't have this problem but on a conventional spoked wheel, air leak from the spokes into the tyre or the spoke coming through into the tube are a real issue. also water and mud ingress via the same route i remember many an enduro rider putting layers and layers of duct tape down first, then rim tape (sometime silocone the spoke holes first)

there are pleanty of them around over here, many gave me advice on how to modify my outdated outfit, they just don't seam to be forthcoming via this method

for UK conditions (mud, rain, more mud, etc) they are popular on many model, many betas come with them as standard (for UK models)

british sporting sidecar association i think they had a club in many centres (there was once one down here in the south east) there is still one in the western (or wessex ???) centre running events can't say i know about cheshire / north wales centre

why knoblies on the chair wheel? - all the ones over here just have a road (smooth?) tyre intresting chair design, esecailly the handle!!! i'm just a beginer sidecar guy so i'm not one to proclaim to know the answer one of the things that have changed over here since the 60's is chair design allows the passanger to be more mobile my chair is from late 90's / early 2000's and had a footpeg on the rear wheel spindle for the passanger, that idea is now old hat and most have moved (and i've had metal work done to enable it) to have a platform further back, allowing the passanger to be further back changing the centre of gravity. we've also had a handle over the rear mudgaurd to give the passanger something to hold onto

tyres all state wether they are "tubed" or tubeless" (often marked "TT" or "TL") the X11 and MT43 became TT/TL (ie both) several years ago IRC were still making two types i can't recal the answer for dunlop, mitas or vee rubber (but a good search online or physically reading the tyre wall should answer the question)

broadly speaking there are 4 "tiers" of tyres a) michelin x light - most expensive because its lighter b) michelin x11 / dunlop D803GP / IRC - dunlop is great on rocks, unsellable in the south, IRC is great on mud, X11 is most popular and a great alrounder c) pirelli mt43 - good for lots of road work, used to have a reputation for being good on frozen soil, not so good off road d) the cheap ones - vee rubber / mitas - cheap and chearfull, not particualry good for competive trials, but not terrible either. cheng shing list a trials pattern but i've not seen one (so can't say). NB1 - Bridgestone used to make a "trailwing" or something (discontined about 10+ years ago). NB2 - Maxxis make a "trailmaxx" for the KTM freeride (see other thread), its not a "legal" trials tyre (it's block spacing dosen't comply) but you might get away with it if only practicing, etc

we use either coloured curtain sider material (old skool banner material) or printed banner material to make 4"/100mm squares that are stapled to wooden sticks or the numerious trees we have. if done right it survies being riden over, etc - printed banner is the wrong colour on the back. one local club have gone further and printed them as trianlges to make the gates more obvious/clear. we used to use some sort of HIPS (a plastic) but they needed armoured piercing staples and had a tendency to ping off when hit way back in the day we used card/paper, i know "Stacey's and Sons" still sell this, and some club use it - it tears really easy, crap in the wet, etc many clubs have gone down the easisest and cheapest route (as mentioned above) - surveryors flags (one company is "york survey") - they are very flimsey, not universally loved, but very cheap and off the shelf (ie no work!). ideally they would be of a much thicker gauge wire and a more substantial flag material but i'm not aware of anyone selling this off the shelf. some clubs have still got "pig tails", really got thick wire that allows you to insert card into - don't think there is anyone selling predone pig tails (in metal) - when this has come up before other clubs mentioned buying wire and bending around rigs. I've seen Witley MCC use plastic one (no idea where from).

the listing on enduro tyres (a shop in hampshire) show the sticker on the tyre (the rear) that say "TL" (ie tubeless) so it should. obvisuly there was the recent IRC issue where some IRC tyres wouldn't seal proprely on some new rims (since been resolved) - see https://www.endurotyres.com/product/maxxis-trial-maxx/ Looking further Cambrian Tyres (a major tyre distributor to shops) shows (see http://www.cambriantyres.co.uk/maxxis/trialmaxx-m7319-m7320/ ) the rear is tubeless and front is tubed. i take it if you can't get michelin x lights or X11 and dunlop D803, you've tried Prielli MT43, IRC, and even Mitas ?

my sister got them on her KTM freeride, as above not a legal trial tyre, so you don't see them being used by trials riders to see if they work at very low PSI, work in mud, work on rokcs, lifespan, etc (the normal sort trial tyre questions that get asked)

when you enter online, if you haven't got an acu licence it sells you a day one (and if you can't have a licence then it won't let you) * sorry trials afflication

a big thanks to all the Normandy team for the the trial - the weather was testing for botht he competitors but also the poor observers! the very easy route was for me testing, with a few beyond me but for my first go at it we had an experience!

if you look at old pre 65 chairs, it prevents the passanger moving around the outfit there is an hour long video on youtube of yesterday's Normandy MCC's sidecar trial - you can see how all the passangers are moving all over the place! (lucky you can't see me making a hash of it!)

as above, there are loads of clubs in the south east (Kent, sussex, surrey, South london) - more when you travel a little bit more. always at least 2 proably 4 event son every weekend by the time you add them all up. only a handfull are pre65 only (eg the TALMAG at the end of january, Jack Thompson in December) but many (most?) run red (novice) and yellow (beginer) routes for you to enter. from Hove you have monthly South Coast Group and STAR group trials without travelling too far, plus club trials from GEST, Eastbourne, RRND, Horsham (ACU), Horsham Riders (AMCA), Worthing and Bognor (have i missed anyone?) i ride North Kent (NKTC) events and get along to the odd OWLS and Bexleyheath club trial - pleanty out there

there are policys out there (aimed at the mx market) for a bike that has no reg and won't ever be used on the road - all your asking for is fire and theft not third party liabilty as well as MSM (a bery specalist company), i think carol nash were offering a policy

didn't dunlop redp / relaunch the 803 a few years ago you'ld need to check if they make two versions simulatneouly or if the just 803 is an old tyre (a quick check of Dunlop's website only shows D803GP) NB all tyres have year and week info stamped on them (in sidewall) so you can tell the age

tested it at my end, download of both works but the csv is empty but xls works. ring the licence dept or jillian (who sorts IT)

TSR 1 "eligibilty / licences" covers some of it p197-198 (2018) TSR 8 "motorcylces" covers more p199-201 (2018) nothing jumps out as being something you need to watch for, usual stuff is as above; front sproket gaurd, etc - even a kill button isn't cumpsolry (lanyard for youth, british champs and sidecars)

i've seen people who have broken a few use / switch to flexible ones - a quick google shows John Lee's have them for £60 ish, others must stock them alternatively you see people cable tie them back together, making bridgeing plates out of stuff and then riveting / glueing / etc them

normandy (http://www.normandymcc.co.uk/) have a round of the british championship in late november at Hook Woods (nr Guildford) to see some sidecar action - otherwise check out Star (https://stargrouptrials.co.uk/) and TVTC (http://www.thamesvalleytrials.co.uk/) group trials - they normailly have a sidecar class i'll be playing with my sidecar at our (Sidcup) next wobbler trial in November can't say i know what more is about nearer you ...

wack the pressure uo to like 40 psi plus put it in clean (ish) soapy water and rotate - you should then see a stream of bubbles from the point of failure. the answer to this will guide you on how to fix it - could be cracked rim, leaking spoke/rim tape, the valve, the seat of the tubeless tyre on the rim or even just a puncture

you could until last year - if you were from an EEA country you could pay about £20-25 for one day repatriation cover (that assuming you didn't have a start permission from your federation). the ACU can no longer afford to offer thisto foreginers so from this year onwards the rider needs to bring repatriation insurance or start permission (aka repatriation insurnace) from their federation. We (brits) would need to same when riding out there.

a - most tech data sheets will say something like no tubeless tyre is designed to go below 6 psi (and not risk the chance of rim failure) - now that's not how we all use them but that's what the small print says ... b - all proper trials tyres are 400x18, except the x lights (made in metric @ 120/100/18). you should be able to get trial pattern tyres from mitas, cheng shin and maybe some others but they won't be a trials like (compound, etc) as the rest

the ACU as part of its wide ranging insurance cover, has £10 million medical malpractice cover for your first aid efforts (page 111, 2018 handbook) if the question being asked is, is a first aid kit a good idea, is first aid training a good idea then we are all for it. ACU HQ even ran some first aid training days over the winter if the question is should the above (2) be compulsory then are we creating some problems for some clubs ... ??? if the question is should we have defibrillator (we had a guy this year have sever chest pains) then there are still issues around them, in principle it could be nice but at what cost and practicability (we have a permanent venue with buildings and electricity - but most others don't) if the question is about having medics on site (to what standard - normal, technician, paramedic, doctor) with what equipment (the later 3 need drugs) and what vehicle (4x4 for access and/or blue light capability). at trials in the uk, below british solo round status nothing is compulsory - and these medics are pricey. the real question i would ask back is what problem are we trying to solve? As someone who runs a lot of mx, enduro and trials with a large road race track down the road do we all realise how relatively safe/benign trials is. At a MX we have several paramedics/ technicians with 3 to 4 ambulances and we "normally" injure "a lot" of people (eg 3 to 6 broken bones a meeting). Road race really does hurt people as they slide off at high speed while the "real" road racing (TT IOM, NW200, etc) kills people with alarming regulatory. In my experience (we run 7 or so trials a year) we get an injury about every few years but we have the first aid kit, people with first aid training and are easily accessible by ambulance. But when we've run LDTs the handful of injuries there are more challenging just be the fact byways are difficult for ambulances to get to...

we're (Sidcup & DMCC) running two - wednesday 20th June and wednesday 18th July - at our track, right next to J3 of M25 (so south east of london)