rabie

if due to land shortage you are hiring MOD or forestry land (lets say costs of £1k to £2K) then the club has to have a real big entry to make it viable (even when that's met, then land still gets pulled). even a "normal" venue would require a decent (40+ 50+ etc) entry to pay a sensible land hire (thats without other costs like toilets). Entries of 30 and under and only any good if the land is free or a nominal fee (bottle of whiskey, free ride, etc).

not sure how best to show it as the forum software is playing about, i can make links to other (normal) websites but not this atempt 1 test 2 of a normal website anyway if i "trick" the software by pretending it is computer code you can copy and past the link below https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10213881468885851.1073741846.1082341744&type=1&l=7706d0abcc

This is the real hard bit the course plotter needs to think in a sidecar mindset - very difficult because not all have ridden sidecars, etc what you lay out that might be really good for a sidecar can be main road for solo, and vice versa - what is easy for a solo can be really hard for a sidecar

Went along to Hungry Hill today for Thames MCC's Mike Kemp trial for twinshock and P65 - Several people asked me where they could find the photos i was taking - they are here on a public facebook gallery. It was a difficult day for some following some considerable recent rain, and then at the very end the heavens opened just as we were going home. Hope the brave volunteers from Thames MCC didn't get too wet! - Thanks for a great day.

the passenger can't dab or touch trees, etc - that bit is straight forward the difficult bit is when is a stop a stop - its really a different test in sidecars, especially pre65 if the sections are laid out in a certain way - eg go down a hill or round a tree, turn sharp and then straight up a big hill - that does seam to involve a very long pause as the engine is wound up!

i'm not sure if coloured card could be lacquered, a normal stationary laminator should be sufficient - hence the sacrificial strip of duct tape to staple up. Correx or "fluted display board" is available for peanuts - we sell 8x4 sheets of white at work for £8.50+vat (there are loads of other distributors all around). The only limitation would be failure of the plastic form UV exposure over the long term (ie left outside for years), other colours are available (eg orange) but are unpopular (i've whote, yellow and red). The real challenge is cost and difficulty of shipping it (easy to damage). If you were nearby i could give you some offcuts for free to play with. Several sign suppliers (not me) supply various correx clips if you wanted to cable tie up the back. Others have used other substrates to make beginners and ends cards, direction signs, etc - common sign substrates such as foam board (aka foamex) and aluminium composite (ACM/ACP/dibond, etc) would also do the job

we sell the correx at work, its really cheap but moving whole sheets (intact) via courier is not possible (we can cut them down) as to castrol arrows, i did a lot of research on them this summer as some one else asked - to get them the shade of fluorescent orange to show up so well is the challenge (as above the correx is really cheap) so flood covering sheets with vinyl or finding specialist screen printers then getting it cut to arrow shape were the two different options i was perusing. Screen printing only work if the volume is there, and i couldn't find the interest at the time (we talking about 700+ arrows). ACU rugby also looked at it but volume / unit cost defeated them too the alternative is the MWTRA (Vic madley?) sell enduro route marking arrows but they are much smaller (MD Racing the UFO importers also sell arrows) Staceys and Sons (make rider numbers from essex) also do a wide array of arrows and other events signs on A4 laminated

mt43 aren't going to set the world alight as the best trials tyre but there is no reason why they shouldn't hold air. Most trials tyres now come marked "TT/TL" ie both for tubes and tubeless - they will create a seal with the rim to hold air. as many have said above check the rim tape, ideally with a water bath of soapy water (bubbles = leak). I've seen guys go around with the inner part of the wheel with silicone on every spoke top, then strips of duct tape to make a better seal....

there is a guy from Gloucestershire way who sell trials numbers who also sells them - i can't recall his name at the moment One of our guys made some new ones this year just using a4 paper/card and a laminater, i then added strips of duct tape (top and bottom) and we staple them up

the answer is there is no easy answer ... to an extent as timp says returning to "stop for a 1" would to solve part of the problem but it depends upon bold observers who are willing to make a hard decision and possible explain why they've marked accordingly. this is highly unlikely to happen as we are short of observers and will take anyone we can get and they don't want to be confrontational (in the main) this leads us straight back to our problem with non stop, who is deciding what is a stop, and will they actually enforce it (by giving a 5) when someone does "cease forward motion" jimmyl then brings us to the next part of the equation, " If the section can't be ridden no stop then c of c is at fault". In my opinion its a 3 part equation, the observer, the course plotter and the rider - all 3 have to play their part to make it work. We've all seen observers not give the right/intend/etc mark because of different interpretations of a stop. We've all seen sections laid out that can't be ridden non stop, and we've all seen riders ride a section "stopping" while other riders have ridden it "non stop". the big win of going to non-stop is we have speed up how a trial goes because we are not waiting for someone to hop and bop over something, i think we need to realise what we've achieved something valuable with the move to non stop but acknowledge we haven't the got the magic bullet

So the answer is for the CofC / Trials Master (that is a good Americanism!) to have a nice chat (NSC Verbal warning) with the rider (and parents) that this is not on. The wisdom of Solomon bit is to maybe have an exemption for electric bike classes. The real hard bit is how to get the message to the riders who are missing out queue in trials and then doing the queue section several times at the end. One could get draconian and put the time a rider does the section down next to their mark, ie showing how they rode them out of sequence. One could go further and amend TSR18 to give the organiser more scope for leniency. Around here (the soft south with no rocks) some local clubs like to do start where you like of start at the section number of your last number (ie rider 67 to section 7, etc) - works well in field venues with the sections arranged around the edge in a circular fashion. i think you can stretch the end bit of TSR18 to make this legal but its not in the same spirit of the rules...

That's a much more difficult question. If the practice (ie not competing) is insured by the ACU the riders need to have an ACU trials affiliation (ie licence) - which requires you to go down that medical route now other places do private practice without any insurance or insurance via another provider or through another federation. The places with any insurance (that is worth anything) would/should be asking the same basic medical questions the ACU is. However there are still many places without insurance to try, but as others have said exercise caution for not just you but the other riders around you

The ACU questionnaire" ask about your vision, and thus you'ld have to answer its affected. it doesn't require your to have a road bike licence (many, many people don't including all youth!). for example down here in the south east, Ian Allaway has been a trials passengers for as long as i've been alive (and he is blind). the idea of the "rules" is not be awkward but to be safe for the rider and those riding with them, there is a much greater risk in riskier bits of the sport (road race, mx, etc) so the medical requirements are tighter there. what ever way it goes, good luck!

i'ld like to spend ages and write a real *long* reply on this whole thread but haven't the time on this point specifically, we've had the ACU build an online entry system and have had it running for four years now - you pay online, secure, and then you turn up on the day verify you are you and sign on and go. as to how you roll this system out to clubs, to get them to use it, that is a challenge but broadly speaking we've built a system to do it all and its ready for clubs to use.

best speak to the licensing department of the acu - they have a medical panel of doctors who handle "challenges" like this

don't knock it - the time to redraw should be billed out at like £100/hour - great if you get a guy to do it FOC

in the modern world of ANPR (ie computer readable number plate) i don't think "movement" on number plates is realistic the rest of it, broadly bikes are built for a pan european legal system (which we may be brexiting), and bike manufactures have to jump through hoops to get them on the road, and we (riders) have to jump through more hoops to get the bikes on the road. should we (the sport) try and spend vast sums of money (raised by who from where ???) on hiring lobbyists and trying to get the law changed or loopholes added for our obscure minority sport ??? we can if that is what need to be done, but even then we can only hope to change what is on the legislative agenda, which beyond incorporating EU law en masse into UK law doesn't seam to leave any legislative time in the next few years, if after that some sort of transport bill comes up we might get an opportunity. off the top of my head, are the trials importers members of the MCIA ??? (Honda as the current importers of Montesa) How much does the MCIA spend on lobbying, or should it be the ACU and AMCA ??? Even if you were Honda, are you going to rock this boat for the tiny number of units you sell in the trials market, and of those units how many are put on the road (we can look this data up from new registrations with the DVLA that are published)

I'm going, bringing one other (maybe two more) and an observer. haven't been to sevenoaks weald for at least 10 years so should be good!

this is a huge and complex subject that is evolving as we all grapple with what brexit will / might mean if we suppose that most trials depends upon hiring farm land that is in receipt of farm subsidy. this subsidy can be supplemented by environmental stewardship subsides. as above the farm can chose not to claim for all their land and thus hire this out to activities excluded by the conditions of environmental stewardship. in this case then we (the sport) could hire the land at such a price that farmers would be prepared to take land out of stewardship for the rental income we give them. but this is a radical change for many who are paying nothing/very little for land. we could of course go elsewhere (to other land owners) and this might entail higher fees - down here many have used the MOD but a change in their practices has made trials land very expensive (or are we just not used to paying market prices?). others have gone elsewhere (forestry commission, private land eg quarries, etc) and some have brought land. this might however imply a concentration of our sport into a handful of venues that would get used more frequently (which i think is happening already) as opposed to some places that are only used once a year (which i infer would be impractical to "hire" out of subsidy) now is the logical conclusion of this to ask to what extent we as a sport - MCIA, federations (ACU, AMCA, etc), LARA, clubs, individuals, are going to lobby government to shape current policy and then future policy (ie brexit) into a more trials friendly shape - now that requires some leadership and funding and guarantees no outcome (eg countryside alliance, hunting, etc).

the manual, parts diagram and wiring diagram are all available on the net, but as above it doesn't go into that detail. i've got the owners manual and parts diagram as PDFs on my hard drive if you are stuck (just PM me or email me). im no mechanic, but my 1999 techno (and i think most others) suffer from stator problems

Someone has just given me the "Michelin 2017 off road range" leaflet. In the small print "recommended pressures" for trials, both tubed and tubeless, it says Front 5psi minimum and rear 4.25psi minimum - i can scan it if you want. I'm well aware that some riders around here (soft southern [mud] fairies) run as little as 3psi dry and less when wet.

Off the top of my head hawkstone have limited planning consent to a handful of weekends per year, thus it commands a relativity large fee to hire (for a mx venue) - for the limited financial means of a trials event this would be prohibitive

what he said No (less) typos money up front and cleared everyone can see who enters easier to enter (web and card rather than post and cheque book) licences checked, etc its really easy, and if clubs want help there are load of people about to help clubs use the system

down here the "novice" (ie red) route is shared by youth novice, over 50 clubman, twinshocks, pre65 and even sidecars - while other trials won't have these. an event without sidecars can lead to narrower gaps, and event without twinshocks and pre65 can have much tighter corners, steeper hills, etc also as above the status of the event has a major bearing on the standard. at centre championship round, for example, the "novice" route will be significantly harder than a group or club event. when we (sidcup) run our centre round the red route is pitched as being as hard as the group level "inter b" (that ride a 66% red 33% blue route). when we run a wobbler trial the blue route is easier than then red route at a centre trial - because we are catering to the respective ability ranges entering. more tellingly the conclusion you draw / ask - that because you finished last should you go down a class? - this is more telling of all trials. if the event was pitched at the right level and you are happy / can bear the score as a "new" novice then ride novice. the jump down to yellow (wobbler/beginer/sportsman etc can be a long way (ability wise). there are also some events without a yellow route (lack of entries, unsuitability of the land, etc). conversely the event could have been pitched wrong, endured worse weather, etc that means it isn't a great example of where you should be. other factors like the venue/terrain (some people don't get on with water, mud, roots, rocks, chalk, etc while others thrive) can greatly affect it.

no one should, you could, but i wouldn't want to depends on how you might intend on fixing it, with say a car tyre and a car puncture repair, you drill out the puncture and then plug. This and/or the original puncture undermine (critically) the structural make up of the tyre. in trials use at low PSI this may not lead to catastrophic tyre failure like in a car being used on the road, but does low pressure trial work lead to more stress - beyond my knowledge check out the national tyre dealers association 3 page pdf on puncture repairs - http://www.btmauk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Minor-repairs-to-passenger-car-and-light-van-tyres.pdf