grahamjayzee

Interesting, and I like your thinking. I think the sentence to focus on here is 'gettng new blood into the sport' and therefore the main points to consider are how to inspire people, and how to avoid de-motivating them. Cost may or may not be an issue, but a modern mono can be procurred and run for less than

I'm with that man, but need all I can get!

Hi Chris, and welcome. My previous bike (a rev3) had a tube fitted due to a horribly leaking rim the previous owner was unable to fix. I replaced the tyre and put a tube back in. HOWEVER, as I used a tubeless tyre, I didn't use a rimlock. I did struggle to seat the bead, but no more than with a tubeless tyre. I used around 90psi with loads of soap and left it until the magical pop happened. My tube didn't burst, but shouldn't because the tyre is preventing it 'growing' under pressure. Assuming there is nowhere to nip it once it's under pressure. I'm thinking spoke holes etc. It may be that the rimlock is preventing the tube from inflating evenly, streesing parts of the tube. Try it again, and if you have a tubeless tyre, leave the rimlock out. Mine never crept in 2 years after it was finally seated. Good luck Graham

What bike is it? Soft at the rear is often good for wet grip, but there's no harm in trying. Rear pre-load is normally something you set to accomodate for rider weight (although spring rate is the more correct way to do this), and is adjusted to give the correct amount of 'static sag'. This is how much the suspension compresses when you are stood on the pegs. Should be around 1/3 of total travel, or about 2". However, I'd look at the edge of the knobbles first, then tyre pressure. Maybe experiment with the position of your bars (rock them further back in the clamps to put a bit more weight over the rear). Otherwise, practice! A good friend of mine started out on a Techno just about 2 years ago. His back tyre was totally sh@gged. I couldn't ride his bike; it didn't grip at all. He rode it lots and by the time he replaced the tyre he had fantastic feel for grip. His first year saw him upgraded. Maybe that's the view to take! Graham

Hi and welcome. In trials, tread depth does not equate to tyre useful life. The squareness of the leading edge of the blocks is what you are looking for. If they are rounded, you will struggle. If the trailing edge is rounded too, either the tyre has been turned (quite acceptable; many of us do this to get a crisp edge before shelling out for a new hoop), or the braking edge is also knackered. This would indicate a VERY worn tyre. Also, it needs to be a 'pukka' trials tyre, not just a trials pattern. The two brands used by most are Michelin X11 (and X11 Lite) and IRC TR011. Dunlop D803 is OK and there are some cheaper tyres that are not too bad (although inferior to the IRC or Michelin) such as Vee-Rubber. Pirelli have the MT43, but it is not good as the sidewalls are very stiff so will not work at the very low pressures needed. Talking of pressures, you need to be looking at 2-4 psi, depending on the tyre. Vee-rubber tend to go concave if you go below 3psi. You'll need a low pressure gauge to measure this with any degree of accuracy. Otherwise, it's down to the bike's power delivery and your right wrist and body position. Hope this helps Graham

You know that horrible feeling you get when you've fived a section, but the way out is up a hill and you've somehow got to get yourself and the bike back up? Well, it would be like that only MUCH worse!

I bet he had to have the saddle modified in order to accomodate his enormous testicles!

General question: Why does it seem that whenever someone takes the brave and extremely welcome step of producing a new bike does the majority seem to want it to fail? I draw the court's attention to posts regarding Greeves, Xispa etc. Isn't the huge variety what draws the pre-65 crowd when back in the day anyone with a shed produced a bike?! I for one hope it succeeds and if a minority manufacturer has to charge

Be careful though. If you take out all the slack, the piston cannot return fully and will not refil from the reserviour. Always best to leave a bit of play here.

Moving!

I had a 2001 Rev 3 and eventually got fed up with the airbox not sealing properly. This happens because the subframe is a flat plat and prone to bending. This then affects the alignment of the mudguard to the airbox and kept causing mine to open. I replaced the back end with that from a 2005 bike and all was well. Regarding the front mudguard, they are all very similar. I actually had a 4RT guard on mine because I got it for

Got a new toy Bryan? Graham

Interesting. One point of note; there seems to be an assumption here that O/40 riders are all long term stalwarts of the sport. I had an interest as a kid and went with a friend a few times, but didn't start the sport until I could afford a bike in my mid-20s. I stopped for 13 years (family) and returned in my 40s. Since then, I have acquired 3 new riding buddies who had NEVER ridden a trials bike as a young'un. All between mid 30s and mid 40s. One chap though, didn't last. For him, the expert route and all the hopping and bopping dominated his vision at trials and he was unable to see past this in order to get going and let the sport 'grab' him. Not sure it would have done anyway, but it's interesting to note that sometimes the very thing that can inspire some, can terrify others. He certainly felt that at his age, this was always going to be beyond him. I couldn't convince him that it didn't matter and that a sunday in a muddy field with a load of old blokes (and some young ones) was fine way to pass time... And this is the point; not all o/40s are old riders; some are brand new! As such, they need to be eased in to the sport just the same as young'uns, but ultimately they may have lower aspirations. Sure, we need young blood, but we need ALL blood. Regarding the minimal entry at the top level; I can't see why this matters. At some club trials we have 3 experts. It's a mark of our sport that we can include these talented riders in the same event as the likes of me. If this is the same at BTC, does it really matter? If you have 50+ on another route, your work is done! Maybe some will elevate from the feeder classes over time. If we cannot feed the 'talent pyramid', we'll never have guys on Eurosport we can proudly cheer on.

Greetings all, I've just received a newsletter from the forestry panel. This came to me as I was one of those that responded to their request for opinion on the future of our forests and woodlands. Here's a link to the full report I have the newsletter, if anyone is interested. One thing that was of note: "In total the Panel received 42,159 responses to the call for views. There were 223 letters, 7063 emails and 34,873 responses received via 38 Degrees. Of the emails received directly, 3841 responses came from individuals via the facility on the Woodland Trust website, and over 262 were based on a template response issue by the Motor Sports Association." It's pretty clear we are a very tiny minority. As such, we need to take great care with how we present ourselves. We cannot afford to alienate other users (no matter how unreasonable they may seem), because there are more of them than us! Well done to all that responded; it's good to know that although a minority, we're a vocal one. Graham

I'm with Pete and OTF here, because I'm forever fearful of the hardened group of volunteer's throwing in the towel and our sport evaporating along with them. However, I do take a bit of a 'no smoke without fire' stance and think it's worth having a think about the roots of the frustrations. I'm well past 40 myself, but have some sympathy with the Yoof. It does seemlike an age division, whatever the truth is, and we have to be careful we don't create a split that doesn't need to (and in may cases doesn't) exist. I can still remember starting out in trials, and it's so overwhelming that (and I'm not proud of this!), I never gave a second thought to the organisers. I was totally focused on survival and not looking a plum! I think we're going to see a lot more discussion on this over the next few months, and a lot of emotion. I for one hope that I can avoiding rising when arguments seem badly worded, and try to pull out the germs of interest from each one. In this case, the message I got was that the clubs need to get up to speed pretty quickly. I'm guessing we'll all be able to judge whether the pace of progress is adequate after a few more trials yet! Graham

All the above, but mostly to get home before my wife believes I should have!

I probably need reminding as to the reasons why we are even considering no stop? If it is to change the nature of the trials, for what reason? If it is a hark back to an earlier time, much though I'd like to go there, it ain't going to happen. We can't 'unknow' what we know and 'undevelop' tyres, bikes, etc. If it is to reduce queueing, surely the problem is time? I can't see 'time stopped' working because we are asking too much of the poor observer. But in the grand scheme of things, the only problem I see is the amount of time spent in the section. If a time limit were imposed and the sections plotted to align to this, who care if we stop? If it wasn't for the queueing in my region (and that only usually is a problem during expert championship rounds, and I certainly don't begrudge the big boys), I couldn't care a tinker's cuss whichever rules we use! Graham

I reckon I could get this knocked out with my far eastern guys for a pretty low cost (

For me as a clubbie, I'm not too bothered what I ride. What does cause problems is queueing. No-stop does at least prevent riders standing still for 2 minutes waiting for goodness knows what. ALL ideas have workability issues, but if we had a time limit (as a product producer I'm already developing in my mind a 'trials clock'!) where loud ping occured at, say, 1min 10 seconds and then a louder one at 1:30 we could ride whatever we wanted. The 1:30 means "Sorry son, that's a five, get out of the section because I'm waving the next man in!" I understand the issues involved, so this is in the planet of Graham, but it would mean we don't need to adjudicate on 'did he or didn't he stop?' issues. A rider can stop if he wants as long as he's out before the pinger pings... Simples..

I had a pair on my Rev 3 for 2 seasons (says a lot, tight git that I am!). They are OK. Round our way (darn sarf) we have mud and a bit of sand and some roots. Can't comment on their rock performance, but they are OK for our terrain. The only problem I found (as others have mentioned) is that they have stiff sidewalls and so below 3 psi doesn't make any positive difference. In fact it may make the tread 'hollow' slightly. For much of our trials season, grip was not compromised at my (middle route) level. Having said that, if I have the extra

Hi, and welcome. You might also want to check out Dabbers. They are an AMCA club and run trials aimed at beginners and riders of older and less competetive bikes. The events are extremely friendly and would be ideal for your steed. They do get very heavily oversubscribed though (a sign they are doing something right!). Website is here: http://www.dabberstrialsclub.co.uk/ Well worth a visit even if you're not riding. Good luck Graham

Keep an eye on 'consumables' as the cost can quickly mount up: Wheel bearings (easy check; grap the rim and wiggle!

Nice vid Nick. I was there and was, quite frankly, awesome. Don't suppose you have any more vids? Graham

That looks great. Want one...

All the above is good sound advice. I have ridden Nene Valley, Dabbers and also Cambridge Matchless (http://cambridgematchless.co.uk/) trials and even though I now live 'out east' (Sudbury) still ride for my long time club, Cambridge Matchless. Dabbers run excellent trials to get you started and you'll meet many people in a similar boat to yourself. Be aware that they are very popular and now impose an entry limit. I rode last new year and there were over 100 riders! It was brilliant, and you got a bowl of Chilli too! Nene Valley have great venues, but as mentioned above can be a bit, er, sporting. Matchless have one or 2 venues that are best avoided if you are a raw beginner, even though they run a beginner's route. I'm just talking for your 1st trial, though. After that and once you are used to the 'MO', you'll be fine. (The trial at abingdon in december has a number of sections you can only reach once you've managed some reasonably tough climbs. If you can't get up, it's a long, long day!) If you are travelling as far east as Dabber's events, check out some of the eastern region trials. I've just moved here and there are some great events! If you are Northants, go and have a chat with John Lee in Higham Ferrers. He's looked after me for years now and the place is a warm and cozy mecca! They have so much collective experience at all levels. Rev 3 is a good choice, had a 2001 bike until this summer. All the bikes are good; get the one that's the best condition you can find and learn to love it. Practice is always tough; Milton Buzzard (see above) and Earl Shilton in Leicestershire have ground, but otherwise get 2 traffic cones in your back garden and practice figure 8s! Feel free to PM me if you plan on attending (even to watch) a Matchless or any Eastern trial. I'll meet you and chat. BTW, the matchless trial at Hinxton cutting on 27th is an excellent trial to watch, although it doesn't cater for beginners. Good Luck Graham Good luck