pete_scorpa3

It's no different to a local club trial in as much as we only run with the permission of the land owner. Upset the land owner in any way and we loose the venue to trials. It's just that the SSDT has many land owners to keep happy over a vast area. Loose one important one and the others can't easily be joined up. We should be on our best behaviour and take it as read that we do not follow on our bikes no matter how much we wish we could.

No grey areas there then. Anyone found riding off road at the SSDT will have to accept the consequences.

Nicely put

There are riders who don't want to ride the harder routes for various reasons and there are also machines that aren't suitable for the harder routes. Just because a rider can get a bike round the C route for less than 10, it doesn't mean that he could safely get that bike around the B route. The only thing that organisers must be very careful not to do, is to start setting the easy route out for the better riders so as to get a result. I feel that this is exactly what has happened inthe Midland Centre with the Group Trials championship. A few years back they introduced a B route and it appealed to many riders who normally found group trials too hard. Call them beginers, newcomers, novices... what you will. I rode the B route on my trail bike and it was perfect, the winner of the B route was an over 40 Expert who lost one or two marks but the rest of us had a good day out. The following year, the hard route got harder because there was the easy route option but this made more of the over 40 Experts ride the easy route and subsequently the B route was made harder. In my opinion (and this really is just my personal take on it) the hard route then became elitist. Realistically only five or six riders could cope with the sections, then another ten or so didn't mind the challenge, everyone else dropped down to the B route or gave up. The B route then became harder again and thus the very novices it was aimed at also gave up. We are now faced with the situation where there are more observers than riders and it is less viable to run the trials. (I'm sure parallels will be drawn with other championships at this point.) Back to the subject matter, there's no problem with anone riding the easy route and making it look easy providing the severity of the route remains as it says; easy. We're only in it for the fun

That is nice! It's a shame to use it..... there again, it's a shame not to use it

A passionate response there GII. I agree with you but I think the original point is a good one and a legitimate question. As I said, "If a championship is at stake that is a different matter and the 'honourable' thing to do would be to enter on a no award basis, no one likes a 'pot hunter.' But I feel strongly that riders should never be forced to ride a hard section or a hard route." Pete

We've got one rider in his 70's who always rides our C route, he always wins on one or two marks as he was a good expert in his time, but since he had both hip joints replaced he doesn't want to risk riding the harder stuff. Another (over40) Expert who rides with us clubmen on the B route (as over 40's can) is self employed and suffers with a bad back, any sudden jolt can put him off work for days, again he doesn't want to ride the hard route but makes the clubman route look easy. If a championship is at stake that is a different matter and the 'honourable' thing to do would be to enter on a no award basis, no one likes a 'pot hunter.' But I feel strongly that riders should never be forced to ride a hard section or a hard route. Pete

Providing there are no chunks of metal, this is a fairly common occurance. The more often you change the oil the less filings you will get. The only time you need to be concerned is when there are suddenly more then normal. By the sound of it, the oil has been in there some time, I suggest that you change the oil, run the bike for an hour or two then change the oil again and have another look just to be sure. Pete

MOT guidelines for motorcycles state the following reasons to fail a tyre: Motocross or similar tyres, i.e. tyres where the space between tread blocks is substantially greater than the size of the blocks themselves; which do not have MST (multi service tyre) with an 'E' in a circle or an e in a rectangle moulded into or on to the tyre wall Tyres designated by their manufacture as unsuitable for road use e.g. racing tyres or those marked NHS or NOT FOR HIGHWAY USE on the sidewall.

Was the trial part of a championship or were there trophies to be won? If so there should be some kind of grading involved. If not then (it's my personal view) that good riders choosing to ride the easy route is no problem. The vast majority of us only ride trials for fun, it doesn't matter if you ride the hard route and loose 120 marks or ride the easy route and stay clean 'IF' you are only riding for fun.

That's a good tip! I've not heard of that before. I always weld a nut to the centre of the bearing and tap on the nut to get it out. Easy IF you've got access to a mig welder. Pete

It'll be interesting to see how this works. I'll have a bet that some of this will not stick for long!

Muc Off is expensive but it is worth every penny in my opinion. I used it on my wheel hubs and they look like they have been steam cleaned! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MUC-OFF-Nano-Tech-Mo...=item27b0c31aa9

Thanks to the Evesham club for staging an excellent event at Saintbury Quarry on Sunday. The trial was part of the Midland Centre Youth Championship and the hard working membes of the club had plotted four routes around the ten section course to cater for all age groups. The full results can be viewed HERE.

A superb LDT organised by the Cheltenham Home GUard club, we always try to ride this one. The rocky gulley up to Aggs Hill Quarry will be tough but I think you should get around!Here's a video staring the Secretary of the meeting named (Sorry Sam )

Oops, that looks painfull! I do hope that wasn't three differnet crashes!

Here's one taken just after a crash. Well, you have to smile don't you!

I know there's room for improvement but this is a big crash when you are only five!

I know this is of little relevance but...... My pal and I rode our trail bikes in the local club trial yesterday (we're doing the Sphinx LDT next week and used it as a spot of 'big bike' practice), as it's only 3 miles from my house we rode there and back on our bikes. Later I checked how much fuel I had used, I started with exactly 3.5 litres and finished with a drop over 2 litres. There, back and a whole trial for the price of one and a half litres of fuel..... now that's the cheapest option.

Yes, back in the day we'd only get 20 laps at Mallory out of the D364 and D207's you couldn't have paid me to use another tyre with less grip, no matter how long it lasted!

I've got through a Michelin in six trials too. Six long distance trials on my DRZ400 that is. I guess that any of the top brands will wear out in a similar time, an IRC will last even less. You must do some serious events, I get 20 trials out of a rear on my Scorpa.... then tuirn it round for the rest of the year!

As Clerk of the Course over the last five or six years of the Stratford round Sammy Miller championship in May, the subject of forks, ignitions and carbs comes up every year (It would come up at every club meeting if we let it!) not to mention less obvious modifications that often appear. Just finding someone who knows the rules who is prepared to check every machine as it starts the trial is a major problem, never mind the fall out after. It does make me wonder if it is worth the effort. Many of the classes have less than five entries and setting out a 35 dual route section road trial is a lot of work. Previously I've made a concious effort to keep the sections within the spirt of the event and not to fall into the trap of making everything harder and tighter, last year we had a good entry and some worthy winners but we often find that a number of classes are decided on the one timed special test rather than on marks lost. Not ideal but what else can we do? Enforce the (rather vague) rules and exclude a percentage of riders or make the trial harder and put many off entering. I've stood down as Clerk of the Course this year as I find that trying to please everyone is just too frustrating. Pete

You will learn loads by watching the other riders, but don't hang around too long watching at each section or you will run out of time at the end. Have a good time and let us know how you get on. Pete

They keep going too.....