pete_scorpa3

The fella in the listing looks like he's riding it on a wet public road, in front of a bus without a helmet on. Strange way to treat a

The newer bike you can afford the more competitive it will be however, the most important thing is to buy by condition. A really well maintained Yamaha TY250, Montesa 311, Fantic etc will give you much more fun than a worn out bike that is much younger.

Thanks, I've got the venue booked and a permit organised, just need a few to turn up on the Saturday now. Watch this space for addditional information nearer the time. Pete

I taught my 11 year old nephew how to ride a geared motorcycle on a Gas Gas 80 many years ago. Within a few hours he was good enough to have a go at an easy club trial on the C route. He lost a lot of marks and I had to pick his bike up quite a few times but he was hooked straight away. There's nothing like having your peers riding around with you to spur you on! The one thing I would suggest is that you choose your events very carefully. Some are a lot harder than others

One or two cigarettes in action too!

Welcome to TC Jay.

Are you in the UK? If so, I can recomend Watkins radiators at Gloucester.

A 200 might be an even better bet. Less revvy than a 125 but more forgiving and easier to start than a 250.

But they are a lot of maoney and there are issues with the importer, so you cna understand people not buying new ones at the moment.

Techno's were yellow in 1994, blue in 1995 (upside down forks), grey and orange in 1996, purple in 1997, black in 1998 and red in 1999. The first Rev3's cme out late in 1999 and were fitted with upside down forks.

Use a 1.5 litre hydration pack in this country but it was not enough when we were in the heat of Spain. I purchased a 3 litre bladder and even used that over an eight hour ride. Remember to wash it out thouroughly after each ride and leave it as open as possible to dry out. I failed to do this on one occasion and the green mould I found there two weeks later was disgusting!

This years Wyegate staged by the WG&DF Club was a fairly tough challenge mainly due to the rain, but was a superb event and really well organised, we had a marvellous day out. Neil Ludlow and I were lucky to get an entry as the organisers had taken the decision to limit riders to smaller and more nimble machines such as Gas Gas Pamepra's, Beta Alps and classic trials bikes meaning that our larger, less suitable 400's were placed on the reserve list. We were relieved when the email came through from the Jackie the secretary of the meeting saying we were in! Joining us from the Stratford-Upon-Avon club were John Cart, Dave Hayward and Alan Newman. With a lap of almost 100 miles and with heavy rain falling all day Saturday, we were never going to have it easy. Starting a fairly late numbers we found the drop through the woods to the first sections seriously scary, bravery didn't play a part as riders had no choice but to go, hold on, and hope for the best, there was no easy option! Section one was certainly no easy starter, being a wet muddy off cambered climb to an angled root exit. Just as Neil looked like notching up a clean, impressively he launched his XR400 through the ends cards, but as he was flying through the air behind the bike at the time, the observer quite correctly awarded a five mark penalty. Section two caused few problems but section three took fives from most with the slippy off cambered approach to the turn just a little too testing. After miles of excellent trail riding and we soon found ourselves at Limekiln. I'm sure there were plenty of clean rides here but we all ended up footing madly to reach the top. At the time of writing, I can't remember the order of things after Limekiln, until that is, Pant Glas. Last year in the dry I was cross with myself for failing the last step just as I thought a clean was on the cards, so I was happy to escape with a solitary dab here this year. My inspiration came after watching Mike Husband get his Pampera up clean for the first time in six years of trying. Mile after mile of fabulous trail riding continued, the graded hill climb was in evil mood this year and happy to take maximums from all but the most dedicated. From our group I went first but only managed to reach the three, Alan on his lighter Beta Alp did a little better but Neil was a star on his XR using third gear and hanging off the side of the bike speedway style he reached the summit and a well deserved clean. The three rocky sections at Wixons I negotiated with a loss of six marks plus a pair of very tired arms. Neil failed the third at the last turn right in front of the video camera, his arms just stopped working and he simply fell off! Eventually we found ourselves back in the woods, this was where things were going to get hard again. Although the 400's are fairly nimble in the dry, add a drop of rain to a muddy bank and they start to struggle. Simply getting to the sections was a major feat, I can honestly say that I gave it my best shot and did manage to attempt every one but without the help of my team mates I'd have never made it to the last section in the group. Neil on his XR400 saw my struggle and decided to ask of a five and stay on the track, a wise move as it turned out as the necessary pivot turn onto the rock step was not forthcoming and I went over the bars. However this was only my second failure of the day. Pingry Wood (I think it's named) contained the last three sections of the event. Thankfully these were set out a little more moderate, the observer at the last tipped me off that it was going to be tight for the DRZ400 and told her friend to get ready to give me a hand but fortunately I got round ok to finish the day with three cleans in a row. Back at the start there were a number of very tired riders, it had been a long day and the speedo on the DRZ was showing 100 miles. I lost count of my score after 30 marks lost, I guess I will have ended up on about 50 which is around double my score from last year in the dry, but was a brilliant day out, the kind of day that makes life worth living. A big thank you to everyone at the club and to all those who observed for us thought-out the day. We were lucky to get a ride on our 400's and I'm so glad that we did. Thank you. Pete

If you look at his other items, you will see that he is a genuine motor trader, he certainly has the owner of this type of car summed up well!

Take a look at this EBay joker

If you can't decide which one suits you best after you've ridden them, just buy the best one that comes along for the money you wish to spend.

Why they think people who ride trials or mx bikes are likely to be customers for leather suites I don't know. It really is junk mail!

Find a field with a gentle bank and practice wheelying up the gradient.

A city centre pent-house apartment more like!!!

Foolishly I decided to vote in the recent poll for the face of a certain UK Weekly trials newspaper. Go to the web site and vote for free, it said. When I tried to vote, it insisted that I create and log on with a user account. No harm in that I thought. At the bottom of the page, there is a small box asking if you'd like to opt out of their partners contacting you with special offers. Naturally I clicked this box. When I submitted my vote, the page came back with an error message, so not being one to be put off easily I filled in all the information again. But and this was my big mistake, I forgot to scroll down and click the little box. No sooner had I pressed vote, than I realised my mistake but as the error message came up a second time I thought no harm had been done, other than the whole process being a waste of time. I'm registered with the mail preference service but within two days I start to get bombarded with junk mail, financial advice, furniture sales, insurance, credit cards, cr*p, cr*p, cr*p. And what's more I never did get to vote. Nothing more than a money making scam

Sounds like you got it spot on

Good point bilco, the riders might have enjoyed that for a change?

Riding minders on the wrong type of machine are ok providing there's enough space for genuine entries. I wonder if anyone was turned away from a genuine class? What was the queuing like?

Good suspension will make the bike feel suple but not soft, it will soak up the impact of bumps but also keep the tyre on the ground thus helping to find grip. I've just had the suspension tuned on my enduro bike to make it more like a trials bike. (I use it for Long Distance Trials and not for enduro's) I feel far more confident over the really tricky stuff now, but at speed it feels way too soft and even becomes unstable. Horses for courses. Here's a picture of it driving up some gnarly roots, originally it bounced all over the place but since the revalve work it rides up here without any drama. (Sorry the picture is so bad, it was the best I could find that demonstrates what I was trying to say.)