neonsurge

I usually take out flags and mark out a section that *looks* difficult enough that I'll take me a while before I can clean it consistently but not so easy that I'll crack it in a couple of attempts nor so difficult that I'll hurt myself trying. It's quite difficult to get the balance right and it helps if you practise with people of similar ability (or slightly better than) yourself. Personally, it's also made me realise how difficult it must be and how many years of experience are required to lay out a complete lap of 10 or 12 sections that cater for all abilities without initimidating the novices or boring the experts. Respect, guys. Once the section's been marked, I ride it over and over until I can clean it consistently before moving on. Sometimes, this can take a while. Again, it helps if there's at least a couple of you since I've found that you can learn a lot from each others' mistakes (and successes!). Once mastered, we also usually try it in reverse. If I've recently ridden a trial in the same area I'm practising in, I'll try to remember where the sections were that caused me trouble and re-create them. I've got quite a cottage industry in flag manufacture going (using the classic wire coathanger and old carrier bag method) because lastplacebrad's dog Blue who accompanies us occasionally likes to pull up flags and attempt to eat and/or run off with them!

Don't know if the Techno uses the same Mikuni carb as the Rev-3, but on later bikes the fix is to simply connect the two overflow outlets together with a single piece of tube.

Re. tyres: See this thread for an exhaustive discussion: http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2224

There was a lad out practising at Low North Park today on what I'm 99% sure was an '05. Guess they must be available!

I run at 80:1 and have heard of people who run at 100:1 According to John Stoodley over at GasGas USA, modern watercooled engines should be fine at 100:1 but I think I'd be constantly listening to the engine for peculiar noises if I ran my mixture that lean! Most people I know run 75-80 although 50 shouldn't do it any harm except maybe a bit smoky and higher risk of oiled plugs. Silkolene Comp-2's fine. I also recommend Ipone semi which has a lovely strawberry smell (yes, really!)

My sarcasm detector is twitching (although it has been known to be less than reliable in the past; a fact that has got me involved in more than a couple of Internet flame-fests over the years.) If I'm wrong, that's one of the most ridiculous statements I've ever read. Lemme get this right: People who manufacture their own parts or have the ingenuity to come up with a cheap home-grown solution to a common problem are directly contributing to the decline of the off-road motorcycle industry? Riiiiight....

Does this translate (from todotrial.com via Babelfish) as "I still haven't made a decision either way"...? "The preparation of season 2005 already has begun for Adam Raga, who assures to be working hard "as much in zones indoor as in outdoor to obtain to my Maxima aspiration: the world-wide title in the two modalities ". Although its contract with Gas Gas finishes east year, Raga assures that his first option is to follow in the gerundense mark: "Everything aims at that I will follow with Gas Gas, since the work that is becoming is good, I am satisfied with the results, moto is excellent and the atmosphere with the members of the equipment is ideal. It is not possible more to be requested"

Clear silicone?

So, if I connect the overflow vents together, do BillyT's mod AND install one of those bowl extension thingies, I reckon that should fix the problem. I'll let you know how it goes! Interestingly, on the James Lampkin training day last week I noticed that Ben Hemingway always turned the fuel off on his Beta when parked. I started to notice when James tried to start Ben's bike and it wouldn't go: "Ben, yer bike won't start!" Ben: "Turn the fuel on!" This was after James' Montesa had developed a "sight glitch" that made it sound like the new 4-stroke and required a quick CDI swap at lunchime I forgot to check if Ben's "factory" bike had the bowl extension installed...

A-ha! Just found http://www.richmondmotorclub.com which answers most of my questions. Google before posting is the lesson here. Sorry. By the way, what's up with http://www.richmondmotorclub.co.uk? Completely different site (which hasn't been updated since 2000 by the looks). Very confusing...

Where's the best place to spectate at the Scott? Despite living reasonably close, I don't know the area very well and I've heard that the roads around the more easily accessible sections get very busy so it's worth making the effort to hoof it a bit. Can anyone recommend somewhere to park up that's within reasonable walking distance of at least a couple of sections (I'm assuming that non-competing bikes aren't allowed)? Would the paddock be a good place to start or would I just be adding to the congestion?

I've noticed recently that if I park my bike facing downhill, it's an absolute bugger to start again. In an effort to find out why this is happening I did a search on this forum and came up with the following thread: http://www.trialscentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=352 This is one of the more... involved conversations (in more ways than one) that I've read on TC and although someone mentioned the exact same problem that I'm experiencing, I'm not sure that the central point of the discussion is the same. So it's flooding when pointed downhill, right? An an experiment, I rode a long downhill section without blipping the throttle occasionally like I usually do and the bike stalled about halfway down. Surely this is fuel starvation? Is there a fix for this (these) problem(s). Would BillyT's float height mod help? Or should I remember to turn the fuel off when parking downhill?

I've just put a pair of IRCs on my Beta and I'm very happy with them. 2 trials and 3 days' practise later and the leading edges are still sharp(ish). I replaced some VERY worn Mitchelins and don't change my tyres often enough to be able to make any kind of comparison between the two makes (plus I don't think I'd be able to tell the difference between any types of new tyres to be honest!) Having said that, the IRCs came highly recommended by several local riders far more experienced than myself and like a couple of people have already mentioned, they do seem to provide plenty of grip in wet conditions but don't perform as well when it's dry and dusty. Being in Yorkshire, I think that this is a reasonable compromise! A good winter tyre maybe?

Did the ACU notify all affiliated clubs of the forum? Surely that'd be the sensible thing to do to ensure that all of the most interested people get to know about it and allow clubs to discuss what they'd like to raise?

You would've thought that they'd want to show off the new enduro bikes though, even if the bikes themselves aren't available yet. And what would be harm in bunging a couple of Rev-3s on the stand as well? They may well sell their entire factory allocation each year, but I'm sure that if UK demand increased, Beta would find a way of allocating/producing more bikes.

As was mentioned in TMX a couple of weeks ago, my local club has been thinking along similar lines recently and are apparently considering the inclusion of "super" sections at some trials to provide more of a challenge to the best riders. An example of the problem is that at the last club championship round a couple of weeks ago, Michael Brown won the expert class on 0. That is, not a single mark lost during the entire event. There were several others with very low scores as well. The problem is, the spread of scores in the experts went from 0-72 so on the face of it, it's not as though the course was exceptionally easy (in fact, the expert lines looked very scary to me from my lowly clubman B perspective). Windlestone makes a very good point about the difficulty of making the course suitable for all abilities: Club trials frequently cater for all classes, from adult experts to youth D and adding another "super expert" line to sections would cause lots of confusion amongst the less experienced riders (me) - imagine the mass of flags! I don't know how practical completely seperate courses would be, especially considering the work that people put in to laying out the events as it is (not to mention the problem of finding enough observers). Maybe a few "super experts only" sections and toughen up the rest of the expert lines a bit? I dunno...

Thanks Ishy. Makes complete sense. That's kinda why I think Raga will take the indoor again next year while Dougie will be back on top in the outdoors. Maybe I should have said "the best indoor/trick rider"?

Errrmmm.... okay. I'm sure you're right but that's a less than helpful reply. Like I said, I'm looking at it from a novice's perspective. Care to elaborate on your statement? Get as technical as you like.

That's the ugliest light I've ever seen. Seriously, who designed that abomination (and who'd put it on their bike)? If you did and you're bigger than me, I'm really, really sorry. But it is ugly.

Much as I try to stay out of this kind of discussion due to a relative lack of authoritative knowledge, IMHO Raga will win it again next year. His "big" riding style suits the indoor series perfectly and I think that there's little doubt that from a purely technical perspective, he's the best trials rider in the world. However, I think Dougie will reassert his authority on the outdoor series in 2005 (assuming that the 4-stroke Mont doesn't turn out to be a complete lemon, something that's very unlikely considering Honda's history and expertise). Raga may be the wizard but Lampkin's the battle-hardened warrior and in difficult or variable conditions, experience and the ability to perform under extreme pressure will always beat raw talent. The curiously Spanish tendency to spit the dummy when things aren't going well doesn't help either. Don't discount Fujinami in either series: While Raga's an indoor/dry specialist and Dougie seems to be only really interested in the outdoor championship (except in Sheffield), Fujigas is consistently excellent regardless of the environment and that consistency could be enough to carry him through if Raga and Lampkin each have a couple of bad results like this year. As for the others, Cabestany seems to struggle for consistency, Friexa, as good as he is is on the way down and Fajardo lacks indoor experience at world level although his defeat of Raga at the last round of the Spanish championships suggests much greater things to come. Jarvis a wildcard at Sheffield (who'd have thought it)? Or how about giving Sam Connor a go? Having said that... what the hell do I know? Any more informed opinions out there?

[bump] Anyone in the Keighley area know anywhere bike-friendly to stay?

The "Scarborough" place is Low North Park near Harwood Dale. 140 acres of trials heaven wholly owned by SDMC. You'll need to be a member (

I doubt that Sherco do their own aesthetic design (specialist design/marketing agecies usually handle things like logos and graphics), but that's just a little too close to the HRC logo. Someone at Sherco should've noticed. Unless it's one of these "look-alike" subliminal marketing ploys like are often used by supermarkets' own brands... Happy Shopper Sherco anyone?

While that is undoubtedly corrosion, it looks like the corrosion was able to get a hold due to irregularities in the inner surface due to serious casting imperfections. Unless the fluid has as smooth a circulation path as possible, what are effectively microscopic "whirlpools" develop and I'd guess that this is what causes the holes that you see. If it's a recent model, I'd take stevel's advice and send the casting to your local importer to see if they'll replace it. NOTE: I'm not a qualified metallurgist or anything, but I have studied fluid dynamics and I'm extrapolating based on this and what (little) I do know about magnesium alloys. I sure hope that this isn't a Beta QA problem: Based on (admittedly limited) personal experience, I've always believed that Beta were the best finished and most reliable bike on the market.