At Yorkshire Classic we've had many similar discussions and the sucess of note in recent years has been the introduction of the all inclusive 'clubmans' class where you can ride any bike on the easier route.

Week in week out it is the largest class and has a great mix of old riders opting for a ride, goood older riders for whom the 'championship ' route is a little tough, younger and new riders dipping thier toes as well as the unfit and those who cant ride for toffee (myself i fall into the last two catagories easily)

the bikes are of all shapes and sizes and of massively differing levels of preperation/ development with original rigid ariels still in thier original paint up to quite trick cubs ( as in my case but still getting beat easily each week)

giving the riders what they wanted , easier route rideable on any bike, has and continues to pay dividends

Series like the Miller and PJ1 should grasp this.

there are a lot of us who'd ride in a trial where we thought that we'd drop less than 30 but if we go thinking we might drop 130 then there will be less takers. go to Yorkshire classic website see how many the 'clubmen in class K are dropping and its about 30 and they all drop roughly the same no stars just avarage guys enjoying riding thier bikes.

Edited November 21, 200619 yr by totalshell

john a few years ago the sammys dropped the trail bike championship class and the result saw a BIG

drop in entries for the series , twinshocks put in the special class and all the original specials got diluted

into the other classes , most of the sammy regulars relise this was a mistake for this series at the time,

the next big influx of entries is now comming from the twinshock class as the classic rounds are a tad to

hard for the majority , and having a twinshock (not special) class would end a lot of confusion,doupt and

arguments, so surely in 3 mounths the acu could get out a press release before the first event next year

and get things changed and hopefully get our house in order and entrys growing for a very enjoyable

series

,

Thanks for the info Woody.Ive got a 83 SWM Im hoping to ride .What class should I enter then?If there's two routes I'd be up for doing the harder route.Must confess to not knowing too much about mods/mechanics etc but Im hoping to keep my bike as original as possible i.e. no disc brakes etc.Thanks.

Can't really say which route you should ride as I don't know what standard rider you are. There is nothing silly (or shouldn't be) on the hard route so I'd suggest you go for that. If you find it's too much after a few sections, change to the easy route and tell the organisers what you've done at the end of the event and to scrub you from the class results. You've still had a ride out and will know the type of trials to expect at future rounds and which class to enter.

As regards your bike, an 83 SWM's capability will way exceed anything in the Miller series sections so no mods or updating are required. Just ensure it's in good fettle for a reliable and trouble free day. Disc brakes are not allowed in either of the national classic series and aren't needed anyway, the sections don't involve stopping and turning up your own @rse. Be nice to see the SWM out as they rarely make an appearance in the classic rounds. Must be the pernod blue frame if it's an 83 - nice.

Edited November 21, 200619 yr by Woody