Rev3 200

[lastplacebrad]

but it's an easy/novice event and to be honest, I'd never be in contention for an award in any case 

thats true !!....hhmm me neither!

[neonsurge]

I'd originally planned to write a Thompson-esque quasi-gonzo report of last night's trial from start to finish but I've got about a million bugs to work out of this damn software before the end of the week so I'll limit my 200 vs. 270 comparison report to a description of how the bike performed in a couple of the sections and a summary.

Section 1 was an easy off-camber traverse along the edge of a deep gulley then a hop over a large-ish rock followed immediately by a tight right hand turn and out. This is the kind of thing that the 270 would easily manage in 2nd or 3rd gear but I knew from my test ride that on the 200, any kind of rock-hopping was going to require a bit more throttle and body movement than I'd normally use. With this in mind, I started in 2nd and when I reached the rock, slipped the clutch slightly and gave it a handful. The Little Red Beast (as it shall be known as from hereon in) leaped forward and upwards and I was on the downward side of the rock before I got control back, managing to fluke a clean by simply pointing the front wheel at the end flags and hanging on. Lesson number 1: There's a lot of power in that 200cc engine, especially if you let the flywheel build up some intertia before popping the clutch.

Most of the sections were of the nadgery type, but section 3 was a bit different, requiring a short blast up a dusty hill side, a tight off-camber turn around a tree then back to the bottom before another tight turn and a blast back up the hill with virtually no run-up. Once at the top, the section once again descended, this time crossing numerous roots and small rocks. I chose 2nd again and when I arrived at the bottom of the 2nd climb, simply opened the throttle and tried to balance traction with keeping the front end down by feathering the clutch. Unsurprisingly given the lack of run up and the weight that it was pulling, the smaller engine started to lose revs half way up and I was preparing for a quick downshift when it seemed to slip into that classic Beta "chug" mode and simply grunted to the top without the need for any more clutch. Lesson 2: It's "only" a 200, but it's still a Beta and that means acres of torque. I could almost hear the engine spitting out the words "I... will... not... stall...!" Impressive.

Throughout the first lap I was deliberately riding it in the same way as a would the 270, letting the engine do most of the work and while the 200 was reasonably happy to work like that it was obvious that it liked to be revved a bit and I started to ride almost all of the sections in 1st. This was helped by the fact that it seems to be geared slightly higher than I'm used to and the almost complete absence of engine braking, something else that took some getting used to, especially on steep downhills.

It "rides light" as well. While I'm sure that there's very little actual difference in overall weight between the 200 and 270, the fact that the bike's not constantly trying to lengthen your arms means that you have more time to plan you lines and after a while this starts to translate into more control and precision. Instead of just using the raw power of the 270 to jump a ditch and worrying about how to avoid the rapidly approaching gorse bush when I arrived, I found that I was able to trickle up to the ditch and bunny-hop across, landing at a more useful angle to make the turn.

There are a couple of downsides although I completely expected these to be the case before I slung a leg across the 200 for the first time: There's very little power to be had at the top end and this can make long trailrides between sections a bit of a pain, especially if there's road involved. Where the 270 used to pull and pull all the way through to 6th gear, you've really got to work the 200's engine to make any kind of swift progress. It's a far better competition than play bike although like I said, this is what I expected (and had been told would be the case).

I can't really draw many positive conclusions from this one trial riding the 200 since it's clear that I need to adjust (and significantly improve!) my riding style to suit the smaller bike. With the correct input it'll do anything that I used to do on the 270 with the bonus that I'm in more control throughout. It grunts though sections like any Beta and responds immediately to any throttle adjustment, no matter how small. All in all I'm impressed and sure that I made the right choice. Now I just need to get more time on the bike and I'm sure I'll finally start to drag my results out of the murkier depths of the clubman B class.

Disclaimer: This is the opinion of an overweight, ham-fisted, talentless thirtysomething. Your mileage may vary.