Not so long ago i went to visit the 1980 World Trials Champion Ulf Karlson at his home in Sweden . He lives in this picture perfect little town on the edge of a huge lake. It is gorgeous and when i went it was nice , warm and sunny , which made it even better.

 

He's a great guy and once you get to know him , he even smiles .... sometimes .

 

For me it was great to meet the Champion who had just disappeared.

 

I got to see his bikes , home and photos.

 

I interviewed him for my hobby web and he was very honest and frank. It hasn't all been plain sailing for Ulf. He's had some highs and lows. If you want,  you can read to see how Ulf is doing . Its here .

 

http://www.retrotrials.com/exclusive---a-detailed-career-interview-with-ulf-karlson.html

 

Nice interview James!!!  

Well have had the fortune to follow the later parts of his career (my first world round in Karlskoga 80 as spectatotor as 12 yeras old) and to compete against him at local trials when returning as clubman or minder for his sons (sad story about Johan ;-().   I even beat him once at our local event 95 but he must have had a bad day...guess whos proud about that... About trials in Swedish in the 80s and 90s the only time it got some press was a few minutes from the Swedish World round. Nowadays the X-Trial Champs are live on telly as a part of the Swedish Championships Winterweek and Eddie K also gets a few reports per year. For a small country like Sweden publicity from a world champion is very important and also just to have a WCH class rider like Eddie. By the way nice to see your pics of the Montesa calender page from 81 got that one in my bike room along Thore Evertsson on his Montesas from 74.

Did you try Uffes snuff? Haha... he always rode with one "prilla" under his upper lip.

Regarding SSDT he didn't seem to like it for some reason.

 

Regards TJ

Absolutely brilliant interview

As above ,what though would a UK trials rider have to do to get his picture on a stamp?

 

And what about some of those sections he was in? That poster of him going up that wall/step at the back of his garage on the last page.

 

Awesome as they say these days.

A very good interview James. As usual, you have spent a lot of time and money to get this and I have learned much about someone I knew very little until now. I actually rode the SSDT in 1977, he was a few numbers away from me and I recall him riding behind me for quite a few miles on the run down to Killin (the only dry day in a wet week). He seemed to be taking in the scenery and never looked flustered. I hardly spoke to him as he looked so serious all the time. I knew only one thing that he didn't seem to be enjoying the SSDT. Now I know the reason why.

 

Big John

Fantastic interview James. Ulf was always the quiet man and he via you has shed some light on his illustrious trials career, well done both.

Great read that - thanks for sharing. Legend.

GasGas249.

 

Thanks for sharing the interview. Very interesting.