I have taken up riding recently.  I bought an old Rev 3 for 1600 quid, which is half what I paid for my mountainbike.  I cannot believe how cheap motorcycle trials are.  My club charges 15 quid for a trial which is about 4 hours entertainment.  My ACU licence is 12 quid.  A practice session at our local venue is a tenner per rider.

I can't tell you how much I regret not doing this much sooner.  I would encourage anyone that is interests, old or young, to have a go.  I hope once I get my head round the rules and so on that I can help the club out a little.  All clubs work like this, a few people do everything.  I think it is great for youngsters, we have a good few at the club and I think it is wonderful they are given this chance.  I couln't care less if I paid an extra tenner to let them in for free to be honest. 

So you want trials to go against every other thing in the world and charge a kid the same entry fee as an adult?

Also, in the trials i ride in, a big majority of the observers are the kids parents. No observers, no trials

Edited February 25, 20197 yr by faussy

I have never given it a second thought as to why youth riders (or their parents) pay less for and entry. As far as I'm aware kids always get a reduction on an adults full price, bus fare, cinema, amusement parks, sports grounds, holidays etc etc. why should trials be any different?

All of the clubs I ride with, the majority of organisers are ex youth riders, they've been riding 30,40,50 years some of them, they certainly don't do it for the money, they do it for their love of the sport and for the enjoyment of others.

Anything that encourages kids to get out of the house, get some exercise and off a computer or mobile phone should be supported wholeheartedly by society and if I as an adult have to chip in an extra couple of quid to help parents do so, then I don't begrudge a penny. 

 

 

£15 for a day of motorsport...you can't get much better value than that. 

I think most people complaining about this kind of thing have very little input into the organisation and running of events and probably fail to notice that a significant proportion of the organisers and observers are in one way or another connected to youth rider.

from having been event secretary, I can assure you at no trial I've been involved in have adult entry fees subsidised youth riders...it is just cheaper to encourage them into our sport to keep it going long into the future.

On 2/25/2019 at 8:25 AM, breagh said:

Are you Scottish by any chance?

All trials are subsidised to a massive degree. At our club no one takes expenses even though they've spent a day laying out and a day off work which is likely quite common in the trials world. At the Wobblers food ,toilets, stationary, markers you name it just appears  thanks to the goodwill of members and I imagine most clubs have members like these.

Anyone questioning an entry fee should really consider what the true cost of an entry would be if we didn't all band together and help out.

Be interesting to do the sums and work out what a commercial operation would need to charge for an entry, I would hazard about £40.    

I agree. I'm so grateful for the effort and time that organisers put in for what must be no financial gain. Trials is almost embarrassingly cheap. You can't set foot on an MX or Enduro track even for a practice, for less than £30. Competition is upwards of £50.

I often wonder how much the landowner gets out of it too. They must allow trials in part because they support the sport and not just for cash. 

 

45 trials a year! Wow.. I wish I could get that many in. I agree that any additional charge (if there is one) would add up but I think that's a bit like having your cake and eating it. 

I came to trials a few years after I retired from road racing. I was completely gobsmacked at how cheap it is to do as a sport. (I won't say compete because I'm rubbish...)

Wish I'd started years ago.