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Why Have You Got your Current Bike (s)


baldilocks
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How did people arrive at their current choice of bike or bikes ?

I bought my TX300 Aprilia twinshock as there aren't many about. For twinshocks I'm not really that keen, it's more the social side of the event and catching up with old friends. So I try to buy bikes I didnt own at the time like the Aprilia.

The TRS I have is my second one, I'd had a few Gas Gas pro's and I still think they are a very good bike but I wanted a change.

I've had Betas before and find them difficult to ride, lots of people ride them well so it's not the bike. Tried a 4rt a couple of times but can't ride them, maybe if I stuck with it but I dont want to spend months learning to ride a new bike.

A Spanish friend recommended a TRS so I tried a 2016 ,  I liked that and ordered one of the first Raga Reps. I really liked the 2017 Raga so traded up to a 19 Raga last year.

 

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Ok then...

I currently have a 2010 Evo 250 4t as my practice/competition bike. I have only been riding for a couple of years since getting back into bikes, and never tried trials up until that time. I started out with a Rev3 because they had been recommended as being quite tough and easy to get (most!) parts for still. I would have kept it but my friend, and local club-mate was upgrading and selling the 4t. I had tried it before and loved the smooth engine and steady power delivery. It has given me a bit more confidence and my riding was gradually improving up until the lockdown. It seems to climb slippery hills better than the 2t and is so quiet I can even practice in the garden without upsetting anyone!

My other bike is a 1963 BSA C15. I have bought this because I wanted an old British bike to tinker with and make bits for. I love making things, and this has kept me very busy so far! Keeping the oil inside is quite an art! It's a bits and pieces bike - very heavy and not really a specialist trials bike, but I can see myself gradually improving it. It is probably the cheapest way into the "pre 65" scene I have seen - most of the other makes and models are way beyond my price bracket! It wasn't completely original when I started and I think it will only ever be a "special" in local club trials, rather than complying with the more stringent pre 65 rules, but I could aim to get it up to spec once I have it running and I get more used to riding a "tank"! So far I am really enjoying it.

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I have a 19 TRS 250 RR. Bought it new after owning a really knackered 2001 Rev 3 270. 

Wanted a new bike because I plan on keeping it for a bit and was fed up of patching up the rev 3 and bleeding/rebuilding the brakes. 

Bought it because I was going to buy a new Beta Evo but couldn't bring myself to buy something so similar to my old bike... 

Went with TRS basically because they look and sound the best and they looked like a really simple and elegant design. Saw that they were very popular and no-one had a bad word to say. 

Have been slightly underwhelmed by the build quality but the brand support is very good and the bike rides so nicely and has pushed my riding on significantly. 

Next bike will either be a new TRS RR or R, or a vertigo, or maybe a Beta Evo Factory. 

I like pretty bikes. 

Edited by al_orange
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I bought my TRS as a friend at the club had a 250 One and I like it - it sounded quiet and he thought it was a nice bike.  I read all the threads on here and went for the RR for the better suspension.  I couldn't find a 250 so bought the 280.  It is nothing like my friend's bike and looking back I probably should have waited, but I was impatient as I was sharing a Rev 3 with the wife.  I have now got used to it and it is fine.  First time I rode it it went off on it's own with me sat on my backside watching it.

We were lucky enough to find a 250 Evo to replace the Rev 3 on eBay with a chap that took the Rev as a px.  She prefers it and can start it - the old Rev used to beat her a lot of the times just kicking over.  I find the Beta brakes and suspension are relatively poor if you ride the two one after the other.  I hope to have a look at my friend's new bike.  He replaced the TRS with an Evo factory (wanted the left hand kickstart).  Will then decide if we upgrade again.  I like looking at new potential bikes but the wife is much more sensible ?

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I buy them where they show up and are of interest to me as all of them are classic bikes, I bought some of them in Italy, in the very south of Germany, in the middle of Germany, I also got them partly from France but too from the neighborhood.

I don't care so much where they come from as long as (1) the bike has a good history, (2) has all legal papers and (3) is in good shape and (4) original.

For the first bike I bought in Italy I really drove down over the Alpes 1.500 km! I have not done that again, now I only would in combination with sight seeing.

(1) to (3) is very important you save a lot if all is in good shape, (4) depends on how it is probably changed if the bike is really modified to the better in terms of tuning and contemporary, then it would be an option, but only had that chance to get a real good one once.

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With Gas Gas going through one of their financial issues at the time, Ossa having gearbox issues and nothing else really standing out I bought a 2012 Beta Evo 250 maybe 5 year ago. I've tried a few other bikes since, the nicest was a Gas Gas 300 with low comp head, but noting has made me feel like parting with the cash to replace the Evo, I'm kind of waiting for something next gen.

 

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My default bike is a Scorpa  TY175F and the reason I ride it a lot is it doesn't encourage me to try anything above my pay grade. It's bugger all power and less ground clearance so anything big time is a no no . I'm now 57 and have had it 14 years and it's been a hoot. 

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39 minutes ago, breagh said:

My default bike is a Scorpa  TY175F and the reason I ride it a lot is it doesn't encourage me to try anything above my pay grade. It's bugger all power and less ground clearance so anything big time is a no no . I'm now 57 and have had it 14 years and it's been a hoot. 

 

Quote breagh  "This isn't the way it seems to be going with more routes and classes plus a classic scene which to me is just an excuse for running an easy trial."

 

Looks like you've finally worked it out .

 

 

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I'll go, but this is more of a story about why *I* am here, than just about why I have the bike I do.

 

I used to race downhill and cross country in college, but my main squeeze was always (bicycle) trials.  I managed to work my way up to expert level in college on an Echo Team Trials 20".  Considered going pro (very) briefly, but I knew that I had too many other interests to be able to focus enough on the one discipline, and at best I was a descent expert level rider. Soon after college, I found I wasn't riding as consistently, and eventually my trials bike collected quite a lot of dust and cobwebs in the garage.

 

About 15 years ago I got a DRZ250 trail bike, and I've ridden the hell out of that thing ever since.  It's a great little bike.  Obviously under powered and under performing, but I hold my own, and of the group I normally ride with, I spend more time waiting for them, than the other way around.  Probably due to my bicycle racing background, I ride the thing fairly aggressive, and I'm not afraid of the power (because it barely has any!). A friend of mine had a YZ400 as his first bike, and he barely ever got the thing out of 2nd gear.

 

But even with my bicycle trials and racing background, I always felt that my slow/technical moto skills were lacking.  My clutch work is laughably inadequate, I think at least partly due to the hard pull of the mechanical clutch on the DRZ making it hard to have a light touch in technical sections.  Some of it was the bike for sure, but the other 99% of it was me. I had been tossing around the idea of getting a 2nd bike.  Would it be a modern dirt bike powered by more than gerbils and wet noodle suspension?  Or would it be a trials bike to help hone those bike handling skills?

I kept flip flopping.  One week I'm on a street legal EXC-350 kick, the next I'm binging X-trial championships on youtube.  Me and Toni Bou; we're buds (lol).

 

Then, a couple weeks ago, I was trolling crasigslist and saw this 2000 Beta Rev3 270 that was more than half my age.  It had a few minor issues, but the price was right so I jumped on it (literally).  Less than half the cost of any of the other trials bikes I had seen for sale, and this one was (more or less) in my back yard.  In fact, it was 5 minutes off the road I was going to be driving for a work thing anyway.  A couple hundred bucks (most of it for a ridiculously expensive rear fender on ebay), I've now got a ride-able bike with functioning brakes and forks that don't bleed oil.

The tires are shot (but still holding air...for now), the side-stand is broken (I needed a new welding project anyway), and I want to go in and fix the cold stick on the clutch, but

 

It's my new baby (don't tell my kids).  I call it Frankenbike because of the 3 different color schemes on it.

 

20200601_181103.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

After over 30years racing offroad,MX,flat track,ice I got hurt 3 years ago in a national enduro. Said that is enough of the redline sports.52 weeks ago Purchased a 2015 GG pro race 300 as I had no idea what to buy with these bikes with wierd new names.Liked the bike a lot but was starting to worry about getting parts as I ride a lot plus compete.I tried a 2018 TRRS last year and liked it because it felt the same as my GG.Have only ridden a few sherco,s,a 2018 scorpa and a newer 200 cc beta.I like the TRRS the best so just got a new 2020 TRRS one R as I have heard good reports on them.A rider in our club pounds his 2018 in expert with no issues.I have seen 2 beta,s now with the pop into neutral problem and it's not just Internet gossip that there plastic is made of glass plus expensive.I also built a pretty sweet 74 ty250a to take out once in while in twin shock.Our twin shock class rides the intermediate line so some of the meets that are nasty best to use it as a pit bike.I like the TY because it was easy to get parts for and some heavy mods turned it into a pretty good bike.I have a 94 fantic k-roo I am almost done rebuilding just because it is a cool looking bike and picked up super cheap  (2 for 300$).

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I have my current bikes - both 84 ty250 mono's - because where i live there are no Bultaco and Montesa twinshocks, nor Yamaha twin shock ty's nor anything remotely pre 65 Brit project bike ish. the nearest being Indian made 350 - 500 Bullets c/w front disc brakes and indicators......

So i'll stick with my beloved ty mono's.....

 

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I bought a beta 250 4t loved it, tried lots of 2t but just like the 4t delivery, guess I'm used to it, wanted something newer and the Beta 300 4 t  would seem too much like the previous bike so bought a Repsol, very happy with it

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