51 year old newbie

[Gsinky]

Hi, I’m keen to get started on some gentle trials. I’m in Aberdeenshire and have always fancied it, and realise it’s now or never as I get older. I’m budgeting on circa £1k for a used Beta or Gas Gas. Any buying advice appreciated and any more general advice also welcomed. Hope I’m not too old. I had a Fantic when I was 19 and have been a MTBer over the years, so like to think I’ll at least have some sense of balance and technique, but mainly I just want to have some fun and give it a go.

Also any advice on basic kit welcomed.

Graham

[feetupsbetter]

Hi Graham, welcome along to this wonderful world of trials.

There are/have been lots of similar requests on here with plenty of sound & friendly advice to help you along. I’ve had a look back at some of my replies to people & ‘grovesy91’ (I think that was the name) made a similar request back in 2018. Have a search for ‘what bike’, or ‘new starter’ or similar and you’ll find lots of info. If you can’t find anything come back & up let us know.

£1000 might be a bit tight on budget, but look around for the best serviced & looked after mechanically example rather than necessarily the smartest looking. Should still get a decent, if older, starter bike. I’d go Gas Gas Pro or Beta Rev 3/evo as I think that’ll give you best choice at that price & baring in mind spares availability. Go & read some of those old posts for some guidance.

Good luck

[Gsinky]

Thanks, I’ll search out those posts👍

[feetupsbetter]

‘Can a 50 yr old start from scratch and where’ by JonG71 from November 25.

Hi again, search for the above post as a more recent one. Tr1AL gives a good reply and I put some advice on there too. 

[RonH]

11 hours ago, Gsinky said:

Hi, I’m keen to get started on some gentle trials. I’m in Aberdeenshire and have always fancied it, and realise it’s now or never as I get older. I’m budgeting on circa £1k for a used Beta or Gas Gas. Any buying advice appreciated and any more general advice also welcomed. Hope I’m not too old. I had a Fantic when I was 19 and have been a MTBer over the years, so like to think I’ll at least have some sense of balance and technique, but mainly I just want to have some fun and give it a go.

Also any advice on basic kit welcomed.

Graham

Gsinky, I'm 65 and riding trials and just restarted two years ago. Don’t worry about age. I wish I was as young as you. Just relax and enjoy it. There’s a lot of people older than me that still ride.

[trapezeartist]

51 is young. Many riders start trials when they feel too old for whatever they were doing before.

£1k is a challenging budget if you're going to get something ready-to-go. Remember that needing tyres, chain, sprockets, whatever could rapidly increase the final cost of a bargain bike.

[Gsinky]

Thanks trapezeartist, good shout and maybe I have to rethink the budget, don’t want to go overboard on my first bike, want to test the water, but also want to be realistic, what should I budget would you reckon, £1500?

[ChrisCH]

I am also older than you and started later.....

As to bike; the trouble with old cheap bikes is they have had a hard life and (usually) some suspect maintainance.  Older models like the Rev 3 are worth a look and ride OK.  I have noticed that bikes are often cheaper in Scotland so you might well be lucky.  The Beta bikes also tend to be more robust and represent good value for money.  We started with a Rev 3 but I soon moved on and spent rather a lot more 😁

I love all motorcycles and need very little excuse to overspend on them.

The missus had an 2014 250 Evo for a couple of years and it was very good.  We paid 2300 for it.  It is still going strong with the new owner (brother of a friend) and will - I am sure - give many more years good service.  She had trouble starting it so she went electric but otherwise we would have kept the bike a lot longer.  We sold it for near enough what we paid for it.  I had fitted a new brake rotor and m/c (the OE front brakes are not that great IMHO).  Other than that a chain and sprocket (cheap) and a throttle cable.

Good luck finding a fun machine and all the best with riding it.