Trials Helps Everything:

[denill]

Hey Motu, you may be interested in reading; http://www.silver-bullet.co.nz/news.php?id=3105 ????

[merv]

Trials was fun back then Bill and we never wore any poncy safety gear either - just had to try and keep your head away from tree branches and stay on the bike so you wouldn't hit your head on a rock either. Good training for keeping balance that's for sure.

p.s. did you ever keep any of your old trials bikes?

None left in our family.

[denill]

Yeah, Merv it was fun wasn't it and a lot of others must have thought so too. It was normal to get around 30 to 40 riders to a trials event........

Quote - p.s. did you ever keep any of your old trials bikes? Un-Quote:

Don't tell any one but the bike that introduced me to Trials (and motorcycle sport) was the James Cotswold. A genuine factory trials bike!! You may remember that it was attached to the Shop sidecar, until it was replaced with one of the early XL250 Hondas. Reached some dizzy heights there........
Well it hasn't run since circa 1973 and it is still sitting in the shed?????

BTW Merv. Have purchased a KTM LC4 with 18L tank, like new with 4,000 clicks from the very good people at AFC, PN.

[Motu]

Yeah,of course I think he's right,it's central to anything you want to do on bikes,if it doesn't help your riding you are not really capable of applying skills learnt.Everyone,no matter what their experiance is always shocked at their lack of skills when first getting on a trials bike,quite a humilitating time - premadonna's will storm off saying it's not important to ride a trials bike,but those who enjoy any challenge on a bike will apply themselves and reap the benifits.

I was always a hopless trials rider and my level now in Twin shock is the same,I am at the age where I am not able to learn anymore,I just seem to be going through the motions,but I still seem to be improving anyway.It's so satisfying getting it right - your first time through a section may be real hard,you think no way can I do this,it's just not possible,why in the hell did I come today - then on your last couple of rounds you 'clean' it,hey,everyone else may have cleaned it all day,that's not important...trials is about improving your personal best,you are competing with yourself,the other guys are doing the same.

Riding off road with other guys I think trials helps me with reading terrain and picking lines - attacking a big slippery hill I ''read'' it differently than the others....going through the big puddle at the bottom,going over the big ruts instead of around them,sometimes it makes up for my lack of other skills.

A lot of the stuff being taught to road riders these days as basic and advanced skills were just common knowledge to trials riders 30yrs ago,subtle weight shifts...target steering,huh! one of the first things you learn is not to look where you are going...but where you want to go.

[denill]

,I am at the age where I am not able to learn anymore,I just seem to be going through the motions,but I still seem to be improving anyway.

You are wrong when you say that Motu. Every time one rides a bike one learns something.... No matter if it is a road bike or off road. Specially so if the bike happens to be a Trials bike as by it's very nature Trials bikes exist to provide the challenge of - rider against terrain. The rate of learning no doubt slows down - but it is there nonetheless.

No body, or mostly nobody buys a Trials bike to survey the scenery. You will know well that you are not satisfied with riding terrain that you have conquered as that is BORING but rather go looking for terrain that provides just that bit greater degree of difficulty.

And hey there is nothing wrong with a twin shock, in fact quite the opposite as you are not required to tackle terrain that is extremely hazardous to the health.......... As the modern bikes make twin shock country so easy but when it does go pear shaped the rider is in deep s**t

Cheers
Bill W

[Oscar]

Yeah, Merv it was fun wasn't it and a lot of others must have thought so too. It was normal to get around 30 to 40 riders to a trials event........

Quote - p.s. did you ever keep any of your old trials bikes? Un-Quote:

Don't tell any one but the bike that introduced me to Trials (and motorcycle sport) was the James Cotswold. A genuine factory trials bike!! You may remember that it was attached to the Shop sidecar, until it was replaced with one of the early XL250 Hondas. Reached some dizzy heights there........
Well it hasn't run since circa 1973 and it is still sitting in the shed?????

BTW Merv. Have purchased a KTM LC4 with 18L tank, like new with 4,000 clicks from the very good people at AFC, PN.

I have an LC4 with the 18l tank.
It rawks...

[jrandom]

premadonna's will storm off

... but they usually come back when they've achieved full madonnahood?

I was always a hopless trials rider

That'd be the style where you keep both wheels on the ground at all times, right?

...

Sorry. Bad form, I know, but I just couldn't resist.

[denill]

I have an LC4 with the 18l tank.
It rawks...

Well I don't actually have it yet as I am waiting for an Adv Ride in that neck of the woods and kill two birds with one stone, sort of thing.

AFC are modifying the links to drop the seat height down a couple of inches. I won't be needing 3 feet of travel !!!

[Oscar]

Well I don't actually have it yet as I am waiting for an Adv Ride in that neck of the woods and kill two birds with one stone, sort of thing.

AFC are modifying the links to drop the seat height down a couple of inches. I won't be needing 3 feet of travel !!!

Holy Crap!
Have you actually bought it yet?
Brucee has his for sale and it's already lowered...

[Oscar]

Well I don't actually have it yet as I am waiting for an Adv Ride in that neck of the woods and kill two birds with one stone, sort of thing.

AFC are modifying the links to drop the seat height down a couple of inches. I won't be needing 3 feet of travel !!!

Here's mine...(before I crashed it, breaking the headlight and splitting the front fender ).

[Motu]

Oh,so now he signs his name Bill W !!!!

Yeah,I realised I was wrong soon as I read what I'd posted,but as I said I am improving still,the very reason I still go out and do something I'm not good at is I still need to be constantly learning in my riding.What I mean,maybe...is I'm not attacking each section with aggression and 10 new ideas to apply,I'm just using what I've already got and applying that.OK...I'm getting old,satisfied?

Some of the older riders,Ray Skinner for example,won't down grade to a twin shock,spent too many years lugging those around he reckons,but they may go down a grade with a modern bike.I think my TLR200 is a nice light little bike - but a modern enduro 250 is as light,an MX 250 even lighter,I'm actualy pushing a heavy bike around by modern standards,even if it seems little to me.A modern trials bike is on a totaly different planet and if I rode one in clubmans,that's the same line I ride now,my results would improve out of sight.But there's a limit to how many bikes we can have,and the money to buy them.Good to see you putting trials out there,it annoys me that so many motorcyclists dismiss trials,anywhere cept England really.90% of the riders must be Poms.

[Oscar]

If you hear anyone scoffing at trials, make 'em watch the European Indoor Series. Feckin' awesome...

[denill]

Oh,so now he signs his name Bill W !!!!

Good to see you putting trials out there,it annoys me that so many motorcyclists dismiss trials,anywhere cept England really.90% of the riders must be Poms.

Yeah, you have rumbled me. As Bill W I post on Silver-Bullet and you're right Trials is the forgotten motorcycling discipline but getting Trials news is like draggin' teeth. NOBODY has ever sent me Trials news, ever!!! (I see Ben T and Josh are both riding trials bikes for training so maybe a turnaround will happen!)
So good on you Motu, you are on to it.............

Cheers
Bill W

[denill]

Holy Crap!
Have you actually bought it yet?
Brucee has his for sale and it's already lowered...

Well I haven't paid money BUT I have commited to it.

Just to perhaps p*ss me off how much does Brucee want for his LC4 ???

Cheers
Bill W

[Motu]

... but they usually come back when they've achieved full madonnahood?




That'd be the style where you keep both wheels on the ground at all times, right?

...

Sorry. Bad form, I know, but I just couldn't resist.

One wheel at a time,front only I'm afraid - the rear wheel hop on a twin shock bike requires leg muscles that can push an All Back scrum off the field.

Madonna's hood? I'm sure she'd show it if she was paid enough....$5?