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on showand Montesa who hadavast rangeoftrials
and enduromodels.The Ossamodel, hadit been
launchedafew years earlier,would have been a
major part of the scene.
Possibly themost expensive of al lthe offerings
on showwouldbe theJBR Hondas, effectivelyframe
kitted big four-stroke and the potentiallytop price
onewas likel ytobethe Mugen tweaked CR125...
rumoured to be £3000!Banks’ four-stroke bike too
had the Mugenatten tion withatop end from the
tuningspecialists taking the engineout from 431cc
to 451cc and powerupfrom51bhp to 56bhp... could
youhandle it? Hmmm
So,asashowgoes, theDirtBike 81 wasfull of
hopefor thefuture of oursporting scene,asmany
accessorymanufacturers andstockistsalsotook
spaceinthe halls to market goods and performance
goodiesaswell as ridingkit to keepanyone happy.
The report ing teamof GeoffAspel and photographer
David Nash madethe claim “if it couldn’tbefound
at the showitprobably wasn’t made.” The ‘it’ in
questionwaswhateversomeonewanted fortheir
typeof off-road ridingratherthan Yamaha’s IT
which couldbefound.
Afterreading through thesereports oftheshow
and digestingthe photosIdid averydangerous
thing,started thinking...If ashowinthe traditional
sense isreallyout-dated then what could attract
newpeopletovisit ashow? Thereisnoeasy answer
as all sorts of things have been tried inthepastin
order to provide aday out forenthusiasts.
Howeveranareawhich, frommy ownexperience,
bears more exploration, is having things happen. I
don’t pret end thisis easyto do,itisn’t and asever
withthese thingsacost versusreturnhastobe
weighed up.But givenwhatIremember of the Earls
CourtShowand thecrowdsroundthe basic trials
experience and the advances in electricbikes, then
perhapsthereisroom forgrowth here.
In those days at shows theelectricthingwas a
novelty and few, if any, couldhaveperceivedthe
seriousness withwhichsuchmotive powerwould be
taken 50years or morelater.
Then as people enjoy seeingbikes working and
moving–the trials demo at Staffordalways attracts
agoodly crowd–maybe an indoorMXcoursewith
vent fans toextract theexhaust naturally. The
miniGP scene at theInternational Dirt Bike Showthe
past fewyearsagain attracts acrowd so maybethis
bearsout this lineofthinking. Whatever, the way
forwardislong live theshow.
Meanwhile,enjoytheseimagesfromthe show
section in ourarchive.TheRacingand
Sportingshowmixed
andmatched.