Classic Dirt Bike — Autumn 2017

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Thereareavarietyofways

youcancontinuetogetyour

handsonClassicDirtBike

intheUK...theeasiestof

whichistobecomepartof

oursubscribercommunity.

Seepage 33 fordetails.

TimBritton

samewayfor afew years, okaythere were

tweaksas bikes developed and courses

becamemuch stiffer.

First, amid-way penaltywasintroduced,

then a‘star’ penaltycamealong,then

finallythe scoringbecamethe now familiar

5,3,2,1,0.Thingsbeganto changewhenthe

youngerEuropeanridersjoinedthe motorised

sportfrom cycling.Thesenewcomerswere

usedto beingable to balancetheir cycles

andflick turnsoachieving ahigherclimb

up ahill beforestoppingand carried on in

the samevein with amotorcycle.Suddenly

stopping,balancing,rollingbackwards,

hopping,flickingand the likewere partof

the trialssceneand sectionsbecamemuch

moretechnical.

It is goodto watch, great entertainment in

an arenatrial, but is it trialsriding?No, it’s

not, whichis whythere is acall for asplit in

the sport,and not justfrom me.

One of the major problems is themajority

of riderscan’tdothis fancystuffand a

trial marked out with such sections is

counter-productive to gaining entries oreven

retaining ridersinthe sport.Inachat witha

formerworld trialschampion from Yorkshire

someyearsago, he said quite forthrightly

“whatparentis going to allow theiryoung ‘un

to have agoattrials whentheysee asix

grandbikebeingflun garoundand trashed

and maybethe rider injured?”

Therewassome recognitionofthis a

fewyearsago whenthe ‘no-stop’ rule was

reintroducedand it washopedareturnto

sanitywouldhappen.In partithas and

therearesome excellent trialswhich attract

full entries with traditional,difficultbut not

impossible sections.

However,such trials have to be laidout

with no-stop in mindor theywon’tworkas

it is unrealistic to expectarider, or bikefor

that matter,tocope non-stopwith sections

including suchtight turns which can only

be doneby stopping and hopping. It may

soundsour grapesis in actionhere and

I’m calling for easiersections, I’m not.

I’m saying, alongwith manyothers,true

non-stop sections were never easy,even

whenstickytyres camein, but theywere

possible and that is the point.By watching

the experts cleansuch asection, the novice

couldsee how it wasdone and eventually

do it themselves.

It is impossibleto turnthe clockback

fully and pick apoint wheredevelopment

shouldstop,but an event whichencourages

riderstoimprove, doesn’t smashabikeup

if it allgoeswrong,surelyhas to be good

for the sportand the industry.

Beforeanyone jumpsup and says ‘what

aboutbringing ridersinto world trials?’If

thereare no ridersthentheycan’tadvance

from club to world status,but if thereare

lots of ridersenjoying themselvesona

weekend in club sportthen

the pool of those who want

to go further can only be

biggerand if lots of people

want to ride trialsthen the

manufacturerscan sell bikes

to supportthis too.

To maintain

forward motion

IIIINNNN BBBBBAALLAANNCCEE

Is it timetodividetrialsriding

intotwodistinctsports?

I

’vepretty muchkept out of this whole

‘stop’‘no-stop’debatewheretrials

ridinghas beenconcerned, but have

beengoadedinto placingmy opinionon

record...it is my opinionratherthan that of

CDB.Torecap,the wholetrialsthingdidn’t

startout as asport, but as amethodfor

manufacturersinthe hot-bedof ingenuity,

developmentand inventionwhichwas

the late Victorianperiod,to demonstrate

their machinesworked. Theydid this by

arrangingtheir test riders–inthosedays

probablythe samelads who built the things

as well –togotosome notorioushill on

anormal road and ascend,cleanly,tothe

top withoutstopping,footingor usinglight

pedalassistance.

It will be obviousto statein thosedays

all that wasrequiredwasfor amotorcycle

to carry its rider to and from workwithout

anyproblems.The datesthese‘trials’were

conductedwouldbe mentionedto the

fledglingpressby amanufacturer–you can

just hear the tone of the lettercan’tyou...

No doubtthe test riderswould have beenup

and downthe hill for aweek beforehand,to

ensurethe primitivemotorbicycleswould

actuallygo up it so no embarrassingfailures

wouldbe seen.

Thesetrialsbecameapopularspectator

attractionand soonownerswantedto try

their skillstoo and asportwas born.

From this,wedeterminewhyour sportis

called‘trials’ and atrials section isreferred

to as a‘hill’and the successfulattempt is a

‘clean.’ Things prettymuch rolledalong in the

“

...I’m saying,along with many others,

true non-stopsectionswerenever easy,

even when stickytyrescamein, butthey

werepossible and that is thepoint...

”

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