Considering Trials

[J.D.]

Its never to late to start riding trials. Im 47 yrs young and have a sherco 290 trials bike (been riding trials a long time , still suck at it)
Just dont get discouraged when you start out. Good riders and trials videos
make it look easy. just go out and have fun. Then hop on your regular dirt bike and youll be amazed at how going slow on the trials bike makes you a better woods racer.

[skid jackson]

I wonder how physically taxing playing around on a trails bike is. I was bush hogging a section of my dads land and noticed a lot of boulders you could play on. From Small Glacial erratics about the size of a vw bug on down. He had 70 acres and i bet i could string together a pretty good vintage trials course with a couple of hairy glacial erratics thrown in. How does the physical exertion compare to laps on an mx track or harescramble??

[Treesmacker]

Two trials riders who FLY in the woods... Juha and David Knight!

[Bigivyi]

You use a little cardio, but not nearly as intense as off road or MX racing. You use more quick bursts of strength and power though.

It's nice because success has more to do with skill than endurance and stamina.

There are some super fast people who are not great racers just because they don't have the genetics for great cardio.

[TooFastTim]

There's a new member of these boards who owns Lewisport. He's in your neck of the woods so give him a shout. Adrian has a long involvement in trials and will be a great help.

http://www.lewisportusa.com/

[Loosenut]

When I got my 2000 EC300, I completely stopped riding my 1997 YZ250. The YZ was a good bike, but it was not a GasGas. Anyway, I sold the YZ and purchased a 1997 GasGas JXT 270 trials bike. I have friends in the Santa Cruz mountains that ride trials bikes all the time, so I had instant riding partners and a great place to ride. That in combination with playing in the driveway and street, brought my enduro riding to the next level. I seek out logs to cross and gnarly trails. If you ride the hard stuff all the time, it's no longer hard stuff, but the norm. I sold it to friend of a friend last year after not riding it for 9 months and needing some extra cash. I miss that bike.

Long wheelies on the trials bike were difficult for me. Short wheelies where you need to precisely place your front wheel were no problem. The biggest mistake I see when people are trying to lean to wheelie is that they use to low of a gear. This means every change in the throttle position is huge in respect to the balance. On my EC300, going about 10 MPH in 3rd, I use the torque and gentle handlebar push (pre-load) and accelerate. The front end comes up nice and slow. Should it come up too fast or go past the balance point, I lightly press on the rear brake pedal and it comes back down. Oh yeah, your balance point is further back than you will feel comfortable. It something you just have to learn.

Mike Baxter

[TooFastTim]

Hey Baxter, WTF have you been? Still hanging out on RMD?

[Loosenut]

Yeah, RMD is my home. I've been there since it started.