Twinshock and P65 trials in the UK.

[Jon V8]

For any Aussie viewers,or anyone else for that matter,I would ask you to have a look through the links below.These are the clubs whose trials I regularly ride in,and I'm the ugly one who runs the trials section of the Bath club.

http://www.bathclassicmcc.co.uk/trials
http://www.goldenvalleyclassicmotorcycleclub.co.uk/
http://www.southwestclassictrials.co.uk/home.html
http://sites.google.com/site/somertoncl ... cycleclub/

In amongst that lot there are links to galleries and results etc,so you can see what we get up to,what the terrain is like etc. These are just in the south west,the rest of the UK has plenty of clubs,some areas more ,some less.Most events are well attended with generally higher entries than for modern trials.Events like the SWCTA's Dartmoor two day and GV's march Hare always have a full entry,well in advance.So any overseas reader thinking the classic trials situation here is dire,you can see it simply isnt the case.I would also invite ANY overseas rider here on holiday to come and join us to watch or ride - give us some notice and we can provide a bike.
I'm hoping this thread will give a clear idea of whats going on here,just as I'm as interested in what is going on in OZ.(Where I'm a fairly regular visitor,with family in Perth and Sydney)

[Twinshock200]

Hi Jon V8
I'm an ex pat trials rider from the UK who spent 32 years in Oz riding all grades and finishing last year in Classic but I am now back in the UK for a while for family reasons, riding in BMCA events in the Midlands.
As you say the Classic and twinshock scene here is fantastic and we get around 40 - 60 Brit bike riders every weekend.
It apears to me that the old Pre 65 rule seems to have gone out the window here with most events catering for pre 70 bikes and in reality most of the bikes competing here wouldn't even get to the first section in an Aussie event as they would fail the Classic class scrutineering regulations especially for State and National titles events.
Aussie regulations are extremely stringent and with a Classic entry that hasn't grown in the last twenty years over there they have to relax the rules somewhat to allow guys to modify certain items or the grade will eventually fade away.
I have suggested to the Motorcycling Australia (MA) trials commission to alter the 2013 Manual of Motorcycle Sport (MOMS) to extend the Pre 65 dating to make it Pre 70 and have a British bike class and a European bike class within the Pre 70 Grade. This would allow genuine Pre 70 Spanish and Italian ( and others) to compete in a Classic Grade and I think that would be quite popular and attract many more guys to dust off some old Twinshocks. It would also allow other makes of British bikes such as many more 250 Bsa's and Cubs, Sprites, Greeves, Saracen, Crusader Enfields, Dots, Bantams and a few others to compete in Pre 70
It was only two years ago that I had to fight tooth and nail to be allowed to ride my Aussie Cub in the National titles at Thunderbird Park with a square barrel and Mike Estall's Tiger Cub Bible had to be quoted before it was approved as pre 65, just about every Cub in the UK trials has a square barrel

It will be difficult to persuade the MA officials to alter the MOMS as the voice of the Classic brigade is very small over there and why fix something that doesn't appear to be broken, its not broken but it could be a lot better chaps and as Jon V8 pointed out have a look at those websites he listed and imagine some of that rubbing off on Aus Classic & Twinshock trials.
Cheers

[Geoff Lewis]

Hi Roger, I must say that I totally agree with what you are saying and in fact the Twinshock Challenge that we are holding here in Victoria on the 7th of October at the Harley Club property at Broadford will be running the Pre 70 class. Clearly those guys with a genuine unmodified pre 65 machines will get completely cleaned up, but they are not out riding here in Victoria anyway and as I have said before let those who ride decide! Do I think people will try to sneak bikes in that are over the pre70 limit? Of course they will! That unfortunately is the nature of the sport, but they will have significantly less advantage for their efforts than say in Pre 65. In one swoop it does away with many eligibility issues and allows people to at least get their bike running reliably. I have been buying some DVD's from England of their Classic Trials and am in awe of the way some of them ride in the muddy conditions there. Unbelievable! Wish I was able to be there for a ride.Perhaps you could talk some of their good riders to come over here to try our terrain?
Regards Geoff.

[Twinshock200]

Hi Geoff
Drop me an email to: [email protected] and I will send you some pics of the Pre 70/65 bikes that are competing regularly over here.
Nice to get a response on this subject although we will probably be bashing our heads against a wall for the next 20 years.
Cheers
Rog

[grs0]

Hi Roger, I must say that I totally agree with what you are saying and in fact the Twinshock Challenge that we are holding here in Victoria on the 7th of October at the Harley Club property at Broadford will be running the Pre 70 class. Clearly those guys with a genuine unmodified pre 65 machines will get completely cleaned up, but they are not out riding here in Victoria anyway and as I have said before let those who ride decide! Do I think people will try to sneak bikes in that are over the pre70 limit? Of course they will! That unfortunately is the nature of the sport, but they will have significantly less advantage for their efforts than say in Pre 65. In one swoop it does away with many eligibility issues and allows people to at least get their bike running reliably. I have been buying some DVD's from England of their Classic Trials and am in awe of the way some of them ride in the muddy conditions there. Unbelievable! Wish I was able to be there for a ride.Perhaps you could talk some of their good riders to come over here to try our terrain?
Regards Geoff.

Here here Geoff. Certainly agree with your comments.Pity we dont have as many interested in T/S here, than in NSW/QLD,
A lot of the thoughts mentioned could easliy work in Vic trials scene, just need some support and word to get around to the guys that have older bikes tucked away in sheds/garages at home..

Look forward to a big turn out for the Twin Shock challenge in October !!
Gordon S.

[FM350]

Do TS trials in Aus run in conjunction with modern events I wonder? The main UK championship series for TS and P65 is now 75% modern bikes, and the going is far too hard for most club level riders.

[David Lahey]

Do TS trials in Aus run in conjunction with modern events I wonder? The main UK championship series for TS and P65 is now 75% modern bikes, and the going is far too hard for most club level riders.

Both types of events are successfully run in Australia. The Twinshock and Classic-only events have a greater number of rider grades than there are within Twinshock and Classic classes at events that also cater for modern bikes.

[Jon V8]

Do TS trials in Aus run in conjunction with modern events I wonder? The main UK championship series for TS and P65 is now 75% modern bikes, and the going is far too hard for most club level riders.

Mr Stevens, I started this thread to give overseas riders a small insight of whats happening every weekend at clubman level twinshock and Pre65 trials in the UK.If you want to twist this thread in the way that you seem to feel the need for - then feel free to do so.The vast majority of clubman riders have little interest in top level championship events.If you think they are in a state,why not start your own thread either here or on Trials Central and actually DO SOMETHING about it.