Twinshock Trials article in VMX magazine

[David Lahey]

will this be value adding if i ever sell my bike "As seen in VMX #39"
A breath a fresh air to make good mag better - well done.
I see another trials article next issue too. And CD7 at Connondale (please let it not clash again)

Yes it would be pretty cool to mention that in an ad.
I hope you realise that you would be in danger of being knocked down in the rush if you did advertise that particular bike for sale.

[Reinald]

Great article David,
up you go... i'm hangin' for Denham even more now...

[ianrogers]

If only they would commit and get back on a bike again, would make for an increased entry!

Hey, I know this is a no brainer with most everyne out there but I will say it anyway. Don't you think the reason there are so few twinshocks competing, as opposed to the numbers making forum comments , is that the cost of bringing them out of retirement is too prohibitive????
As a case in point, if a guy wants to have an irregular ride and not commit to a full National Comp License he is going to be stung,
1. $25 +/- to join a club (one off)
2. $15 - $25 to enter a competiton
3. $44 for a day license or
4. $20 for a non competive Rec license (if in fact the club recognises them)
A total of say $90 for his first go and say $60 for every subsequent ride thereafter. That may be cheap in the other states, I don't know, but it's all relative and unpalatable at the same time.
I believe that if your governing bodies are serious about advancing our sport they should be putting their money where their mouths are and comming up with a subsidised first, and even second, time ride fee instead of relying on the clubs with their "Come and Try Days", that generally only captures a small percentage of tyre kickers and not the die hards who already know how good the sport is but who just can't be bothered due the the costs and bureacracy involved.
Make it cheap and simple and not only will you have a chance of getting a few wrinkled bums back on bikes but maybe a few more first timers who recognise value for money that obviously isn't there at the moment.
Just my un affiliated opinion for what it is worth.

[Westy]

Perhaps one would think that people who own 10+ twinshock trials bikes would be making it difficult for someone to buy a twinshock to enter the sport? I can understand having a spare bike but ten or more? If you think you're going to need ten bikes then perhaps you had better invest in riding lessons to avoid breaking the bikes.

[David Lahey]

If only they would commit and get back on a bike again, would make for an increased entry!

Hey, I know this is a no brainer with most everyne out there but I will say it anyway. Don't you think the reason there are so few twinshocks competing, as opposed to the numbers making forum comments , is that the cost of bringing them out of retirement is too prohibitive????
As a case in point, if a guy wants to have an irregular ride and not commit to a full National Comp License he is going to be stung,
1. $25 +/- to join a club (one off)
2. $15 - $25 to enter a competiton
3. $44 for a day license or
4. $20 for a non competive Rec license (if in fact the club recognises them)
A total of say $90 for his first go and say $60 for every subsequent ride thereafter. That may be cheap in the other states, I don't know, but it's all relative and unpalatable at the same time.
I believe that if your governing bodies are serious about advancing our sport they should be putting their money where their mouths are and comming up with a subsidised first, and even second, time ride fee instead of relying on the clubs with their "Come and Try Days", that generally only captures a small percentage of tyre kickers and not the die hards who already know how good the sport is but who just can't be bothered due the the costs and bureacracy involved.
Make it cheap and simple and not only will you have a chance of getting a few wrinkled bums back on bikes but maybe a few more first timers who recognise value for money that obviously isn't there at the moment.
Just my un affiliated opinion for what it is worth.

Hey Diddly. You might be onto something there. Our little unaffiliated local club has a relatively high representation of Twinshock bikes used in competition. I keep the records for our local club and Twinshock rider numbers are one record I keep. I'll put the numbers together for the eight trials so far this year and post them up.

[ianrogers]

Hi David
Yeah that has been something i have been wanting to get off my chest for a while and something i feel strongly about. SQTA hasn't brought too many twinshocks out of cobwebs as yet but it sure has brought a lot of new riders on monoshocks out of the cupboard. Maybe you twinshockers are a little slow to catch on or something?
MQ can have as many forums it likes but until the issue of attracting new, and for that matter old, blood back into the sport is seriously addressed then nothing will change. I reckon that every affiliated club should be subsidised, or at least let off the hook, by their ruling bodies and allow any new/prospective riders two or three low cost rides to allow them time to decide if they like it or not. At the moment no one is going to spend $90 to give it one go unless they were trials riders in a previous life, as i was when i got back into it 10 or 12 years ago. I remember it cost me $50 on the day and it stung at the time but at least i knew what i was getting back into.
I just don't think trials is, ever has been or ever will be very high on the governing bodies sincerity scale to ever help move it forward. They just appear to be glorified insurance brokers now selling compulsory insurance policies in the form of National Competition Licenses to their captured audience at least where trials is concerned. Trials is poles apart from all the other disciplines and should be treated that way in my unaffiliated opinion.
Regards

[David Lahey]

[quote="David Lahey
Hey Diddly. You might be onto something there. Our little unaffiliated local club has a relatively high representation of Twinshock bikes used in competition. I keep the records for our local club and Twinshock rider numbers are one record I keep. I'll put the numbers together for the eight trials so far this year and post them up.[/quote]


OK for the Club Trials up here so far in 2009 there have been 294 entrants of whom 95 rode Twinshock trials bikes. That's err.... 32%