Trials for back pain

[tat ty]

Hey David

Need I ask if the driver of the police car thought of the F11 was "pretty nice overall".

Alastair

[David Lahey]

Those long-suffering local police were "not amused" and booked my F11 friend with dangerous driving - probably because they had to do paperwork for the repairs to the police car, and needed an incident to associate the panel damage with.
Another time the local police cornered me in the local K Mart car park to check me and my TY175 over, figuring I looked suspiciously like one of those young blokes who did wheelies around the place (they knew what trials bikes were about and were a pretty good judge of people) but all they could find wrong was that I had no front rego plate.

[Kombivan]

Those TY175's are nice to ride. Suprised you know all about the F11's.

[Brigalow]

G,day, my first post on this forum. Have a smashed back (lamanectomy/dicectomy) Ok can't spell it, but it hurts & limits the time I can ride for, also have a montesa 247 semi go's in total orginal cond & a few more that are basket cases & a late model Beta.
The Montesa with it's original bars kills the back in about 5 minutes flat, the Beta with 5.5 inch bars knocks me over in about 15-20 minutes, I should also say I'm over the dreaded 50 hump & have had a crook back most of my adult life. Trialsing definetly helps with mobility & also with building or maintaining core strenghth, the trick though, for me anyway is to pace myself a bit & enjoy the riding which kinda makes up for any discomfort.
I notice when it comes to wheelies, I'm far less capable than I used to be too, I don't think it's a question of balance other than the bank balance & the fear of unnesessarily stepping off that that prevents me, more than nerve & back damage
Sorry for the spells, when the goddess of computers & knower of everything (16yo daughter) comes home I'll get her to show me the spell check thing.

[Kombivan]

Thank you for bringing me back down to earth Brigalow, I am simply excited to have taken the plunge to get my bike up and running Last wheelstand I did i stuffed the ligaments in my shoulder so its going to be logical and safe riding for me I don't think I will be doing any back flips and wheelstands You'll never get me to call them wheelies reminds me too much of that stupid movie in the 70's or 80's. My cousin has 200 acres on the side of a mountain so I am well over due for a visit. Just Gave Him a ring and going over for a camp and a ride is cool. So Glenn studdert if you read this were set.

[JC1]

Hi Kombivan,

Interesting to read yr stories. Not unlike a few others who've rediscovered twinshock trials recently. Welcome aboard.

I remember the F11s well. I used to work in the local bike shop (run by my neightbour's cousin) in my school holidays. It sold Kaws & Buls - still my favourite 2 brands. This was in Gladstone - coincidentally where David L is now! As a skinny jockey-sized kid I tho't they were a bit top-heavy back then, but then, thats pretty much what I tho't of all trail bikes bigger than the MT1 75 minibike! (on which we used to pull wheelies behind the shop)

The boss's mate had one (F11 that is) that was stripped down a little & ported a bit with a bigger carb & expansion chamber. I tho't that was better. But my fondest memories were of a version a little more special.

The owner had a very limited production F11M MXer (only 220 ever built) which I raced in MX as soon as I turned "senior", ie 16yrs. I knew he had a boat-tail 250 Pursang (Mk3) which was in pieces, & having been racing a Sherpa S 125 in Juniors I asked him if I could race the Pursang if I put it together. (Real men - ie 16yr-olds - rode 250s when they could, not 125s I naively kidded myself.)

Instead he said, "How about you race the F11M instead". Well, as they say, dreams are free, so big dreams cost no more, but that one had never occurred to me. He didn't have to ask twice!

I still have vivid memories of that bike. Loved it. For its time it was fly-weight. So light that it had BSA front fork springs on the rear Konis. Everything on it was ultralight. Which was just as well cos I was only 6-7 stone. First production bike w a plastic tank, & plastic airbox, guards, seat-base etc. Also one of the first with an ultraquick-turn throttle - about an eighth turn, & tiny flywheel. And with only 39% of its weight on the front wheel [I remember that figure well] you can imagine what fun it was to ride. Very tempting for show-offs.

Which I didn't think was me at the time, but I remember my first race meeting on it. After one race I was riding back to the pits in front of the spectators & tho't I'd do a little wheelie over a few bumps. In a flash I was on my tailbone... feeling like an absolute imbicile! I treated it with more respect after that & had many good races on it. With it being a flyweight with a decent spread of power & me being pint-size at the time, the combination was a bit of a holeshot king.

Now if I could only find that bike back in Gladstone again....

Ah the memories. Who was it said, "the older I get the faster I was"? Too true. Sure was fun.

Now, back to twin-shock trials, which also sure is fun.

[Trango]

I am surprised that no one has commented on my liking the 1973 F11 Kawaski as a great all round bike because back then they were considered a joke in the trail bike world. You had to have one to appreaciate them I mostly used mine for trials riding in an old quarrie we used to ride in and it went anywhere a Montesa would go. All my mates at the time had Montesa's and Bultaco's and they never left me behind.

I do not know of the F11 Kawasaki but the bike I learnt to ride on was a GT4R 100cc Kawasaki from the early seventies. Like Kombivan described of the F11 it was a useful bike on trials terrain with its low gearing and low seat height. It also had what I thought an unusual feature of having neutral at the bottom of the gear shift instead of between 1st and 2nd.

[Kombivan]

I been polishing wheels and fork sliders getting parts chromed and powdercoated and sourcing all the bits and pieces i need for my 349 cota with great enthusiasm but I am not touching the engine on this one I have a mate that is a great mechanic and he is sorting it for me. The only thing is it will have the wrong tank it will have the white tank instead of the red one I got it for the right price. but thinking of the F11 if I was rich I would get one and ask yamaico to make it into a trials bike like that CTY175 he did. I am not rich though. That make over on that yamaha just so impressed me it opened my eyes so much as to what can be done to a bike with a shit load of spares lying around.

[David Lahey]

I been polishing wheels and fork sliders getting parts chromed and powdercoated and sourcing all the bits and pieces i need for my 349 cota with great enthusiasm but I am not touching the engine on this one I have a mate that is a great mechanic and he is sorting it for me. The only thing is it will have the wrong tank it will have the white tank instead of the red one I got it for the right price. but thinking of the F11 if I was rich I would get one and ask Greg harding to make it into a trials bike like that CTY175 he did. I am not rich though. That make over on that yamaha just so impressed me it opened my eyes so much as to what can be done to a bike with a shit load of spares lying around.

It wasn't Greg Harding that built the CTY175

[Kombivan]

who was it? yamaico