Classicrider444

We Have Moved!!!

2010-10-06T16:08:00.001-07:00

This site is now closed - please go to www.classicrider444.com - all of the information from here has been moved across to the new site and is easier to access - thanks and see you at the new site....Dave

All Change!!

2010-10-02T13:06:00.001-07:00

OK - those of you that are regular readers of this BLOG will know that the only thing that remains constant in my association with motorcycles is nothing remains constant - it all about change and new projects, ideas and challenges....

Well, having pretty much taken the BSA about as far as it can go, I want a change of direction and have decided that the constant uncertainty over what is and isn't allowed on pre 65 bikes has just about worn me down.

Having reviewed the trials that I have ridden this year, I find that ONLY the BMCA do not have classes for Twinshock bikes so I think I can live without riding in the invited riders class at those trials and instead build a good twinshock that will cost a fraction of the price and most likely be better and more reliable than the majority of pre 65 bikes, provide more power and be less of an investment to sit in the shed and come out when I fancy a ride..

I have therefore reluctantly decided to sell the BSA.

There is probably not a better documented bike around than this - from the original bike, through the Faber frame and up to its current guise. You will know that it is proven in competition too with some good results this year that are all on this site.

I have spent a fortune on the development of this bike as you will know if you have tried to so a special bike like this and I will never recoup the money spent, however I think a reasonable value on a bike like this is......£6500.00

If you are interested, please call me on 07725 644321 or email me on davedawson444@btinternet.com

Growing Up

2010-09-29T14:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry for regular readers that I haven't done updates for a few weeks but we are currently working on growing up and moving to a proper website from the BLOG that's been running for a few years.

We will be at www.classicrider444.com and although things wont change too much, I am hoping to have separate sections on bike builds, events, picture galleries and places to advertise items for sale etc - basically the same but a little more organised. If you make or sell products and want to use my site to advertise, please let me know, I'm sure we can do something to help...

If you go to that address now you will see that it merely contains the stuff from the BLOG that we have moved across but over the coming weeks that will develop and when we're ready then this site will close down and you will be routed to the new site.

I hope you like the new logo too!! Stickers are available so if you want one just drop me an email and i will send you one!

Dave

Eventpost 66 - Wye Valley MCC, Trevor Hunt Trophy Trial

2010-09-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the 19th Sept I went to the National Trevor Hunt Trophy Trial, run by the Wye Valley MCC.

The trial was run on the old ground used in the Wye valley Traders national back in the 70s/80s and I had been advised before hand that it was a really good trial.

I spent some time practising the day before the trial with my Brother in Law (see the Yamahaposts) and the bike was not running too well, having problems revving out cleanly. I put this down to some dirt in the jets of the DelOrto carb but as I had the Amal with me ready for some testing I dropped that on the bike to make sure that it was nothing more sinister than the carb and to my astonishment, it ran really well for the rest of the practice session.

I therefore decided to leave it on for the trial (and didn't take the DelOrto with me so no chance of a last minute switch like last time!)

Anyway, I got to the first section and with an early number I was one of the first to attempt a reasonably simple rocky gully followed by a bank up to a turn round the back of a tree and along a camber over some roots. As I turned onto the camber and shut off the all so regular feeling of the cough/stop/stall happened and a great start of fiving the first section of the day set me off in a great mood!

Still throwing my teddy out of the pram like a spoilt child I rushed off to the next section, a slippery rocky stream and took a half hearted look at the section before rushing in without any composure. I cleaned the section and stopped to realise that it was actually a double sub and before I knew it there was another 5 on the card!

I tried to get a rhythm going and it started to improve with a run of half decent rides, however at around 1/3 distance I came to a section that went up and across a waterfall in a piece of open water and having spent some time studying a tricky line across the top of the water I rode the section quite well but as I lined up for a cambered exit to the section I lost the bike in a hole that I hadn't seen under the water and the bars snatched out of my hands leaving me on my backside with a sore wrist.

I rode on for the next 6 sections paddling like a millipede and even asking for 5's where steep drops were involved in the hope that I would shake it off but as the sections seemed to be getting harder and I was both riding like a complete novice and not enjoying it one bit, I'm afraid to say that I returned and went home for an early bath!

I must say that it was one of the harder trials that I have ridden in some years but it would have been nice to at least finish, however not to be on this occasion!!

What I did notice though, was that the BSA was a little down on power for the big stuff on these harder trials - not an issue for the classic trials that I ride week in and week out, but these hard nationals with big climbs and steps I think more power is required unless I am going to drop a couple of stone! I rode round with Kev Nolan for the early part of the trial on his SWM Jumbo and was astonished at just how much the power made a difference on this type of going..... perhaps we need to do another twinshock project! What do you think Dad???

Photos were taken at the event (obviously early on before I headed for the early shower)

Yamahapost 6 - Build Finished!

2010-09-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

The build is now complete and I think it looks quite tidy!

We took it out for a bit of a run at Shatterford last week and it runs as sweet as a nut too.

Thanks to Dad and everyone involved Ian is now the proud owner of the bike and he's learning fast!!

Yamahapost 5 - The rebuild begins

2010-09-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

All the bits in place the rebuild can now begin...

Yamahapost 4 - ready to start rebuild

2010-09-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

With the frame back from the coaters the rebuild could start.

The fork legs were stripped of the original blue paint and polished, the stickers put on the tank, seat and mudguard and the build completed...

Yamahapost 3 - new bits and bobs required

2010-09-29T12:10:00.000-07:00

Once apart there were a few bits and bobs that were required but generally it was in a really good condition.

The main things that were needed were as follows;
Air filter
Fork seals
Rear Wheel bearings
Footrests and footrest hangers
Chainguard
Side stand
Tyres
....and some new decals to finish the job

The rest of the makeover was really just painting and polishing in order to restore it to its former glory;

Yamahapost 2 - the work starts

2010-09-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

First things first, and the bike was stripped for a bit of work on the frame.

The Yamaha Mono always had the footrests too high in my opinion so additional webbing was welded below the original footrest mounts to lower the pegs by about an inch and pull them back about 1/2 inch.

The frame was then whipped off to the powder coaters whist the other work was started.

Yamahapost 1 - New project

2010-09-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

A little while ago by Brother in Law said that he's like to have a go at trials and started to look at budget bikes to get him going.

I put the feelers out and thankfully Ian Baker contacted me to say that he had a Yamaha Pinky with a good engine that needed a bit of a tidy up.

Perfect project bike I thought and cosmetic makeovers are just the thing that my Dad likes to do. So the deal was done and the bike came home....

Eventpost 65 - Bewdley MCC Group Trial, Coney Green

2010-09-29T11:09:00.000-07:00

On 12th Sep I decided to take a break from the local classic trials scene and ride a modern trial at Coney Green, a few miles from home.

As I have not really ridden modern trials locally for some time I knew that this group trial would be a little harder than we are used to and the hard route would certainly be out of the question so I opted for the easier route.

Coney Green is located near to Stourport on Severn and is a wooded hillside with quite sandy soil. Although the majority of the sections were pretty straightforward, the drops and climbs were set for the modern bikes and I didn't ride them particularly well to be honest.

I lost a couple of loose marks on the first lap, mainly due to my own confidence on the steep banks and not really expecting the BSA to get up the steps, however as the trial went on the confidence increased and I lost fewer marks.

With the exception of 2 sections, a tricky loose turn on a steep bank and a long steep climb over roots which I either lost 3 or 5 each lap, I managed to clean each of the remaining sections, however I did loose too many marks and finished well down the results.

Alan Nicklin proved that it wasn't too hard for classic bikes as he won the trial on the easy route on only 5 marks and of the other classic bikes, Steve Thompson turned the tables on me from the week before, losing 29 marks to my 36.

Pictures are of the 3 of us on classic bikes at the trial..

More from Stroud

2010-08-29T15:06:00.001-07:00

I couldn't resist uploading this clip from today. Steve will tell you that he needs new tyres or the ground clearance on the Ariel is too low, or the main jet that he was experimenting with made the power too soft...... but we both know the truth.....he cocked this one up badly and here's the evidence!!! Enjoy!

Eventpost 64 - Stroud Valley MC Minchinhampton Cup Trial

2010-08-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

Today there was little on for classic bikes so we decided to take a trip down to Stroud to the SVMC Trial at Eastcombe.

The trial was mainly for modern bikes but there was a pretty good contingent of pre65 and twinshock bikes in there too.

Not knowing what to expect, we entered on the A route even though the majority of pre65 bikes seemed to be riding the B route, however I think it was about right as the sections were challenging but not too difficult.

The sections were all within a wooded hillside with a mix of loose rocks, exposed roots and a few rocky gullies thrown in.

As the weather was forecast to change to rain we decided to get a move on and rode round at the front of the field (nothing new there for me anyway) which made the first lap challenging but in fact some of the roots became quire slippery and the sections got harder so it may have actually paid off for a change.

I rode the first lap for clean followed by 6 on the second lap which included a soft 2 on a slippery camber and a much needed 3 on the exit of a section at the top of a rocky gully where a left turn up a slippery root followed by a cambered turn caught me out. The 3rd lap was a little better for 4 or 5 marks (depending on the leniency of the observer).

I am pretty happy with how I rode today as I saw plenty of young riders on modern machinery losing marks where I was clean and the bike again went like a dream.

Steve Thompson was at the trial deciding which bike to take to the Isle of Man next weekend so he rode half of the trial on his Ariel and the other half on the BSA, however I don't think he's any closer to a decision yet but I would expect the Ariel to be in the van next week as he was still having carburation issues with the BSA today.

I will post results when I get them but the photos today are courtesy of Heath Brindley (check out his website - http://www.r2wtrials.co.uk/), there are a couple of Steve Thompson on his Ariel, some of me and one of Martyn Wilmore on his Yamaha.

Results just posted on the SVMC website - very efficient indeed (as was the running of the event)and of course I am very pleased with the result! The results were listed in finishing order rather than by specific class so I have listed the same way;

Results - Standard route

1. Tim Wheeler (250 Scorpa) 5
2. Dave Dawson (250 BSA) 11
3. Nathan Pekala (250 Beta) 11
4. Adrian Steele (300 Gas Gas) 13
5. Martyn Wilmore (250 Yamaha T/S) 19
6. Andy Ridley (300 gas gas) 20
7. Rob Faulkner (175 Yamaha T/S) 20
8. Paul Heron (300 Beta) 22
9. Dai Clothier (300 Beta) 27
10. Andy Perry (250 Beta) 28

32. Steve Thompson (Ariel/BSA) 65

A Family Affair

2010-08-28T14:28:00.000-07:00

Colin Bullock sent us this photo of me and Dad sitting in the back of the new van at Stoneleigh - quite worrying that we are starting to look like each other but the old man is looking well considering he's 70 at Christmas!!

More from Stoneleigh

2010-08-24T12:50:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in my event report, I had a bit of a problem on section 3 on my 3rd lap which left me on my arse in a muddy ditch. Well, thanks to Al Ussher here's proof of the event ...... Thanks Al, I hope I managed to cheer a few people in the crowd up!!!

Eventpost 63 - Classic Trials Show Stoneleigh

2010-08-22T13:48:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I went along to the Classic Trials Show at Stoneleigh on an invite from Charlie Prescott who was involved in putting the event on. The sections had been marked out by Mick Andrews and Alan Witton and although I was quite sceptical and expected a bit of an arena trial the sections were actually quite good and a 'real' trial was put on!

The format was a new one, certainly for me, with a few changes to what we are used to;

1. 10 sections, 4 laps like normal however following a riders briefing all the riders had to walk the course and look at the sections. Once the walk through was complete you were not allowed to look at the sections again and had to ride them as you found them.

2. Scoring reverted back to the old scoring with 0,1,3,5 being the scores so a 2 would count as 3 marks (like it used to be they tell me!)

3. On 2 sections there was a yellow gate that made the section harder - if you chose to ride the yelow gate and cleaned the section then you would actually score -1. If you dropped marks the score would stand as normal.

4. Riders were set off in intervals to ride alone and a time limit of 1hr 15mins was allowed for all 4 laps.

I think this worked quire well, except the fact that all riders walked the course in the morning and the invited riders event did not start till about 3pm after the morning event and sidecars had run and the rain had come down, so a second course walk was allowed and plenty of waiting around for the event to start (bit like waiting for your race in moto x, which I also hated as I just want to ride the bike!)

Once we got going it was great fun. The sections became quite slippery and 3 or 4 of them were a challenge for even the best riders (except Len Hutty it would appear!).

I got off to a steady start with dabs on each of the 3 opening sections that were the most difficult of the trial, then a couple of slack dabs where I had underestimated how slippery some of the cambered turns were. That was the story for the first 2 laps, at the end of which I think I was on about 9 marks. Then on section 3 on the 3rd lap I messed up a tricky ditch through a muddy slot and landed back in the mud on my back with the bike on top of me for my first 5. The rest of the trial was pretty smooth except section 5, which was a grassy cambered turn that fell foul to a heavy downpour of rain and became like a skating rink - I lost a further 6 marks here and ended up on 23 marks for the day. Not too bad but certainly not in the hunt for the £500 first place money...

I heard the provisional results this evening suggesting that Len Hutty won on -2 marks which was amazing!!! he was followed by Rob Bowyer, Dave Wood, Neil Gaunt, someone from north of the border and then me in 6th place. I am pretty happy with that result considering the class of the field.

I will post the final results when I get them. The pics are from the event.

Just got the results after a week!

1. Len Hutty -2
2. Rob Bowyer 2
3. Dave Wood 5
4. Neil Gaunt 6
5. Alastair Stewart 18
6. Dave Dawson 23
7. Chris Haigh 24
8. Norman Shepherd 33
9. Andy Bamford 34
10. Alan Wright 36
11. Jim Pickering 44
12. Chris Gascoigne 48
13. Mark Parry Norton 54
14. Tony Sullivan 63
15. Steve Ransom 73

Eventpost 62 - Builth Wells

2010-08-16T13:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took my new VW Caddy and had a short trip across to Builth Wells for the latest round of the Sammy Miller Series.

Although I was riding No 46 I think that there was some tactical hanging back going on because after I had ridden the 1st couple of sections I found myself out on the road at the front of the field with Steve Thompson and following the Wiffen family round the trial, pretty much scrubbing the sections in for the rest of the field.

The trial was set out on the easy side and I am sure that there would have been plenty of finishers on clean or very low single figures to say the least.

That said, I had a really enjoyable ride round with some great countryside, good green lanes and plenty of off road sections between the sections and decent weather which made for an enjoyable ride round, however with the land available I think the trial could have been more challenging to separate the scores a little.

I actually lost 8 marks which was simply not good enough I'm afraid and the loss of two 3's due to making a hash of 2 sections on slippery rocks in the streams would have put me out of the running for a good final result, especially as both of the sections would have become pretty easy once a few bikes had gone through.

Still, I guess it is my own fault but I just don't like hanging around (think I get that from my Dad because as a kid I remember him always riding round at the front of the field!!)

Anyway, I can report that the van worked great and the bike fitted inside it perfectly (see photo) and I managed to get a few video clips on my phone on the way round. Attached are clips of Phil Wiffen and myself on a rocky stream (this was a double sub and you will see that just as my clip ends I cock it up and start footing!) the one of Steve Thompson on his Triumph Twin on a section in a small woodland area towards the end of the trial.

I will post results when I get them...

Results Just in....and as expected not really good enough - note to self - stop rushing round and ride at the back of the pack at these type of events!!!

Experts - 2 Stroke
1. Peter Gaunt 2
2. Glynn Moses 3
3. Russell Jones 4
4. Alan Wright 9

Experts - Unit Construction
1. Jon Souch 6
2. William Myers 8
3. Barry Stephens 8
4. Gerry Minshall 20
5. Steve Thompson 27

Experts - Brit Replicas/Pre Unit Construction
1. Martyn Wilmore 0
2. Duncan McDonald 1
3. Mick Grant 1
4. Anthony Macklen 5
5. Dave Dawson 8

Change of Vehicles

2010-08-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

A little time ago I posted a couple of pics of a Volvo XC60 that I was about to buy, however not being great at waiting, the 7 weeks came and went and finally I had a call from the dealer to let me know that the Volvo had a manufacturing delay and I would have to wait another 4 weeks!!

Whilst I was waiting I decided that I didn't need it so I am afraid I told them where they could stick their 4 week delay and on the spur of the moment I decided that a road bike was in order so I popped down the local Yamaha dealer and acquired a nice new 600 Diversion. I now use it for the 50 mile (each way) commute to work which is fun and also saves on the parking fees at the office!

A few other things have also changed at the Dawson house.... The wife's Mini was just coming up to 3 years old and was ready for changing so we decided to change up to a spanking new Cooper S with her own spec which we can use as our 'going out' car and that finally opened up an opportunity to get the van that I have been trying to get her to agree to for a couple of years.

I looked at a number of options and decided that the ideal vehicle was something between a VW Caddy that drives like a car and a Mercedes Vito or VW Transporter with a second row of seats that would be a bit more practical..

I looked around and decided that an ideal solution would be a VW Caddy Maxi with the 140 bhp engine. The one that I have got is the maxi Life with dark windows. I can remove the 3rd row of seats and fold up the front row to leave a van that will take 2 bikes easily and yet still be a usable every day vehicle that is as comfortable as a car to drive.

Pics are of my new vehicles. The Caddy comes tomorrow and will get its first trip to a trial with bikes inside on Sunday when we go to Builth Wells for the next Sammy Miller round..

Eventpost 61 - LLangollen MCC, Trevor

2010-08-02T04:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I rode in the PJ1 Northern British Bike Championship round at Trevor near Llangollen.

During the week leading up to the event I had been setting up the bike to run on an Amal carb and even though it was far from running as consistently and cleanly as it does on the DelOrto carb I thought I would give it a go at this trial. That was fine until right up to the start when I took a look round the car park and saw that just about every Triumph cub was fitted with a DelOrto and clearly there was no real application of any rules relating to the bike requiring a British original carb so in the interests of having a good trouble free ride I promptly switched back from the Amal.

The trial was held in a beautiful area with fantastic scenery and great trials ground that mixed just about every type of going that you are likely to come across, Mud, streams, slippery rocks, slates and woodland.

The sections had been marked out on the easy side, however with the various types of terrain and differing conditions it was very easy to lose marks and I saw some of the recognised top riders losing marks and the odd 5's on the loose banks in the woods and the slippery rocks in the streams.

I had a very steady ride for 4 single dabs, 2 of them early on where I made mistakes on slick cambered turns in the woods and another 2 after the lunch stop when we were the first to ride through some rocky streams and I lost the front wheel on the slippery turns.

I have not seen any results yet but I am hopeful that I will have produced a decent result. I would expect some of the aces like Carl Batty to have been on clean but after that it's anyone's guess at the results.

I will update with results as soon as I hear something. The picture is of the start whilst we were waiting for the off - Steve Thompson is holding my bike to the left of the shot.

Results just received from Brad Jones

Results:

2 Stroke Hard route
1. Carl Batty 0
2. Peter Gaunt 5
3. Jim Pickering 7
4. Darren Cooper 8
5. Russell Jones 12

Unit Construction Hard Route
1. Dave Dawson 4
2. Dave Wood 7
3. Mark Quinn 9
4. Malcolm Cocking 11
5. Chris Denney 14

Pre Unit Construction Hard Route
1. Roly Jones 8
2. Mick Grant 10
3. Duncan McDonald 15
4. Dave Emmott 23
5. Mick Clarke 28

Eventpost 60 - Hawkstone Park

2010-07-25T02:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the famous motocross and trials venue of Hawkstone Park for the Classic trial that was held as a part of the Classic weekend with the scramble to follow today.

The venue has been used for motocross through the years and GP's have been held there for as long as I can remember with the big hill and the sandy course being a challenge that every racer wants to ride at some point in their career. I managed to get my chance at motocross in about 1999 as part of the same weekend when I rode my 360 Bultaco at the event but had never ridden a trial there before, only visited as a spectator for the British round of the World trials champs.

If you have never been there before the going is made up of dark sand and sandstone rocks and the hillside is pretty steep and covered in trees so you know that you are going to get steep climbs (and descents). rocks and roots where the sand is dug away from the base of the trees. This weekend was no different, with a little bit of dampness to make the rocks slippery for good measure.

I started well with clean, one, clean on the first 3 sections and was actually first to get up section 2 without footing as it was a very steep loamy climb through the trees and across cambered roots followed by a nice out of control drop back down to the foot of the climb. Unfortunately I stalled at the top and the drop was done even quicker than expected with the clutch in and reliance on the brakes only, I had a single steadying dab but felt good about how I had started.

The rest of the first lap was really a story of how the day was going to go, some really good rides and some very mediocre rides which resulted in odd dabs, 2's and 3's - many of which were not really required.

I felt pretty tired to be honest and I think it might have been the fact that I'm on a low carb diet with no training at the moment in a concerted effort to lose some weight. Another couple of weeks and I can get back to the gym and a more balanced diet which should be better.

Anyway, I finished on 30 marks which I felt was OK, but probably about twice as many as I should have lost.

Results are as follows;

Results

Class A (Up to 350cc Experts)
1. Chris Collins 2
2. John Maxfield 12
3. Graham Brown 13
4. Alan Nicklin 15
5. Dave Wood 15
6. James Newstead 19
7. Steve Hay 21
8. Chris Chell 22
9. Alan Wright 30
10. Dave Dawson 30
11. Nathan Jones 30
12. Jim Pickering 32
13. Mick Parkes 42
14. Kevin Taylor 44
15. Chris Denney 45
16. Mick Burton 45
17. Steve Thompson 59

Class B (Over 350cc Experts)
1. Rob Bowyer 17
2. Andy Richardson 20
3. Bill Bourne 37
4. Simon Chell 45
5. Gary Mitchell 73
6. Pete Reed 74

Class C (Intermediates)
1. Andy Pitt 36
2. Dave Jones 38
3. Steve Walker 42
4. Mike Bowers 53
5. Mike Bell 53
6. Andy Hunt 61

Class D (Clubman)
1. Anthony Charles 21
2. Ben Dutton 30
3. Martin Patrick 34
4. Will Tyler 37
5. John Davies 38
6. Graham Lyons 40

Event for your diaries...

2010-07-13T05:18:00.000-07:00

Hi guys - Andy Pitt called me the other night to tell me about this event that the Wye Valley Club will be running in 19th Sep 2010.

By all accounts this is a superb event and well worth travelling to if you have nothing else on that weekend - proper traditional sections that cater for classic and twinshock bikes.

Event Details

Regs are now avilible for the Wye Valley Auto Clubs, National Trevor Hunt Trophy Trial, a classic road based trial,which will be run on september 19th 2010.

The event will be open to Pre65s and Twinshock machines only, the trial will be run over a 25 mile loop taking in old wye valley traders groups that were used back in the 60s and 70s and a few new groups the organisers have found to use. 40 traditional trials sections will be on offer covering 15 groups of land, also an extra hour has been put on the time limit after a few comments last year.
The trial will be run under the no stop rule TSR22B

The terrain will be mostly streams and river sections much like the manx classic 2 day

The event will have 2 routes per section, an expert route to cater for abilities of the miller series and classic series, and a clubmans/ gentlemans route to cater for those who just want a good ride out on an old bike

There will be 3 classes on each route.
- Expert. Pre 65unit, Pre unit, Twinshock.
- Clubman Pre 65unit, Pre unit, Twinshock

The trial will once again start and finish at the Crown inn in the village of Longtown in Herefordshire, where BnB is availible on the weekend of the trial 01873 860217

Also RTA insurance will be availible on the day of the event , so if you fancy a cracking days classic sport, dont miss this one its worth the trip!

Regs are now availible on www.acuwesterncenter.org/uk or from entry secretary Dan Sanders, 01981 259890 or 01981 250458 or for more information or if you can help out, call Andy Pitt 07976529955

Eventpost 59 - Sammy Miller Series Round 4 - Cartmel

2010-07-05T04:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took a trip up to the Lake District for the Crabtree Cup Trial, which was the 4th round of the Sammy Miller Products Trials series. The event started at Cartmel Racecourse and was run by the Westmoreland MCC.

The route took place over 2 laps of a 25 mile course that started and finished with sections right near the carpark with various sections that took in woodland, rocky outcrops on the side of the fells and some rocky becks.

The sections were laid out really well considering the weather was forecast for rain and the weatherman certainly got it right as the heavens opened shortly after start and the first lap was ridden in a gale which certainly hade the exposed sections challenging (more from the elements than the actual sections!).

The rain did make some of the going a little muddy and the rocks slippery but not enough to trouble the top riders too much.

I had a steady though not impressive ride with a couple of laps of 6 marks for a total of 12. I had some trouble with section 2 which took me for 2 on the first lap and 3 on the second, but other than that the rest of the marks lost were probably unavoidable, especially two single dabs on each lap on the last section of the lap which was actually pretty easy.

In honestly I was just pleased to finish as the first lap was pretty miserable due to the weather, however a change of jacket and fresh gloces for the 2nd lap and the rain easing off meant that the 1st lap was soon forgotten and I ended up really enjoying the last lap.

It was good to see a strong turnout from the Midlands riders at the trial with a good ride from Dave Wood for 3rd in the Unit Class, plus regular riders on strange machinery - Colin Leese and Alan Miles out on 2 strokes after years riding Hondas and Steve Thompson on his Aprilia as the BSA wasn't ready in time.
(There you go Colin - you wanted a mention!!)

No pics this week as Dad decided to stay at home (good decision).

Next round is in Yorkshire on 25th July.

Results
2 Stroke
1. Norman Shepherd 1
2. Russell Jones 9
3. Peter Gaunt 11
4. Brad Jones 18
5. Graham Atkinson 18

Pre Unit
1. Tony Calvert 6
2. Paul Heys 6
3. Dave Wood 7
4. Mark Quinn 13
5. Barry Stephens 28

Brit Replicas and Pre Unit
1. Carl Batty 4
2. Neil Gaunt 6
3. Martin Wilmore 7
4. Dave Dawson 12

Eventpost 58 - Bonanza Trial

2010-06-27T12:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I rode in the British Bike Bonanza Trial at Horsley near Stroud. The trial was a round of the British Bike Championship which started at the site of the Bonanza Scramble and took in the first 13 sections in the arena then wend out on the road for a further 16 or 17 sections.

The trial was on the easy side and even managed to find some muddy sections which was surprising after the dry spell.

I rode the arena sections for no loss of marks where there was only one or two tricky sections and the rest were pretty straight forwards. then out on the road to 4 separate groups of sections.

I got to the first group and there was quite a queue of riders waiting to go into the section. As I had parked my bike near the start of the section along with Arthur Browning, I followed him when he took his tuen and I think we queue jumped most of the entry as we ended up at the front on the road and rode most of the sections first.

I think the sections would have mostly got easier as we seemed to be scrubbing loose rocks and undergrowth, however I managed to ride the trial for a loss of just 1 mark which I was pretty satisfied with.

The one mark was lost on an off cambered turn over roots which followed a muddy gully and I lost the front wheel a little which resulted in a steadying dab.

I heard that a couple of riders (certainly Chris Collins) had finished on clean, but all in all a great day on the bike and a lovely ride around the Gloucestershire countyside in the sunshine!!

I would also like to say hello to all the riders that introduced themselves to me as regular readers of the BLOG. I am glad you enjoy it and to anyone else, if you see me at a trial please come and say hello...

Just bought the Trials and Motoicross News - nice little picture of me in there this week - Thanks Colin!! Here are the reults;

Pre Unit Pringer
1. Paul Edwards 1
2. Nick Wooley 8
3. Graham Barton 9

Pre 70 2 Stroke
1. Glyn Moses 7
2. Mike McKenzie 7
3. Dave Spurgeon 13

Pre 70 Unit
1. Chris Coillins 0
2. Darren Snell 0
3. Barry Stephens 6
4. Keith Gardner 7

Pre 70 British Specials
1. Dave Dawson 1

Beezerpost 45

2010-06-25T04:35:00.000-07:00

I received a DVD this morning from Colin Bullock at CJB Photographic with a couple of clips from the last Sammy Miller round and also a section(not ridden very well though) at Red Marley.

Funnily enough, at the Miller trial I had just seen Mick Grant have a 5 on this section and Sammy himself pointed out the line - as you can see, he stuck around to see whether I obeyed the master's orders!!

Thanks Colin!

Beezerpost 44

2010-06-25T02:40:00.000-07:00

After a few attempts at quietening the bike down with the Seely Honda exhaust system and muffling devices on the end of my pipe that didn't quite do the job, I have opted for another alternative that should do the job.... Dick Walker of WES has kindly produced a silencer for me that I think looks really nice and as removed the loud bark that was present before.

First run will be this weekend at the Bonanza Trial so I will let you know how it performed after the weekend..

Job Done!

2010-05-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

After only a couple of weeks, Dad has turned Richard's bike around and produced a lovely, tidy bike that is ready to ride.

Richard called me last Thursday after collecting it and he was positively bubbling with pride in his freshly built bike, so much so that he felt the need to call at BVM on the way home to purchase a new helmet and pair of boots as the old ones would look out of place on the fresh new bike!

Here are a couple of shots of the finished product - a nice job I think!

Eventpost 57 - AJS & Matchless Club, Tardebigge

2010-05-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today I rode at the annual AJS and Matchless trial held at Tardebigge near Bromsgrove.

The weather played a big part in the trial yet again as the rain yesterday made it very difficult for the organisers to get the level of sections right. They has to err on the side of caution due to the rain, however a dry night and a sunny morning dried the ground out and made the sections on the easy side.

I didn't ride particularly well today after losing a 3 on the first lap on section 5, a tight section on cambered, wooded banks that needed you to be right on line for the first part to enable you to make the next two turns. I got off line going into the first part and needed a dab and that set me up for another two dabs on the following turns.

The one challenging section was section 9 which involved a very tight off cambered turn into a root step which was almost impossible without either a big dab to lift the front or some trick hopping (which isn't allowed in non stop trials). This took me for 3,2,5,5 which was about par for the course as plenty of riders were failing.

Finally I lost another couple of dabs on section 10 for a total of 20 marks for the trial.

Whilst writing this I have received the results and find that I have been given a five on the very simple section 7. I guess the observer made a mistake or saw something that I didn't, but no big deal as it was an enjoyable gallop round and a bit of fun.

Results

Experts up to 250cc
1. Nathan Jones. 10
2. Steve Hay. 10
3. Alan Nicklin. 12
4. Chris Pearson. 21
5. Dave Jones. 24
6. Chris Denny. 25

Experts over 250cc
1. Dave Dawson. 25
2. Alan Borton. 31
3. Pete Reed. 44
4. Lawrence Alden. 44

Experts Pre-Unit
1. Steve Thompson. 37
2. Mick Parkes. 44

Todays pictures include a couple of Alan Nicklin and Chris Denny both on section 9.

Eventpost 56 - Sammy Miller Series Round 3 - Sam Cooper Union Jack Trial

2010-05-24T12:20:00.001-07:00

This weekend saw the 3rd round of the Sammy Miller Series, held around the Cotswolds in beautiful sunshine and temperatures as high as I can ever remember riding in.

My start number of 38 set me off near the front of the field and it was clear from early on that the sections would improve as the field went through them and scrubbed loose rocks and slippery foliage out of the way, however I am not much good at hanging around once I get started so we just pushed on and ended up riding at the front of the field scrubbing the sections (we even got in front of the sidecars which was a bonus because you can never tell what they are going to do to the sections!).

Fortunately the sections were all very sensible and on the easy side as normal for this trial so we were not disadvantaged too much, even though there were a few tricky moments with loose rocks.

I rode very well to be honest and was very pleased with how the bike went, some days you get in a groove and the sections seem straight forwards and others you struggle and this trial I felt like I was on my game.

All went well and I was clean up to the penultimate group of sections where there was a muddy slot at the exit of a section near a stream and I overbalanced in the slot and lost a mark. Still not too bad I thought and felt strong going into the last group of 6 sections.

The first section of the last group was a steep bank up some loose rocks to a turn around a tree before a couple of tight turns on the return back down the hill. I would normally have chosen 2nd gear for the bank then knocked it down to 1st for the nadgery bit but as I was only on 1 mark I opted for 1st gear to safeguard against missing a gear trying to change in the section. This was a bad move as I didn't carry enough momentum up the bank and failed to reach the tree at the top resulting in a really soft 5 on a section that should have been cleaned easily.

I made amends on the very next section, which was probably the hardest of the trial, where I cleaned and also cleaned the remaining sections of the trial.

So I finished on 6 which was OK, however as the trial was on the easy side I think the 5 could have lost me a win in my class.

The pictures are from the trial and I will update with results as soon as I get them.

Results were posted on the Stratford Club website today and the Club have misinterpreted the machine eligibility for the classes and subsequently placed me and Martyn Wilmore in the Twin shock class as they have changed the British Replica class to Pre-Unit Hard route class which is incorrect (this has been verified by Tim Fairbrother), so the results will be changed to the following corrected result...

Results

Two Stroke (Hard Route)

1. B Jones 3
2. P Gaunt 4
3. R Jones 5
4. A Wright 7
5. C Denney 11
6. M Chapman 13
7. M Burton 15
8. R Enticknap 22
9. M Tizard 42

Unit Construction (Hard Route)

1. B Stephens 3
2. D Snell 7
3. K Bennett 12
4. J Kendall 13
5. K Gardner 15
6. J Souch 23
7. G Minshall 28
8. A Paxton 29
9. G Hawkins 31

British Replicas (Hard Route)

1. D Dawson 6
2. M Wilmore 7
3. M Grant 16
4. J Pickering 17
5. A Bamford 40

Eventpost 55 - BMCA Hunnington

2010-05-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

Today was a BMCA trial at Hunnington near Halesowen, West Midlands on a new piece of land found by Ian Bullock. The trial was put on by Ian, Gerry Minshall and Pete Reed.

It's never easy putting on a trial at a new location because you never really know how the ground will react and that compounded with overnight showers after a few weeks of very dry weather gave the organisers a bit of a challenge to get the level of the sections right.

As it turned out the land was really good and I personally hope we get to use it again, however the banks in the wood were covered with wild garlic plants and these can be slippery at the best of times. When you add a bit of rain followed by water being dragged up the banks from the stream it made for a very tricky challenge and some sections that turned out to be on the difficult side.

The sections consisted of 50% that were normal midlands centre stuff with streams and banks amongst the woods followed by the other 50% that wouldn't have been out of place in the Yorkshire centre with rocky sections up a stream with some nice big rocks.

I got off to a steady start and finished the first lap for 6 marks which was quite respectable. Although I continued to ride pretty well, I had some inconsistent moments on the next few laps where there was a very fine line between a good ride and ending up on your ear! Unfortunately I had more of the latter than I wanted and lost 5's on lap 2 and 3 on section 1, followed by a 5 on section 3 and a couple of silly 5's on sections 8 and 9 where I should have really lost a one and a clean if the previous laps were anything to go by.

So, all in all a quite high scoring trial however very enjoyable and I am pretty pleased with how I rode and also how the bike performed. I think my score was about 10-15 marks more than I should have lost but I imagine the whole field would be in a similar frame of mind so I think the result was a fair representation of how the day went for me.

There were a couple of retirements (Alan Nickin, Chris Denny, Steve Thompson and Gerry Minshall due to bike problems and injuries so I hope everyone is OK).

Results
Experts (Up to 350cc)
1. Steve Hay 27
2. Chris Pearson 32
3. Nathan Jones 38
4. Dave Dawson 48
5. Mick Burton 49
6. Keith Gardner 68
7. Bob Greenhough 71
8. Dave Jones 71
9. Alan Halford 76
10. Gary Hawkins 83

Experts (Over 350cc)
1. Jim Pickering 72
2. Mick Parkes 72

New Bike in the Workshop - Any Info Appreciated

2010-05-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

A regular reader of the Blog (Richard Clark) contacted me last week and asked if the Dawson garage fancied a bit of work.

The story is that this bike was purchased by Vic Vaughan as it had a pair of magnesium forks that were produced by the BSA factory for it's supported riders in the 60's. Apparently Vic had bought his old motocross bike back and all it was missing was the magnesium forks. Apparently this bike had a pair of these special magnesium forks and he bought it for the forks alone.

Richard purchased the bike from Vic, minus the forks and put an Alan Witton front end on it (yokes, forks and front wheel).

The frame is apparently a Victor frame and the engine a C15 250cc engine. The frame has been pretty heavily modified and carries the oil in the top and front down tubes, plus there is a secondary small oil tank as part of the frame under the seat. It has a rather over engineered alloy box that sits under the seat that houses the air filter on one side and probably held a tool kit on the other side, however now the electrics are located there to keep them away from the elements.

It has been suggested to Richard that this may have been a BSA works bike and the frame actually a Victor replica made by BSA for their trials supported riders.

Does anyone have any info that might help identify where the bike came from and who might have ridden it in the past??? Please drop me an email to davedawson444@btinternet.com or leave a comment on this post.

Dad has been asked to give the bike a tidy up so it is currently stripped down with the frame at the powder coaters and next week he will start a rebuild that will essentially just clean it up, repair anything that is not right and give Richard a tidy bike that's ready to ride.

I will post a few pics of the build but please let me know if you have any info that will help identify any history about the bike

Thanks guys....

BMCA Trial - May 16th

2010-05-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

I was talking to Ian Bullock the other evening and he tells me that some new trials land has been found in the Midlands and a 'try out' event has been planned for 16th of May. The trial will be run by the BMCA.

I understand that the ground is really good with streams, rocks, banks, trees (bit of everything!)and there is plenty of it so we can expect some good sections.

As this is a new piece of land, the guys want to give the land owner a taste of pre 65 trials and therefore we need a really good turn out, so if you haven't already got plans for that weekend please come along and support the event.

I know there are plenty of readers of this BLOG that are within easy travelling distance of the west Midlands (especially the Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and East Midlands riders) so please come and support the event. It will possibly ensure that we get to use the ground again and it is always good to ride on fresh ground that hasn't been used before.

VENUE: Breach Farm, Bromsgrove Road, Hunnington, Halesowen, West Midlands, B62 0JS
DIRECTIONS: Junction 3 – M5, A456 towards Kidderminster, at island turn left onto B4551 Bromsgrove Road,the venue is approx 1 mile on right.

Beezerpost 43

2010-05-03T06:59:00.000-07:00

I spent a couple of hours on the bike this morning and I would love to say that it worked great with the new exhaust but honestly after trying the bike back to back with each exhaust on, the old pipe delivered more power with a more punchy delivery so after all the work over the last few weeks I have decided that it will just have to stay noisy as it simply works better that way!

I did switch back and forth between air filters and I am glad to say that there was little difference so the filter cover will be staying on and I can report that the talon footrests were great - very grippy and the extra 10mm width made it feel like I could move around better on the bike.

Here are a few video clips from the practice area on the farm - after all the rain it was quite slick but as you can see, its good to have some real sections to practice on just a few hundred yards from your back door (thanks Steve)..

New Wheels!!!

2010-05-02T14:21:00.001-07:00

Just thought I would post a picture of the new wheels.... Well, a picture of the same wheels that I have just ordered anyway - it should be here on the 1st week of July. Although I have been trying to wear the wife down on the idea of getting a van, I just couldn't justify one for a couple of Sundays per month when I need to use it every day for work as well.

This should be a nice comfortable commuting vehicle and also be pretty capable for carrying the bike on Sundays too! Its the new Volvo XC60 R Design, I considered the Audi Q5 but preferred this when I drove them both so the deal has been done and the nice Volvo man knocked down by £4k from the list price so I'm pretty chuffed with myself and I hope the next 2 months go quickly...

Beezerpost 42

2010-05-02T14:10:00.001-07:00

Finally ready to ride, I bought the bike back home today and plan to go out for a couple of hours tomorrow to see how it goes.

I went to collect it from Dads on Friday but a last minute check revealed that the rear box on the silencer had been placed too close to the rear shock and under load it was touching the spring.

We therefore had to adjust things so the front mounting bracket was removed and moved forwards and the rear one was removed and a nice alloy clamp was made to stiffen up the mounting point at the rear (see pic).

The other picture is the modified air filter cover. As I was concerned that it wouldn't breathe well enough with the cover on, we decided to drill holes in the closed end to improve air flow and also some holes were drilled along the bottom to allow water to escape if it were to get in.

I will report on how it performs tomorrow.

Beezerpost 41

2010-04-28T13:59:00.002-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures of the bike as it stands this evening. There are a couple of bits and bobs still to do (tweaking the chain guard to make a bit more room for the back wheel with the new silencer taking up some space, tweaking the kick starter to clear the slightly wider footrests) but it is pretty much there and ready to go and ride - I cant wait!

Beezerpost 40

2010-04-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

A lot of action on the bike front today....

Firstly, thanks to Terry Millichap for turning the wheels round so quickly. We now have freshly built wheels with the old hubs machined down and powder coated black and built up with stainless spokes.

Secondly, Dad has done a fine modification to lower the rear brake pedal and fit the new Talon footrests

This evening we have put the tyres on and dropped the wheels in, put some oil in and it has had its first run with the new exhaust on.

Of course it is too early to give a proper report but in the short run up and down the road it certainly runs quieter than with the old silencer and feels like it has lost none of its punch off the bottom end - all looks very promising and I plan to take it over the practice sections at the farm at some point over the weekend however first it needs a quick MOT so it's still with Dad as there is a classic bike friendly MOT station nearby!

Beezerpost 39

2010-04-28T00:41:00.000-07:00

Things are coming along nicely and the bike should be ready to test at some point over the bank holiday weekend.

The exhaust is finished and fitted. I am pleased with how it has gone on to the frame and looks almost like it was designed to fit the bike as the front box fits nicely into the space next to the carb.

The oil filter has been pushed back further under the seat. Another right angled connector has allowed for this and also provides a better route for the oil pipe.

I have mentioned before that I had some concerns about the air filter and its vulnerability to the elements. Al Ussher had mentioned on my guestbook that back in the day people had adapted metal saucepans to provide a shroud around the filter and this got me thinking that there must be something similar out there to do this job. A little internet searching revealed that minibikes use similar filters and at muddy events they use filter covers for just that purpose. A few calls later and a new K&N filter arrived with its own cover that looks like it will do the job.

We will have to do some testing to make sure that enough air gets to the filter (we may need to drill a few holes in it to improve air flow but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. If it works then it removes the need to try and shoe horn an airbox in the remaining space under the seat.

Also this week I have acquired a pair of Talon footrests that need to be milled down slightly to fit the frame and Dad is also going to do a modification on the rear brake pedal as it is a little high at the moment.

Beezerpost 38

2010-04-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

A little more progress today with the exhaust set in place and the front pipe tacked along with locations and brackets prepared for welding. It will be off to Ian Bullock for welding up on Thursday (Thanks in advance for helping out Bully!!).

Also today the oil filter has found a home under the seat which should keep it tucked up out of the way and far less intrusive than the old one (in fact it may even leave sufficient space to think about a small air box behind the carb.

Pictures are of today's progress. I am pleased that the exhaust has fitted into the space so well and doesn't look out of place.

Beezerpost 37

2010-04-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

I left my bike at Dad's after the trial on Saturday with my shopping list that included the work on the wheels, the exhaust and the oil filter.

He's been a busy boy today already as when I spoke to him tonight I discovered that the wheels have been stripped, the machining done on the hubs and already they are in the queue at Redditch Powdercoating to be finished in a nice shiny black colour. (see the picture of the hubs before and after machining above)

They should be back by the end of the week then they will go to Terry Millichap for building into stainless spokes.

Work has also begun on the exhaust and the hole has been cut in the front box and the mounting brackets and front connecting pipe tacked in place ready for welding.

Eventpost 54 - Sammy Miller Series Round 2 - Harry Perrey Trial, Clee Hill

2010-04-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

Today was the second round of the Sammy Miller Series held around the Clee Hill area of Shropshire.

The weather was fantastic and even without the trial is was a superb day for riding bikes around the Shropshire countryside.

The trial was held over 30 sections which were mostly held in rocky streams and gullies and the odd bit of woodland. The sections were set out on the easy side but consisted of plenty of challenges that could easily take marks.

I started off steadily to be clean after the first 2 groups then we met some more slippery sections in Silvington Wood where mud and rocks combined to make the going quite tricky. I had a dab on section 9 then on section 10 a difficult set of muddy slots followed by a rocky gully up a steep bank I cleaned the difficult early part of the section then getting ready for the rocky gully up to the ends cards I stalled the bike for a silly 5 when a very good clean was definitely on the cards. This was followed by another dab on section 11 in Starvecrow.

I then got my head down and managed a string of cleans which started to make the 7 marks quite reasonable once again. I stayed on 7 right up to about section 24 in the penultimate group, a double sub with an exit that looked so simple that I didn't even bother to walk it. I rode the section for clean then got to the top of the bank and headed for the ends cards but missed a gate and another stupid 5 was on the card!

A dab and a 2 in the last group at Bedlam finished the day on 15 which I think will be a long way off the mark, however I take encouragement from the fact that I actually only lost 5 marks through riding the sections which I feel was a pretty steady ride and the actual score of 15 didn't really reflect the way I rode.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and yet again the bike didn't miss a beat all day (I am pretty sure that even the stall was my fault as I normally clutch it and clear the engine in sections where required and on that occasion I think I was just not concentrating enough on what I was doing).

The photos are all from today and I will post results as soon as I get them (not holding my breath though as I would imagine a number of riders would have been on low single figure scores.

Results just in......

2 Stroke Class
1. Russell Jones 5
2. Peter Gaunt 6
3. Jim Pickering 8
4. Chris Denney 10
5. Brad Jones 13
6. Peter Salt 23

Unit Construction
1. Jonathan Souch 7
2. barry Stephens 8
3. Keith Gardner 9
4. Gary Hawkins 15
5. Gerry Minshall 36

Pre Unit/British Replica's
1. Davy Morewood 3
2. Duncan McDonald 4
3. Martyn Wilmore 6
4. Mick Grant 11
5. Dave Dawson 15
6. Dave Emmott 16

Beezerpost 36

2010-04-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

This weekend I am riding the Harry Perrey Trial which is the 2nd round of the Sammy Miller series. I will again be riding in the British Replica's class which includes the pre unit bikes that wish to ride the hard route at the event so the entry looks quite competitive with the likes of Wilmore, Grant, McDonald and Morewood all out on their trick Arials.

After this weekend it will be an opportunity to address a couple of things that I have noticed that need a bit of attention.

1. The bike is pretty loud (loud enough to give me a headache after 10 mins riding it on the road - I'm honestly thinking of ear plugs this weekend!) - there are a couple of solutions here..... to go back to Steve Gagg and try another approach with the silencer, to add a final silencer and also to try something different. I don't want to change the power delivery as i am quite happy with how it performs, so before anything else I have managed to get hold of a stainless steel silencer from a Seeley Honda and I think it will fit quite well with little modification. As it was pretty inexpensive I think it is worth a try before doing anything else. It arrived today and is a nice job so it will be interesting to see how it works

2. I have never really liked the bulky oil filter that we have been using so I have bitten the bullet and bought a nice small unit from D&C Classic Motorcycles called 'the unique oil filtration system' this fits in line on the return pipe and should fit neatly out of the way either under the engine or even up under the tank (see picture)

3. Following the bad weather I got quite a bit of road salt on the wheels transporting the bike around. As a result the galvanised spokes became pretty marked and don't look great. I am therefore planning to have the wheels stripped and re-built with stainless spokes. Whilst the wheels are apart we will possibly do a bit of machining on the hubs and have them powder coated black so they look the part.

I will update the site with a report from the weekend and also pics and reports on these jobs as they happen.

Beezerpost 35

2010-04-12T13:07:00.000-07:00

As you can tell from the recent results, I am very happy with the bike and now I am tinkering to adjust and amend the fine detail to resolve the small niggles that you get from any bike after a few rides.

The first one is the position of the carb. When I fitted the DelOrto carb it had a nice alloy carb manifold stub that allowed me to fit the carb with a piece of hose, however on the first ride it became clear that the carb was sticking out a little to the side of the bike and was catching on my leg in sections, so much so that I knocked it off in one section and also any mud that was thrown up from the back wheel (especially with a broken rear mudguard) hit me on the backside and then dropped down onto the air filter. (see the picture above to see how much it stuck out and also how much muck got onto the air filter after the trial).

The solution was to make a manifold stub with a slight crank in it which points the carb backwards parallel with the frame and tucks it away out of the way of my leg. It now works fine...

The second mod, done today, was the handlebar clamps. I had pulled the fork legs through the yokes by about 1 inch to improve the steering and in order to achieve this I needed to put a spacer under the bar clamps to allow the bars to be above the fork legs. This worked great, however it made the bars a little too high and also with the long bolts and 2 sets of spacers the whole lot creaked under load and gave me a feeling that something was about to snap.

I read about some new S3 clamps that modern bikes use to lift the bars but also allowed for multiple adjustment forwards and backwards. I have now put a set of these on coupled with a pair of Fatbars which are slightly lower rise and combined have achieved the goal of making things more stable whilst lowering the bar height slightly (see pics above)

Eventpost 53 - Red Marley 2010

2010-04-07T11:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend saw the 2010 Red Marley trial and after a number of years where the event has been dry, the recent rain made the going very difficult and slippery.

The sections marked out in the dry on Saturday morning took a battering on Saturday afternoon with the downpour which required them to be eased off on Sunday morning as some of the sections in the wood were difficult to reach, let alone ride through!

The event comprises of 2 laps of 20 sections in 3 main areas of the land, a stream with rocks and steep rooty banks, a wood with banks, fallen trees and a quite slippery hard packed ground and a second wood with a deep sandy surface on steeper banks.

I started in the stream and had a steady ride through on the first lap with a few dabs and a 3 on a difficult section over 2 fallen trees in the stream with a muddy gripless turn. The sections here had been marked very tight (perhaps too tight) and were very difficult to clean without a bit of lifting of the front or back wheels.

Next was the top wood, which was most affected by the rain and was very slippery, but as the sections had been opened up there were plenty of options for lines and with a bit of creative thinking they were all ride-able with the odd mark here and there.

This was followed by a couple of sections on the very rooty hillside on tight cambered turns and I was taken by surprise here with a 5 when I lost the bike across some pretty simple looking roots.

Finally the lower wood, which by the time I got there had carved lines in the sections and were not too bad.

The lap went for 26 marks, which although not brilliant I was fairly content with as I saw other riders losing plenty of marks.

The second lap went in a similar fashion with a steady, though not spectacular, ride which included a big 5 where I ended up on my back under the bike trying to clean section 11 rather then taking an easy dab, however a very consistent 26 left me on 52 for the trial.

Although it was quite a hard event, I thoroughly enjoyed it and was pleased with the end result and yet again the bike performed faultlessly and didn't miss a beat all day.

Results

Experts (Up to 250cc)
1. Ross Danby 13
2. Scott Faulkner 28
3. Alan Nicklin 38
4. Kevin Taylor 47
5. Ben Millichap 52
6. Mick Burton 61
7. Alan Whitton 63
8. Chris Denney 64
9. Dave Wood 65
10.Adrian Kent 84

Experts (Over 350cc)
1. Chris Collins 38
2. Dave Dawson 52
3. Chris Chell 62
4. Simon Chell 66
5. Gary Hawkins 77
6. Pete Reed 89
7. Mick Bowers 103
8. Tim Britton 131

Eventpost 52 - Round 1 Sammy Miller Series - Widdecombe, Devon

2010-03-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to the 1st round of the Sammy Miller series in Devon, run by the West of England Club.

The event started with a bit of organised chaos with the club deciding that as wet weather was forecast the start times would not apply and riders could just start when they wanted. This sounded like a good idea, however all it really meant was that riders were not riding at the same time as others in the same class on sections that were worsening and those of us that were not aware of what was happening ended up towards the back of the field sitting in queues until things sorted themselves out.

The sections were sensible, if a little on the easy side but rode well and clearly the event would be won on fairly few marks.

Most of the sections were marked in rocky hillsides and a few streams thrown in for good measure and there was not too much roadwork so it was a good day out.

I rode fairly steadily although I lost far too many soft single marks through a lack of concentration. Although most of the sections were cleanable I would have felt a good ride would have resulted in a single figure score, yet my slack marks resulted in a loss of 15 marks...I think!

It was a bit of a wet and uncomfortable ride round though.... I would like to have a story about a difficult section that I looped out on and broke my rear mudguard but nothing so dramatic I'm afraid, instead I parked next to Steve Thompson's bike whilst looking at sections in the 3rd group of the day and when he stood his own bike up it knocked mine over and snapped the rear mudguard off leaving me with a soggy backside for the rest of the day - thanks Steve!

I have just seen the results and will have to drop the organisers an email as there is a bit of an error!

I had entered in the new British Replica class and when I got to sign on I found that I had been placed in the Unit class. I told the organiser that this was not correct and they gave me another number in the Replica's class. The results have been posted on their website today and I have actually been placed in the Twinshock field.

I am making the assumption that this will be adjusted so I have finished 2nd behind Martyn Wilmore in the class and a number of marks have been added that I didn't lose, (certainly a 2 on section 1 and a 2 and 1 on sections 33 and 34 were all actually cleaned) however across the season I am sure that I will lose marks that observers do not see so no need to get too upset!

Results

2 Stroke
1. P Salt 5
2. P Gaunt 6
3. R Jones 13

Unit
1. G Hawkins 16 MC
2. J Souch 16
3. J Ashford 16

Brit Specials
1. M Wilmore 19
2. D Dawson 20
3. M Parry Norton 28

No action pics of the trial this week, but here are a shot of Gary Hawkins (winner of the unit class) and one of the bike when we got home (looking a little sorry for itself!)

Eventpost 51 - BMCA Knighton

2010-03-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the last round of the BMCA championship, held at Knighton and put on by John Jackson and Ray Ruscoe from the Acorns Club.

I have ridden at Knighton a few times in the past on both modern and classic bikes and honestly have never really has a good ride. The location is on the site of a motocross track and has varied terrain that includes a small wood with some good rooty banks and rock steps, a rocky stream and some long steep banks so something for everyone and no real advantage to be gained by any particular type of bike.

Well, I am happy to say that I rode quite well and the bike again performed flawlessly. The only problem was that the sections were set out on Saturday in the rain and over night the rain stopped and the wind dried the land so well that the sections were a little too easy for the event, which was reflected in the scores. After all, how many times can you say that you finished on 2 marks yet only finished in 6th place in the event!!

So not much of a test but another good run for the bike and I am getting more comfortable on it each time out.

Next week we travel to Devon for the 1st round of the Sammy Miller series. As I have entered in the British Specials class, I might try the Delorto carb on the bike to see how it performs. Will update the BLOG next week and let you know how it went.

Pictures are from Sunday - As you can see, I have splashed out on some new riding gear to go with the colour scheme on the bike - quite smart even though I say it myself!

Results

Experts (Up to 350cc)
1. Alan Nicklin 0
1= Nathan Jones 0
1= Chris Denny 0
4. Steve Hay 1
5. Gary Hawkins 2
6. Dave Dawson 2
7. Alan Borton 5
8. Dave Jones 7
9. Steve Thompson 10

Experts (Over 350cc)
1. Pete Reed 4
2. Mike Bowers 8
3. Arthur Browning 10
4. Bob Greenhough 32

Eventpost 50 - BMCA Shatterford

2010-03-14T12:17:00.001-07:00

Today was the 50th trial I have ridden since starting this BLOG back in Jan 2007 and quite a change of fortune from last week.

I felt last week that he bike was working well but the result was probably a little more down to me being a little ring rusty as I had only ridden twice since November and both occasions on bikes that belonged to other people. I spent an hour yesterday at the farm getting some practice on tight cambered turns to get used to the feel of the bike (not really one for practising but needs must!)

The only real concerns I had with the bike after last week's trial was that the front end felt like it was pushing a little on tight turns. I therefore felt that putting a bit more weight over the front would make it a little more planted. This week I tried dropping the yokes an inch down the forks to see what the difference would be. In order to achieve this I put some spacers under the handlebar clamps to allow the fork legs to come up through the yokes and also to keep the bars high in relation to everything else that had been lowered.

Well, it certainly worked! The trial today was in the woods of Shatterford near kidderminster and consisted of short steep banks, tight turns and cambered, rooty sections.

The going at Shatterford is usually quite slick and muddy however with the lack of rain over the last few weeks it was remarkably dry and grippy today so even though the sections were quite testing, the grip provided a close competition with scores pretty low.

I rode well with only one small mistake on section 8 on the first lap where I dropped too low on a cambered bank and needed a dab to get back on line. The rest of the trial went without any further mistakes and with a similar field to last week I was pleased with my first trial win on the BSA.

Results

Experts
1. Dave Dawson 1
2. Nathan Jones 3
3. Gary Hawkins 5
5. Ben Millichap 6
6. Jim Pickering 8
7. Laurence Alden 11
8. Alan Borton 12
9. Pete Reed 15
10. Arthur Browning 31
10=. Gerry Minshall 31

Eventpost 49 - BMCA Pattingham

2010-03-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

The trial today was at Pattingham, near Wolverhampton put on by Pete Reed. The ground was at the site of an old AMCA motocross track and used a sandy wooded hill side as well as a couple of muddy gullies.

The sections remained pretty loose all day and as it was dry they had been marked out very tight with the majority of the sections comprising of tight turns through trees and up banks.

Well, the bike performed brilliantly and hardly missed a beat all day. It feels really planted with the engine sitting a little lower in the frame and further back towards the swinging arm pivot point. I was certainly light to ride and felt quite neutral (not front of rear biased)in the sections.

I got off to a good start with a couple of cleans on the first two sections followed by a soft dab on a muddy turn on section 3. Then in section 4, a muddy gully that was entered with a drop into the slot then a cambered turn around a marker on the opposite bank (see the first picture here). Unfortunately I didn't get high enough on the camber and touched the marker for a 5 (the section was changed for the remaining laps as I am sure the marker was knocked by many of the field).

The rest of the lap was pretty uneventful except a poor 3 marks lost on section 8 (a tight nadgery section in and out of trees)where I almost ran out of the section and needed to foot to pull it back in bounds.

I found that this happened a few times during the trial and only realised towards the end of the trial that this was the first time I had ridden the bike with the 58t rear sprocket after running a 62t previously and I was actually just travelling a bit quicker than I was used to in the sections.

Once I had the measure of what was going on I rode better and on the last lap I did the lap for 4 marks.

I think I lost about 30 marks in the end (including a couple of stalls that were my fault) which I would imagine would leave me well down the results, however it was a great learning day and I am really happy with the bike. I am sure that it will help me deliver some good results when I have spent a bit of time riding it.

Results just in (worse than I thought but actually very promising for a first time out)

Results

1. Nathan Jones 6
2. Ben Millichap 12
3. Gary Hawkins 23
4. Pete Reed 35
5. Laurence Alden 36
6. Dave Dawson 40
7. Dave Jones 41
8. Alan Borton 48
9. Brian Dale 50
10. Gerry Minshull 59
11. Ian Bullock 70
12. Joe Howells 72
13. Alan Halford 72

Beezerpost 34 - Finished???

2010-03-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

I took the bike out on Friday for the 1st time to see how it handled and make sure that it was OK for Sunday's trial.

I was running the DelOrto carb on the bike and it felt really good off the bottom in 1st but in 2nd and 3rd it felt like there was a bit of a misfire and it wouldn't pull cleanly from low revs. It probably needs a bit of testing with different jets and cut away's on the slide but as I didn't have much time I plumbed for dropping the Amal back on as I knew that it ran pretty well on that before.

The bike actually ran really well and pulled cleanly (much cleaner than before so that might be down to the longer front pipe). Any way, all looks good for Sunday.

These pics were taken on Saturday afternoon after I had given it a clean and a quick once over ready for the weekend's trial.

Beezerpost 33 (A lesson learned!)

2010-02-21T10:20:00.000-08:00

On Thursday night last week the bike was finished and we fired it up. The engine ran like a dream and all was poised for a first run this weekend.

On Friday evening I got home early and planned to spend an hour on the farm practising to get the carb and suspension set up and see how it felt compared to the previous frame.

I pulled it from the shed but try as I might, I just couldn't get it to start. All the usual checks gave no clues (big fat spark, fuel getting through, vales opening/closing correctly, clutch disengaging etc). The only thing that felt odd was that with the plug out just turning the engine over on the kickstart was quite hard and felt somehow a like there was a non metallic resistance of some type.

On Saturday morning I took it over to Dad's workshop and we pulled the engine back out of the frame and took the head and barrel off. By this time, we were unable to turn the engine over and could only just about move the piston back and forwards but not up and down.

Fearing a main bearing problem or similar I took the engine over to Pete Kirby and thankfully Pete dropped what he was doing and pulled the engine apart for me.

Whilst doing so, the engine was turned upside down and what I can only describe as oily gloop (about the same texture as snotty blancmange) ran out of the engine. This didn't look good at all!

As the engine came apart we found more and more of this oil that appeared to contain fibres in it that had clearly got into just about every part of the engine. As we got to the crank it became clear just what had happened.

When we bought the frame it was advised that a modification was required to the oil pump cover on the bottom of the engine where the scavenge pipe is cut short and the original cover is replaced with a flat plate that is milled out to allow the oil to pool and still be picked up by the shorter pipe. This mod allows a flat bash plate to be fitted as it does not protrude as far beneath the engine as the original cover.

It now appears that when the scavenge pipe was cut, a rag was put in the engine to ensure that no metal particles fell into the engine. We think that the subsequent fitting and milling of the new cover took place and it was fitted but the rag may have not been removed!

So, the engine ran when it was started but in the 5 mins or so that it was run, the rag was pulled up into the engine, wrapped itself around the big end and crank and the fibres from the cloth contaminated the oil and ran around the engine.

Quite fortunately, the engine refused to start and caused no damage to the engine apart from some slight scoring on the big end shells.

Pete has now been tasked with the job of completely flushing out the engine, removing any traces of the contaminated oil and we have decided to change the main bearing and big end shells as a precaution before a full rebuild.

It is a shame that it didn't go to plan this weekend but it could have been oh so worse and an engine rebuild and missed trial was the only real damage so not the end of the world. The pictures are of the engine as we found it when the cases were opened up......

I know I like to polish my bikes and keep them clean but I think a polishing rag in the engine whilst it was running might have been a little bit of over kill ;0)

Pete The Builder

2010-02-18T13:32:00.001-08:00

I just need to say a big thanks to my Dad, Pete......

He really is a star and I am sure that he enjoys seeing the the final product when he's finished a bike almost as much as he enjoyed actually riding trials himself.

He makes the bikes exactly how I want them without ever complaining, even though I am never satisfied and probably a huge pain in his arse most of the time.... I know he doesn't agree with some of my ideas at the time but quite rightly he's always proud of his work when the finished article rolls out of the shed...... and so he should be!

All we need now is a rider that can do the bike justice ;0)

Beezerpost 32

2010-02-18T13:25:00.001-08:00

Finally it's ready to go!

I will give it a run on Saturday to see how it goes but finally tonight we put some petrol in and run the engine and it ran as sweet as a nut. I will update the BLOG following this weekend's trial at Welshpool where the next round of the BMCA championship is being held.

Beezerpost 31

2010-02-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

Just got back from collecting the tank from Piers Dowell. As you can see, I wanted to keep things traditional on this bike (even though I did contemplate a George Cross flag in a similar design to the Sprite).

I am really pleased with how it has come out - the subtle shading between the black and silver with the gold logo's and striping looks really good. I hope this comes through in the pictures!

I also had my name painted into the tank on this one - I am hoping that this will prevent me from selling it like the others if someone offers me a good price!!!!

Beezerpost 30

2010-02-15T14:08:00.000-08:00

The exhaust came back from the metal finishers on Friday and a fine job they did too! The bending scrapes have been polished out and it now looks almost chrome. As you can now see, the bend is a bit different which was intended to give a full 22in of front pipe before the silencer. Running it this weekend will show whether any true benefits have been gained in power delivery.

Another small piece of work that Dad this today was to make a stub for the Amal carb. This is to enable us to switch between carbs as i want to experiment with a Del Orto carb to see what is possible with the engine/carb set up and once I know what is possible, then I will look to tuning the Amal to see whether something similar can be achieved. I might even see what can be done with a Villiers carb too!

I heard from Piers Dowell yesterday and things are on track with the tank and we should get it back at some point mid week.

Beezerpost 29

2010-02-11T05:54:00.000-08:00

I have received a few calls and emails regarding the clutch that we have put on the bike so I thought I would add a couple of pictures of the clutch kit and also the complete clutch when installed in an engine.

There has been quite a bit of development done on these now so that the feel can be tuned to your preference and unlike a lot of other dry clutches I have tried, the on/off feel has gone and there is a progressive feel to how it engages and disengages and more importantly it works the same all the time rather than changing as it gets hot or cools down.

If you are interested give Peter Kirby a call on 07886 745942. I think he's also working on one for a Cub engine but I am not sure what stage of development he's at with that one.

Beezerpost 28

2010-02-11T05:48:00.000-08:00

The build is now almost complete after a productive day yesterday. The brake rod was pretty much the only thing that actually required making up and the rest was a case of assembling the parts following the previous dry build.

There is now oil in the bike and we are merely waiting for the front pipe and the tank to come back so that the job can be completed.

Beezerpost 27

2010-02-09T12:13:00.000-08:00

Great progress made today by 'spanners' Pete. As you can see from the pictures, the bike is taking shape nicely and will be soon on its wheels.

Today I found a nice little metal finishing company that specialises in classic bikes and cars near where I work in in Stroud, who will turn my stainless exhaust pipe around in just a few days. The pipe had been marked by the pipe bending machine when it was made and I wanted it finishing and polishing up so I should get it back on Friday, by which time I would imagine it will almost be finished and waiting for the tank to come back from painting.

Beezerpost 26

2010-02-08T12:37:00.001-08:00

Well, we're off to a quick start on the build thanks to Porl Joynes at Redditch Shot Blasting (Tel 01527 529659) who turned the frame around in one day!!! Dad dropped it off this morning and collected it back looking all black and shiny this afternoon.

Looks like the build will begin (tomorrow) much sooner than we had expected.

In addition, I had some good news yesterday after a brief chat with Piers Dowell (you might recall the union jack paint job that Piers did on my Sprite tank)and he has agreed to put a bit of paint on the new tank. Watch this space on that - he thinks he can turn it around in a couple of weeks so it should be done just in time for the next BMCA championship trial in a couple of weeks.

Today's picture is of the frame on the stand this evening waiting for things to begin. I will post pictures of the build as it takes shape during the coming days - hope you like it....

Beezerpost 25

2010-02-06T06:58:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of pics of the complete bike before it gets stripped back down for painting and the final build....

Beezerpost 24

2010-02-06T06:40:00.000-08:00

Just got back from collecting the bike and thought I would share a few pics of the work that has been done.

The bash plate has been made up along with the rear brake pedal, both of which were part of the frame kit but were missing when I collected it.

I wasn't too keen on the seat that came with the kit so I asked for a slightly modified seat that was a bit smaller and fits on by wrapping round the frame tubes at the front and then is secured with a single bolt from the rear that doubles as the mudguard mounting point.

The tank is a similar style to a James tank but has been cut out to sit lower on the frame and is mounted with a single bolt through the centre of the tank.

The exhaust is a narrower gauge stainless pipe that loops round at the front of the frame to get some extra length before meeting the 2 stage silencer which is actually 2 silencers with a space between the two all inside the same case and sits snugly inside the frame to keep the whole thing away from my legs.

Finally, I was going to have an air box made but it really wasn't a practical solution with the space available due to the oil filter, therefore we decided to just have an adapter made that screws onto the back of the carb and points the filter inboard to keep it from being caught by my left leg.

The bike will now be stripped this weekend and will visit the powder coaters next week before its final build. I will post more pics as the build takes place.

BSA Update

2010-02-04T00:01:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the emails and calls about the BSA and the interest in its progress. Well, the wait is almost over for me and this weekend (we have been told), the work has been finished by Steve Gagg and we can go and collect her.... i will post some pics over the weekend before it gets stripped for painting and final build.

Before and After No6 - BSA .... and not finished yet

2010-01-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

The BSA is still a work in progress but these pictures show the almost finished project purchased as the donor bike, the first stage built into the original BSA frame, the next stage in the Faber frame and you'll just have to watch this space for the finished product in a month or so when it returns from Steve Gagg's place

Before and After No5 - Beta

2010-01-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

Well there's not much you can do to a new bike in comparison to a classic or twin shock, but the Beta was a bit loud in the red and white original colour and the suspension needed modification to handle my weight. you can see the transformation here from standard to a little bit special...

Before and After No4 - Fantic

2010-01-15T11:44:00.000-08:00

I decided that a twinshock might be a good idea and the Fantic was always one of the best in standard trim, plus they are still sensible money when compared to TLR 250's or Majesty's. This was a bit rough when we bought it but ran quite well and really needed a complete cosmetic makeover (My Dad's speciality!. As you can see, it came out really well...

Before and After No3 - Ariel

2010-01-15T11:40:00.000-08:00

The Ariel was bought as a complete bike with a number of spares including a new frame so it really needed a complete rebuild into the new frame and a lot of tidying up.

Before and After No2 - Sprite

2010-01-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

This is a 3 stage development of my original Sprite that I originally owned about 12 years ago. The 2nd picture is the first evolution using the original frame modified and the 3rd picture is the final development phase that involved a new frame made from T45.

Before and After No1 - Triumph Cub

2010-01-15T11:15:00.000-08:00

As there is no news on the BSA at the moment and the bike is still at Steve Gagg's place waiting for the new bits to be made, I have had a number of people mentioning that they have missed the updates so I thought I would take a look back at the bikes that we have built or renovated over the last few years. Most of them are documented in this blog but here are a few before and after pictures to see just what transformation they went through....

First of all here is the Cub. The before picture is actually the very first build where we merely put together the bits that had been bought along with a bit of tidying up. The after picture was the final state of the bike after more than 12 months of development

BMCA Trial - Mamble - More Pics

2009-12-14T12:03:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pics from yesterday, they include Jim Pickering (winner of the over 350cc class on his Royal Enfield), Steve Hay (winner of the trial on his BSA Bantam) and ........ 2 pics of Steve Thompson - with no brakes and lots of steep slippery banks it just wasn't Steve's day - here he is playing rodeo on his Triumph Twin up the rocky stream on section 7

BMCA Trial - Mamble - Pics

2009-12-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

Couple of pictures from today at sections 5 and 7

Eventpost 48 - BMCA Championship round 4 - Mamble

2009-12-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took the BSA up to Steve Gagg's place in Nottingham for the finishing touches and again this left me without a bike for the BMCA championship round this weekend. (Note to self - don't rebuild bike mid season again!!!!)

I had been offered the loan of Alan's Greeves again, however since I last rode it the engine had been rebuilt and unfortunately the barrel had not returned from its re-bore so I had resigned myself to not riding.

Jim Pickering, the Midlands 'Bantam' man rides the majority of the BMCA events and so far this season had been riding his Royal Enfield in the over 350cc class in the BMCA championship so I asked if I could borrow his Bantam as he was not likely to be using it himself and he kindly agreed to being my sponsor for the day!!

Well, I must say that I was a little dubious about the BSA Bantam as even though Jim's bike was always going to be one of the best ones around (he does the engines for many Bantam riders including Peter Gaunt apparently)but even bored out to 180 or 190cc I couldn't really see it pulling my slender 17.5 stone up the muddy banks that were bound to be present after all the recent rain.

A few adjustments on the controls and half a turn on the tick over screw were all that was needed and off I went...First impressions were that it felt a little flat off the bottom but was quite clean through the rev range and pulled quite well in both 1st and 2nd gear.

So I was straight into the trial after 5 minutes of practice and section 1, on the side of a fairly steep bank with a tricky set of cambered turns up a sandy/muddy bank with a tricky steep exit where throttle control and low down power was required to get to the ends cards without either the front rearing up or breaking grip. I had a slack dab at the bottom (probably getting ready for the lack of power that I expected!) then the little bike pulled and pulled all the way to the top, never feeling like it was going to lose grip or want for power.

Now confident that it would drag me round I took a different level of confidence into the rest of the first lap which included muddy drops, banks and ruts as well as rocky streams and as the lap went on I began to really enjoy the bike and the trial, never ceasing to be amazed by the grip I was able to get and the power that was available. It turned out that where I thought the engine was flat, it was actually an engine characteristic that allows you to bring the power on nicely without spinning the back wheel and once I was used to it was finding grip anywhere I needed it..

I completed the 1st lap for 4 marks which consisted of 4 single dabs on sections 1, 5,7 and 9. The second lap was similar with another 4 marks lost with 2 on section 2 which has become slippery and took me by surprise and another 2 on section 9 when I knocked my foot off the footrest on the bank of the stream and took 2 marks to sort myself out. The last 2 laps went for another 3 marks with my best lap of 1 mark coming on the last lap when the sections were at their worst.

Overall a really enjoyable trial with good sections considering the conditions and a load of fun being a sponsored rider for the 2nd time in two trials... I was really pleased with how I rode too with no real mistakes, just dabs where I needed them and some really good and consistent rides.

I must say thanks to Jim for the loan of the bike - if you need anything to transform your Bantam, he's your Man! He can sort you out with everything from engines, exhausts and even the Drayton Bantam frame which is his baby - give him a call on 07850 836571 - see the pics of Jim's bike here - I can now vouch for the fact that it goes as well as it looks!!........advert over...!

Today's results will be posted as soon as I get them.

....Results just in....

Results

Experts Up to 350cc
1. Steve Hay 0
2. Dave Wood 1
3. Alan Nicklin 3
4. Dave Dawson 11
5. Nathan Jones 17
6. Gary Hawkins 18
7. Mick Parkes 22
8. Keith Gardiner 22
9. Alan Borton 34
10. Gerry Minshall 52

Experts Over 350cc
1. Jim Pickering 29
2. Peter Reed 38
3. Bob Greenhough 89
4. Steve Thompson 92

Beezerpost 23

2009-12-05T13:00:00.001-08:00

Popped round to Dad's this morning and took a couple of pics of the bike. As you can see there is not much more we can do without the skills of Steve Gagg to do the finishing touches. I am hoping to take it up in the next 2 weeks and possibly getting things complete by the end of the year. The only addition that has been done in the last few days is a modified Gas gas chain tensioner fitted. I know that some other riders using these frames don't use a tensioner but I like to be safe and it just adds that small piece of mind to the job..

Beezerpost 22

2009-11-30T13:31:00.000-08:00

Couple more bits and bobs done today....

The KTM kick starter wouldn't clear the footrest on the new frame as the engine is pulled further back than the Faber one. I therefore decided to go for the standard BSA style kick starter from Terry Weedy. Unfortunately it wasn't cranked out enough so it needed a bit of heat and another tweak to get it out past the footrest. I know it's not a big deal but I hate having to lift footrests to kick the bike over and on the odd occasion that I have tightened the bolt so that it stays up I find it catching a bank or something in a section and staying up so it's not there when you need it. easier solution to change the kick starter me thinks...

The clamps that had been made for the fork brace/mudguard bracket were made in a bit of a rush last year and were never really finished off. These have now had the sharp edges rounded off and finished a bit smoother and also a couple of nylon cable guides made for the front brake cable. All little touches that finish the job off nicely and make a difference..

Beezerpost 21

2009-11-26T13:38:00.000-08:00

Nice couple of touches to the bike today that may not seem much but make a big difference.....

Firstly I was never too keen on the routing of the clutch cable round the left side of the engine as it always felt like it was exposed with a potential to catch on something and even get burnt where it touched the side of the barrel.

I had a nice little modification on the Sprite with a wheel that helped the routing of the cable and managed to get Alan Nicklin to make a similar mechanism for the BSA. It attaches to the original cable stop on the engine and allows the cable to route cleanly up to the top tube without getting in the way and also actually makes the clutch pull lighter.

Also the throttle cable from the top of the carb had to bend in order to route under the tank on the old frame and I wanted a better solution. I managed to get hold of a Montesa cable tube and Dad soldered it to the Amal carb fitting so that the cable routes much more cleanly now.

The pics show these 2 additions...

Beezerpost 20

2009-11-25T14:25:00.000-08:00

It is starting to take shape nicely with a few more mods this week in the hands of Mechanic Pete!

The brackets have been brazed on for the rear brake anchor and the side stand, the spacers made up for the rear wheel along with some nice new snail cams and the chain guard fitted. The wheel now slots into the swinging arm nicely.

I should have a new rear sprocket and kick start arriving this week from Terry Weedy. I have decided to make the 1st gear a little longer so I am changing the rear sprocket from 62T to 58T, also the KTM kick start currently on the engine doesn't clear the footrest on the new frame so I am putting a Miller type kick starter on it which will clear the footrest without having to fold it up.

Not too much left to be done now before it goes to Steve Gagg's for the finishing touches (tank, exhaust, seat, bash plate and rear brake pedal) unfortunately this will have to wait till mid December due to Steve's workload so it looks like there will be little progress now till the end of the year when it comes back.

Jan will then be busy with stripping, powder coating and re-building before I get to ride it....

BMCA Trial - Old Mine, Kinlet - More Pics

2009-11-24T13:54:00.000-08:00

A couple more pictures from this weekend's trial. Steve Thompson on the Triumph Twin, Alan Nicklin on the James and Me on the Greeves.

Eventpost 47 - BMCA Championship round 3 - Old Mine, Kinlet

2009-11-22T10:37:00.000-08:00

With no bike to ride, I faced the prospect of missing this week's championship round until Alan Nicklin stepped in with an offer of lending his Greeves late last week - of course I jumped at the opportunity as I have ridden it before and know that it rides really well.

Today's trial was a mix of streams and banks that had seen some serious rain over the last week but as the ground used to be a mining area the majority of the banks consisted of a mix of mud and shale so held up quite well and remained quite grippy.

I had an odd start to the trial as there was a lot of debate about the correct route at the start of section 1. One or two riders took a route that looked to be incorrect but the observer gave them cleans so I had planned to do the same and as I went into the section other riders told me to go the other way which I hadn't looked at. I ended up stalling going down the bank and after debate with the observer about the correct route, she fortunately allowed me a re-run and I rode away with a thankful clean.

The first lap went well for the loss of only 1 mark, however the bike was not running well and refused to rev out cleanly even after a change of plug. Alan advised that he'd changed the carb before the trial so I can only assume that this was the cause as it normally runs so well.

The second lap wasn't too bad (a further 5 marks) and I was on 6 at the half way point which I was quite satisfied with, however the bike was deteriorating rapidly and was bogging under power and running very lumpy.

Where I had been able to ride steadily on low throttle early in the trial, this was no longer possible as the muddy banks got worse coming out of the streams and I needed more clean power available. The result was that more marks slipped away, specifically section 7 which was an undercut root out of the stream and a steep bank and I struggled with a couple of 3's just to get through.

A number of other marks were lost in similar circumstances which was a bit of a shame as it all started so well, however I think my final score will have been something like 25 - 27 marks. Not the end of the world, but after the strong 1st lap I felt that I should have been on something more like 10 marks less.

I thoroughly enjoyed the trial and even with the bike not performing like I know it can, I owe Alan a big debt for the loan and the opportunity to score a few championship points!

Results just in.........It appears that although the observer gave me a re-ride on section 1, she didn't change the score and gave me the 5 anyway... Not that the result would have changed anything as I would have still been 4th in my class and scored the same championship points.

Experts Up to 350cc

1. Dave Wood 12

2. Alan Nicklin 12

3. Mick Parkes 21

4. Dave Dawson 28

5. Gary Hawkins 28

6. Keith Gardner 31

Experts Over 350cc

1. Steve Thompson 25

2. Jim Pickering 49

3. Arthur Browning 42

4. Pete Reed 52

5. Bob Greenhough 62

Beezerpost 19

2009-11-21T12:17:00.000-08:00

Mechanic Pete has had a couple of busy days on the bike since the frame arrived on Wednesday night.

Firstly the oil pump cover needed a modification to reduce the depth that it hangs down under the engine and will allow for a completely flat bash plate. The original was removed and replaced with a 5mm alloy plate, milled out on the inside to allow for the oil to still circulate through the pump.

Next was a re-fit of the yokes. As a solid alloy spindle came with the frame along with different sized bearings, the insterts in the yokes needed adapting to allow for correct fitting.

Other mods have included a head steady, making up T Joints for the oil pipes and some mods to the inside of the swinging arm to allow my rear wheel to fit without the hub fouling on the insides of the frame.

All this has now been done and it is sitting on it's wheels as a rolling chassis with the engine in.

There are a few bits and bobs to be done next week - rear brake anchor bracket, side stand mounting point and a bit of tidying up on the mudguard stays for the front mudguard, then the week after next it will do a trip up to Steve Gagg's place for a tank, seat, exhaust and silencer, bash plate and rear brake pedal to be made.

I really think that this is going to be a cracker when it is done and I have some nice plans for the stuff that Steve is going to make but I will keep those ideas under wraps until they are done.

Today's pics are from the first stages of the initial dry build..

Beezerpost 18

2009-11-17T13:46:00.001-08:00

It was confirmed today that the new frame will be arriving tomorrow....At the same time I found out that the BMCA Championship Trial due to be held in 2 weeks time has been bought forward to this Sunday!!

It looks like mechanic Pete has a busy few days as he is confident that the first 'dry build' will turn into a 'wet and muddy build' so that I can ride it Sunday with the bare metal frame before it is stripped back down for powder coating and final build after the weekend.

This is probably a good thing in all honesty as it will allow me to give it a run and make sure that everything is OK before it gets painted and completed.

Thanks to Alan Nicklin I also have the offer of an alternative bike for Sunday if anything goes wrong with the BSA build which takes the pressure off a bit.

Will try and post pics as it is coming together and put a report on the site from Sunday.

Classic Experts Pics

2009-11-07T15:21:00.000-08:00

After I had retired I watched a few sections in the 3rd group whilst waiting for the van to pick me up. This was a double sub at the end of the stream that took most of the Expert field for marks.

Perhaps a rare photo of Normal Shepherd on his ear in the stream, Alan Whitton with his feet down on the root step, Steve Gagg on Simon Chell's Triumph Twin having a BIG dab and Peter Salt going for a big dab on the turn before the root step.

I watched most of the Expert field through here and saw no cleans (in fact the best I saw was a single Dab at the turn).

Eventpost 46 - Classic Experts Trial

2009-11-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

The curse continues.....

You may recall that I went to the Classic Experts Trial 2 years ago and failed to get to the 1st group of sections when the ignition failed on my Sprite..... well I did manage to go a little further this year - to section 8 in fact.....

I started off steadily, leaving the first group on 7 after losing a 5 on section 4 and a couple of steadying dabs, then in the second group on a double sub I dropped into the stream and felt a clunk from the bars, then after the section I checked the bike and found that the steerer was loose. Closer inspection revealed that something was very wrong and it appeared that the alloy insert in the yokes had broken, so it was an early bath as it was not something we could chance for the rest of a difficult trial like that.

I decided to nurse it to the next group to watch and then it really dawned that it wasn't my day as I then had a rear tyre puncture on the road!!!!

Fortunately Dad had come with me and was following the trial on his Serow, so he was able to go back and collect the van and recover me.

I am now writing this on Saturday evening and the bike has been completely stripped down ready for repairs to the yoke insert and waiting for the new frame to arrive.

Beezerpost 17

2009-11-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

Last week the bike went back to Pete Kirby and my Dad for a few mods to be done. As I have mentioned before, the clutch was never brilliant on the bike and although I could get it working well at home, as soon as I rode in a trial and the engine got hot, the clutch started to be inconsistent, often dragging and not engaging and disengaging as it should by half way through the trial.

This had been causing me some problems, considering my style of riding is really affected by having no clutch - I don't know why but riding off the clutch doesn't suit me as I like to ride sections slowly and deliberately and off the clutch it just all happens a bit quicker than I like.

Anyway, Pete has been developing a diaphragm clutch that runs dry with a belt drive for some time and as he is just about ready to turn them loose, I decided to give one a try.

At the same time I decided to try a different set of yokes with a little less offset in order to try and slow the steering down a bit and make the front end a bit more stable.

On Sunday last week, the BMCA ran a Clubman trials day to encourage new riders to give it a go and the Experts were on hand to give a bit of advise and direction to help the less experienced guys.

It was a good opportunity to try the latest mods to the bike and have a bit of practice (not some thing I do enough to be honest). I can say that the clutch is working fantastically with consistent bite and release on the lever and a good progressive feel - I can certainly recommend them if you are considering improving your BSA engine (not exactly cheap but worth every penny if you ask me - give Pete Kirby a call on 07886 745942 if you are interested - Pete can also work wonders to your BSA engine too!!). The yokes seemed to help but I think the next rocky trial will really show whether any improvement has been made.

I do have another update - I have a new frame on order..... I have placed an order for an original Mick Mills built BSA frame. These are considered the best BSA trials frames out there and are copied by many so I am glad to say that I will have an original from possibly the last batch that Mick built before he became ill. I hope to have it in the next couple of weeks so will post pics of the build as it comes together.

There really is nothing wrong with the Faber frame, it is really light and it works well, however I have chosen the new one as it is a little more modern in terms of its geometry (certainly physically lower and a steeper steering angle) and as I am always looking to improve my bike so it was an opportunity that I couldn't let pass....

This weekend will probably be the last trial on the Faber frame as we are heading for the Classic Experts Trial at Rhayader. I recall that I nearly rode this trial last year but the ignition failed on the Sprite so I didn't actually get to the 1st section - hopefully this week will at least be better than the last attempt - I will update the BLOG with a report and pics on Saturday night...

Eventpost 45 - BMCA Champs Round 2 Heightington

2009-10-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

Great trial today at Heightington for the second round of the BMCA Championship. It made a nice change from the normal tight and twisty sections that are usually the norm for the BMCA and instead Keith Gardiner put on a great trial along the rocky stream at this venue.

The first lap was quite difficult with all of the slime on the rocks but it soon scrubbed off and made for a really good event.

I actually felt that I rode quite well and looking at the results I guess I found my level as the usual top guys scored really well. Although I lost quite a few marks I honestly think that only about 9 of them should have been saved so I am pretty happy with how things went.

Bike went well and no injuries, which could have easily happened on the slippery stuff!

Next round is at the Old Mine, Kinlet next month.

Results

Up to 350cc Experts

1. Alan Nickin 3

2. Alan Wright 6

3. Steve Hay 21

4. Chris Denney 24

5. Mick Parkes 37

6. Dave Dawson 39

7. Keith Gardiner 44

8. Alan Borton 45

9. Simon Anderson 47

10. Gary Hawkins 48

11. Nathan Jones 49

Over 350cc Experts

1. Jim Pickering 23

2. Steve Thompson 29

3. Pete Reed 66

Eventpost 44 - BMCA Champs Round 1 - Marshbrook

2009-09-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

Today was the 1st round of the BMCA championship and with a different format this year (7 rounds with all 7 to count) I decided to ride even though I was still suffering pretty badly with the chest infection. I figured that a few points would be better than no points!

As it turned out, the entry was very good with more Experts entering than are normally seen at BMCA events. The trial was held in a wood which was on the whole very dry so the banks, although quite steep, were quite grippy and easy to ride so the organisers had to tighten the sections and make the normal tight nadgery sections that were not too testing but could easily take marks - which they did!

Although suffering with a tight chest which made breathing difficult and a general feeling of weakness, I was actually riding quite steadily with just two single dabs on lap 1. Lap 2 was similar with 4 marks lost due to a bit of a mistake at the top of section 8 which needed 2 dabs to get back on line.

After a reasonable start that I was quite happy with I dropped into section 1 on the 3rd lap which was a tricky entry down a steep bank followed by a step then a blast across a muddy bog which had got badly rutted. I had been using a line which skirted the bog then required a hop over the rut to get back onto line, however when I tried it I lost the front wheel on landing and ended on my ear for a soft 5 marks. That was instantly followed by another 5 when I stalled the bike on section 2. The rest of the lap went for 2 marks but those 10 marks were just too many for todays trial as it wasn't difficult enough to claw them back. I did the last lap for 1 mark but the damage was already done and a total loss of 19 marks was the result.

The bike went well today and as it got hot in the wood, the carburation was much better, however I did notice that as it got hot on the 3rd and 4th laps the clutch stated to go off again.

I just had the results through and it seems that others had similar inconsistent rides to myself as I finished 4th in my class with some good riders behind me - I am now glad that I ventured out as I am pleased with the final result, though without the two fives a score of 9 or 10 marks would have been much more pleasing!!!!

Results

Experts - Up to 350cc

1. Alan Nicklin 4

2. Nathan Jones 11

3. Mick Parkes 11

4. Dave Dawson 19

5. Gary Hawkins 20

6. Nick Wooley 23

7. Dave Wood 24

8. Adrian Kent 24

9.Keith Gardiner 27

10. Brian Dale 28

Experts - Over 350cc

1. Jim Pickering 12

2. Pete Reed 28

3. Arthur Browning 29

Beezerpost 16

2009-09-24T01:24:00.000-07:00

Got the bike back (again) at the weekend and all is back to normal.... Clutch fixed and timing sorted so it feels just like it did before we went swimming! Thanks Pete..

I now really must do something about carburation to try and remove the slight cough when I snap the throttle open. I know 4 strokes generally do this but I am sure that it can be eliminated with a really good set up. I have been advised so many conflicting ideas on this relating to less cut away on the slide to richen it, more cut away to weaken it, more space between the carb and the engine - I guess everyone is an expert in their own right and are basing their thought on what has worked for them - I will need to try them all and wee which one might work for me.

I remember on the Cub we couldn't get it how I wanted it until we opted for a DelOrto carb then all was OK (perhaps that's the answer)..

Anyway, I didn't ride last weekend, instead I opted to observe at Bromsgrove to help my dad out and also get over the chest infection that has been thoroughly pissing me off.....Sleeping on the sofa because my coughing is keeping the house awake is just not fun and as i write this on thursday morning it still isn't getting any better (10 days now so I hope I get some improvement soon!).

I am planning to ride the 1st round of the BMCA championship whis Sunday at Church Stretton so health permitting I will report on how things went on Sunday night.

Old Pictures (BMX Racing from the 80's)

2009-09-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

I managed to upload some old BMXphotos from the early 80's - please take a look here

Old Pictures

2009-09-16T04:35:00.001-07:00

I was having a look through some stuff and found these old pictures of me in the 90's on modern bikes and my 360 Bultaco scrambler at Hawkstone Park.

Eventpost 43 - BMCA Trial, Ullenhall

2009-09-16T01:02:00.000-07:00

Following my recent dip in the water, after the Nostalgia Trial my bike went back to Pete Kirby for the engine to be stripped, examined and rebuilt - mainly for my own piece of mind to make sure that I didn't cause any damage to it.

Pete bought the bike back to Ullenhall on Sunday so it was a bit of a testing day to make sure that it was all running well and get the settings back to where they were before it went away.

Well, all didn't actually go to plan to be honest. The engine was running fine but I had some problems with ignition and clutch.

Firstly the clutch started playing up as soon as it got hot, not engaging and dis-engaging as it normally does - I checked with Pete and we believed that it was down to the oil that had been used as I normally run AFT in the primary case. Not a major problem as the trial was fairly easy and I thought it would be a good idea to ride off the clutch and see how I got on. Bit of a culture shock to be honest as I never ride without full use of the clutch!

I then felt that the bike had lost it's punch at mid throttle and felt quite flat so I went back to the car, dropped the oil from the primary case and avanced it up a bit.

This seemed to improve things but unfortunatly the clutch had now stopped working completely.

I continued to finish the trial but I was losing marks for fun! A coupls of 5's were taken where I stalled the bike, needing a bit of clutch at the bottom of a steep bank and another couple due to over running tight turns and missing the line because I was ahead of where I wanted to be.

The problem was that I generally set quite a lot of tickover to ensure that I dont stall then ride on the clutch and this clearly was not going to work in this trial because there was no clutch and the tickover was jus too quick for the tight sections.

Anyway, as the trial went on, the bike again became flat. It was like the timing was inconsistent or we have come across a self reterding ignition system!

Needless to say, Pete has taken it back to check these bits and bobs out and I should get it back next weekend at Bromsgrove.

The result was as expected, pretty poor considering it should have been a single mark trial, however it was good to identify these issues sooner rather then later at an event that mattered.

Pics are from this trial - I decided to wear my mountain bike helmet because it was so hot! You will see that on neither of these pics do I have a finger on the clutch (pretty unusual for me!)

Results as follows;

Experts (Up to 350cc)

1. Nathan Jones 7

2. Dave Jones 14

3. Laurance Alden 22

4. Dave Dawson 34

5. Ray Barrett 39

Experts (Over 350cc)

1. Pete Peed 18

2. Jim Pickering 20

Intermediates

1. Steve Neale 5

2. Pete Kirby 29

3. Ian Bullock 32

Eventpost 42 - Nostalgia Trial Kendal

2009-08-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the annual Nostalgia Trial held in Kendal, Cumbria. This was the first time I had ridden the event and it was one of the best trials I have ridden for ages.

There was an entry of 200 at the event split between pre 65 and twinshock bikes and the trial consisted of 2 groups of sections, 7 on the rocky hillside and the other 8 sections in a woodland area so there was everything from loose rocky jumbles and slippery rocky, rooty gullies in the first group to steep climbs, slippery cambers and rocky streams in the second group. In total 3 laps of the 15 sections.

Riding in the unit pre 65 group I started at section 1 and almost immediately realised that the lack of trials that I had ridden this year along with the general lack of riding on rocks for ages had taken me by surprise. The sections honestly were harder and more severe than I had expected and in due course I started holding on too tight, trying to make the bike do what I wanted rather than riding loose and the result was far too many marks lost through my lack of conviction and not believing that I could clean them!

A five on section 1 as a result of losing the front wheel on a loose rock and ending up on my ear and a couple of 5's from a stall and not enough agression on a cambered climb were the specific lowlights of a first lap that cost me 30 marks, however during the lap there were some good rides, specifically on section 7 a pretty difficult section that started up a rocky gully then turned up a slippery cambered bank over more jagged rocks then back across the stream up some rock slabs and big roots - that ride at least gave me some heart that I was able to do OK.

The second lap improved with a loss of 18 marks which included a 5 on the last section, a steep long climb that got steeper and looser at the top where I just broke grip and had to bail out.

The final lap, with sections becoming more bedded in and a clearer line through some of the rock fields was better and a lap without a 5 was a better result but still returned a lap of 17, many of which were lost because I was knackered to be honest! (note to self - go to the gym!!!)

There will be stories and reports of long queues but I didn't find them too bad and I think the longest waits were only at about 4 or 5 sections and I found the rest a bit welcomed to be honest.

The trial did tell me that I need to start to venture out and ride some more severe sections as they did take me a while to get my eye in. I think I was riding these sort of sections regularly when we lived in Lancashire but in the last few years I have not been used to the severity and it is suprising how it makes you ride so rigid on the bike when you are not so confident.

I must say though, the top guys are in a different class. The trial was won by Paul Hays on 4 marks and even thinking about it after the trial, I think without any errors the best I could have managed at my ability level would have been about 9-10 marks per lap, which puts his ride into perspective!

My total of 65 was not great but I am happy with how things went and how I rode towards the end of the trial. I will certainly be trying for an entry again next year as it was a really great trial.

Update - I have just found the results from the trial and perhaps I didn't ride quite as badly as I thought I did, considering some of the names that were on similar marks. It appears that I was about half way down the entry so I am a bit happier than I thought! See the results here

Beezerpost 15 - a wet close shave

2009-08-17T13:19:00.001-07:00

Got the bike ready for next weekend yesterday - all spannered polished up and ready to go so I decided to give it a quick spin over on Steve's farm (on the dry sections to keep it all clean and shiny).

All was going well and good and I went to practice on a steep little bank next to the stream to try pulling 2nd gear from no run up. After a couple of attempts, getting closer and closer to the foot of the bank I had an attempt with a big handful of throttle when almost at the top I knocked it out of gear and the next thing I knew I was under water with the bike on top of me. I swam for the top of the water to find it about chest deep and the bike completely under water!

Once adrenaline had helped me drag it out of the water and up the bank onto dry ground I started to empty the water out! I stood it up on its back wheel and the water poured out of the exhaust for what seemed like ages. After emptying the float bowl and whipping the plug out to clear the water out of the barrell I put it back together and thank god it fired up 1st kick!

I can tell you I had images of engine damage but I guess the engine had either stalled by the time it went under water or it stopped pretty quickly!

So I guess it is back out with the metal polish before the Nostalgia trial on saturday. I certainly had a close shave and will think twice before practicing alone again!

Llangollen - And More

2009-08-03T01:37:00.000-07:00

I mentioned below that we stopped during the trial at a bike show and did a timed section in the main arena - here's a short video clip of the arena whilst we were waiting for our slot in the proceedings....

Eventpost 41 - Northern Bike Championship Llangollen

2009-08-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to llangollen for the round of the Northern Bike Championship..... What a good trial. The countryside in that area was superb and the route managed to take in scenic views of the valley as well as some excellent green lanes and single tracks to join up the various groups of sections. Plus the weather was good too after the recent rain. The only dowside was that the sections in the first half of the trial were possibly a bit on the easy side.

It was a bit of a long day in the seat though considering we started just after 10.30 and were the first to finish at around 5 pm. No idea how late some of the serious rock kickers would have taken to get round.

We were set off in alphabetical order so I was off near the front and as I didn't really fancy sitting about I knew it would be a day of trail blazing and scrubbing the moss and slime off the fresh sections that would undoubtedly have eased during the day. This didn't seem too bad for the first half of the trial because as mentioned before, the sections were not too difficult.

After about 6 sections we arrived at a quite large motorcycle show and the central show ground which was housing a trials demo and freestyle motocross show has an arena style section laid out (tyres, barrells, logs and a zig zag between some poles) and was also timed to decide any tie breaks on score. This slowed up proceedings a bit as we had to wait for almost an hour for our 'slot' in the show. Not too bad though, a free burger and a chance to take a look around and say hi to my old friend Jason Rennie who was performing a 150ft jump with his show that he takes round to this sort of event.

On with the trial and soon a few odd dabs slipped away on slippery rocks as we were now at the front of the field and first through the sections. I had a single dab out on the moorside on a loose and slippery slate climb which was certainly going to catch others for marks and another couple as the sections began to get more difficult just after half way. Still riding well and the bike performing like a dream I was on just 5 marks when I got to about section 22 (of 30).

We then came to some sections in Dodd's Wood that were not too difficult, just some rocks up a steep gully followed by a couple of sections on the banks in the wood, all normal stuff that we ride every week, yet I then just went through a bit of brain fade, I had been riding most of the sections all day in 1st gear and finding good grip but I guess I just needed more speed and a bit more agression rather than trying to finesse it and lost 3 on the first gully followed by 5, 5 and 3 on the next 3 sections on the banks. I think if I had just pulled 2nd gear I would have used the momentum to get up rather than losing grip on the steep parts of the climbs which resulted in failure. The extra 16 marks on the card resulted in a reasonable score that I was pleased with turning into a pretty average one!

Once the score had gone I started trying other approaches and used 2nd gear in the next couple of sections with dramatically different results and finished the trial for a loss of only 1 more mark for a total of 22 marks. I think this will be miles off the pace but I am actually quite pleased with the bike and how I am riding it and I guess you just have to put these things down to experience!

I will certainly try and ride this trial again though as it was a great event and a good day out! Will post results when I get them and the rather blurred picture was taken by one of the spectators at one of the last sections of the day.

Thanks to Steve Thompson for being the chauffeur for the day - especially the slow drive home! (Not every day you get to overtake a Ducati roadbike on the country roads in a van - eh Tommo!!!!)

Just found the results on the web - took some time to get them posted on their website.... anyway 8th in the Unit class and just as I thought, the disasterous run on sections 23-26 turned a pretty good ride into an average one, but a good learning experience! See the full results here

Beezerpost 14

2009-08-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

A couple of slight enhancements done to the bike this week....

1. The location of the chain tensioner was a little dubious as it was mounted near the swinging arm and was located inside the chain quite close to the tyre. I was always a little concerned that in muddy trials this would be prone to being caught by mud on the tyre and potentially being dragged downwards. Mechanic Pete had the bike this week and changed the location of the mounting point to the inside of the frame where the footrests are located and this has allowed the chain tensioner to run outside the frame and cranked inwards. I have added an X Block tensioner pad and will give it a try this weekend in its current rough form to make sure that it works before tidying up the welds and painting it up.

2. The NJB rear shocks were OK but I found them a little dead in action and wanted something a little more adjustable and lively on the rebound. After taking a look around I decided to give the latest Betor pro shocks from Sammy Millers a try. The certainly look good and initial thoughts are that they have achieved what I was aiming for but proof will be in the riding so will update the BLOG tomorrow night - will let you known how they perform. Note - I was intending to give the 'Magicals' a try that Mick Andrews is doing with Alan Witton, but none are available at the moment and as you know if you regularly read my BLOG, I didn't have the patience to wait a month at least for them!

3. The Sammy Miller footrests that I put on when it was built were used because, to be honest, they were the only ones I could get hold of at short notice when the original Hebo ones didn't work because I had ground the backs down to fit the old frame. They work OK but aleady have started to point downwards. This week I went to BVM in search of something new.... I was tempted to buy some Raptor's but at about £170 I found it had to justify the cost! After checking out all that was on offer I chose the S3 pegs that you see in the photo. They are very similar in size and shape to the Raptors but not made from titanium and at a reasonable £45 they look like a bargian if they hold up OK. They come with 2 red shims to allow a small amount of movement in the positioning on the mounting bracket which means that you can adjust the height by about 5-6mm depending on where you place the shims. I have them at the lowest position with just 1 shim being used on my mounting brackets.

Tomorrow (Sunday 2nd Aug) I am going to the Northen Bike Championship trial at Llangollen. First time on a road trial since the Sammy Miller trial last year on the Ariel. Hopefully the rain wont be too bad! Will update the BLOG tomorrow night....

Eventpost 40 - Gwent Classic MCC - Monmouth

2009-07-13T04:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I travelled with Steve Thompson down to Monmouth for a Gwent Classic trial at Rockfield.

We had been told that the event was laid out for classic bikes but there would be a number of modern bikes that turn out for the ride around, so off we went expecting a good traditional classic trial.

The surroundings were very picturesque, set in the rolling countryside near Monmouth with rocky streams and banks along the edge of the farmland. Certainly a great part of the countryside and a farmer who is very pro trials as his son is apparently a useful rider himself.

The trial got underway at 11am with a format that was quite different to normal trials that we ride week in and week out. Essentially there was one route marked out for all riders (more about this later) and the entry was split into 4-5 groups of riders. Each rider was given a scorecard and each group was given a couple of hole punches and the idea was that each group of riders rode the trial together and observed themselves (similar concept to a round of golf I guess).

This meant that no observers were required and more sections could be laid out across the land available.

So far, so good - a great idea...... However in practice there were a few flaws to the plan.

Firstly - nowadays with such a variation in bikes and abilities I think it is amost impossible to hold a trial with a single route - the sections on the day were just too easy (for me and the majority of the group I roe with anyway). This is not necessarily wrong but I managed to complete the trial without losing any marks and others that did lose marks (going the wrong side of markers or the odd slip) had nowhere that they could recover the loss. I am sure that many enjoyed the trial as a fun day out and many will have lost marks and found it a good test but with such good land on offer slight variation on some of the sections to add a test for the more experienced riders would have made it more interesting and possibly attracted more riders to the event.

Secondly - the self scoring approach, although good in concept, just didn't feel like it worked. This may have been because the groups were a little too large but it never felt like I was riding a trial - more like a practice session with some other riders and a few markers dotted around for good measure. It always seems to add a little bit of pressure when an observer calls you into the section and you know you are being watched, this felt like I could go when I wanted, never sure who was actually observing (most of the time I think it was down to rider honesty) and there seemed to me no order to proceedings. We even had a couple of occasions where more than one rider was in the section at the same time.

Finally, it was all over in about 2 hours (2 laps of 15 sections with a £15 entry fee - perhaps not the greatest value for money?) and by the end we were just riding sections by ourselves and filling in the scorecard afterwards. I think the format needs some work, perhaps no more than groups of 4 riding together and nominated oberver from within the group observing each section on rotation?? Maybe I will give it more thought and try it at one of our trials in the future because it has the potential to work really well and be less reliant on helpers and volunteers to observe?

Anyway, as I said, I rode the trial without loss and it's not very often I have ever done that - even with pretty easy sections you still need to concentrate for the whole time to save any little slips. More importantly the bike ran really well and no bogging on opening the throttle - maybe because I was never in any real trouble and needing to snap the throttle open but I also conciously kept it running warm all day and it performed flawlessly.

It was a good day out in the sun and good to have my Dad riding for the first time in a while too! I am sure that Steve would have preferred to stay home and play golf though after a directional mishap and too much air in the rear tyre gave him 9 more marks that he ought to have dropped!

No pics or results but will add some if I get any..

Eventpost 39 - BMCA Trial Martley

2009-07-05T12:20:00.001-07:00

Finally we managed to put on a trial on Steves farm next to our house, after 2 cancellations due to the weather the sun finally managed to stay out and it was on.

A pretty good entry of about 45 turned up and the sections rode well, however as the ground has been so dry for a few months the water that was dragged up the banks on the exits from the strem became quite slick and posed quite a challenge for some of the entry.

I started the trial at section 5 along with the rest of the Expert entry and straight away started losing marks that honestly messed up my head a little. A mistake on section 5 where I went to wide in the stream and nearly drowned the bike followed by a slack 2 on section 6 and I felt that any chance of a result had gone, however as the trial progressed and it became more slippery on the banks I had a word with myself and started to concentrate a bit more. After the first lap on the sections at their easiest I had dropped 9 marks, however on the worsening sections I managed laps of 5, 2 and 3 for a total of 19 marks.

The bike ran really well and only bogged on me once during the trial so either carburation is closer to where it needs to be or I am starting to understand how I need to ride it!

Results now in - Well done to Nathan as this was a great ride for only 9 marks and I am pleased with 2nd overall considering it is not very often that I manage to finish ahead of Steve Hay.

Results

2 Stroke

1. Jim Pickering 48

2. Steve Neale 66

Unit 4 Stroke

1. Nathan Jones 9

2. Dave Dawson 19

3. Steve Hay 21

4. Mick Chapman 35

5. Alan Borton 68

6. Dave Jones 71

7. Gary Hawkins 78

Pre Unit 4 Stroke

1. Pete Reed 67

Martley Trial - This weekend

2009-07-03T08:14:00.001-07:00

Last night I went out on Dad's Scorpa and tried the sections that we will be using this weekend. Overall they are good and it looks like it will be a good trial as long as the weather stays fine.

If we get more than just a few showers we may have to ease off some of the routes and use some of the back up sections because the stream exits could get a bit tricky and we dont want to spoil the trial with riders stuck in the stream, but at the moment it all looks good for a great little trial!

Here is a short video of section 10. This will be the first time we have used this as it took some work with the chainsaw to clear the banks.

As you can see, the stream is nice and low so we will be able to use parts of the land that we have never used before which is always good as land seems to be over used in most areas.

Beezerpost 13 - Finished???? Are they ever?

2009-07-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

I was asked to show a bit more detail of the bike so here are pictures of just about every angle - Hope that does the job Martin!. (click on any of the photos for larger pics)

This weekend we are running a trial on Steve's farm at the back of our house - I will do a report and pictures/videos of the trial on Sunday...

Beezerpost 12

2009-06-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last update, the bike has been to Steve Gagg for a new exhaust and some work on the bashplate.

Although it ran well, to be honest it was quite loud and I have never really liked the Sammy Miller type silencer as it seems a little vulnerable when you drop the bike on its right side, so I wanted something with some real silencing and also one that was tucked in out of harms way. As you can see, Steve has done a great job on this with a stainless front pipe and a large silencer that has the flow running 3 times its length inside to keep it nice and quiet.

The bashplate that came with the frame was quite wide and I felt that it really didn't need to be as flat and wide as that, so I asked Steve to keep it flat across the area of the oil pump but then re-work it so that the outer edges of the plate were higher and whilst still protecting the engine, give a little more clearance at the sides. As you can see from the pics, the end product improves things significantly.

Whilst I was adding these finishing touches I decided on a bit of personalisation with the neat little side points cover made from billet alloy with my initials engraved on it.

Beezerpost 11

2009-06-19T03:47:00.000-07:00

We had planned to go to the Sammy Miller round at Rhayader but after torrential rain for 2 days before the trial and more on Sunday morning we decided to give it a miss.... fair weather rider - I know!!!

The bike has been away with Steve Gagg for the last week or so and has been fitted with a great new exhaust and silencer along with a modified bash plate - cane back yesterday and looks fantastic, however the PVL appears to have broken down as we have no sparks at all!

Will be trying out other PVL parts off Brads spare Cub next week to see what has failed so hopefully it will be ready to run next weekend.

For any readers that didn't know, the Retro Trial that my Dad runs in Welshpool has been cancelled due to a shortage of entries. We have therefore decided to run a trial on Steve's farm at Martley (Back of our house) on Sun 5th July. I know there are plently of other events on the same day but it should be a good event and if we get no more rain then the stream should be low enough to use some other sections that have not been used before.

Will post some pics of the bike when the ignition has been sorted

Bye for now!

Eventpost 38 - Zona 1 Trial, Birdlip Glos

2009-05-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today I travelled south down the M5 to the Western Centre modern trial at Birdlip, Glos.

As we had not got an entry for the Reliance Trial (actually never got round to sending my entry in time), Steve Thompson and I decided that this was the nearest event to Worcester and would be a good run out before next weeks Sammy Miller National trial at Rhayader.

The trial was held in a quarry which looks like it is used for trials practice as there is plenty of evidence of previous sections and loads of scope for all levels of ability. The weather was bloody hot and the ground bone dry but that didnt stop the organisers actually finding the only bit of mud in Gloucestershire for one of the sections! The rest was run on the banks and rocks within the quarry and was actually a good little trial.

We rode the Clubman (alternative) route as the expert route had been marked for modern experts with a view to hopping and stopping so not really suited to pre65 bikes.

So to the event ..... To be honest I didn't really ride very well at all today. I just seemed to not be in control as much as I would like and the bike felt like it was getting away from me a little on some of the tight sections and far too many marks got away because I was just off line and not really where I should have been. I dont know whether it was just an off day, the heat was getting to my concentration levels or whether I am still getting used to the bike but what should have really been a low single figure score actually ended up closer to 20 marks - not terrible but not great all the same.

To make things worse I did actually clean every section at some point during the trial so my result was clearly more down to me than the severity of the event.

I did have chance to fettle the clutch on the bike though and after a bit of adjusting I finally got it working how I like it, which is good news. I am still suffering a little with the power not coming in clean when I open the throttle quickly, however it is very smooth off the bottom and I actually think it might be more down to me being a little heavy handed rather than some thing actually wrong - perhaps a bit of carb adjustment might help but so too would some practice to learn to ride it just as it is.

I will add the results when I get them but I think it might be a close thing between Steve Thompson (on my old Ariel) and myself yet both of us will probably be a bit down on Martyn Wilmore who was riding on his very modern looking B40 and didn't look to be losing many marks.

I am now looking forward to next week and a good road trial with some rocky streams in Mid Wales - will post an update next week.

Just found the results from Sunday and they were pretty much as expected - as Steve quite rightly said - he wins by virtue of the heavier bike with legal brakes!!!!

Pre 65 class (alt route)

1. M Wilmore 2

2. M Thornhill 11

3. D Dawson 18 (MC)

4. S Thompson 18

Eventpost 37 - Tardebigge BMCA

2009-05-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

Today I rode the BSA at the BMCA summer trial at Tardebigge near Bromsgrove. The terrain was all in the woodland and consisted of a bit of mud (even thought the weather was fantastic) and climbs and turns amongst the trees and roots.

All didn't start too well to be honest with a rather inconsistent throttle response on section one causing a loss of a couple of steadying dabs and then on section 3 as I entered the section and climbed a gentle bank the bike died as though I had left the petrol turned off. I am not sure what happened though as it fired up again 1st kick and ran OK for the rest of the section??

I lost another 2 on a cambered turn over roots on section 7 and a loose dab on section 9 when I lost the rear end just as I got to the ends markers.

At the end of the first lap I decided to ditch the approach that I had tried and instead turned up the tickover and adjusted the clutch up to ride the bike a little more like a modern bike on the revs and slipping the clutch out of corners to ensure that the engine was running clean when I needed the power rathyer than feeling for the power on the throttle alone.

This worked wonders as I did the second lap for 1 mark and cleaned laps 3 and 4 for a total of 11 for the trial. I felt that the result was very encouraging thought probably will not scare the head of the field as the 1st lap was a few marks too many.

Overall the bike handled really well, it turned and stopped exactly as I had hoped and the suspension worked well. I made a few mods to the chain tensioner yesterday and that worked fine.

Just got the results through - it seems that I lost 12 marks as the observer had me for a dab on section 10 on the first lap too.

Results

2 Stroke Class

1. Mick Parkes 7

2. Ray Collins 17

3. Graham Roberts 23

4. Steve Neale 25

Unit 4 Stroke Class

1. Steve Hay 5

2. Nathan Jones 8

3. Dave Dawson 12

4. Nick Wooley 16

Pre Unit Class

1. Andy Richardson 1

2. Pete Reed 27

Beezerpost 10

2009-05-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

Just a quick picture for no other reason than I like it. This was taken last Fri when I gave the BSA its first run out on Steve's farm next to where I live. The Royal Enfield belongs to Steve and as I had teken the stand off my bike we leant the two bikes against each other whilst we had a look at the sections.