Eventpost 25 - Red Marley Trial 2008

Well, I rode the rigid Matchless on Sunday and I have to say it was a great experience.

I rode the clubmans route as required for the rigid class but the bike was a dream to ride. The engine was soft and allowed me to let the revs drop to nothing then feed the power in with good grip and loads of power and it actualy handed very well.

I lost most of my marks in one section in the stream where a little more ground clearance was required to get out of the section over a fallen tree from a muddy rut with no grip where it was not possible to lift the wheel high enough to get the sump over the log, so it meant running into the log then physically lifting it over to get out with anything less than a 5. I lost 4 marks on that section and the other marks were loose dabs here and there.

The rest of the trial went well and I found the tight sections on the banks in the wood quite fun to ride.

I am even considering building a pre unit bike for myself after this event as the engine was so easy to ride i think a good pre unit pringer would be competitive (doesn't seem to do the likes of Neil Gaunt any harm does it?). I think I might go down the AJS/Matchless route though as there are less of them being used.

Strangely enough, it was also funny to see that Joel Brayford, who also normally rides a Sprite, was out on a Matchless on Sunday and he seemed to be enjoying the day too....

Anyway, I managed to do the trial for a loss of 8 marks, which comfortably gave me the win in the rigid class and would have finished me 2nd in the clubman springer class, so I think it went pretty well.

The experts class was won by Neil Gaunt on 2 with Matt Neale and Alan Nicklin sharing 2nd place on 6.

I will post more pics and full results when I get them

Red Marley Trial

Easter weekend will bring the Red Marley Hill Climb and Trial which is always a good event.

This year the trial, run by the AJS and Matcheless Owners Club will take place on Sunday and usually attracts a good entry including a number of the riders that are not usually seen in the Midlands as they are down for the Monday Hill Climb.

I have been helping lay out the sections over the last few weekends and this week I have agreed to ride a Rigid 500cc Matchless in the trial. The bike is owned by Andy Hunt who offered me the opportunity to ride a 'REAL' bike for a change........ Who am I to refuse a challenge like that.

I will, of course, ride the clubman route in the rigid class, but after riding a lightweight 2 stroke (both the Sprite and the Fantic) this will be a very different experience I am sure. I have never ridden a Pre-Unit bike before in any guise, but a rigid too - should be fun.

I will update the site with how it all went after the weekend.

General Update

Hi, Not much going on at the moment so I thought I would do a general update.

I have added some useful links that might help and a quick link into youtube, check out some of the skills in the out of section trailer. If this is what they get up to for fun then it's no wonder that the boundaries of what riders are expected to do in sections on modern bikes are being pushed to ridiculous levels.

It seems like the capability of the riders and the bikes nowadays are putting modern trials out of the reach of new people coming into the sport. Unless you start off in classic or twin shock type trials I guess that the sections alone could be enough to make your average beginner think twice about even starting.

Its good to see that some clubs are committed to putting on multi route trials that cater for all sorts of bikes and rider capabilities to just turn up and have a good days riding without getting hurt. Certainly the trial I rode on the fantic a couple of weeks ago was in this category and a great trial too! I understand the South Shropshire, Golden Valley and Cheltenham trials are done in a similar way so I guess we will be doing a few more away from the BMCA to get the Fantic out more regularly. I think that the BMCA could open their doors to twinshocks and really make a name for themselves as fantastic trials with large entries, but I think the Pre70 classic scene is where they see themselves and it works for them.

Anyway, the next trial for me will be the Red Marley trial on Easter Sunday beofre the Hill Climb on the Monday. I have a new Villiers 32a engine being built at the moment by Steve Gollings at Villiers Services with a PVL ignition ready for easter weekend so i am looking forward to giving it a try. It will be a standard engine with trials 2nd and 3rd gears and the new ignition, it has a full circls crank and will have a standard iron barrel. Once his focus on the Pre 65 Scottish is over, the engine will then go to Alan Nicklin for the same porting and mods that my current engine has had. It will be interesting to see how the two engines compare for performance, though the old engine is feeling a little tired and rattly just now, so it could possibly be time for a rebuild on that too.

I spoke to Bill Pye today and my Fantic engine should be rebuilt by the end of the week. I decided that as the engine was the only thing that we had not touched, and therefore didn't know what state of repair it was in. After the few problems on the first run out, I decided that best be on the safe side and have it completely rebuilt back to 'as new' state. It wasn't that bad as it turns out but was time for service and replacement of the usual bearings and seals etc so at least we will have that bike as good as new in the engine department as well as the chassis.

Last Saturday I helped with some of the sections for Red Marley and next Saturday will be a bit more of the same. There is some good ground up there but the challenge is making the sections hard enough to take marks from the top few and yet not too severe that the majority of the field would struggle and not enjoy the day out. As the last few years have seen the winner on only 2 or 3 marks we have to add a couple of real testers into the mix to split the top boys up though. I am sure that 2 or 3 sections that give them somthing to think about would also attract some more top riders to the event, however it's a shame that it falls at the same weekend as the Exmoor 3 day event.

I will update the BLOG when I have something to tell you about the engines on their return or the Red Marley trial.

Oh, by the way, My Dad has decided to kep the Majesty for himself and has sold his Fantic to make way for it. I will post a pic of the Majesty as soon as I have one, but after a play on it on Saturday I can tell you that it's really good fun and certainly not under powered in is standard 175cc form. It handles well and runs like a dream so I think he's got himself a good one!


See you later.....

Eventpost 24 - BMCA Mamble

Somehow I dont think I am meant to have a consistent run of luck at the moment.

The Sprite had another ignition problem a few weeks ago and this resulted in a trip back to Simon Bateman at Nametab, where it was discovered that the source coil had burnt out, this is a mystery to us and to Simon, however a complete new ignition was installed and today I gave it a run out at Mamble.

It was the first time I have been to this venue and it was a fun trial with some good sections in the rocky stream and the ajoining banks laid out by Andy Hunt and Joe Owen.

The bike ran well and started first kick all day which was a good sign. I was riding well too with 2 soft marks lost on lap one and only 1 more mark on lap two up to section 9 when I caught my foot on the bank at the side of the stream and yet again twisted my right knee. I cant tell you how sick it knocked me, and two sections later when I came to put some weight on it I thought I was going to be physically sick so had to pull of of the section and ultimately the trial.

I understand that Nathan Jones won the trial on 3 marks followed by Steve Hay and Alan Borton both on 8 marks.

I am now going to have a few weeks off to rest the knee and will ride the Red Marley trial as my next outing. I am sure that soon I will manage to have both bike and body working well on the same day and again be at the pointy end of the results!

I have attached a short video clip of section 3 from this trial to see how it looks on the BLOG. If all goes well I will continue to add video clips in the future

Eventpost 23 - Central Wales Auto Club (Knighton, Powys)

I took the Fantic out for its first trial today and although things didn't go quite as well as planned, I was most impressed with the potential of the bike.

The trial was held in some great Welsh coutryside with rocky streams, roots and muddy climbs and cambers. The organisers put on some really good natural sections with challenges for even the best Experts on modern bikes, especially when a drop of rain after a couple of hours added a bit of a sting in some of the greasy banks.

There were 3 routes used, Red (Expert), Yellow (Clubman/O40, twinshock), White (non expert/pre65). I rode the yellow route and after a few months of riding BMCA pre 65 events it was a bit of a step up in levels of difficulty but the bike was well up to the challenge with grip and power in abundance, I certainly was not found wanting when it was clear that a lot of the more modern bikes were struggling.

The first 2 laps were pretty straight forward with a loss of 12 marks and I was getting used to the capability of the bike and the gears to use. I felt that I was on for a pretty good ride, however into the 3rd lap the bike started overheating, running very lumpy and became a dog to start.

Although, when running is was generally OK, it bogged a couple of times causing a couple of 5's and certainly disrupted the flow of the trial for me as it had to be cold again before it would start so I often had to wait for 10-15 mins before it would start.

My initial reckoning has me on about 37 marks at the end of the trial which probably puts me down the results a little more than I feel the quality of the ride would suggest, but it was an encouraging start and I feel that with a bit of work on the engine, we could be on to a winner with this bike.

The pictures from the trial were supplied by Keith Bowen at http://www.mx247.com/

Having now seen the results I am quite pleased to see that I wasn't to far off the mark, considering the two 5's through engine problems and the loss of momentum caused by waiting for the engine to cool down I am relatively pleased. The winning ride by Steve Plain was absolutely class, but after Steve I could have easily achieved 2nd on the day without the engine hiccups so I am pleased with the first outing and enthusiastic about the potential of the bike having never ridden it before.

I have now arranged for the engine to go to Bill Pye for a strip and rebuild to ensure that everything is as it should be and worn items replaced and renewed, it should be back in a couple of weeks so we can get down to the business of practicing on it and understanding what it can do.

Results

Twinshock Class

1. Steve Plain (Fantic) 7

2. Stuart Ruell (SWM) 29

3. Kevin Adams (Fantic) 33

4. Dave Dawson (Fantic) 39

5. Andy Pitt (Majesty) 50

Fanticpost 11

This weekend we're putting both the Fantic and the Sprite on show at the Classic Of Road show at Malvern.

As the Fantic is now complete and ready to ride I thought that I would post a couple of photos to show it in all it's glory.

Hope you like it!

Eventpost 22 - Martley BMCA

Today I had the unique opportunity to ride a trial at home! The farmer that owns the land that backs on to my home approached us to use his land as he is a classic bike enthusiast and fortunately there was planty of scope to lay out a really good trial with variation in types of sections including streams and banks, roots and climbs and also some wooded land.

We were blessed with a great day as the sun shone and gave everyone a really good day out.

The sections cut up to make them very challenging, especially the climbs out of the stream that provided some good ruts and became quite slippery.

I had one of the best rides that I have had for a few months, the bike went really well and I think that because I marked the sections out on the previous day and didnt need to walk them on the 1st lap, my knee stayed strong and that gave me the confidence to ride a little more agressively through the trial.

As it turned out I lost two fives that actually cost me the trial. The first when my chain came off and the second where I drowned the engine in the deep water, however even though I added 10 marks that I really shouldn't have done, the final result was good with 2nd overall to Steve Hay and 1st in my class.

The photos are from today

Results

2 Stroke

1. Dave Dawson 21

2. Nathan Jones 39

3. Steve Thompson 58

4. Steve Neale 61

5. Dave Jones 90

Unit 4 Stroke

1. Steve Hay 19

2. Keith Gardiner 34

3. Laurence Alden 61

4. Alan Borton 72

5. Gary Hawkins 82

Pre Unit 4 Stroke

1. Nick Wooley 52

2. Jim Pickering 64

3. Pete Reed 70

Eventpost 21 - Hodnet BMCA

Today was a BMCA event at Andy Onions' Farm near the famous Hawkstone Park motocross circuit near Hodnet.

I always enjoy riding here as the ground is not usually effected by the weather as it quite sandy and has some good scope for sections with rock slabs, bank and roots. The sections here are often quite tight too, which also suits me.

All started well today with 3 cleans on the first 3 sections, however some more electrical problems made the next hour quite frustrating. First the bike wouldnt start then after trying different plugs with a very weak spark the bike fired up but ran very inconsistently with the engine dieing then picking back up with no warning or reason.

This made the rest of the first lap and most of the 2nd lap more than a callenge, then for no apparent reason, it went away as quickly as it came on and it ran without missing a beat for the rest of the trial. I suppose it may have even been a blocked jet or carburation problem but I am glad to say that whatever it was now appears to have passed and the bike was fine for the second half of the trial.

Although my score was reflective of the day for me, I really enjoyed the trial and felt that I was actually riding well so I am not too dissappointed. After the last few muddy trials that I havent enjoyed, today was fun and that's what we all ride for isn't it???

Now I have a couple of weeks off, to give the dodgy knee a rest and also put a trial on near to home, so will give the bike a bit of a spit and polish in time for Wrighty's show at Malvern.

I am showing both the Sprite and the Fantic at the show so if you regularly read my updates, please come and say hi at the show. The challenge for me will be to come home with both bikes as everything has a price and I suppose that for the right price I could start over again with a new project???!!??

Results

2 Stroke

1. Nathan Jones 17

2. Dave Jones 22

3. Dave Dawson 33

Unit Construction

Alan Borton 23

2. Nick Wooley 30

3. Brian Dale 32

Pre Unit Construction

1. Bill Bourne 13

2. Jim Pickering 30

3. Pete Peed 50

Fanticpost 10

Here is a pic of the FANTIC with white side panels - a much better solution than the previous 2 tone red with different colours on the tank and side panels!

Now the question is whether we should have gone completely white and done a white tank too?

I hope to give it a try this weekend if the rain ever stops - I will update the blog with details of the test.

Fanticpost 9

Finally the wheels are in the bike and its rolling.

I dropped the side panels into the powder coaters today but have put the original red panels on for the photos.

I am really pleased with the way it looks and the white side panels wil be on next week.

We now need to give it a run out and see how it performs and understand if anything needs doing to the engine.

Let me know what you think!