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The *Official* Trials Bike Thread.

Sceep

Sceep

🖕___ 😆___ 🖕
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
157
Messages
1,521
Loc
Central NM
TLDR: Heres a thread to dump trials pics, vids, ask questions etc. :flipoff2:


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Dunno if anyone else here rides trials other than me, but everyone knows of us crazy bastards with no seats. :laughing:

NM has a VERY large and active club as well as some spectacular riding areas. One of which is the only BLM land in the nation that is a dedicated trials area. My dad and I took up Trials about 5 years ago after we lost interest in the rockcrawling game. It has bridged our love for hardcore 'crawling and motorcycles better than we could have ever imagined. We can still go hang with the 'crawling crew for fun, or go get our ass handed to us in a competition, FAR cheaper than any day on the trail with the jeep and buggy.

I rode Novice for my 1st year then moved up to Amateur for 4 years. 2020 I took 2nd in NMTA AMA class. 2021 I continued to ride AMA in the quest for the year end championship. I succeeded by tying it up in Oct and moved up to Intermediate for the last two events of the year. This year I don't have high hopes of podiuming as INT is one of the tougher classes in our club. I am pushing my skill set but doing well so far.

I hear it all the time, "you ride trials? Man I always wanted to try that!". DO IT. Used bikes are cheap, there are clubs nationwide, you can practice in your driveway, you can compete in the novice class to start out with. (getting your ass handed to you by 6 year olds is very humbling :laughing: )


64yo dad freaking KILLIN it!
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Sceep said:
I hear it all the time, "you ride trials? Man I always wanted to try that!". DO IT. Used bikes are cheap
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Don't call me out like that. I've been waiting for the opportunity to get one and start increasing my hard enduro game for years at this point, and every time I see an old used 300 trials bike for like $1700 on craigslist I cry about it because I'm never quite ready.

My understanding is it's a lot easier to learn and internalize trials skills on an actual trials bike, then transferring them over to a regular dirt bike than it is to force yourself to learn those skills on a big heavy bike with over double the turning radius.
 
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Sceep said:
I hear it all the time, "you ride trials? Man I always wanted to try that!". DO IT. Used bikes are cheap, there are clubs nationwide, you can practice in your driveway, you can compete in the novice class to start out with. (getting your ass handed to you by 6 year olds is very humbling :laughing: )

64yo dad freaking KILLIN it!
Click to expand...

Sounds like a challenge :grinpimp: I got nothing motorcycle scale wise. I used to race competitive downhill mountain bike (Mountain States Cup Series) WAYYY back in the day and had some upbringing riding BMX and dirt jumps. I'm sure none of this translates to M/C trials skills, but I might still have fun trying?

I enjoy the pics and your dad is indeed killing it! Only hope I can be half as rad when I'm that age. Keep the postings fresh :smokin:
 
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willis_racing said:
Don't call me out like that. I've been waiting for the opportunity to get one and start increasing my hard enduro game for years at this point, and every time I see an old used 300 trials bike for like $1700 on craigslist I cry about it because I'm never quite ready.

My understanding is it's a lot easier to learn and internalize trials skills on an actual trials bike, then transferring them over to a regular dirt bike than it is to force yourself to learn those skills on a big heavy bike with over double the turning radius.
Click to expand...
DO IT! :flipoff2:

Before we got into trials we were pretty gnarly singletrack riders. Not hard enduro level, but the trails were getting hard enough that dad was beginning to not be able to/not want to come ride with the crew anymore.

We had always had an interest in trials so we bought bikes. I dont think our ST bikes have been out more than 2-3 times in the last 4 years. Our club is awesome with ages ranging from 2-80+ of all skill levels. We can push ourselves or take it easy. Lots of people to ride with If dad's feeling like a slow day and I'm feeling like riding hard.

You will learn WAY more about body position, controls modulation and balance on a dedicated trials bike than you ever could in the same timeframe on a trail bike. Especially if you get out into a club who is anxious to help you learn proper technique. Dad and I freeride about 2 classes higher difficulty than we compete in. It all goes to shit once theres gates and lines on ground and you have to approach an obstacle as you are told, not how you really want to/would out freeriding.
 
One of our club members has 80 acres of solid rock an hour or so up the road so he invited some of us out for a practice/fun day yesterday. 21 people showed up! It was spectacular!

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This dude is one of our expert riders. Notice hes only gotta tennis shoe on his right foot? Yup. hes a peg leg. :eek: Rides soooo smoothly with no issue at all.
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Beware the giant lizard!
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This lady's been riding with us for one season. She is making amazing progress.
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This guy has also been with us for a season and riding in AMA with me last year. He has some wicked talent and will surely surpass my skills with a quickness. I cleaned this line 3 times and he couldn't quite get it so SUCK IT! :lmao: (we've been giving each other a ton of shit this year, it's been fun.
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Sceep said:
This guy has also been with us for a season and riding in AMA with me last year. He has some wicked talent and will surely surpass my skills with a quickness. I cleaned this line 3 times and he couldn't quite get it so SUCK IT! :lmao: (we've been giving each other a ton of shit this year, it's been fun.
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with a quickness indeed.

Our first event a few weeks ago Jacob jumped up 3 classes!! :eek: From AMA to Semi-expert. :eek:

That is a HUGE jump. I hope it works out well for him.
 
Sceep said:
with a quickness indeed.

Our first event a few weeks ago Jacob jumped up 3 classes!! :eek: From AMA to Semi-expert. :eek:

That is a HUGE jump. I hope it works out well for him.
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Dang! I don't know how the class system is laid out in Trials but 3 class levels is a crazy big jump. Usually when the desert kids do that they just get their feelings hurt. Hopefully he holds his own!
 
In our club its as follows:

Lower classes :
Junior
Beginner
Novice
Amateur
Intermediate

Upper classes:
Sportsman
Semi-Expert
Expert
Master
Champ

It's not uncommon for people to jump from INT to SE skipping Sportsman. Sportsman is like a glorified trail riding class. Bigger obstacles, but with more run in/out, less technical turning. When we are scoring I usually ride the SP lines while waiting for riders to come through.

Skipping INT though is going to be tricky for him I think. The upper ridders all say INT is the most important class in the club to really master, as your technique has to be nailed down to win it.
 
We seem to have a lot of GasGas bikes for sale in this area. All are a little rich for me at this time.
 
Been a great year for me. I'm finally feeling real good out on course and the new bike is flawless.
So much so, that I clinched the Intermediate class 2022 championship yesterday. :smokin:

I'm very happy with that result, this being my first year in INT.
 
Sceep said:
Been a great year for me. I'm finally feeling real good out on course and the new bike is flawless.
So much so, that I clinched the Intermediate class 2022 championship yesterday. :smokin:

I'm very happy with that result, this being my first year in INT.
Click to expand...

Just got official word from the club Secretary.

2022 Intermediate Class Champ. :smokin::smokin:
 
willis_racing said:
Congrats man! over and up!

gonna stay and sandbag it for a year or two or move up for next season?
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Thanks!
I don't know what I'm gonna do yet.
Moving up puts a serious cramp in our style. Means I score in the AM while dad rides, and he scores in the PM while I ride. We usually ride and score together. Not spending time with him kinddah negates a big draw to why we do it in the first place. But, I know a lot of the SP riders are stoked for me to move up and compete against them. A big reason I've done so well is their mentoring.

I might just ride non-comp with dad in the mornings and relax with the serious side of the competition. Help him try and at least podium in '23. He's been working his butt off but is getting sandbagged. If i can get him to quit making dumb mistakes, I think i can get him there. And I can just ride whatever freaking line I want to keep in practice.

Or, I could stay and ride out INT another season. A lot of the more experienced members of the club say that INT is the most difficult, and most important class to master. Just because I won it this year doesn't mean that I've mastered the techniques that I'm learning. Just that I did it better than some.:laughing: I only won the season because one guy didn't show up a couple events. He won every one he showed up to. I would have been 2nd by a wide margin at year end had he ironmanned it like I plan to. There's obviously plenty of room to improve when you compare my riding to his. If I could beat him a few times, I'd say it was time to pick one of the first two options for sure.
 
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NMTA dec event:
Dec 4

San Ysidro Trials Area

BLM land, dry camping

SPARK ARRESTORS ARE REQUIRED!


Rider early sign-up is available on the club website but you can sign up at the event starting around 8ish.
First Riders out @ 9am.
 
Damn I'm really starting to want one of these. Seems like they have worked out a lot of the kinks. Now if they could just get it to lose 10 more lbs....

 
So I went ahead and moved up to Sportsman in Dec.
Killed it in Dec and was feeling great.
Feb and March straight killed me. Lost ALL my confidence. Was thinking I had made the wrong choice moving up.
This weekend was maybe my best riding ever. Lowest scoring day I've ever had with a total of 11 points. Was still only good enough for 4th place!
The new private property venue is pretty spectacular as well.
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What an ass kicking New Mexico Trials Association gave me this weekend. I got high score Sat, and second highest Sun (thats a bad thing, like golf). Learned a bunch. Crashed a bunch. Everything hurts.
Dad on the other hand rode rock a rockstar for 2nd on Sat and 3rd on Sun in Amateur class! At the end of the day today he was in a 3-way tie for 2nd, a tie on cleans and they had to go down to ones to break it!
Vid the wife shot of me on Sunday, section 3, loop 1. I was still fresh at this point and riding fairly well. It went downhill quickly after this. :laughing: Video makes this look stupid easy. I know for a fact that it was hurting a lot of even our expert riders.
 
Putted around for a bit. Bike felt like it had more drag than it should while free wheeling. Tossed it on the stand to have a look. You can see the sidewall is scuffed up from rubbing.

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Rim is dished way over to the right and is rubbing on the swingarm and kickstand when folded up.

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Easy enough fix. Found 2 broken spokes and a 3rd popped on me while making adjustments. Ugh. Guess I'm ordering parts already. No more contact though.

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