Well I made the mistake and attended the Steel Stampede a coule weekends ago and caught the trials bug. I immediately started looking for bikes and my friend Don said he was interested too. I found my bike in Utah and it is being shipped (sitting in a Portland trucking warehouse right now). I should have it by Monday afternoon. I found my friend Don a 2004 Gas Gas on ADV Rider classifieds and he went over to Portland and picked it up last week. I couldn't f'n wait to ride and since Don is out of town I went over and loaded it up and brought it home to play with for the weekend. Spent a couple hours this morning setting up a makeshift practice course with some pallets I scored from work and some crap I had around the property.
One thing: these things are a f'n BLAST and are a lot more work than trail riding a dirt bike. Good cardio, and great exercise of arms legs and core! .

  


Dons Gas Gas:

My bike: 2010 Sherco 2.9  =beavis


Did I say this shit is FUN yet?
Dont let the kids course obstacles fool you, not as easy as it appears on YouTube.  

Edited by Stroupdog, 20 May 2012 - 06:40 AM.

Way to go, Stroupdog!! Congrats on the "new-to-you" bike, when ya get it!!

And this trials stuff/these bikes are REALLY addicting, huh? I agree 100% about the workout, too..... I can dink around on my property for, say, a half an hour, doing balance practice, figure eight turns, trying to hop either end of the bike. And I guarantee you no matter what temp it is outside, I'll eventually have my helmet & shirt all soaked with sweat..... I know my techniques are probably all crummy, and partly to blame for that. But it is really fun exercise, that doesn't bother any of my neighbors....

You plan on making the Wed. Afternoon trial in OR City, in June?

Jimmie

Edited by Mr. Neutron, 20 May 2012 - 08:55 AM.

Mr. Neutron, on 20 May 2012 - 08:50 AM, said:

I'm going to the Sunday 10 June event in Oregon City (Hog Hollow) never been there but look forward to it. I work most Wednesdays.  Yes pretty addicting, I can't wait to pick up the bike tomorrow when it arrives.

Congratulations!!!   One word of advice:  I would ride practice stuff WITHOUT my helmet Before riding without my Trials Boots!   Not that the head is unimportant, just that you are 20 times more likely to do serious leg damage below the knee than hit your head riding Trials...   And there is a significant and rewarding difference between a Trials Boot and a regular dirt-bike boot.

Lots of fun!!  Thanks for the photos...  They show a common flaw that most of us have to un-learn (including myself)  Study this photo with the stick figure..




And one of our TT members showing the same correct stance...   notice his boot soles...   Flat to the center of the earth and not flat to the top of the foot pegs..


See how relaxed he is?  He could almost let go of the grips and still stay with the bike...   And from here, he can jump and unload the rear tire to have it 'fly' to the log before it even makes contact..

Have fun!  Lots of great stuff to learn.

Welcome to the world of funny looking little bikes without seats!

Another bit of advice I learned the hard way. I was messing around going over stuff and climbing hills with the posture and foot position 2PLY is describing above and it was working great for my balance. Especially on really steep hills, I could keep the front down much easier with my body forward and feet flat. Everything was great, until I reverted back to being a knucklehead and tried a wheelie like this... The first 50 or so feet went great, but flat ground with no toe on the rear brake and no engine braking, you can easily predict the outcome. Fortunately I was able to ride back to the shop with only a smashed silencer and pretty bruised and scraped up knees Always cover that brake when riding them whoolies!

Looks like in some of those pictures your knees are pretty close together, too.Try to stay loose and relaxed. I've been saved quite a few times when riding trails quickly and I hit a rock or root or something and it puts my bike at a weird angle. As long as you're loose and YOU stay balanced, your bike will do it's thing under you and it can be surprising the angles it will correct itself from! The seat is not just missing so you can't grip it with your knees, it's gone so you can really lean the bike over without your leg hitting it and so you can squat really low and let the bike move under you without hitting you.

I've got a set of Alpinestars trials boots. No complaints so far. They're a lot more flexible than MX boots, and they aren't even fully broken in yet!

And don't worry, we're not picking on you about your form. It's something almost all of us have to go through. You'll be amazed at how much difference even very small changes in stance can make in your riding ability.  It might feel foreign at first but you'll understand as you get more practice.

Oh I'm looking for all the input and pointers I can get. I've got my Gaerne balance oiled boots on the way!!  The one thing I'm having trouble with is throttle control with one finger on the brake lever, the clutch side is a little easier. Guess practice will form the good habit. Oh and the new bike finally arrived.... LOVE IT!! Oh and I forgot to plug Brian at Atomic Moto. He was able to get my boots ordered today and said I'll probably have them Tuesday over a holiday weekend and all for a good $30 cheaper that anywhere else on the net! And I could not find them in stock anywhere else on the net....Thanks BRIAN!

Edited by Stroupdog, 24 May 2012 - 08:00 PM.

You'll get used to having one finger on the lever after a while... For me it's second nature now and it actually feels weird not to! I was taking a MSF course for my street motorcycle endorsement the other day and I kept on getting yelled at for this. They wanted all fingers on the clutch at all times but to never cover the front brake   They wanted all fingers for clutch for power, but I was working the clutch all day, 2nd gear takeoffs on those tiny little bikes needed some serious slippage!) with just one finger. I wish it was hydraulic though! Dunno what the big deal was with a finger on the top of the brake though... I think one of the instructors said something about not wanting to accidentally pull it... Seriously?



I don't know how long or fast you're rolling them whoolies, but I have found there are two ways that work well for me for long ones. Either I can really hang off the back and give my forearms a serious workout... Works OK for faster ones, but it's harder to balance for slow ones. OR You get the front as high as you can while still keeping your toe on the brake. This will let you stand up straighter and take some of the weight off your arms. It also gives good directional control. Long wheelies aren't really useful, other than for show though   It is a lot better to practice front wheel PLACEMENT. At the suggestion of some of the members here I was working on placement by popping the wheel up and then trying to land it on something on the ground. Doesn't matter what, as long as you can place it on a specific point reliably.

762SPR, on 25 May 2012 - 10:17 PM, said:

Really Great Advice, there, 762SPR!, And that's a great idea/drill/exercise on the front wheel placement, too!

As I see it (and I am a total Trials Goober, so take this for what it's worth), one of the BIG Fundamentals of trials is mastering the controls of the bike. I would think that  means learning to ride with your hands & feet on them. For me, it seems like if I'm not able to keep my hands & feet on those controls as much as possible, I'm really not gonna go much of anywhere with this. FWIW, it's also a skill necessary for mx & off-road in general, but I conveniently ignored that for years. I tell ya what, I seriously wish I'd learned trials skills 40+ yrs. ago, before I started enduro & mx riding. "Un-Learning" 40+ yrs. of bad habits is tough......

Stroupdog, How're you liking your new bike? I hope ya get to put some "peg time" in this long weekend. Oh yeah, btw: I was told the Wed. Nite Trials at Hog Hollow (same place where the one on 6/10 is at) has likely been cancelled. My trials buddy I work with is a member of C.O.T.A., and says sometimes the Wed. nite deals get cancelled due to not enough folks to work at them, participate in them, and such. So the Wed. nite deal I wrote of earlier may not materialize; I can't find any mention of it now on the C.O.T.A. website, which is where I saw it mentioned weeks ago...... I hope we can meet up at the trial on the 10th. I'll be the old guy with all the "5s" on his card.....

Jimmie

Edited by Mr. Neutron, 26 May 2012 - 06:27 AM.

Mr. Neutron, on 26 May 2012 - 06:23 AM, said:

But probably NOT as old as I am.  

Hey, 2PLY!!!

I like the help & advice on the picture up above with the stick figure superimposed over the guy on the blue bike, riding up the steps, But is the advice to "Keep your feet flat to the earth" only for the left foot? Shouldn't you be covering the back brake with the rt. foot? That necessarily puts that foot at all sorts of weird angles to the ground......

Yeah, I'm 56 yrs. old.     Not ancient (yet), but creeping up on whatever age "ancient" is.....   I have slowed down a bit, but still try to maintain a "young" mentality. Tempered with experiences to keep most of my bones in one piece, of course....

Mr. Neutron, on 29 May 2012 - 06:50 PM, said:

Other than riding long wheelies (not much use for these in Trials Competition) why would you need to cover the brake in a climb? And when you do need to hit the rear brake with the bike in an up attitude, learning to stand on one foot will do the job.  The left foot will still be flat to the Earth while the right one does what it needs.

If you are NOT using the bars to hang on to the bike, then you can use bar-pressure to compensate for the use of the right foot for other things.  Thumb through photos online of Championship riders or at least accomplished riders and note the feet angle to the Earth and also their upper body position relative to surrounding trees or other vertical objects while in a climbing attitude. (See example photos below) It's not as obvious for downhill shots because you have to bend over to reach the bars, but even then, there should be very little if any weight on the bars..  it should be on the back of the foot pegs just like it is on the front of the pegs in a climb.

Remember to move your feet back on the pegs for any climb and especially any climbing turns so that your toes will remain clear of the ground or obstacles..   Not much of a problem when going down hill.

Over the last few years, I have focused so much on the fundamentals of Trials in teaching it AND in my own riding that it's starting to sink in where I can turn far tighter than I ever could AND I can make off-camber turns that I never thought possible.  One of the things I do when riding for fun is to go as slow as possible and focus on balance and control of the bike with my feet and not my hands.  Riding at Slick Rock in Utah was really good practice since the traction was so good that I could focus on my weighting of the pegs for the really tight off-camber turns without the fear of slipping. This way, I could work on FEELING the balance or lack of it without the expectation of the wash-out.  Now, in the soft and slippery terrain at home, I am able to make the same turns where I could not a month ago.

If I ever get some of those Utah videos edited, you might wonder why I'm riding so slow, but it was planned that way. To spend all day crawling on the rocks even when they were easy. I even explained to my new German Riding Partner those 2 days that we were going to focus on slowing way down for precision and balance. For that reason, my 5 Miles of Hell videos are not as exciting as the Enduro ones on You Tube because I'm not crashing and bashing through it and it makes the ride a little boring or look too easy.  But really, it was easy, given the skills I had learned and a nimble Trials Motorcycle that could go really slow yet explode when you needed it.

We attracted a lot of attention from the bicycle crowd by crawling up and down steep rock faces while riding controlled speed circles on the face by coordinating throttle, clutch and brakes to maintain the same radius and speed through the circle. They were used to seeing motorcycle racing through the rocks, but not the way we were riding. And to tease one couple, I rode beside them and carried on a conversation while they were pushing their bicycles up a steep slope.  

Examples:  Check the feet..

Edited by 2PLY, 30 May 2012 - 06:26 AM.

Here is when you will want to cover the brake, though his left boot might be flat to the Earth.  This is another reason to buy and wear Trials Specific Boots...  They are designed to be flexible enough at the ankles to allow you to "point" your toes as in this photo:


Remember the stick figure in my photo?  Now draw a line through the foot pegs and then vertical and note that almost 1/2 of his body mass is on each side of that line.  The line would go through his torso just above his belt-line..  When he hits the ground, the initial affect of his body on the bike will be on the back of the foot pegs and that will help push the front tire up and out.  If the initial impact of his body were at his hand, it would drive the front tire into the ground and slightly rearward. Note where his knees are relative to the bike. This is one of the easy ways to spot a beginner rider..  their knees tend to stay in the same spot relative to the bike, where a good rider's knees will go from this extreme rear position to the extreme forward position as in the climbing photos in the post above.

Edited by 2PLY, 30 May 2012 - 06:41 AM.

Hey (again!), 2PLY!!!

I'm now at work, and have kinda limited time here, so I'll try to be brief......

Thank you, very much, for you really GREAT help to a total trial Goober like me. I really appreciate the time & content of what you put into your "how-to" replies! Can't say "Thanks!" enough there.....

Really, I wasn't too concerned about need for a rear brake while going up in, say, a hillclimb type of situation. What I'm more concerned is when you get to the top of an obstacle, or go down the  back side of one, and need to stop quickly..... Whether it's to rest, or there's a turn after a hill, rock, or log, another obstacle, or whatever the reason might be, it just seems like a "Good Idea" to cover the rear brake....

Please don't take this as argumentive, or anything like that. I see your point. I'm just coming from the perspective of having the reaction time & reflexes of something like a Sea Cow (and close to the same physique as a Sea Cow..... ). I have to try & "plan ahead" to get all my mass to halt , when I need to stop after an obstacle..... I probably need a treadmill more than a trials bike....

Jimmie

Edited by Mr. Neutron, 30 May 2012 - 02:05 PM.

Mr. Neutron, on 30 May 2012 - 12:28 PM, said:

Ah SO... Grasshoppa / Sea Cow.... you think too much!   Confucious Say:  "Don't sweat the petty stuff ... and don't pet the sweaty stuff."

with a little time, hitting that brake will be so automatic that you will not even be able to explain how you do it...   Like me now.. DUH..??

Just this weekend, I came flying over the crest of a steep hill and found my buddy standing there. I landed about 12 inches in front of him and was stopped instantly..  BOTH brakes locked!!  You should have seen the look on his face as I was in the air and the look of relief when I was stopped before he could even twitch a muscle..

Edited by 2PLY, 30 May 2012 - 04:10 PM.

OK now my avatar picture is starting to make sense. I picked it out several years ago just because it looked cool. Notice anything wrong with this picture??

Stroupdog, on 31 May 2012 - 11:42 AM, said:

Ah.....   .........Your handlebars are on backwards??? I give up...  

Edited by 2PLY, 31 May 2012 - 12:00 PM.

Me and three friends were riding some "urban debris" in the empty lots down the canal road and we took a break on the canal access road. Don jokingly suggested that I ride the canal to test my high air intake, we laughed and talked about riding the canal this fall when the water is off. We decided to head back to my house and get something to drink when I just had to do the fun step up climb that leads up to the canal road. It's about a 8 foot climb wth a step in the middle.  Had done in numerous times just before the break. I went first then Matt was right behind me. I just about looped it out at the  top the saved to just at the edge of the canal road, then nose wheelied right into the canal. About 5-6 feet deep in the middle and I was under the bike with full gear and the current washing me and the bike down. I remember watching the rocks go by as I had my eyes open looking at the underwater wonderland. All in slow motion.  I righted myself, caught my breath and Matt helped me pull the bike up. The guys went back to get my sparkplug wrench and we purged the cylinder by spining the wheel in 5th gear with the bike upside down. I then spent the afternoon changing the tranny fluid riding, changing, riding... got her changed 6 times and the last three had no water.

So, like, you tried to convert your Sherco into a Submarine? Man, some guys will go anywhere for some rocks to ride......

Jimmie