Quiz for today - Who is this rider? Sadly no longer with us.
And this was how they took points from the top lads back in the day - a good old fashioned mud section looks like this is Rob Edwards or Rob Shepard on the Sammy Miller designed Honda with the long stroke engine. - Did you know that when Honda hired Sammy he went to Japan to test the new Proto-type and after a short ride, came back to tell the Japanese Engineers that it needed to have the fork angle “Tucked in” - Ah so!! they said - come back in 6 months !! - Sammy totally p/o ‘ed took the bike into the workshop - cut the frame - re-welded it and was out testing again the same day!! - That fact that Sammy did so well with his Team bikes and riders, is a testament to this great man, unfortunately sacked by Honda as they pursued a short stroke engine later used in the World beating bikes ridden by Eddie Lejuene and Steve Saunders. - Looking back at this turn of events, could it have been that the Japanese already guessed that the sport of Trials was changing, and the lugging power of the big four-stroke engine was not the way to go ??? Mud Sections in Spain? already the new Hotbed of Trials.
Because all the world trials these days seem to be set up the same - It’s likely that this makes things easy for the factories - springy suspensions and an engine that explodes like a rocket. -Â BUT this is not the type of event put on and enjoyed by the mass ( small mass)Â of Trials riders World wide.
The bottom line and REALLY the bottom line is that Factories that build Trials bikes are for the most part very involved with the sport, and are not in the huge numbers game. - Yes back in the early 70’s Yamaha fell for the bait, and being fed false information by the Yanks, built way too many TY 250’s - Oh! egg on face!!  - I think it’s a credit to Yamaha, that they did not drop the Trials bike and did in fact go on to build perhaps the World’s best seller in the TY 250/350 Mono.
Suzuki and Kawasaki were in and out of the market very quickly and Honda only build these for advertising purposes - YUP ! Thanks Toni !! - ( There is no doubt that the Honda Factory bikes they build are “Works of Art”)
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I don’t know who this is - but obviously an older gent, but love the TY Majesty he is riding - check out the design of that non-stock kickstart.
Not Trials but two great road racers shown flat tracking - Wayne Rainy on a Yamaha and Eddie Lawson on a Bultaco
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No not Canada - this is a shot of the Brecon Bekins in Wales on a snowy day - this was the area used in the 1983 ISDE.
And a waterfall in South Wales - frozen for the first time in history
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We recently heard from our old friend Rob Stobart - who now lives in White Rock BC - but who resided in Red Deer for many years and rode his vintage 1972 Montesa Cota in a lot of our local Trials. ( And did very well)
Rob sent me this article from when Rob Edwards visited North America at a time when factories were sending their top riders over to promote the sport - Sammy and Mick were likely the first of these. - Hope you can read it - quite interesting plus of course there is a pic of John Ranger. ( Who although obviously a very good rider, never did compete at any Western Canadian events - including the 1975 World Round in Alberta)
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