So here we are on the last week of Christmas Chaos!! glad to see the weather forecast is looking good for most of us – Don’t forget we have lots of nice Wulf gear for that favorite Trials rider in your life.
Answer to the Sunday quiz – Our gal Katie Mcg – and she was the first one in to recognize the pic that I took of her at the last Trial held at Ross ‘ place. Roger Boothroyd was 2nd in with the correct response
QUIZ Who is the rider – where is this water section? and who is the rider in the background waiting to ride? ( Hint this last rider fell in the water and drowned his TR34)
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Jon Kirkham sent us this pic of his new TRS safe in the Motel room in Clearwater on route back to Edson Alberta – we don’t blame him for not wanting to leave it on the back of the truck ( note the fly swatter!! don’t recall ever seeing one of those in any Motel we stayed in over 30 years on the road!!)
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I saw this pic posted of a very old Magazine cover which lists the all new 1974 Yamaha TY 250 – As most of our readers know we had one of the first ( reported in an earlier blog)
Below is a pic that I took of Mick at Blackfoot Park in 1974 – I had the job of putting on a promotion to show off the new Trials bike – I remember I carted a bunch of rocks from down by the rail road tracks to build sections in the Sand pit. We had a great crowd out that day and Mick did a good job showing off the new bike ( actually it was Bobby T’s bike)
Here is a write up on that new TY Yam – which outlined all the similar features it had to the Ossa that Mick had also designed. – Obviously as with all new bikes, a few things needed updating – bash plate – narrower side cases – etc, but what most people raved about at the time was “It had good brakes” – Yes prior to that anybody who rode a Spanish bike was quite familiar with the non-existent brakes after a water section – most (including me) fitted a decompressor to help with this problem – remember back in the day – bikes had big heavy flywheels and were set up with the throttle to close completely ( no tick over) and we rarely ever used the clutch.
Also listed in this mag – is a test on a Rokon Automatic, and that reminded me of when Husqvarna brought one out in the 1980’s I think it was Terry Cunningham who rode one in the USA Enduro events – so in 1985 when I was involved with Kelowna Yamaha, we took on Husqvarna as a second line ( Steen was still the Importer)
Back then Wednesday night rides were popular and I took one of these new bikes out to demo – I recall that it felt quite light and handled very well, but the one thing you had to remember was if you failed to make it up a steep hill !! – this bike would slide back down very quickly – no gearbox to hold it if you stalled. – I explained this to one local hot shot rider, but of course he paid no attention -SO it was a quick trip for him sliding back down the first hill he tried – much to the amusement of our group. – Like a lot of new inventions, this model wasn’t around long.
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We just got our new 2024 Calendars which we always order via FB – However this year can’t say I’m too impressed with the way they have cut off a lot of the pics!! However at least it shows a nice pic of Gord Rinke on the January cover.
This is the one they cut off !! The last Cross Country race I was in – The Trophy is the Danny Amor Memorial Trophy.
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Check out this old pic of Kelowna – before the bridge and Ferries ran across to the Westside – Yes that is ice -!!!
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Birthday Greeting to our buddy Mike Phillips who turns 56 today
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