Answer to the Tuesday quiz – Nigel Birkett – correct responses in quickly from Brett-Bob – Harlow
Interesting to see Nigel posting on FB – Advertising his Scorpa business – being long term etc – Maybe as the brand is a clone of the Sherco who have now gone direct sales rather than using an Importer, he is concerned and rightly so I think – Who was it said “Never trust a Frenchman”? ( I’m sure Malcolm Rathmell isn’ a fan at the moment – then again remember what happened with John Shirt first with Yamaha – then with Gas Gas !! I think the MCN headline then was ” Wam Bam – Thankyou Yam”
It begs the question why would any Importer want to stock a ton of spare parts when he could be cut anytime at the whim of a Factory.?
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Quiz for today – Pic courtesy Mike Rapley – Who is the rider.?
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We saw this pic posted of Jordi at the 1989 Scottish when he introduced the new Beta Zero Prototype. – We were there to see that, which ended badly after only one day – Mud plugging the rad causing it to overheat – Jordi cooled it off by throwing water on it from a creek – but that just caused it to seize. Aprilia also had their new Water cooled models there that year which had similar issues – but maybe a larger rad helped them continue. – ( I’m sure I got pics of some of these – but finding them in my archives might be a problem)
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Lots of comments being posted these days about the down turn in Trials – But a lot of this is being posted by the “Keyboard Warriors” – There is another well known saying that is “When the going gets Tough – The tough get going” – I prefer the latter, and like to think our sport will continue to survive long term – it might need a few adjustments, along the way, with well thought out changes being implemented.
Looking back to one of these huge changes it was first in MX, but the Mono-Shock suspension introduced by Yamaha, without doubt altered the way not only how sections were laid out, but also gave a huge boost to club riders, who now found they were able to do much better on that 1984 Yamaha TY 250. – Somebody posted that Club riders who usually won a 2nd class award – were now winning 1st class awards in the UK.
As we have mentioned before – this bike came out, the year I left Yamaha Canada, but I was able to help promote the new bike “Behind the scenes”
It was in fact this new Yamaha, that renewed my interest in Trials again – I remember Steve Day explaining to me how you could ride these using the clutch !! Something unheard of back in my day of British and Spanish bikes .
Of course Stan and Steve put on fabulous displays with the new bikes, and other riders, doing shows all across the Country, and it wasn’t long before the Yamaha TY 250 was “The bike to have”
Soon I was out every weekend riding with buddy Barry Van As – full of enthusiasm for what was possible on these new bikes, when riding our same old sections. – In a nutshell, what the TY mono did, was make every club rider, into a star ( even if it was only in his own mind)
Below is a pic that Barry took of me on the 1986 TY 350 – this had a chrome bore, and was not as popular as the 250, but it did have a better rear shock and some early production issues fixed.
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There is another old saying that – ” If people do not learn from past mistakes, they are bound to repeat them”
Sometimes I fear a lot of this has happened in the World of Trials.
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The snow is melting – managed to move my van a bit yesterday!!
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