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Mornin’ bloggers – another weekend here, and yes still hot in the Valley – so no riding for the for-seeable future, unless we get a lot of rain – strange to think that in my early riding years in Wales, we nearly always wore a small white towel around our neck inside the top of our Barbour Jacket, to catch all the rain that would otherwise soak us. – what I wouldn’t give to have that problem right now.
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Answer to the last quiz – quite an easy one – Matteo Grattarola – surprisingly only Roger got that one.
Quiz today – Who is this Beta rider ???
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We had a busy day yesterday – Emily and her Dad stopped by to chat about an upcoming article in the Motorcycle Mojo Magazine – and we mentioned we saw this neat pic posted of her at the Baja.
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Later we had a visit with Pete Bustin who was on route back to Ymir, always good to see Pete, and it appears that his Trial scheduled for the September long weekend , will now have to be postponed due to the Fire ban. – I know that Pete and Jay have been working hard on the sections for this, so we really hope another date can be set.
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I came across this pic from 2010 when Barry and myself went on a birthday ride over Yankee Flats !! – this area is quite a way over towards Falkland, but it also shows that I’m on one of my favorite Beta 200’s. – Don’t think I have that riding gear anymore, but the NZI helmet is still up on the shelf in the shop. – We of course had updated Beta 200’s every year since then, including the brilliant new 2026 Sincro model. – (see below)
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Of course we didn’t always promote just the Beta, because before that when we were a Gas Gas dealer I remember visiting Don Clark at Mountain MC in Coquitlam, and noticed he had a yellow Gas Gas 125 sitting on the floor gathering dust. – I suggested that it wasn’t going to do much there, so I bought it and promoted it in the Okanagan- because I have always been a lightweight – I was soon showing a lot of 250 riders that the little Gasser could often do better than their larger capacity models. – I should add that the actual cc of that bike was 123cc, but I would hit big hills in 4th gear then shift as I went up – not that we ended up selling many, but when the 200c model came out later it was a hit.
Meanwhile back in Beta land – John Lampkin had convinced the Italians that a 200cc model, would sell well in the UK and so they made one – first with a 125cc bottom end and a Dell Orto carb – We got the first one and yes it was great !! – but the following year —– ( after listening to John boy) -they fitted the bottom end of the 250, plus added the 28mm Keihin carb !!!! – Well suffice to say that this has been our top selling Beta model ever since, and now with the brand new Sincro , – which is available with an estart – They are on a roll..
We have always believed that if you are going to sell any particular bike – then you should at least have ridden them. – I preached this doctrine at Yamaha Canada, – We have always tried to supply customers with the right machine for them – not like some flash car-sales guy approach who likely has not ever ridden that model. – Sometimes these guys have never even ridden a Trials bike.
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The bottom line of this scenario today, is to say, you don’t need a 300cc Trials bike to enjoy riding a Trial – in fact this might put you off the sport forever ( after you have looped it and broken that $300 rear fender) – if you checked the background of any of the current hard enduro riders – you will find that most started as kids on TRIALS BIKES. – something else that came up today in an interview with the good folks of Motorcycle Mojo -if you want to learn about the sport, don’t click onto You Tube which shows all the world class circus stuff.- call your local TRIALS dealer – they are in the sport, because they love it.
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