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  • ACU Classic Trials Series

    Looks like this is turning out to be the predicted great success!

    There are 5 rounds in the whole series (I believe the Greensmith has now pulled out).

    The ACU news bulletin has just announced this Sunday's round, organised by the Llanfyllin Club has now been cancelled due to .......... lack of entires!

    On a similar but non-classic note, the Alan Jefferires Trophy Trial has also been cancelled due to ...... lack of entries! Apparently, only 10 riders wanted to tackle the main route and a further 40 had entered the clubman's route. Apparently 120 riders is the normal number.

    So, it is not just classic trials by the look of it. When will organisers understand that today's riders do not want an extreme challenge but a decent day out on their bikes? Something has gone wrong. What happened to the days when even a national had one route and although a bit of a struggle at times, even I could have a good day's riding.

    Last 2 rounds of the ACU Classic series are the Perce Simon and Downland Trophy. Those 2 have never been on my 'easy' list so it will be interesteing to see how many riders they attract this time.

    If only someone would come up with a decent 'historic' series with the emphasis on fun, I'm sure the riders would appear. Wasn't that what Deryk Wylde's original series was all about?!

  • #2
    Fun!

    There should be plenty of fun to be had at Hook Norton with the Stratford Club tomorrow!
    All Greeves riders are welcome.



    --
    AndyB

    Comment


    • #3
      Andy, the regs don't give much impression of a classic trial, in fact it looks disstinctly modern apart from a class for Pre-65.

      Will there be much of a classic entry?

      Are you going to watch and if so, may we have a bit of a report please?

      Thanks!

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Rob View Post
        Looks like this is turning out to be the predicted great success!

        There are 5 rounds in the whole series (I believe the Greensmith has now pulled out).

        The ACU news bulletin has just announced this Sunday's round, organised by the Llanfyllin Club has now been cancelled due to .......... lack of entires!

        On a similar but non-classic note, the Alan Jefferires Trophy Trial has also been cancelled due to ...... lack of entries! Apparently, only 10 riders wanted to tackle the main route and a further 40 had entered the clubman's route. Apparently 120 riders is the normal number.

        So, it is not just classic trials by the look of it. When will organisers understand that today's riders do not want an extreme challenge but a decent day out on their bikes? Something has gone wrong. What happened to the days when even a national had one route and although a bit of a struggle at times, even I could have a good day's riding.

        Last 2 rounds of the ACU Classic series are the Perce Simon and Downland Trophy. Those 2 have never been on my 'easy' list so it will be interesteing to see how many riders they attract this time.

        If only someone would come up with a decent 'historic' series with the emphasis on fun, I'm sure the riders would appear. Wasn't that what Deryk Wylde's original series was all about?!
        Couldn't agree more!

        Comment


        • #5
          Interesting

          Your right Rob.

          Many are too bloody hard.. If I wanted to scare myself stupid I would by a modern bike for a fraction of the cost of our old dinosaurs!!

          Also could I have the ACU club code please Rob? I will need it for Plashes farm in October

          Regards

          Scott

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Rob View Post
            Andy, the regs don't give much impression of a classic trial, in fact it looks disstinctly modern apart from a class for Pre-65.

            Will there be much of a classic entry?

            Are you going to watch and if so, may we have a bit of a report please?

            Thanks!
            Rob,

            I'm assured that the course will be classic friendly - the reason for inviting Greeves riders to enter is to try to encourage a bigger classic entry!

            I hope to be there to watch tomorrow - if so I'll report back what I find...

            AndyB

            Comment


            • #7
              On a similar theme, the Bonanza weekend was cancelled due to lack of entries

              Comment


              • #8
                Traditional trial

                Andrew Cooke wrote an article on Facebook under the Greeves Motorcycle Enthusiasts banner referring to the DOT/Greeves/Cotton Villiers Challenge Trial.
                There have been a number of useful responses which will be of interest to we of the GRA.
                If A C is a member of our club I would be helpful if he would come forward with his ideas. They seem to be the ideas which Rob in particular suggests.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Traditional Trial

                  Phil I see that you have replied to the article. I do not know how to transfer it and the follow up responses to our club site but if you know how to and could do so I think it would be of help to the club.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    This is the Andrew Cooke posting

                    An Annual DOT/ Greeves/ Cotton Villiers Challenge Trial
                    In the 60's we all rode whatever bike we had against everyone else on a single course regardless of our bikes capacity or our own ability. We lesser riders could easily drop in excess of 100 marks and yet still finish well up the results. None of us are getting younger of course and nowadays everyone enjoys a trial with sections that are cleanable and yet still challenging.
                    Classic club trials cater for every class of bike from pre this that and the other, British, foreign, air cooled, twin shocked, two/four stroke, and even Bantam only events to name but a few. The sections can be marked out for up to three routes of severity with the option of 50/50 between any two. I know I get confused as a rider so how does an occasional observer take it all in and how do you gauge your performance when there may be only three riders in your class on your particular route?
                    With these thoughts in mind and allowing for progress I propose organising an annual return to basics trial from those simplified times for anyone with a British two-stroke machine. No multi class of bikes, just original and replica. No multi choice of routes, just expert and clubman. I am Derbyshire based with access to several excellent venues so this would be my chosen location.
                    The class of bikes is always a bone of contention in the classic trials world as we know but to again simplify things I propose just two classes..
                    CLASS 1- Original machines with only modern updates allowed to dampers, carburration and ignition.
                    eg- Greeves Scottish
                    CLASS 2- Modern silouette replicas
                    eg- Drayton frames, replica James/FB frames
                    I believe this formatt could prove popular and who knows, possibly the way forward though I know local clubs now have to cater for twin-shocks to keep numbers up. With a view to getting up and running next summer ideas and opinions on the viability of such an event would be most welcome.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by John Wakefield View Post
                      This is the Andrew Cooke posting

                      An Annual DOT/ Greeves/ Cotton Villiers Challenge Trial
                      In the 60's we all rode whatever bike we had against everyone else on a single course regardless of our bikes capacity or our own ability. We lesser riders could easily drop in excess of 100 marks and yet still finish well up the results. None of us are getting younger of course and nowadays everyone enjoys a trial with sections that are cleanable and yet still challenging.
                      Classic club trials cater for every class of bike from pre this that and the other, British, foreign, air cooled, twin shocked, two/four stroke, and even Bantam only events to name but a few. The sections can be marked out for up to three routes of severity with the option of 50/50 between any two. I know I get confused as a rider so how does an occasional observer take it all in and how do you gauge your performance when there may be only three riders in your class on your particular route?
                      With these thoughts in mind and allowing for progress I propose organising an annual return to basics trial from those simplified times for anyone with a British two-stroke machine. No multi class of bikes, just original and replica. No multi choice of routes, just expert and clubman. I am Derbyshire based with access to several excellent venues so this would be my chosen location.
                      The class of bikes is always a bone of contention in the classic trials world as we know but to again simplify things I propose just two classes..
                      CLASS 1- Original machines with only modern updates allowed to dampers, carburration and ignition.
                      eg- Greeves Scottish
                      CLASS 2- Modern silouette replicas
                      eg- Drayton frames, replica James/FB frames
                      I believe this formatt could prove popular and who knows, possibly the way forward though I know local clubs now have to cater for twin-shocks to keep numbers up. With a view to getting up and running next summer ideas and opinions on the viability of such an event would be most welcome.
                      Totally agree - great idea, I live close to Hook Norton and will be interested to see the report from Andy. I spoke to one of the organisers and to be honest the only category I seemed to fall into was one called 'chaperoned' which sounded a bit degrading as I consider myself able to ride a bike (think it was a category for kids but older heavy trials bike sort of also made this category)

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Report

                        I've just returned from Hook Norton - unfortunately I could only get there as it was finishing, but there were bikes still using the sections, which on the whole didn't look too intimidating to me.
                        The course was woodland covering an old railway embankment and remains of a viaduct.
                        The organisers were disappointed that there were only 30 bikes in total, of which about half a dozen were 'classic'. No Greeves present!

                        The classes were as follows: (copied from the regs.)

                        Route entered, please tick:- A - hard ___ B – medium ___ C - easy ___ D – conducted ___

                        Please tick class:- Youth ‘A’ ___ Youth ‘B’ ___ Youth ‘C’ ___ Youth ‘D’ ___ Youth ‘E’ ___

                        Expert ___ Intermediate ___ Clubman ___ Over 40 ___

                        Ladies ___ Twin Shock ___ Pre-65 ___ Trail ___

                        I'd have thought that if I had been able to ride (and I'm very much a novice with my TES!) the 'easy route' and 'Pre-65' would have been the obvious choices.

                        I'm pretty sure that Rob and Dick (when fully fit) would have avoided demolishing anything, and based on the last GRA organised trial which I attended near the M6 a couple of years ago, I think the 'easy' route would have been considered very easy.

                        I'm often in touch with members of the Stratford Club, on VMCC runs, and will maybe have more feedback from them in due course.

                        Hope this helps

                        AndyB

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          So, picking up from the Face Book page. The proposal would be 2 stroke only.
                          From the outset, the Greeves Riders Association has openly accepted all Greeves regardless of engine.

                          The idea of certainly a Greeves/Cotton challenge has been around for years. Indeed, quite a few events held at Northleach (GRA), and Nympsfield (Cotton Club)

                          I support any trial that gets Greeves out of sheds and garages, and gets them muddy.

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