Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

'C HOOS YOUR TRIALS BIKE-CAREFULLY EA Good Maelline Is 50% Of rile Battle CurrenUy 7 makes of bikes are avallable for Trials in the United States. Of these, three are Spanish models of 250cc displacement and the rest are of Br itish design with displacements of 125cc to 175cc. For years the British had an invincible hold on the manufacture of successfultron, but in 1964 Sammy Miller designed the Bultaco Sherpa ' T' and to this day the combination of Irish Sam and Spanish Bultac o has been nearly unbeatable. ' Seeing this remarkable growth, Montesa and Ossa both set out to build Trials models and both have become very successful. Greeves ceased bullding Trials models two years ago when the supply of V1l11ers I engines became unavallable, but they still supported a works team on out-of-date Angllans. Bill WUldnson's win at last year's Scottish Six Days stressed the fact that Bert Greeves had better com e up with a new model or sales wer e going to be surely lost. Now the new Greeves Pathfinder is available with a 175cc Puch engine and six spe ed transmission. It looks extremely strong and should be a very compe titive machin e. One of the w1nn1ngest machines g01lig in England today are the Peter Edmonson designed and buil t Dalesman which is very light and sports a 125cc Puch mill (an ISDT type event), Scott ElUs took top honors with no marks los t. Cotton is a marque that has been around for years in the Trials game , but like Greeves, relied on V1l11ers to supply power units for thetr model s. ShorUy after the s toppage of these engines, however Cotton was bac k on the scene with a 170cc Minarell1 engine in the same suc cessful fr ame previously used. Works r ider Rob Edwards has been reasonably suc cessful with s everal wins in the past year . togethe r have over 200 enthusiastic members. These two' clubs hold approximately 20 trials per year. Trials are Are you interested in English Trials? held in places Itke Miramar, Canyon If you're reading this article you're Crest, Lituerock, Big Bear, Frazier either interested or at least curious. Park and Saddleback Park. This past Some of you are probably in the dark as year Trials were held with Britain's to exacUy what English Trials are. Very Sammy Miller (Bultaco), Spain's Pedro popular in England Europe, trials are Pi (Montesa) and Mick Andrews (Ossa) gaining in popularity here in the United competing. States. In Southern California we are To backtrack a litue we'll get back to for tuna te that we have an organization exacUy what trials are. The basic object deeply dedicated to the promotion of this of trials like any other form of motorexciting motorcycle sport. cycle competition is to improve the rider The Southern California Trials Assoand to gain enjoyment of his machine. ciation along with its recenUy formed affiliate, The San Diego Trials Riders '_ Skill at trials is achieved in a very d1f: ~ ,~ ,.J All of these machines are capable of U winning and this makes your decision :... u even more difficult. All will definitely, lower your sc or es appreciably but try to test ride each model if possible before selecting. Some will feel the power of the larger models, s ome will be more important-than the li ghtweight of the mini 's and others jus t the opposite. Either though is commendable, for, although 'a good trials bike is 50% of the batUe,1t is the r ider's ab1l1ty and dedication that must make' up the balance. Ver y new to the Trials sc ene is a very well designed and built machine called the Saracen. It r elies on a 125cc Sachs engine with 5 speeds and is extremely well balan ced and light. Wor kmanship and material are excellent. Although only I· START TRIALING! By Gary Barton half the s ize of the 250' s, these mini- ~ trialers are beginning to make strong in roads in the contests and could well ~ be the way to go in the future. ' t

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