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Post Info TOPIC: Charlie Reynolds, British Long Distance Championship


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Charlie Reynolds, British Long Distance Championship
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Here we go, this Sunday, I'm entering my first LDT, any tips or advice? The bikes almost ready to go, jut got to stick the spare wheels on with the trials tyres. I can't find much info on anything like it. Would you bring tools, the same as trail riding, what about food, bring some of that goodness? Is time keeping involved? Will I need a watch or anything?

What can I expect in a trials competition aimed at trail bikes?

Very nervous, more so than when I did the hair and hounds. Please help!

Adam



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Adam. 1993 Open Enduro: 14/48 Gearing, Uncorked, Twin-Air Filter, Snorkel Removed, 263cc Piston, Ported and Polished Head, Shorty Header, DG-O Silencer(Loudener!), 140 Mikuni Main, Standard Pilot, Bottom Needle Clip (Still A Touch Lean)



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Adam, I'm doing this on Sunday too, starting from the rugby club in Southam right?

look out for me on a TTR RAID, I'll be with a bunch of guys and gals on oranges bikes! I've just moved to the area and apparently its a great way to learn the lanes....forget about the timing element of the trial and the points system....just ride and have fun that's what I'm doing!



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Hi Adam

First requisite is that you enjoy the day! Everything else is secondary.

Treat it like a long day's trail riding with tricky bits thrown in every now and again wink

The trickiest bit can be the route. How are you getting the route or have you got it already? It used to be fun playing with coloured pens and sticky tape putting routes onto a roller for fitting to the handlebars biggrinbiggrin

Brian



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hertsrider wrote:

Adam, I'm doing this on Sunday too, starting from the rugby club in Southam right?

look out for me on a TTR RAID, I'll be with a bunch of guys and gals on oranges bikes! I've just moved to the area and apparently its a great way to learn the lanes....forget about the timing element of the trial and the points system....just ride and have fun that's what I'm doing!


 The very same! Apparently there are some awesome lanes out there. I know a few but a lot I've never been down, too scared to explore it on my own. I suspect that the route will take us round the back of where I used to work in Harbury, I always used to play in those woods, every Friday if it was dry, in fact I got my bike stuck there once and needed to get my boss to come back to work to help me drag the bike up the hill.



Does it no justice, but that hill is seriously steep with little to no run-up, very difficult to maintain momentum especially if damp.

I'll be on a scruffy K-Reg Open Enduro, if you see one lying on it's side somewhere with a lanky kid laying next to it, do stop and laugh at my expense, at least someone should get some enjoyment out of the off! biggrin

I've got no idea about the route at all, just hoping that we get a card or something at the start of the event. I'm number 43, so might just follow 42 around all day, if I can... The route planning and timekeeping elements of events such as these are what I enjoy, as much as riding around the route. Not sure if it would be worth bringing my OS map of the area or not.



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Adam. 1993 Open Enduro: 14/48 Gearing, Uncorked, Twin-Air Filter, Snorkel Removed, 263cc Piston, Ported and Polished Head, Shorty Header, DG-O Silencer(Loudener!), 140 Mikuni Main, Standard Pilot, Bottom Needle Clip (Still A Touch Lean)



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So how did it go guys?

Brian



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Really good day...quite complex in terms of the route and the actual Trials element of the day...it went along the lines of;
Bit of road/green lane riding to a 'section' where a trial had been made/set-up.....you walk the section and then attempt it on your bike...then more road/green lane riding to the next 'section' and repeat 20 odd times.
The day was exhausting to be honest, a lot of the sections were very challenging and tricky, more suited to the trials bikes but some were do-able on the TTR.....i found the most frustrating part was the weight of the TTR compared to other bikes, manoeuvrability at low speeds is hard on a heavy bike...let alone picking it up when you inevitably dropped it.
Best part of the day for me was riding some of the lanes as they're all new to me...and meeting a great local bunch of bikers who're happy to help a new face enjoy the day.
The weather was amazing and so was the countryside in this part of the world...i'd do it again next year for sure.
Bumped into the OP Adam on the day briefly and also met another local lad on a TTR too....3 TTR's in a sea of Orange (and trials bikes of all colours and creeds!)..also one of the observers was on a Blue TTR as well.

The weight of the TTR is getting on my nerves now, especially highlighted yesterday...one chap said "i tip my hat to you wrestling that old tank around for the day, you've had to work twice as hard as i have so fair play to you"

Maybe time to consider a newer & lighter bike...Is the later Blue model lighter?

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Thanks for reporting back Neil - sounds like it was a good day!

I haven't compared weight on the specifications between the Raid and the blue TTRs but I know that the Raid has a heavy steel swing arm rather than the lighter aluminium one fitted to the Open Enduro models.

Plus the tank is a lot bigger and the temptation to fill up before a day out puts a lot of extra weight high up where it causes most problems.

A lighter after-market exhaust would save weight high up. Not sure that aluminium handlebars would be a lot lighter than the original steel ones though.

If you are running the original Raid headlight then, although probably the brightest available for the TTR, that also is a darn sight heavier than the later plastic headlights.

What you might do depends on how often you will be doing LDTs. Also, as you get better at the sections you will be picking it up less wink

Brian



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Fair play doing it on the Raid, I was struggling with mine. The guy with the blue one, I ended up riding around with, his name was Chris and because, although I knew the area, I kept getting lost, mainly due to pre-empting the map and directions, and so not studying them properly. As a result, I missed out sections 2-4 and 6-9. I nearly called it quits and went home after dropping it on section one and again on 5 at the ford crossing near Wellesbourne and missing the other sections, very glad I didn't!

I recognized a few faces from doing a couple of Enduroland events and seeing them about laning.

The bikes are quite top-heavy I found and it was very easy for it to lean just a touch too much and then go right over. Chris, the observer, said that he wouldn't like to try some sections on the TTR. I gave everything a go but one section, which was a shallow drop off into a river, across the river, tight U-turn at the other side and then back across the river and up a short, twisty hill in what appeared to be a massive hedge-row.biggrin I was the last one to turn up there after 40 odd riders had gone through putting river water all up the hill climb and all over the place, I couldn't even walk it. After hearing the tale of a rider drowning his Pampera in the river, I decided that I needed the bike for work on Monday, so best not throw it in a river.

I 5'd every single section I attempted bar one which I scraped through with a three! I looped the bike at Avon Dassett Quarry, again being the last rider there, due to riding with the organisers who were picking up the flags and those who were lost, the observer had seen every one have a go, and Iwas the only one to flip it, got half way up and it was like slow motion as it flicked up and somersaulted ahead of me leaving me on the hill.

I've fallen in love with the MT43 on the back, apart from wet grass it did everything just as well as a proper knobbly, but without chewing up the ground and without moving all over the shot on the road.

Also, this clutch thing: http://www.haibikeshop.com/images/easypullsystem.jpg either didn't ease the clutch at all or it did and I hate to think what my forefinger would feel like today other wise. I'm not sure if it caused weird clutch problems either, when the bike got hot with a lot of clutching, it would drag at low speeds, even if pulled in with a whole hand, and then slip when I gunned it on the road or wherever. So not sure if it is just a case of an overheated clutch or caused by the box. I found with a 14/52 combination, I kept hunting for gear 1.5, 1st was too twitchy a lot of the time and 2nd was either causing me to go too fast or stall because it felt too tall.

What gear ratio were you running, did you have any problems with the clutch?



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Adam. 1993 Open Enduro: 14/48 Gearing, Uncorked, Twin-Air Filter, Snorkel Removed, 263cc Piston, Ported and Polished Head, Shorty Header, DG-O Silencer(Loudener!), 140 Mikuni Main, Standard Pilot, Bottom Needle Clip (Still A Touch Lean)



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Hi Adam, Good to see you and well done for trying all of the sections...i didn't try all of them , lost a bit of confidence after falling heavily on one of the rock crawl sections...sent the bike tumbling down the rocks and it landed on me...rather painful i can assure you!

I'm running 14/48 and i've tried all sorts of combinations (see my thread history!)...this is by far the most comfortable i've tried, perfect for laning and road work in my humble opinion.
I'm running a Mitas CO2 on the rear which is very durable and good in the thick mud...I ran it at about 14 psi this weekend but do have it up to 16psi in the height of the summer when the ground is hard...I'm also running a Michelin Comp 4 on the front and had that at a low PSI too as i knew that would help on the trials sections.

I'd only replaced the clutch cable last week so that didn't help in the tight sections as i was still getting used to the new feel of the cable/lever....didn';t have any issue with the clutch slipping to be fair but my bike is a very low mileage (circa 7000km since new) so it's hopefully in good shape!

Stay in touch if you're up for a bit of local laning...i'll PM you my contact details.

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