I have limited experience on a trials bike compared to a lot of you but I will throw my input in for what it is worth. When I purchased my GasGas it had Acerbis wrap around hand guards. (Plastic over the metal bar.) I am used to riding with them on my trail bikes so I never thought much of it. As I went to more and more competitions I kept hearing people referring to them as wrist breakers. A few people came straight out and told me to take them off. One day I was practicing in the back yard on a small ledge (big enough to hit the skid plate). Rolled up to it at a good clip (5 mph ) without thinking and did something wrong. When the bike hit the ledge it stopped, I was not prepared for it and my body kept going forward. My wrists hit the handguards right at the joint and went the wrong direction, hurt like hell and left them sore for a couple days. So I pulled the bark busters off. Next competition dropped the bike bent a clutch lever, competition after that hit a tree with the front brake lever and pinched my finger bad, but I decided to leave them off. Because I figure I can buy a lot of levers for the price of surgery on my wrist, as for the finger it is a toss up. (The bike also feels at least 20 pounds lighter without the bark busters )
I don't put bark busters on a trials bike...because it's just wrong. And anyone who does, we harass mercilessly.
Actually, it's a pain in the butt (and the wallet) to put them on a bike. Lots of function and geometry to work out. So while I'm amused to let this argument sputter on, I don't know whether my next new trials bike will get a set. I'm less worried about fingers anymore, and more about the way it slams onto the rocks without me...
Laugh all you want at bar risers but with a 38 inch inseam they are the only way to fly. I know all about GA and how tall he is but I have way more inseam and way more years. When I am standing on a trialer it is a long way down to the bike.
That's my problem as well. I am getting more willing to try new things but I am not as ready for some as I think some times and when I do it wrong... bam! bike takes a hit and its new lever time. I have indicated before on the thread but my goal is to get the ballet level riding down so I can pull my set off. Figure I keep practicing some time in the next 6 to 12 months I can pull them off.
They are wrong on a new bike. Try a ty 350 to see the difference. How ever if that is what gets you through the day to enjoy the ride, rise them all you want to keep riding!!! The bikes ergos are not my problems, knee issues since `75 and now the elbows are sucking. I`ve ridden with quality knee braces since 1990 and looks like I need to invent a new design for elbows!
I recon freedom will die form the coasts inward . Measures to ensure bad things don't happen aren't always bad, and not all change should be resisted, especially in these days of predatory lawyers. But there are an infinity of bad things that can happen, and safetycrats, driven by perception, will just keep taking chunks out your freedoms. Look at the photo of the GasGas Replica for 2013. What's with the rear sprocket! The webbing isn't machined clear through. And why? Because some control freak at the FIM is obsessed over someone putting a body part inside the open webbing. And in a weird move, GasGas markets it in a brochure as a positive, perhaps to deal with customer perception of it being weird. And think of the contextual irony. Right next to the sprocket is the massive open webbing of spoked wheels. What's next, solid wheels so the wind can steer for you in hilltop sections? The FIM are the same social engineers who assumed the sport was having participation trouble not from the 2008 economic collapse, or fuel being $10 a gallon in Europe, but due to pauses in sections? I wonder how many riders will now be hurt by being driven by fear of 5s into hurrying up and crashing? Oh wait! Filled-in sprockets to the rescue! Now back to the tethers. They can be a good idea, like seat belts in cars. We put them on only for the infrequent incidents. But the result is a dangly thing that has to be plugged in every time I get on the bike, for very infrequent stuck throttle incidents. Safetycrats is once you give into them and trade freedom for security, will just keep finding things to 'improve.'
I used think that as well, from the days of mistakenly high bars on TY350s. BUT, it recently dawned on me that my bars were just a little too low for my tall body. I've been 2 years now on two modern GasGas bikes with lift inserts under the bar clamps. I have found them to improve the majority time of stance. I'm super sensitive to the affect grip position has on steering acuity, and can report benefits without negative impacts. The 'new' Raga has the bar clamps raised 0.66"
You must have special gaurds,Ive never seen an ALU gaurd that made the bike 2" wider.1" wider is what the Enduro Engineering gaurds do on my 200. For woods riding narrowing of the bars is about mandatory anyways.
Jet skis, shifter carts, etc. I'm trying one out for my own piece of mind (and body) and the safety of others when I do an un-planned dismount. It has nothing to do with FIM or lawyers.........yet. BTW, when our club's women's TDN bike came back last year, it had a safety sticker deal on the rear sprocket. It was some kind of a hard plastic looking stick on cover that made it impossible for someone to stick their hand in the sprocket. That was a FIM rule. I think we had a guy a few years back cut up his hand real bad trying to catch a riders bike and he poked it into the sprocket area. Roswell, wasn't it. There is nothing wrong with making the sport safer for minders and spectators IMO. The kill tether has the added bonus of potentially helping the rider as well in a get off.
I am guessing you remember Joan Claybrook and Ralph Nader's attempts to outlaw motorcycles for "Public Safety" back in the 70s. I have the same disdain for people who would like to be my mom. Ever since then I have always been wary of trusting others power to restrict my freedoms for my own good, because usually those with that power have no clue what the real world is like. Do I think clubs mandating tether kill switches is going down that road, not really, but I understand your sentiments concerning the bigger picture. I did read today that all cars produced in 2014 will have to have black boxes, I have no idea of the details but I am pretty sure none of us fancy spending another $1,000.00 more for a car because some idiots like to drive like A holes and kill themselves and others. I think bark busters sounds like a good idea until I start trying to get frisky, then they may be a liability. Since I struggle to find anytime to ride lately, (brakes on a F-150 and a Subaru forester today ) its all moot at the moment at my house.
The sprocket guard is a joke! The inside holes covered up, it`s the chain that needs to be covered like a 1981 montesa to be effective. And the tether would not be a problem, but I bet they have to be an approved one. Personally the magnetics suck, Yamaha started making really good ones in the early 80`s. Very dependable, with no accidental cut off.
. Still stuck in the 80s. If only Yamaha made a trials bike to put that spiffy kill switch on. Yes, the chain is still the main problem IMO. I saw a kid lose a finger in one while pushing a bike. He reached down to find neutral while trying to push it and when it went in, I guess his hand slipped. Anyway, I gathered up the finger, put it in ice and took him to the ER. Doc takes a look at his hand, takes a look at the iced down finger and then steps down on the trash can opening pedal and tosses the finger in the trash!! :huh The kid kinda freaked out at that!
For the record - The rule to require the tethers in our club was voted on and passed by the membership. Theres also a provision to let 1st timers skate as well as support to get them setup with one if they want. $35 installed for a Jitsie version. Does take a little getting used to, but not bad. So no soup nazi effect here. Just riders trying to improve safety at our relatively crowded events. Cheap insurance guys - and hopefully we can keep it that way.
Wow - some story Gordy. Surprise ending too. Must have really sucked to be the kid. I lost the very tip of a finger in a MX crash. Could have been a lot worse - just a very light glancing blow to a wheel. One of those 1st turn pileups where everyone goes down and theres nothing you can do. I was alot luckier than the kid.
