What is Motorcycle Trials?

Trials is a test of motorcycle handling skills and agility.

Riders must complete a series of “sections” ridden over rough terrain, some sections are twisty, others are over obstacles such as rocks/logs, some travel through streams, some are hill climbs. Sections are not timed therefore there is no speed element to Trials, so no advantage is gained from being the quickest.

Who are the Riders?

There are over 200 Wobblers members aged from as young as 6 and to old as 80, they all ride around the same flagged route so Dad can ride round with his Son and Grandad can go round with his Granddaughter.

With only a little off-road riding experience or a small amount of instruction you could ride a trial at the Wobblers. Many entrants also find that their skills cross over from other biking, be they mountain biking, road motorcycling or other off-road motorcycle sports. This means that they can start straight away developing trials skills.

How Can I Start?

Come along to a Wobblers Trial, we are at Drumcarrow every month, dates, times and directions are on the website.

The Trials Bike.

The Trials bike is smaller and lighter than Enduro and Motocross bikes, and indeed looks similar to a mountain bike, this makes them 

much easier to manoeuvre and turn, they generally don't have a seat as sections are ridden standing up.

Trials bikes are easier and less expensive to maintain than other off-road motorcycles and at the Wobblers level of competition older models are of little disadvantage. Trials bikes are often less expensive to buy than their motocross and enduro counterparts  and running costs are also cheaper.

The cost of a reasonable trials bike ranges from £800 (secondhand) to north of £8000 (for brand new Gucci models). So depending on the level you want to ride at in the sport, your capabilities and finances, you can start anywhere in that range.

What shall I Wear?

You must wear correctly fitting equipment when riding trials to prevent foreseeable injury.

Mandatory Equipment is :

• A certified motorcycle helmet (full face helmets are not suitable for trials but can be used)
• Knee high motorcycle boots.

Recommended Equipment is :

• Proper trials or mountain biking gloves
• Long sleeved jersey
• Proper trials, or motocross trousers
• You may also want to consider wearing pads, knee pads or elbow pads are frequently used.

And Cost

* Boots can cost from     £100 up

* Helmet can cost from   £ 50 up

* Gloves can cost from   £ 10 up

* Pants can cost from    £ 45 up

* Tops can cost from     £ 30 up

The above costs are for basic kit, however depending on your budget and taste you can go all out and buy matchy matchy gear to emulate your trials idols.

Where do the riders go?

Sections are normally laid out along a flagged route which the riders must follow, and numbered in order 1-10; in most Wobblers trials four laps of the sections are completed.

The sections are set out as multiple routes, with start and finish gates. There are however normally 2 routes for riders to follow:

The A Route : flags set out to provide more of a challenge for the experienced riders.

The B Route : Set out for less challenging riding, this is generally used by riders of less experience, twin shock riders or those who love getting out on their bike without tackling the bigger challenges. 

The flagged route ensures any damage to the land is minimal, as the land is normally owned by a benevolent farmer or landowner.

How are the riders marked?

Riders choose at the beginning of the trial whether to ride the A route which goes between the red and blue section gates and also tackling the Yellow flagged gates for the more experienced riders, or the Clubman route, which uses only the red and blue gates. Although not laid out on a normal trial, if there are enough prior requests the trials convener can lay out a White Route for the younger or absolute beginners.

Riders are given a card numbered 1-20 and this has boxes marked 0-5 on each row. Riders should ride in a group with another member of the group being responsible for scoring the other riders card. Some trials will have an observer standing at each section who will mark every rider's card after they complete the section. This relies on riders bringing family or friends with them who are willing to help out, or forfeiting their own ride.

Scoring.

In Motorcycle Trials points are not won they are lost. The object is to finish the trial on as few marks as possible.

  A zero mark is called a "Clean" the most marks a rider can lose in a section is 5 . The list below gives a general idea :

* If a rider puts one foot down in a section this is called a "Dab" and one mark is lost.

* if a rider "Leans" against a tree/rock/verge with any part of his body this is also one mark.

* 2 feet down counts as two marks

* 3 or more "dabs" counts as 3 marks lost (even if the rider paddles their way through the whole section)

* There are no 4 marks

* 5 marks are lost when the motorcycle ceases forward motion for more than momentary stop. If the rider puts a foot down while stationary, fails to stay between the correct markers, crosses their own path, or fails to complete the section for any other reason.