Trial riders need their clutch?

[macribs]

Ok, well that is nice. That kind of strategy has been used with great success in the tech world and IT for 20 odd years. Don't know much about Yamaha yet. But it seems at least one of their bikes are already racing in EU. Or could you even say racing when it comes to trails bike? For me racing has some aspects of speed one way or another. Not so much in trails.

What are the trials competitions called, are they racing series or what is the common term by people that attend those or even compete in trails?

The more I've learned about trials bikes and how technical the courses are the more I feel trials riding would be a new way to enjoy two wheels, outdoor, and possible be able to venture out to places and terrain no other 2 wheel vehicle will make it. I've been having and idea in the back of my mind for a long time for a trails/enduro/e-bike hybrid of some sort. But after crash a while back, multiple surgeries and a very long recovery when I finally healed up spending time in garage was not on te top of the my to-do-list. Last year it was all about riding as much a possible and wrenching as little I could get by with. And we are finally seeing nice weather this year. Would be crazy to start a project now,probably smarter and a lot quicker to just order a ready made and complete bike in a box and start riding and learning rather then piss away hours and hours in the garage. I guess that garage project just got pushed back to late fall early winter.

 

[bikerpete]

It's only any fun at all if you've got a clutch.
hehehe

 

[macribs]

Yeah I got that was a universal truth for gas powered trials bike. There have been electric trials bike out for few years without clutch, oset bikes comes to mind. And even the first e-Motion bikes had no clutch, so when manufacturer adds clutch and flywheel weights that can be swapped then clutch must have an advantage also for electric trials bikes.

 

[bikerpete]

That was totally tongue in cheek.

When you start out on trials you'll be so busy learning new skills, whether the bike has a clutch or not will be the least of your concerns.
Can you track stand at will on all sorts of terrain? Can you do full lock turns on different terrain - really full-lock, jam the steering against the stop and don't let it come off? Can you loft the front wheel and put it onto an obstacle exactly where you want it, within an inch? Can you balance virtually stationary, drop your bum to the rear guard then spring up and off the pegs while twisting on the throttle, and land in balance again, preferably balanced on the back wheel?
On an ICE bike, yes you'll need a decent clutch, but mostly just so you don't stall the engine. Electric - I don't think it'll matter in the least for quite some time. And by then you may well have found you can do anything you actually want to without one anyway. If you take a look at the abundant UK club trial videos you'll see lots of riding on awkward, often slippery terrain. Hardly a big hop to be seen. No clutch required. That's more like most people's trials reality.

I tend to think there's not yet a substitute for a clutch, but you'll probably need 2-300 hours of trials riding before you even start to get to the point where it really matters.

Oh, and they do call them "races", though that doesn't sit well with me either. I prefer "comps", or just "Trials".

 

[macribs]

I've been riding motorcycles, mx bikes for the better part of my life, for more the 25 years. And I still ride e-bikes, liter bike, and an older mx bike set up for "enduro trials", light off road like gravel roads, single tracks and some moderate technical riding up steep stuff etc. So I've spend some time in the saddle of various bikes, and in the later years also various e-bikes. When I ride bikes with a clutch I got so much more control over slow speed technical. Be it darting in between lanes in traffic, or riding narrow tracks or climbing obstacles. I do full lock turn very easy, have a rather strong balance - not trial riding balance yet but still pretty good. Using brakes I can stop in an intersection or behind cars often without the need for putting me feet down to the ground. Or ride off road in tight places and and do full turns at creep speed. But I can't stand at the pegs for minutes on end, or at least I never tried that.

But riding motorcycles, mx bikes, electric bikes and bicycles I do see a place for a clutch. I lean heavily on the clutch at various settings. Going up steep hills off-road, I use the clutch a lot to control the rear wheel speed and traction. Slow speed navigation in tight places as well. I also got an ice scooter (in the terms of EU scooter - where you sit down and ride) with "snowmobile clutch variator" so no clutch it works like a snowmobile. That is one of the project bikes that I still have not completed btw. Sometimes on sunny days I do some urban riding on that bike, like to go to the store, head out for coffee etc. And because of the lack of manual gearbox and clutch that bike is much harder to master at really tight places in creeping speed, cos you need to keep the clutches "partly engaged" by throttle alone, much harder. Even if it has a very low center of gravity because of the low mounted under floor gas tank and ice engine almost as low.

If I decide to go electric trial I will just get the one with the clutch from e-motion and be done with it. Not sure I will need the clutch but better safe then sorry. I likely will never develop serious trail riding skills because I got no place real close by where I can ride and I can't find the time to join trials club where I could lean from others. But as long as I can ride more difficult stuff on a trials bike then I can on an e-bike or the old ktm mx that will be a win in my book.

 

[bikerpete]

If you can afford it, buy the e-Pure Race. I certainly would if I could!
As you say if you don't need it, you don't have to use it (clutch that is).

I expect you'll be impressed with what the trials bike will get you up and over that was previously difficult on go-fast bikes (enduro, MX, trail, even things like Sur Ron and LMX - all "go-fast" as far as I'm concerned). Just be prepared to make some significant changes to how you ride - trials suspension is almost non-existent compared to MX/Enduro bikes.

I look forward to hearing how it works out for you if you do get one.

 

[Altair]

snip/
I expect you'll be impressed with what the trials bike will get you up and over that was previously difficult on go-fast bikes (enduro, MX, trail, even things like Sur Ron and LMX - all "go-fast" as far as I'm concerned).
/snip

I totally agree with that, and the fun part is that you can also go fast when you want, although it's not as comfortable. And trials bikes are much kinder to the trails, they don't rip up the ground nearly as much as the other bikes, you're not being hated as much as on the other bikes, (although most people can't tell the difference between bike types). But most of the time, you won't be riding large areas of the woods anyway, you will rather concentrate in specific spots that are not popular with anyone else.