V2XS

The Urban Trials event has been held in Cahors for a few years, but I had never been to see it before. This was the August 2018 event and it was amazing, particularly if you have ridden a trials bike and can understand the amount of skill and control that these riders have.

Toni BOU is the world No.1 and rides a Montesa 4RT for the factory Honda team – in fact he won this event although it was very close. The sections are set out and cordoned off in various parts of Cahors centre and the riders move from one section to the other to complete the course. When they arrive at a new section they park the bike and walk the section to decide on how they are going to tackle it, choose the best lines, etc. I just happend to be there as Toni BOU pulled up and I got to hold his bike for him while he walked the section! Famous at last?

Definitely a date for the diary for 2019.

Having signed up with Dougie and Mark to do the 3-day Sport Adventure “enduro-navigation” event in Normandie in November, I needed a bike to use. I contacted the organiser to discuss a few options and explain my basic level of competence. It seemed that it might be possible to do it on the Scorpa Trials but would be very hard work and hiring a bike appeared to be prohibitively expensive, so he suggsted just buying something, do the event and then sell it afterwards. Doug did very kindly offer to lend me one of his bikes if all else failed.

I searched around for some time and actually went to try out a couple of bikes – a Sherco 250 Enduro (which just felt too big compared to the trials) and a Beta X-Trainer which felt slightly smaller but was reletively new and therefore rather expensive. And then a Scorpa T-Ride came up locally and it felt easy to ride so I bought it. This is a French made bike but again using a Yamaha engine – in this case a detuned 250 four stroke 5 valve enduro engine. Scorpa are better known for their Trials machines and the T-ride is meant to be a cross-over bike in that it is bigger and heavier than a trials while maintaining some of the geometry, but not as large and unwieldy as a full size enduro machine.

Having got the T-ride home I spent many happy (some not so happy) hours fiddling about and “improving” it.

Steering head bearings were very tight but seem Ok now Ive adjusted them.

Wiring is a bit of a mess but only because of owner mods. The handlebar light switch is broken and they have added a switch for the lights (I assume) but it doesn’t seem to work. There is another add on toggle switch but I don’t know what it’s for yet – thought it may be a manual overidde for the electric fan but now not so sure as the fan wiring seems OK and uses a thermostatic switch. Horn had heath robinson wiring, but will probably remove and use the small battery electric horn I bought for the other scorpa but will not use on that bike as I’ll use this one if I want to go for a coffee etc.

Have removed the owner add-on stickers and got back to the original scorpa ones but the white has faded in the sun? and you can’t get originals any more. May be able to get a newer set which will fit ?

One headlamp rubber retaining strap broken. Slight damage to plastic inside bulb holder – araldite. fix needed.

Kick stand needs a bit of welding to get it to sit at the right angle – had the same issue on the other scorpa.

And so it went on….

Lots of fun re-doing the wiring.

Got rid of all the wiring that is surplus to requirements – indicators etc.
Found that the rear light / brake light was not working or only intermittent. Eventually traced to a loose wire going in to a plastic connector.
Two added-on toggle switches. One for the lights – why ? Because the light switch on the handlebar is broken.
Redid the connections for this switch but kept it.
The second switch appeared to be a manual switch / overide for the electric cooling fan. But I let the engine warm up and the fan came on by itself – thermostatic switch. So the extra switch and wiring were removed.
Also removed the horn – one of the wires was broken.

I mentioned that I had adjusted the head dearings but when I did a short test ride round the garden the front end was clonking as they weren’t tight enough. Played with the adjustment some more and then decided I needed to have a look. The bottom race was not too bad but the upper race has some corrosion – replacements ordered.

Welded some extra material on to the kickstand to make it sit correctly. Discovered it was bent and already had a stiffening repair.

Out for a ride with me on the T-ride and Alexander on the Scorpa Trials…

It was all going so well, until…

More trials training around the garden – with the benefit of the tricks in the sticks experience.

Following Dougie and Mark’s visit earlier in the month and my initiation into trail riding, the Duke had to go – despite it being my “dream bike”. Years ago, when I was working in the UK I did a secondment to one of our offices in the Midlands and used to chat about bikes with my boss – the MD. When the time came to move back down South he presented me with an envelope – inside was an unexpected bonus cheque and a KTM Duke 2 brochure, which I still have. It wasn’t until ten years later in France that I actually bought the bike.
Lots of pictures of the bike here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Fn8axBPioAnAxXBu6

Here is the sales copy I produced for the English ad:

Most fun you can have with your clothes on?
For sale my mint condition KTM Duke. Fast and fun with massive grin factor, without getting up to silly superbike speeds. Very quick up to 70-80 mph and will see off sportsbikes in the twisties.
The KTM Duke is arguably the biking equivalent of the Mark 1 Golf GTi and heading for similar classic status – taking a motocross derived chassis and engine and making it “civilised” for the street with quality suspension components, big Brembo brakes and fat sticky tyres. This was one of the first supermotos purpose built for the road rather than being a converted off roader.
145Kg and 55hp.
The quality of the parts is excellent – Fully adjustable WP suspension, Magura bars, exquisite BBS wheels, Honda replica switchgear, lightweight screws, stainless steel oil lines, and hardened aluminium parts like the work-of-art brake pedal and eccentric chain adjusters.
MCN review : The Duke’s a mad indulgence, but it’s one of the most charismatic and beautiful motorcycles you can buy.
This is a 2003 bike and has covered only 8,600 Km. I have owned her for the last seven years and done more admiring and polishing than riding. Nothing needed on the maintenance front – ready to ride. Recently changed oil and filters, new radiator and hoses. Tyres are virtually new. Front is an AVON PXR – a road legal racing wet (ideal on a lightweight supermoto) and the rear is a ContiAttack SM – a semi slick supermoto specific tyre. French bike not an import, carte grise in my name.
The only mods I have made are the usual Duke 2 tweaks of derestricted airbox and debaffled silencers – it sounds awesome. Comes with original parts which could be refitted to return completely to stock in 20mins.
Good examples of these bikes are not depreciating any more and are on their way to classic status so this could be a good investment as well as a big boy’s toy.
Go on, you know you want to.

Dougie and Mark called in on their way to Spain for a week-long off road adventure called the “Mini Mondo” with Austin VINCE. Dougie was in his big van and it was full of bikes and we had a great couple of days riding the trails around here on a variety of bikes – from my little Scorpa Trials that I had only just purchased up to Doug’s big BMW G450X Enduro. He had also brought along two KTM Freerides – one 350 4T and one electric, plus Mark’s KTM 250 4T Enduro.

This visit marked a significant turning point for me as despite the fact that I live in a place surrounded by wonderful trails (which the other guys were very envious of), I had never done any off road motorbike riding. Although I have had many motorbikes over the years, including some pretty interesting ones, they have all been road bikes. My road bike at the time was a KTM Duke 2 – a 640cc single supermoto. This was my dream bike and I had wanted one for years, but in fact I hardly used it. The problem was that the bike was so capable that I found myself riding fast (too fast) in order to get to a level that I found interesting. This is clearly a dangerous practice on the road and as a result I tended to do very few rides. Trying the off road experience was a revelation because the same level of excitement and feeling close to the limit of what the bike and you are capable of happens at very low speed. I was sold, and so was the KTM shortly after Dougie’s visit. Off roading here we come!

I clearly needed to learn a lot of new skills and get plenty of practise if I was going to be able to even keep the other guys in sight on the trail. We talked about getting some training and we started planning to make a visit to Tricks In The Sticks in Kent for a day’s trials training. The other challenge on the horizon was a 3 day “enduro” event in Normandie in November which Mark and Doug had already signed up for.

Only been off roading 5 minutes and already picked up an injury – those footpegs have sharp edges. Need some proper boots / shin protectors.