V2XS

Trying to get in plenty of practise on the T-ride in preparation for the 3-day Normandie adventure. Very conscious that all the other guys are vastly more experienced than me and I don’t want to be holding everyone up.

My regular short ride is to do what I call the “valley route” which probably takes 30 minutes or so and has some interesting technical bits. The “waterfall” is just below the house and is a steepish downhill section with lots of tree roots and two rock steps – pretty straightforwrd on the way down but quite challenging on the way back up. Then there is the “rock garden” which is like a dry stream bed with lots of rocks which needs good balnce and throttle/clutch control to get through without putting a foot down. At the other end of the valley is the “valley hill climb” which is steep, loose and with an S bend part way up – not easy to get right. Finally there is the “cenac trail”, a short piece of very narrow single track with a drop off on one side and a narrow gap between two trees to squeeze through – very hard to get through without at least one “dab”.

I’ve been trying to find a trail route that I can use to get from the house into Cahors, using as little road as possible, and have gradually been exploring the little lines marked on the map which represent potential trails. One of the trails I have discovered drops down into Luzech and I used it on my way into Cahors. As you descend the trail there is a big drop off to the right and on the left is a post in the single track trail that you have to wriggle the handlebars round. On the way down I went past it with no problem, but remember thinking “oops I was a bit close to the edge there”. On the way back from Cahors later in the day, feeling tired and cold, starting to go dark I went up the same trail….

Only this time when I tried to wriggle the bars past the post I got it wrong, the bar hit the post and sent the bike over the edge of the drop off. I jumped clear but the bike slid down the slope and came to rest against a small bush a few yards down a very steep slope and in danger of slipping futher down.

I struggled for some time to drag the bike back up the slope but it was too steep/too heavy. Fortunately a walker happened to be passing and then a car stopped and with three of us we managed to recover the bike….

A bit of a close shave !

We stayed on an extra day after the Tricks In The Sticks Training to do a day’s trail riding around the lanes in Kent. Dougie kindly provided the bikes – a KTM 350 Freeride for me and the big BMW 450X for him. He had also mapped out some suitable routes, probably using some insider knowledge from his role as a director of the TRF (Trail Riders Fellowship).

We followed some trails that clearly had not been used for a long time and were overgrown with brambles, which was fun!

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.