@Neil Price so first #feelings .... (followed by wall questions, and a short observation on riding a 2021 TRS GOLD) I started with front brake only. Initially I rushed the movement and ended up with a big body movement with a big uncoordinated rebound upwards instead of back. Going from there I "corrected" my movement on the next try. This time I got a roll back. Next was rear brake followed by both brakes. I honestly couldn't tell much difference in distance, but my body movements felt slightly different depending on which brake I used. Both brakes yielded the shortest roll back and the furthest roll back. The shortest I blame on poor brake release coordination timing. I probably should of noticed more of a difference and maybe if I recorded it I would see a difference. I am a big user of brakes to assist lofting the front end. Often front, but sometimes rear and sometimes both. Situational dependent. Could that be why I noticed a less profound difference compared to some of the others because I am more used to this and my body comps for the changes? Could it be I'm just dense, cold, and unfeeling.... 🤣??? Ok second thing and this is a question I would be curious to get some technicalish feedback on. Two of our top national Vintage riders as well as local expert level modern riders were working the last event. They suggest (and this is based on input from National Pro class riders, and then experimented with by them) people often ride in too high of a gear and first is capable and sometimes much more preferable than second even when the giant rocks/walls are well beyond the avg individual. Their suggestion to me was to switch from second to 1st and try attacking my wall that way. Tonight I got out and had a quick go at it. The results were about 800-1000 more rpm to get up the wall. The action was much more aggressive,and there was more initial take off wheel spin (currently dry ground which turns our soil into sand). I had less feedback from the rear tire. I suppose maybe it all just happened so fast my brain couldn't process the feedback so I just say there wasn't. Idk. Point is it was release closer to the wall and slower, but it was a much more quick and violent climb up. When done in second gear speeds were maybe slightly faster and release maybe earlier, BUT I could FEEL the rear end of the bike. I could feel the compression of the suspension against the wall and I could feel the rear tire gripping and as the rear tire crested the top of the wall I could feel the grip and the slow lowering of front tire, more like the sensations of when I was doing the slow challenge stuff. Max RPM was about 6200 RPM for 1st and 5400 RPM for second. I am sure learning to do the wall in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd eventually will all be valuable learning, but I am curious as to your thoughts on gearing and bike reaction when it comes to this particular application. I do believe, and after tonight "know" I think... that 1st if ground traction allows will give me the fastest bike rotation and thus maybe allow me to start closer to the wall provided I am brave enough to twist the throttle open enough. For reference I am a almost always first gear rider and I would say Vertigo rivals Beta for a super low 1st gear, but I feel (haven't been back to back so memory may be deceiving ) Vertigo ratios are closer together. One last note.. Neil I know I am a die hard 300 guy be it enduro or trial and I know we disagree a bit on that. When it comes to TRS I 100% agree 250 is all any Club level guy that isn't at cray-z elevation needs. Spent some time on a brand new TRS 250 GOLD, and the owner told me to go ride it over some rocks. Took it on a decent hillside, and into a old SPT section from spring time. Dang those TRS 250s are snappy. Blows away any 300 I have ridden for off idle response and aggressiveness . Honestly without some adaptation time it is more aggressive then I'd want. Part of it is because I am a Vertigo rider. I have a very responsive, very precise throttle bike, but also one with a very soft low end. I am so spoiled by how smooth my bike is and getting on that TRS, or honestly any of the 3 TRS 250s I've tried now ...WOW they are quick! OK this now concludes my short novel ha ha ha!

Posted by Shawn McGinnis at 2021-09-16 01:01:17 UTC