Life or Slow Death for Observed Trials

I thought to start a thread to generate some ideas for growing trials at a local level, where the sport really lives or dies. Would any disagree that we are bumping along rather poorly at present? The FIM think so, and their answer is in controlling things and regressing to the past. I don't want this thread to be about them, however, but about us and what we can do right where we live.

The survival of the sport we love will depend more on our ability to attract riders, or not. Riders who spend money and get excited and are willing to travel to support the sport.

The world is a very dynamic place. We aging riders are caught up in sea changes beyond our control, religious, economic, political, and demographic. Youth are being raised in an increasingly safety-obsessed and liberty-hostile society. They are more inclined to twist virtual, rather than physical, throttles. When I was young, "pop a wheelie!" was heard coming out of kid's mouths everywhere I rode. Now they can't see you because their faces are stuck to brain suckers, or they aren't even outside because outside is perceived as too dangerous.

We are a subset of the subculture of motorcycling. Some of our best prospects are among those most able to understand trials - motorcyclists. Yet we do poorly at attracting them. I was once also on the outside, and concur with my riding buddy that I too wish I had started rather than finished in trials. For the longest time, I just couldn't see it.

As riding areas shrink, trials is a natural outlet - even a salvation - to off roaders. Yet so few see it. Why is that? Something we are missing?

What can we do or be doing better at a local level to help insure our sport's survival? What are our weaknesses and how might we address them with positive solutions?

For one thing, we need more exposure. A lot of motorcyclists I meet have never heard of observed trials. There's seldom, if ever, any mention of trials in motorcycle publications, or TV, or anywhere - in the US anyway.

And you're right, kids don't seem to ride dirtbikes, and stuff like they used to when I was a kid. Back in the pre-Atari days.

It lacks excitement. Nothing compares to a bunch of guys chasing each other thru the woods or around a track for a few hours.Most people would rather engage their opponent directly than through a judges eye. I'm not saying its not fun and exciting for the individual involved but its more of a solo endeavor.

Motorcycle dealers are not trials motorcycle dealers.

In NM, we are lucky to only have a 1 or 2 hour drive to prime riding land.

Albuquerque has a cheesy arenacross with minor league riders. Can we get an endurocross?

Trials videos show experts doing expert stuff. They don't show normal humans riding lower level stuff and having fun. Who wants to watch that?

Ditto about lack of media exposure.

All forms of real sport are suffering in the age of electronic gaming and virtual life.

I know the NMTA has done a couple of demo's at a local watering hole, but again that is experts on big obstacles. I wonder if we could maybe get together with the local MX track and set up some sections on a track day, maybe even have bikes for them to try a few on. That's how I got hooked, when minding my own business at a dual sport event

First at least were I live the areas were dirt biking can be done got rare. It's not as easy possible as it was only two decades or more possible.

The hobbys of the youth has changed dramatically. There is now a better chance to find bicycle trials teens then before. May be this will change when electro bikes got the full potential. For many other teens the hobby is much more related to things with bits and byte.

To keep the sport more interests we need more speed during the events. Less obstacles that are extremly difficult high and dangerous. More obstacles that can be still ridden, this might sound boring for experts but you have to think about these people you wan't to get interested for the sport as a complete beginner. It doesn't should look like a sport that can only done by a handfull specialists this will keep people off as it looks for them too difficult. And who is willing to spend money in a hobby where it seems from the first view on that this is a mission impossible.

If we will get to this point again that also people that are not in this sport can think about getting partly as good as they will manage the course other riders has done then we will get more riders.

Living in Wisconsin I have had the privilege of watching Pat Smage ride trials several times.
It was the most exiting thing I have ever saw on a motorcycle.

When was the last time you invited a friend or family to watch trials? No need they can't get to the sections to watch. Long loops may be what some riders want but it is not spectator friendly.

We need more events closer to home (wherever that may be). And to do that, we need more participants. The motorcycle community is where the participants are and I think the solution is trial sport (something I thought I made up but as it turns out they already have a championship in England). They call theirs the Trail Bike Championship (trials championship on street legal trail bikes). We could easily start a championship in the US using the existing dual sport rides and get maximum exposure for trials. The sections wouldn't have to be too difficult and some of the land use problems would be solved by being able to ride on the roads to access suitable riding areas. All manufacturers would have eligible machines and eventually some of the participants would probably want to take it a step further and get a proper trials bike.

I agree 100% with the idea to make the sport more spectator friendly. When im TM at our club, I make sure I have a few spectator friendly sections in or very close to the parking area(in plain sight). I include some man made obstacles (big truck tires. logs ect..) if needed to help perk up the difficulty. This always goes over very well with everyone. I think you only need a couple sections like this to pull people in as any more can be very hard to make/find at every venue. We are also making better signage to let spectators know they can watch for free. I hope it helps - not sure it will, but worth a try. Our hope is to grab the Dad/Mom/Son/Daughter driving bye that didn't know anything about it and come check it out as a result. Some of our venues are pretty close to towns/busy intersections. If they drive into a parking lot and nobody is around, they probably wont stick around.

Bleachers and beer.

Making trials work has always been tough. First off, it is an individual sport. You have to cater to the individual first. Spectator friendly has nothing to do with that. ( Except leave the first and last section for family members to have something to watch.) For you new riders this spectator friendly shit has been going on for twenty years.
We are in a down turn for a few reasons. The economy sucks and the real riders are getting old. The tough sell is the young riders have been bred to be lazy. So you have to get them to learn the joy of riding. sweating, and actually liking the idea of self accomplishment.
The plus side is riders who are paying attention realize (finally) a trials back ground makes you a better all around rider. So these two things is what we need to bring in new riders.
The other flip to the coin, which our club has been terrible at is keeping in touch with old riders who have stopped competing for whatever reason. A few things I have noticed through the years is two fold. The sections have got way harder in the lower classes (all classes). A novice rock is a novice rock. It does not matter if you are riding a 1975 TY250 or a new Jota Gas, you are a novice rider riding what should be a novice line. I can`t tell you how many riders have slowly dropped by the wayside.
The other problem is new social media. Some clubs have had websites changed over and over again. Some have gone to facebook or yahoo groups. Nothing is wrong with that except there is no trail leading to the new sites. Here is a great example, several large clubs have this link and the majority does not even have a link at all to the website of the NATC. Moto trial is BULL SHIT. http://mototrial.us/te Trials is an observed event and it is kept small because there is nothing but small cliques all across the country. If a old rider is looking even for his old club or the NATC, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack let alone a new rider trying to find an OBSERVED TRIALS CLUB.:huh

1: Trials is hard, very few people do it well from the get go. You just can't hold the throttle open longer than the guy next to you and win.
2: People watching can't tell who is winning. It makes it hard to root for someone.
3: Sections have became scary. A new rider looks at them and instead of thinking that someday he will be able to do them, he thinks that he will never be able to do that.
4: The motorcycles have become too specialized. You can't really cow trail one or just goof off in a pasture with your buddies.
Sorry, I don't have a lot of upside to share with everyone other than trials has been the most fulfilling riding experiences that I have ever had. But I am one of the rare breed that likes to challenge myself instead of impressing everyone around me.

Some of the clubs around here have been putting enduro bike sections in the trials sections for those who want to try trials but may not be able to pony up for a trials bike. There has been a little interest. There has been much debate on the 50/50 scoring our club,STRA,has in place for now. You ride half the day and score half the day. I feel it rushes me through the event. Some riders said they wont ride an event again until the 50/50 is removed. It solved the problem of finding scorers for each event however. I thought peer scoring was ok when finding scorers was a problem. Im cool with however the club members want it though. Too many rules changes too often dont help either. Stop, no stop etc. Trying to keep up with FIM seems to drive the rules changes from what little I pay attention.

We have done the morning/ scoring and afternoon/ scoring for decades. People are flat out lazy and self absorbed anymore. Scoring in groups can be fun, if the club is so small that you have to do it that way. Riding at your own pace is the best way to ride. Scoring for the other classes is one of the best way to know all your fellow club members. These people that want to show up and ride for two hours and go home do nothing for the club. Go try any other motor sports and you will spend all day there and ride a very short time.

P.S.- I do WAY more scroring than riding events. I enjoy it as much as riding. Probably more.

I wish I knew the answer.. The same problem exists for many forms of motorcycle riding as the population of riders age, and the amount of new riders drops every year.
Much as I enjoy local trials events, I don't think that a slow riding contest offers the excitement, fun or cool factor needed to attract many new young participants.
Inviting new people to watch local trials is worth trying, but is it likely that a young person seeing it for the first time would think it exciting, fun and cool?

However take a look at the 2012 Red Bull trials event in the centre of Manchester UK, that event was fun and cool and impressed my kids and their friends. Maybe that format or publicity is what we need?
The popularity of bicycle trials should help. Every new video from Danny Macaskill will really help - if only we can convince people to try motorcycle trials instead, or, in addition to bicycle trials.
I don't think blaming video games helps us, video games are popular because some of them are tremendously exciting, fun and cool. The fact that they cost hundreds rather than thousands of dollars also helps.

More like they do not have to leave their room, break a sweat or no real fear. Life is so easy when it is all unreal.

This is a great topic for a thread!

I have tried, or seen tried, most of the suggestions expressed here, with little success. It has occurred to me that I've been trying to attract new riders with things that are attractive to me, but I'm already a Trials rider! The key is to make the sport more attractive to non trials riders without screwing up the sport. I'd like to hear from non trials riders about what would attract them.
The one thing that I've seen repeatedly over the years, is the value of a good dealer that promotes trials bikes alongside other motorcycles. A mainstream sport needs mainstream dealers. If Honda (or any major company), would put Trials bikes on U.S. showrooms it would be a tremendous boon to the sport. Trials bikes need to be seen as legitimate motorcycles with "easy terms, no money down" like the products that are outselling them now.

I read this thread thinking the same thing about bicycle trials. We used to have scored contests all over the US in the mid-late 90s. Either I'm completely out of touch now, or actual contests are much rarer now.

The videos are entertaining, but that style of riding is unapproachable by mortals. Now that I'm older, I want to find an affordable mototrials machine, but I can't justify the expense for a bike I have little opportunity to ride.