Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/919511
28 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com The Trials Sec on By Stu Preston Happy New Year friends! We hope you've been enjoying the coverage of Trials here in Trail Rider over the last year as we con nue to explore the mysterious world of Observed Trials. In previous issues we've covered the many recent advances in Trials performance with an en re ar cle de- voted to the suspension characteris cs of today's newest machines. This me we've focused on an- other rather complex aspect of these machines. Let's discuss the power made by the various bikes on the market and how it's evolved over the many years of compe on in Trials. Now in almost every other type of formal mo- torsports compe on, we fi nd the various class- es and categories are most o en defi ned and divided into diff erent displacement classes based on the sizes of the engines of the machines being u lized. But once again, Trials stands apart from the norm, with any and all displacements being allowed to compete on the same course and in the same class and all at the same me. In Trials, we fi nd the various classes are divided by rider ability and the level of diffi culty of the course itself, rather than the size and power of the bikes being used. Every rider is allowed the opportunity to choose whatever mount suits their personal skills, styles and preferences for the course on a given day. Finding the perfect fi t can be quite an advantage as I have seen situa ons where a small- er and lighter rider on a smaller displacement bike becomes the fi rst to conquer a diffi cult hill climb where larger displacement bikes had previously failed. Conversely I have also seen much bigger men muscle a larger bore bike through a series of technical areas that had previously stopped the smaller bikes along the way. As we like to say in Trials > It's all about Balance! Now on a race course, where a faster lap me is always the goal, we will usually fi nd that even the slowest entrants in a given class will at least be able to successfully navigate the same course as the faster riders, with the big diff erence being in the lap mes themselves. It is this that separates the winners from the also rans. So with that as a