Toni Bou

[Hook#3287]

The word campion Trials rider went down recently.

OWCH!

https://youtu.be/jOxtoCX3Nzw

I saw him in CT a couple of years ago, truly amazing skills and balance.

[RDKLL]

Love watching trials riding...amazing skill and balance!

[Jess from VA]

For the few years I had my Yami DT360, I regularly practiced trials-like riding, as well as dirt and hill climb.  And regularly fell over too.  Trying not to put your foot down (like trials riders) until you had to, made a lot of falls worse than they had to be.

My favorite practice was running back and forth short S turns over the double dead men (concrete parking barriers) lined up in big supermarket parking lots. 

But I never could do what that guys does.  The 360 was really too big and heavy (and torquey) for real trials work, and had crappy suspension (compared to modern trials machines).  And I never let all the air out of my tires either (except one time stuck at the bottom of a muddy hill in the woods).

[BobB]

I rode Observed Trials in the early '70s, but it was nothing like we see done today.  It has become an extreme sport.  I rode an OSSA Plunker and MAR.  We only put 4 PSI in the rear tire but had to screw the tire bead to the wheel to prevent tire slip on the rim.  Modern trials bikes have a water cooled engine around 300 cc and weigh less than 200 pounds...