Observed Trials Tech

New ITSA Champ!

2010-12-30T22:06:00.002-06:00

Well it looks like ITSA's most dominant rider has finally landed a highly coveted illusive Mid-West Championship Jacket!
He probably deserved it!
Merry Christmas Son.

ITSA Trials School!

2010-11-02T21:27:00.003-05:00

Thought I'd put a little add here for the trials school that Dustin and I will be hosting on Friday, November 12th. The day before the ITSA Southeast finals being held the 13th and 14th.

Get the details on the ITSA site.

Fearless Charlie's Birthday Weekend!

2010-10-28T20:55:00.007-05:00

Well what more could you ask for.......trials bikes, trail bikes, good friends, cookout, camp fire, music, and do it ALLLLLLL WEEKEND!!!!!!!!
Oh....we had a couple of beers too.

I have never seen anyone so happy with a junk motorcycle. I mean his birthday present, a Honda SL70! In boxes!

Did we have fun?
You decide.

Happy Birthday Charlie!

New B&J Product Line

2010-10-13T21:49:00.005-05:00

B&J is now manufacturing our own line of silencers. The first to be ready are the Yamaha TY250 twinshocker and the Suzuki RL250.

B&J's silencers are made of round tubing to give them a more classic look. They also have their end caps machined from billet aluminum. Both ends are removeable for ease of mantainance. If you for some reason find it necessary to replace a component they are available seperately. Custom applications available for those special projects. Here is a shot of a B&J Silencer on a PE175 Suzuki.

Check them out at: www.bjracing.com

Last Weekend

2010-09-08T21:53:00.008-05:00

Well, last weekend was a holiday weekend and the crew got together to have a little fun riding at the Ranch.
One thing led to another and the next thing we knew Fearless Charlie had his chain saw fired up and we were all working on our new ITSA CREW Campsite! The chips were flying and the brush piles were growing!
Next thing we knew ........... We have.....

An ITSA Grill/Smoker.......Thank you Jeannie!

An ITSA Woodshed!

And an ITSA well deserved Nap!

And we rode a bunch too!

TTC....ITSA Fun on the Rocks!

2010-07-26T21:24:00.003-05:00

Looks like the guys are having a little pow wow.

So....you didn't practice your rock technique?

Looking for advice from your bud's isn't going to help.

Just Do It!

We all struggled on the rocks at first.

It had been a year since we experienced the abundance of rocks available to us at TTC.

The variety always amazes me. There are small rollers to giant solid outcrops.

See more pictures at: www.twinshock.org

MAN THAT WAS FUN!

WILD TY!

2010-07-19T23:23:00.005-05:00

Some days the ole TY has a mind of it's own.

Great caution has to be taken when this happens.

Keeping low and circling appears to be good technique.

Then grab it by the horns and .....

Well ..... hope no one saw that!

ITSA Trials at TTC this weekend

2010-07-06T23:37:00.003-05:00

The final 2 rounds of ITSA's North American Championship are this weekend at TTC in Tn.

The crew are going down on Thursday morning to lay out the sections.

I'm going to ride my Majesty.

Hockeyboy is riding his TLR Honda. He keeps it here at B&J's shop. I think I will make sure everything is adjusted to my advantage...I mean my liking for him!

More Bikes That Never Existed

2010-07-02T09:38:00.007-05:00

Here is another shot of the twin Honda trialer. Pretty interesting to` me.

And let's not forget the Peter Gaunt creations. Here is a picture of him competing on his Suzuki B105p.

Never Happened

2010-06-28T22:30:00.004-05:00

A British bike purist told me once that bikes like the Honda Honda 2 never existed.

Funny, how easy it is to find pictures of those non existing "tiddlers".

This is a Honda 175 twin.

I may just have to build something weird like this.....

Since all my bikes are so conventional!

Looking Back

2010-06-24T20:46:00.021-05:00

I was taking a walk through my pictures and it took me to memory lane.

I rode my first motorcycle competition in 1967 on a Triumph Mountain Cub. I have competed in enduros, trials, flat track, TT races, motocross, cross country, 8 hour marathons and a few odd special events no one has a name for as yet.

I am proud to say that I made it to expert ranking in everything I tried except enduros. They were the first form of competition I tried and at the age of 15, I emphasize tried! When I finally got back to them they had changed tremendously and I was to old to keep up!
Well I'm rambling....so , what's my point?

I love this sport. It has enabled me to travel not only throughout this country but the world, competing in Mexico, Canada and Scotland. I have met so many interesting people and made lifelong friends all over the globe.

I think if we all look back for just a minute we may find some common ground.

In the troubled times of the here and now it is easy to let life take us from these treasured times. I for one am going to pursue future good times with old and new friends to be.

Here are a couple of pictures of my trip to the Pre-65 Scottish in 2004. I am with my old friend Graham and my new friends Bob Baker and Allen Worthington.

Many thanks to all I've met and all I have yet to meet.

Let's make some great memories!

Mother Nature at Work

2010-06-24T20:06:00.004-05:00

Changing Sections

By now most of you are very familiar with the biggest storm to hit middle Tennessee ever from a month or so ago.
Here is a shot of Graham Foster riding in the creek.

Here is a short video of Mother Nature modifying the section configuration.

FYI, Graham was not in the creek when the wave came!

From the looks of things we have all new sections!

LOOK WHAT I GOT!

2009-07-22T09:35:00.004-05:00

Well I finally finished it...or should I say we built it. It's now mobile thanks to the help of Bruce, George and Pee Wee.

Many of you have seen this frame at our shop, in the back corner, on the floor.
It's my Majesty Yamaha. Complete with 290 engine, TY250 mono forks, alloy Falcon shocks and more!

It was built from scratch using a pile of left over TY parts. It's not finished or shall I say polished just yet but it's still SWEET!

Rode it at the NATC nationals at TTC in the twinshock class and rounds 3 and 4 of the ITSA North American championships. It worked great!

ITSA Balance Contest

2009-01-12T22:12:00.005-06:00

B&J Racing and ITSA Benefit Balance Contest

Graham Foster organized a balance competition at Barbers Raceway after the AHRMA trials for those willing to test their skills.

Bob Ginder donated the use of his Famous James for this fun event.

The contestant who balanced the longest won a $20.00 gift certificate from B&J Racing, a tee shirt and a trophy!

The rules were simple....stand there as long as you can.....BUT, the other competitors had the right to distract, heckle and disrupt the balancer! The organizers also had the right to change the rules anytime they wanted.

It cost a $1.00 per try and the proceeds were donated to the AHRMA Benovlent Fund.

When the fun was over James Smith had won the honor of lasting the longest!

Congrats James...You earned it!

Moving the Captain

2008-05-07T12:59:00.005-05:00

Looks like the Captain is rested up from the ITSA trial at the ranch last fall!
Thought it was time to move him down on the page here....what more appropriate way than a video of a clean ride!

I have many more short clips of the Cuba I will be putting up.
There are some of the Cuba pictures posted on the ITSA site I have more to upload and an article to add.

Great ride there Captain!

ITSA PARTY!

2007-11-15T11:28:00.000-06:00

Come one, come all to the final round of the 2007 ITSA SE Championship Series event and awards banquet this weekend!!

The weather's going to be perfect (see for yourself), the sections are just hard enough (a little rain several days ahead of time never hurts), and the food and revelry at the banquet is guaranteed to be unforgettable!!

For more info, go HERE. We'll see you there!!

ITSA Over.....

2007-10-03T09:49:00.000-05:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, may we present to you the 2007 International Twinshock Association's recently crowned (just moments before) North American Modern Twinshock Novice Champion.

The Captain is beaming with excitement over his new title.

MurrayMans real ride!

2007-09-18T19:53:00.000-05:00

In our previous post, we showed how poor Murray fell victim to a bike that was hiccuping at the most inopportune moments.....well, The Guru loaned him the B&J TLR200 Honda to finish that dreaded last section. Amazing how things can go on a bike without digestive problems. Nice ride, Murray!

Quick Five?

2007-09-17T12:24:00.001-05:00

What else can we say? Thanks for the memories.

Mid-Ohio 2007

2007-08-03T13:15:00.000-05:00

One never knows what they may stumble upon while at the AMA's Vintage Days at Mid-Ohio. While wandering around girl watching we staggered into the auction tent......WOW, the sweetest one we had seen all day was right there on a pedestal!!!! A Harley board track racer!
Standing there dumbfounded with drool running down our chins and minds wandering, dreaming of the days of board track racing...100 miles per hour....bicycle tires....no throttle, just lock the carb wide open and control your speed with a kill button made from an old hacksaw blade, tape and a piece of old innertube.....and the noise, nothing like the sound....oh, the flames from burning alcohol exiting the short exhaust pipes and melting the sole of your right boot.....never mind , back to girl watching, I think I could get hurt in this fantasy!

ITSA Project

2007-07-19T09:36:00.000-05:00

While sitting around looking at the bikes and projects scattered about the shop Pee Wee and I got the idea to turn the TY250 he is riding into an ITSA Modern Twinshock bike.

That's the class that allows anything aircooled, drum brake and twinshock.
Not everybody (in fact most of us), Have a complete machine shop that would allow one to build a bike for this class from scratch. ITSA knew this when it formed the class and planned for both one off specials and upgraded existing machines.

We are going to start with the machine in the picture. To date it has some engine mods which include an electronic ignition, B&J's intermediate porting, Boyesen reeds with B&J's mod to the cage, B&J's Mikuni carb kit and a B&J alloy skid pan. Guess you would have to expect all the B&J mod's...it's The Guru's practice bike.

Planned changes are to install the exhaust The Guru modified for the famous blue TY he currently rides. We may play with some different carbs that have proved successful on other projects. The big change will be in the suspension as we plan on installing a set of forks from a TY250 mono shocker along with the front wheel from that machine. The rear suspension will receive an upgraded set of Falcons similar to the ones that were built for the TLR200 Hockeyboy rides. We are also going to install the TY250 footpeg lowering kit that has been sold every time we had a spare!

We will keep you up to date on the project!
Pee Wee is already a candidate for the Nubbie on this bike!

Hyslop Hills

2007-07-09T10:07:00.000-05:00

On July 8th the trials riders from the Mid-west and Southeast converged on Hyslop Hills for what was a great round of the ITSA Mid West Regional El Dorado Trials Series. (Now that's a mouthful!)

We couldn't have asked for a better time, everything was perfect! Right down to the food after riding! Nice touch Mike!

We have put up a short video to see how it works. If you like it we will try to use them more often. It's Pee Wee before his try at winning the NUBBIE. Believe me it was a good one. Someone is going to have to work hard on taking this honor away from him this year!

In closing I must say thanks to Mike Hyslop for putting his event back on the schedule.
THANKS MIKE!

Waiting, Waiting , Waiting...Again!

2007-06-29T09:17:00.000-05:00

Last weekend at LEOR in Marion, Il. the Mid West trials guys held AHRMA's 2 day national trials in conjunction with ITSA's Mid West El Dorado Regional Championship.
The trials was just right...great weather, fun sections and good friends.
The problems were produced by AHRMA and their stubborn need to hold trials events after their cross country events. Never finishing on time and holding the start of the trials event until they are happy gets a lot old. Sunday saw riders leaving to head home before the trials started. Not good for our sport.
Thanks to all who worked so hard to put this event on. Your efforts are appreciated.As far as riding AHRMA events and being their red-headed step child we should consider not doing this again.
LEOR is a great site and should be considered for hosting a championship round of ITSA's North American Twinshock Championship.
Imagine that, a 2 day trials weekend all about TRIALS!

It's About Time

2007-06-21T13:09:00.000-05:00

Well the title and the picture have nothing to do with what's been going on lately.
BUT I like the picture and it's about time I used it!

So what is news?
First, The Captain's son Caulkboy came to the Ranch last Sunday with The Captain and Pee Wee and Sam. The Captain feeling brave (it was after all Father's Day), loaned Caulkboy one of his KT's and the 3 of them set off. I understand Caulkboy had quite an adventure making close personal friends with numerous trees, rocks and roots! Now, it was brought to my attention that he only had about 6 hours of seat time on a motorcycle before the duo thrust him into the gnarlies of the ranch! These guys are cruel!
Caulkboy hung in there, no matter how much they threw at him. In fact, I believe he is going to become the proud owner of a TY250 before to long. (It has spark now.)

Pap and I went out and rode all the sections from the last trial, as Pap was unable to make it due to other commitments. We had a great time. I rode the James and that is just quality time spent with an old friend. Pap was having a great time except for a surprise encounter with a hard right turn 3 inches shy of a 40 foot drop-off in the new section 9. Made him lock the brakes, kill the motor and talk to himself!
Damn that was fun!

Watching Caulkboy getting his feet wet reminded me of the early days of my career. I often wonder how I made it from the truck to the woods!
It gets better with time!

The Guru

Bad Idea! or How not to ....!

2007-05-18T08:57:00.001-05:00

I was going through our stored photos when I came upon this one. I thought it would be interesting to ponder what sequence the items in the photo came into play.
Was the ingestion of Buffalo Trace before the idea of using an 85mm piston in the Trials Rooster's BSA Bantam, during or after? Is the use of the measuring devices really being considered? OR are the hammer and duct tape going to be the instruments of choice? Are we really going to use the air drill in the background and a sanding drum to enlarge the cylinder to accept the new Big bore piston? Or is it acceptable to take some assembly lube and that hammer and force fit it?

I have it...I remember now! We were toasting the success of the Bantam Big bore kit as well as new shiny flywheel weight!
That was it!....You believe that....don't you?

Caution:Trial For Real Trials Riders Only.....

2007-05-14T10:14:00.000-05:00

Tony G. was asking for help in locating his contact. Or, did he just tip over in that really flat turn in Marshfield?

This could be any ITSA member next week-end, as the ITSA lay-out crew has taped up a doozy for this Sunday! Why is this a caution trials? Well, we looked at our trials supplies and we realised that we had an over-abundance of YELLOW tape and thus we used it up. All over the place! Oh yeah, bring extra gas, because these sections have some meat to them.

It's also a caution trials because it's not a bike show-slash-parade, it's a trials. The name of the sport is trials not cleans, so plan on a couple of well placed dabs, and maybe some up-close and personal photo-ops. Nothing life threatening, but you're gonna' have to think and you gonna' have to ride to get through these sections.

On a lighter note, come to the seminar on Saturday and it'll probably make your life easier on Sunday. The Guru said something about stump-jumping........whatever that is. Mikey P. are you listening?

This is a view of Rick D. riding over a horizontal stump in Marshfield. Feel free to critique his style.....or lack thereof.

Natural Poses!

2007-05-03T09:41:00.000-05:00

From Carrollton, Ga.

Along the Creek.....

2007-04-16T16:56:00.000-05:00

This was one of the more scenic spots that we rode during this past week-ends ITSA trial in Carrollton, Ga. It was a combined STRA/ITSA Vintage Trial with ITSA making up most of the entry list.

Here we see Andy Lee, hopefully to soon be an ITSA member negotiating a sandy rocky turn along Whooping Creek.

The weather, which was forcast as BAD all week-end, was kind to us. The rain held off until it was beer-thirty after Saturdays festivities. On Sunday it rained until near the start time, and then proceeded to cooperate with temps in the high forties and a little wind, but no precipitation. Just enough moisture fell to make the sections perfect on Sunday.

We'd like to give a big THANKS to Frank Schoenbeck for wonderful hospitality, and a great event.

But Your a REAL Trials Rider

2007-04-03T13:26:00.000-05:00

So, what is a real trials rider? The answer is anyone who wants to ride and makes the effort to do so.

Do you have to be an expert? No! That's why we have different ability levels...you know novice, intermediate and expert.

Should one have to ride their old bike in the more advanced line? No! The sections are designed with the varying motorcycle capabilities in mind.

So...if the sponsoring organization utilizes these criteria correctly, and a rider is honest about their ability, then everyone should find themselves with the proper amount of challenge without being threatened or bored to tears.

This would then make for a "good time had by ALL".

So, why do some associations insist that all the sections be easy? Heavyweight bikes in the same lines as modern twinshock bikes? Insist on making the line easy enough for the heavyweight?

The big one though, is the comment I was given last weekend in Texas at a vintage NATIONAL, with a clean score card. Like most of the other riders who were cleaning section after section...and yawning. "Well your a real trials rider and we are not. We just want to have fun."

Well, so do I!

Here is my thought...for what it's worth. If you're not a real trials rider, why would you want to ride the same line as an expert? Get in the right class, SO WE ALL can have FUN!

Maybe I shouldn't go here...but it's to late now!

Organized Chaos

2007-03-29T09:48:00.000-05:00

A dozen victims, er ah, students took part in the "Learn To Turn" seminar on the Saturday afternoon prior to the Vintage Acre Trial on Sunday. It seemed to go well, there was info on body position on the bike, how to walk a section, how to go about practicing so that you get the most out of your practice time, and general turning skills.

By the end of the afternoon he had guys making turns that in the morning they wouldn't even had attempted.

The seminar was so well attendedn and we had such a good time, that we are considering holding other sessions on the weekends hosting one-day ITSA trials. Maybe we'll do log crossings next time, that'll keep attendance low, huh Mikey?

If you'll look closely standing in the woods you can see the Guru, trying to avoid being taken out by an out of control student. Luckily they all paid attention and nobody made contact with the Guru, only a few trees.....

The Brian Martin Award

2007-03-08T13:11:00.000-06:00

The Brian Martin Trophy was presented on the evening of Saturday 2/24/2007 to deserving recipient Graham Foster of Fayetteville, Tn. via some part of the U.K.

The ITSA presentation party included eight-time Brian Martin Trophy winner Bob "Guru" Ginder, two-time winner Mike "Mikey P." Parsley, the Trialsrooster, Nubbie, Mennonite Mike, Malcolm Jr, and Pee Wee. A good time appeared to be had by all.

The Brian Martin Trophy, is sponsored by Pete Silvan , and is presented to AHRMA's Premier Lightweight Expert National Trials Champion.

During the evening ordeal Graham was kind enough to globally ring up the old fart in Mosely, England to share his elation for the prestigious award. Yes, the original Bob Baker, participant in several Scottish-Two Day events. We passed the cell phone around and shared insults from across the sea.

Congratulations Graham. You were the last one of the trio to get it!

Bike of the Month

2007-03-08T13:02:00.000-06:00

For those regular viewers that had a guess about the Ossamaha in the previous post, go on over to the ITSA site for more info on Tony Down's creation. You do have to be a member to get the full story, but maybe that'll get some of you hold-outs all joined up!

What Is It?

2007-02-15T09:47:00.000-06:00

Tony Downs, one of our newest ITSA members, and long time patron of B&J Racing Products, built this very schweet twin shock trialer that is truly in the spirit of ITSA with major foresight and creativity. It was brought to the Guru's attention that this bike was displayed at the Phoenix, Arizona vintage trials a couple of weeks ago by Ed Peacock. Ed also informed us that he was offered a test ride on Tony's OSSAMAHA as long as he stayed out of the mud! After riding Tony's bike he was more than duly impressed.

We thought we'd have a little fun with this bike in the form of letting you guys tell us by your comments what you think Tony used to build this bike.....

Fire away and Good Luck!

Surprising Victory

2007-02-01T09:39:00.000-06:00

First of all, we the Crew at B&J would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Captain Dick on his dual championship winning season. Having won the Mid West Twin Shock Novice Championship early in the season, the Captain then totally skipped the intermediate class and set his sights on Hockeyboy and the Guru in the expert class.

He attacked the class with such speed and voracity that neither of them noticed his presence and apparently he snatched the expert title from their grasp. Both the Guru and Hockeyboy wish to personally congratulate the Captain, as they never saw him coming. They look forward to a hard fought battle in the up-coming '07 season, and will not take his presence so lightly this time around.

Does Riding with the GURU Really Work or PeeWee's First Intermediate Ride

2007-01-26T09:30:00.001-06:00

As most of you know PeeWee gets to ride with the Guru any time he wants to. Most of you have expressed the view of this being an unfair advantage. This being said, and PeeWee having won the ITSA 2006 Historic Novice Championship, moved up for 2007 to intermediate.
Let's take a look at how this first outing went shall we.

Take note that in looking at the other tracks on the bank it appears that PeeWee has selected a different line. (1)Is this new choice something he has heard the Guru talk about or even try? (2)Will it set him up better for the next obstacle? (3)Is he just out of shape and missed it?

Well if you picked #3 you would have been correct. I must admit I have showed him how to end up like this with some amazing visual demonstrations, but I always follow it up with "DON'T DO THAT!" or "Kids, DON'T try this at home!"
The problem started 30 feet earlier in the section and is a prime example of how hard it is to recover from simply getting a little off center. Sometimes an extra dab is worth it...Would have saved a 5!

Now, I know we have all been standing in this position at one time or another. Most of us do it on a regular basis. Yes, everybody saw it but this time I had my Camera ready!
Thanks PeeWee for the photo opportunity!
I must add, you had a great ride for your first venture into the next level of your trials career. Congratulations on your Championship and good luck as an intermediate.....Remember we are all watching....Especially now!

THE GURU

PLEASE NOTE: THE PHOTO'S ARE CLICKABLE FOR A LARGER VIEW!

The God of Speed

2006-12-19T09:41:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday Mikey P, Pap and the Guru made a trip to Paris, Tennessee that is, to join Fearless Charlie and his gang to survey their riding area for use as an ITSA trial venue for the 2007 season.

We were greeted by the strange creature you see here. After inquiring as to the nature of the icon, we were informed that it was in fact the God of Speed. Charlie conveyed the story behind the transformed log, but I think I'll wait until we're all together at the Paris trial and let him explain it to you.

Now back to the reason we went. Do they have a good place for a trial? No, they have a great place for a trial.

We're going to be working on the 2007 schedule over the next couple of weeks, and we will definitely be putting this event on our schedule so stay tuned as to when. Hopefully the next time we blog about this place we'll have some neat shots of the crew creating some ITSA worthy sections. Or maybe just one of Nubbie tearing down a section with his motorbike.....and his head, like last Friday, but that's a whole 'nother story.....

Break-in and Bike-Training

2006-12-05T09:36:00.000-06:00

Evidently the Guru's break-in and bike-training of the Nubster's new B&J Yamaha TY175 last week was a success, as Nubbie broke through the pack for his first ITSA win on Sunday with 3 solid loops of riding to a total of 12 points and 23 cleans.

We must admit, however, that while watching the Nubster glide through the sections on the TY (as opposed to watching the Nubster get dragged through the sections by his old TL125) with great ease, good body position, and an elevated degree of concentration, it became apparent that it was not all down to the motorcycle.

Way to go Nubbie !

Breaking-In Nubbie's New TY

2006-12-01T12:59:00.000-06:00

With the final ITSA round of the 2006 series taking place this week-end, and the Nubster's new TY175 being ready to ride except for a bit of breaking-in, we decided to help him out and do him a favor, as he could not get away to do it himself. Here is a photo-journal of the copyrighted B&J break-in process.....kids do not try this at home.

DAMN, THAT WAS FUN! I'm done now.

Not All the Squirrels Are In the Trees....

2006-11-20T08:44:00.000-06:00

So what are these squirrels doing...marking the acorn trees? In the background you can see the Trialsrooster preparing a small tree for some potential saplin' wrasslin' during the upcoming ITSA year end trials events.

The Captain is tying up that tree so it won't get away and Pee Wee is on garbage detail from a previous acorn hunt. The crew is really (No Really!) setting one of the forty sections to be used at the December 2nd and 3rd ITSA Trials.

The December ITSA Trials event is a 2-day affair with the season ender taking place on Saturday prior to the awards banquet that evening. On Sunday we will ride the first event of the 2007 ITSA season.

So the question is, are Pap and Menonite Mike just wore out or are they deep in contemplation about the deviousness and the treachery of the sections that they just helped the Guru and the rest of the crew design and lay out. You'll just have to come and ride with us and see!

The event flyer is here . If you're planning on attending the banquet please use the flyer and RSVP.....

ITSA Goes South

2006-11-03T13:55:00.000-06:00

We made our trip to the Vintage Festival at Barber Motorsports Park last month. The ITSA Crew laid out the trials for AHRMA. As usual the Crew laid out a killer trials, we sent some of the entrants back to the truck after the first loop whining because it was too tight. The truth of the matter is, the turns weren't too tight, they had pine needles and rocks under the pine needles. Which, subesequently added to the ground-pounding activity of dabbing. Obviously some folks can't deal with this. Learn to turn.

The Guru won the Modern Classic Expert class, the Guru's James with Slim Jim Sturtevant aboard won the Classic Expert class. Mike Parsley was tops in Premier Lightweight Expert, and the Trialsrooster was victorious once again on the Chicken in Premier Lightweight Intermediate. In Modern Classic Novice Pee Wee came out on top.

But, what beats all is that the Nubster had his best national finish yet, taking the third spot on the podium in Modern Classic Novice. Go Nubbie!

One of the best things to come out of the week-end was that at the auction in the Barber Museum on Saturday night Mike Parsley was the winning bidder for a Matchless trialer that he had been stressing/lusting about ever since he saw it on the list for the bikes to be auctioned. As you might be able to tell by the S.E.G. (shite-eating-grin) on Mikey's face he was fairly pleased with his new acquisition. The pictures of him jumping up and down didn't come out due to motion blur.......

Two-Day Action

2006-10-13T13:20:00.000-05:00

ITSA member WeaselD prepares his floating turn, off the small innocent unsuspecting tree, to help launch him over the first log in Sunday's expert section 10.

Larry B. and his mighty TL125 propel themselves up the bank while his trusty minders are jokingly saying, "Hope he makes it, 'cause we're not catching him!" If facial expressions are an indication the pucker factor was fairly high. But he made it on his own.

Slim Jim Sturtevant has both wheels airborne and is not resting on the bash plate. A very unusual condition for a twin-shock bike. Looking good Mark!

We all had fun and if you weren't, you should have been here.

The event format on Saturday was per AHRMA set-up rules, using split markers in the sections. On Sunday the format was per the ITSA (International Twin Shock Assoc.) format utilising no splits and sections designed for the specific classes. Most of us old guys like the ITSA format because with a bunch of splits we can't remember where we're supposed to go.....not to mention that you get to ride in groups with your friends.

The bar-b-q was great, the campfire was warm, the companionship was unsurpassed, and the trials was a flaming success! Damn we love this sport!

GET READY!

2006-10-03T09:30:00.000-05:00

Well it's that time of year again! Trials time at the Ranch in Dickson Tn. on October 7th & 8th. The crew was out in force this past weekend deviously plotting and planning all manner of convoluted ideas for the sections.

Hey Guys where you putting that log.. Looks good...Put her down! Now that' going to be interesting to get around!

As we see here, the crew is moving the rubble to make the sections easier.....But what about that log? I guess everyone will just have to come see what they did with that!

The event flyer is HERE , there are driving instructions on there, along with event information. John will be on site with the famous Pig & Pie Bar-B-Q truck. He has killer breakfast sandwiches as well! There is a small gate fee, proceeds will go The Humane Society of Dickson County.

So come out and ride with us. Remember this event pays points for ITSA, AHRMA, MID-West and the STRA. We can promise you a great time with nice people and some challenging sections.

What We Did Last Weekend....

2006-09-20T10:26:00.000-05:00

Tony, look out for that rock! Oops, too late! Although it looks like you've pretty much got your eye right on it! Don't feel bad though, we all did the same thing this week-end.

The 4th Round of the 2006 ITSA Trials Series at R.Q. Old's Vintage Acres in Palmyra Tennessee was a rousing success. If you missed this one you missed a great time at a very picturesque location. There was camping and cooking and fishing and major socializing. Oh, boy!

The Guru hosted a free trials riding seminar on Saturday evening. It must have been helpful as Mennonite Mike and Fearless Charlie both attended and finished first and second in the Historic Novice class on Sunday.

More pictures and a full report will be on the ITSA website soon. The series points tables have already been updated.

The Longest Dab

2006-09-13T09:52:00.000-05:00

We have successfully completed the great 2006 B&J Racing Western Trials Tour and Dual-Sport Extravaganza (WTTDSE).

The shot above is of the one and only, infamous Long Dab Graham (LDG). While having completed both days of the AHRMA National Trials at Mosteller Ranch, Casper, Wyoming LDG, Mikey P. and the GURU took in a little extra-curricular activity playing on some of the interesting and fun terrain available. The small log strategically placed at the top of this climb seemed to be a formidable adversary to the Triumph Cubs of LDG and Mikey P. Or was LDG merely exhibiting the technique of proper position of foot placement for the prevention of tumbling to the ultimate view of sky, ground, sky, ground, etc.......

By the expression on Mikey's face I can only assume that he's thinking, "Oohh, this could leave a mark!" Personally, from my position of downhill photographer I was simply hoping he wouldn't fall on me!

He did save it and lived to dab again, but his eyes were pretty big, they almost glowed. We survived the rest of the afternoon and headed the next morning for dual-sport adventures in Colorado.

Road Trip!

2006-08-24T09:04:00.000-05:00

Nothing like a good long road trip. Malcolm and I (The Guru) made the trek to Minnesota for the 2-day AHRMA nationals. It was a ways up there but the trials was great and made it worth the trip. To Greg and crew good job!
The turn out was low. Somewhat disappointing to the organizers and workers. The event was well worth the trip! Those of you not able to make it missed an excellent event.
With rocks, climbs and a sandy/clay soil you had to pay attention to keep your feet on the pegs. Ole Steve Kirshner kept me honest and working hard. I prevailed in the end but he did not make the wins easy ones. Malcolm finished 2nd on Saturday to Kirk Tolly but came back Sunday to score his first National win! Good show Malcolm!
Sorry there are no photos of the sections. Just could not be the photographer and the rider too.
Now it's time to get ready for Wyoming!

Too Busy to Write

2006-08-24T08:33:00.000-05:00

Well it's true, if we are doing something we can't be writing. The crew has been to R.Q.'s Vintage Acres and cut in the sections for the Sept. 17th ITSA trials. Looks like it will be a good one. Sorry for no pictures but Murray man, Pee Wee and the Guru all had their digital cameras....but they forgot the film!

We are also planning on a trials seminar Saturday afternoon the 16th around 2:00 or 3:00. The Guru is going to check the sections in the morning, when he's finished with that he is going to gather those interested and have a little school. He is going to take requests on what you want to go over.....then he'll probably do what he wants. So come early, camp and ride what looks to be a great trials.

Signature Model

2006-08-07T08:58:00.000-05:00

2005 ITSA Modern Twinshock Champion Dick (The Captain) Septer has recently completed his new ITSA KT250 Signature model, autographed by the Champion himself. In glowing Kawasaki green, of course!

His plan is to debut the new machine at the next ITSA event, Sunday September 17th, at Vintage Acres in Palmyra Tn.

With initial testing completed, the Captain's new steed turns sharper, handles better, and is more powerful than his previous mount. This should make it easier for him to defend his title from all the stiff competition that he is currently facing in his class. Or win the Nubbie in fine style! Fire up the camcorders.....

Kicked Back....Job Well Done

2006-08-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

The crew from B&J was again the lay-out team for the trials at the AMA/AHRMA Vintage Motorcycle Days for 2006 at Mid-Ohio. There was some serious carnage to the woods that we usually use, due to some severe winds. We only had about an eighth of the terrain that we usually have to work with. We still layed out a good trials, although the loop was kind of short!

After a successful trials on Friday here we see the crew enjoying a leisurely Saturday lunch, all the while dodging the worst mosquito invasion this side of the South American jungle.

After lunch we assaulted the swap meet, where we found the evangelical camper and the aforementioned soon to be Trials Suzuki Bearcat.
More to come......as always.

Mid-Ohio Treasure

2006-08-01T11:05:00.000-05:00

Well we are back and with several stories to tell. I thought I would share the new treasure we found while cruising the swap meet. Believe it or not I was looking for one of these.
Here you see me carefully removing it from the B&J Race Trailer being careful not to scratch or damage it in any way.

Next gas on, ignition switch on, a healthy prod of the starter.....
and away...At speeds approaching 100 miles an hour!
So have you figured out what it is?
Well for those of you who haven't, it's a replica of the B105P Suzuki that Peter Gaunt built and rode to 2 Scottish 6 Day wins in the 150cc class. As well as a top 10 finish overall.
OK,OK ...So you have to use your imagination right now., but it will be...REALLY!

Mid-Ohio Time

2006-07-25T12:00:00.000-05:00

The crack (or is that cracked?) ITSA trials lay-out crew is on it's way to Mid-Ohio to set up the AHRMA National Trial for AHRMA. We think that this is the tenth year for the Mid-Ohio trials. The crew has had the honor of being the only crew to lay out the trials there.

But, the truth be known, we're really going for the swap meet, beer, and BBQ!

Stay tuned next week for reports and some wild film, if we can figure out where we left the camera.....

New Nubbie Mobile

2006-07-12T08:52:00.000-05:00

On July 3rd work started on the assembly of the New Nubbie Mobile. A highly modified TY175 Yanaha. The Nubster had his frame ready for assembly and we had the wheels and TY250 forks finished.

Looks pretty good with the red and white paint scheme and new, shinny, sharp IRC tires. I especially like the Yamaha tuning fork tank graphics. Very nice Nub! The fenders are ready to install also....but Nub has to bring over the rubber grommets.
The engine is being treated to a complete rebuild along with an electronic ignition, crank mod(new and very beneficial mod), porting, head mod, Boyesens and more. We are even going to install an alloy WES exhaust. Can't wait to ride this one!

What's that Skatetruck? Make sure we get some of the latest B&J stickers on it.....on where? The skid pan! That way we'll be sure to see them often.....

Well, actually we can't wait to watch the Nubster! Bet there will be a few topics for the blog there!

Weekend in Marion Ill.

2006-06-30T16:05:00.000-05:00

Last weekend the crew took the trip to Marion Ill. for the AHRMA national trials. The trials shared the day and portions of the loop with AHRMA's cross country event. For some reason AHRMA feels the need to cram both of these events into the same day with trials always taking a back seat to the cross country.

Here you see the Guru's TY250 serviced and score card at the ready.....a couple of hours after the published start time.

The Mid-West boys did a fine job of using the terrain presenting the entrants with plenty of tight turns, banks and logs.

The trusty TY drug the Guru through the sections to wins both days. Skatetruck had a flat the first day but borrowed Menonite Mike's TY175 to finish First on Saturday. After a tire changing party Sunday morning Skatetrucks RL was back in action. He rode it to third due to an oversight of a mis-punched 5 which was really a clean.

The boys are practising for the cookout and liquid refreshment to be partaken after the event. Really they are having a snack before they ride...yes they had lunch...but, by the time the trials started they were feeling a mite peckish!

Virgin Ground

2006-06-12T08:59:00.000-05:00

The September 17th ITSA trials will be at a new location. R.Q. has graciously offered to let us use his land near Palmyra Tn.

Here you see the group of us that went over to check it out to see if we could put on a good trials. OK, you're right, it's a picture from last month's world round but the Trialsrooster, Skatetruck, and the Guru had such a good time riding and looking around that we completely forgot to take any pictures! Doh! The terrain looked good though, and we're looking forward to laying out and hosting a trials in a new location.

Thanks to R.Q. for his hospitality...he bought lunch and provided the Gatorade....we have to buy next time, so don't get any ideas.

R.Q.

2006-06-09T09:25:00.000-05:00

Freshly returned from the World Trials round a couple weeks ago is our buddy R.Q. While there he got the hots for one of the minder bikes. After conferring with the Guru and Hockeyboy it was determined that a Beta Rev3 250 was the way to go.

The Guru was dispatched to the Beta pits to strike the deal and this is what he ended up with.

We're going riding at his place tomorrow to see if this new ride is going to make him fleet of foot and a log-crossing aficianado. He is definitely the youngest eighty year old we know!

The other reason for the Saturday ride at R.Q.'s airfield/compound is to scout his acreage as a possible site for an upcoming ITSA trials. More to come.....

ITSA Bike Show!

2006-05-24T10:22:00.000-05:00

This past weekend marked the first ITSA (International Twin Shock Association) trials bike show at the U.S. round of the World Trials Championship held in Tennessee.

ITSA members and twin shock enthusiasts entered their bikes making the show a huge success. We had 36 bikes in all ranging from a plunger Triumph Tiger Cub to a Honda TLR250!

Thanks to all who helped make this event possible, and Congratulations to the winners.

Eat Your Heart Out Larry.....

2006-05-15T17:46:00.000-05:00

Allright boys and girls. Here it is in all it's black and white glory, with a little Hammertone thrown in for contrast.

Come to the U.S. World Round of the Trials World Championship and stop by ITSA's vintage bike show and check it out, along with dozens of other twin shock trials hardware.

We'll talk more about what we've done, and what we're going to do later.....

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Log?

2006-05-15T17:07:00.000-05:00

Although Trevor the K asked, "How did the Chicken cross the log?" Here we see the Trialsrooster on his venerable BSA Bantam in section 11. At least from the picture it looks like the front wheel's going to make it over the log.....

The ITSA event was blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather, the rider turn-out was good, and the trials was deemed a smashing success.

We were afraid that with the storms all week the sections might be a bit too challenging. But, on Friday the sun came out, the winds blew, the limbs fell from the trees (providing the opportunity for us to repair the ribbons in several sections), the drying process produced perfect conditions, with a few left over slick spots to catch out the unsuspecting.

The battle of the Dad's and Kid's was fought to a draw this week-end with Pap prevailing over Clay, while the Guru succumbed to the crocodile tears produced by Hockeyboy when the Guru beat him last time.

If you weren't here you shoulda' been!

ITSA Trials This Week-End

2006-05-12T09:29:00.000-05:00

The next round if the 2006 ITSA (International Twin Shock Assocation) will be Saturday the 13th out at the ranch at B&J. The link to the flyer is HERE .

The recent passing showers have provided us with perfect conditions for a great trials. We are experiencing moderate winds, blue skies and sunny weather and the weather man tells us that Saturday holds more of the same. Don't forget that there's a full moon!

Went for a ride this morning to check out the loop and such and was quite pleased to see that I was able to clean most of the sections that I'm gonna' have to ride tomorrow. Catch up Hockeyboy! Age and treachery has the upper hand over youth and enthusiasm again!

Nope, really didn't ride any of the sections. Sheesh! But can't wait to ride them they look great.

In the pic you'll see our new tie-breaker section. Whoa!

Come on out and join us.

Almost There

2006-05-09T13:42:00.000-05:00

It looks like we're between things here. This is the point of progress so far. Still waiting on some periphery items like a sprocket and some bodywork. Of course that'll keep us from mucking the bike all up before the show at the World Round next week.

We've decked the TLR out with the usual good stuff, a WES alloy exhaust system, Renthal bars, Domino throttle (the fast one for Hockeyboy), the trick adjustable levers, a PCW air filter, and some custom B&J super-smooth cables.

The motor is still fairly sane right now, although we have raised the compression a bit. Silkolene oil, naturally.

Now, rumor has it that Pap is pretty close to being done with the cosmetics on our new B&J custom TLR tank-seat unit and the refurbishing of our stock fenders. We're close now, salivating heavily, stay tuned to this station.....

We're Rolling!

2006-05-08T09:57:00.000-05:00

Actually we got this done before the week-end, we just didn't get time to post it.

The wheels that we had the Pathfinder build for the TLR are sweet. We used alloy rims, touched up the plating on the spokes, and the finish on the hubs, and did a complete refurb on the brakes. We are quite pleased with the final result.

The Guru engineered us up a nice new pair of Falcon Shocks to hold up the rear end. This is some kind of weird shock internals that the Guru has had in his brain, we aren't sure how they're gonna' work. We can't wait to strap the Hockeyboy to it so he can try them out. If we're not pleased with this new shock you'll never hear about them again, and we're going to pretend that they never happened.

The next step is the power plant. Hopefully see tomorrow's post.......

ITSA News

2006-05-04T09:56:00.000-05:00

Upcoming Events
This is a friendly reminder, bring your butt out! Bring your bike, too!!!

The next ITSA Championship Trials Series event will be held on Saturday May 13th at the Ranch at B&J . The event flyer is HERE . The trials will be Scottish Style (no splits in the sections). If you haven't ridden a Scottish trials before, come on out and try it....you'll love it!

Then the next week, May 19th through the 21st at the USGP of Trials in Sequatchie TN, ITSA and B&J Racing are hosting a Vintage Trials Bike Show. We would like to invite you to participate by entering your bike in the show. The entry form is HERE on the B&J Racing website. Your ticket to the world round covers the entry fee for entering your bike in the show. There will be three classes consisting of Prehistoric, Historic, and Twin Shock. Awards will be for 1st in each division and for Best Of Show. Your bike doesn't have to be pretty, let's show the world some trials history.

We need you to help make these upcoming events successful! Hope to see you there!

GETTING LUCKY!

2006-04-30T15:09:00.000-05:00

Second post of the day!

I went back to working on our TLR200 engine, I just have to share this with you as it is something we see on a regular basis. The title of this post could say "HOW TO KILL A HONDA" or "WANTED CAM AND HEAD!" We are asked for cams and heads at least once a week because they are trashed from lack of oil. This is most often caused be the use of the wrong type of sealer or coating a gasket with it.

Silicone sealers are good for some things but they are not good for your Honda. As you can see in the first picture there is a great deal of squeeze out (or in). This excess sealer can break free and lodge itself in an oil passage causing catastrophic damage, usually to the head and cam.

Sealers are available in a more liquid form that were designed for this application. They are available from us, Honda, Yamaha or most bike shops.

So why do I think we were so lucky? Take a look at this next picture.

Yes that is a perfect mould of the passage that provides oil to the cam. We feel very fortunate that the one who worked on this engine last did not know how to properly install the cam chain tensioner. The engine jumped time and would not start, so they were unable to damage it, no matter how hard it seems they were trying!

Bottom line! If you see a silicone base sealer has been used on your engine, take it apart and repair it properly. If all you have is a silicone based sealer in your toolbox, don't use it for this application, go get the right sealer for the job.
You may not be so lucky!

MOVING ALONG

2006-04-30T14:29:00.000-05:00

Well we are making progress. Hockeyboy, Betaboy, and lil'Rooster showed up Saturday and lent a hand assembling and painting the TLR.

I have started on the engine...more to come on that.

Can't wait for the wheels so I can try her out for real on the logs. Wonder if the guys would give me a push if the wheels are ready before Pap has the tank done and I have the engine purrin'?

Thanks for your help guy's!

Progress?

2006-04-27T09:41:00.000-05:00

Ok, we'll spell it out for you in black and white. The frame is hung out to dry while we change color and shoot the other parts. Good thing we didn't move it outside before it tacked up....White seems to be a bug magnet!

Parts are painted now and being assembled. Pap has volunteered to paint the body-work...can't wait to see it. We'll be going into the engine and installing a new cam chain this weekend.

Have a new style Mikuni carb that may find it's way to the TLR in the future. We don't have any idea how it will work, but we are going to find out. We probably should finish the initial phase of the project before we start making this kind of change....so we know if it's better, or not!

ONE THING AT A TIME!

How To Start A Debate

2006-04-18T09:33:00.000-05:00

What a wimpy dab Pap! Or is it?

If you're going to dab do it decisively, and in plain view of the observer. None of this tippy-toeing on the foot-peg, heel on the log B.S.

Had a great ride day Sunday. The Guru was fogging for skeeters on his new modern twin-shock find, a Fantic 300 Professional!

So. IS THIS A DAB OR NOT?

Tunstall Forest Trial

2006-04-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

Here we have a write up on a trial contributed to us by Trevor Kemp of Silkolene fame and fortune. Hope you enjoy it. Please note he is from England and does write with an accent.
Thanks Trevor for your contribution!

Tunstall Forest, England. January 2nd 2006

This is an annual event which attracts a good entry,
and a well run event with good sections. This year
there were around 112 entries comprising of British
Pre 65, Pre 70, and Twin Shock machines. The
organisers ran two routes in the sections, easy route
and hard route deviations. Three laps of fifteen
sections throughout the forest, with a mileage of
around ten miles per lap. The classes are split up as
follows:

-Pre 65 Pre-Unit (easy and hard route) Here the
machines were Ariel HT-5's, Norton's, Royal
Enfield's, etc.

-Pre 65 Unit (easy and hard route) Machines were
Triumph Tiger Cubs and Twins and BSA B40's.

-British Pre 70 Two Strokes (easy and hard route)
Mainly Greeves, James, a few Dot's, and a surprise
amount of BSA Bantam's, some fairly trick.

-Twin Shock (easy and hard route) A lot of different
bikes in this class from Yamaha, Suzuki, Bultaco,
Montesa, Honda, Ossa, and a couple of CCM's and
Majesty's.

Anyway, this is how the event went for me....

I normally go back home for Christmas and New Year to
see friends and family. I rode this event last year
on a last-minute borrowed bike and riding gear. The
bike was a bit rough and the riding gear an ill-fit,
but I enjoyed the day. I had ridden this event many
times before I moved to Texas.

Last Summer when I was back over in England I picked
up a tidy 250 Majesty which needed a bit of work on
the engine top end. A rebore and new piston kit sorted
that but there was a nasty clonk in the steering, and
the swing arm bushes were worn. I ran out of time so
decided to do that on my next trip which was to be my
annual Christmas visit. Entered the trial, and had to
take the parts over with me. I spoke to Bob at
B&J Racing and he
suggested his tapered roller bearing kit for the
steering head. When I got the steering to bits, lo and
behold the cups and balls were all broken up, hence
the clonk.

On the swing arm bushing it is often that the inner
tube wears, which is no longer available, but Bob has
a mod which as it turned out works perfect.

New chain, sprockets, and brake shoes were all fitted.
Also, I set up the steering how I liked it by fitting
longer Falcon rear shocks, again all this off
B&J .

Changed the fork oil to the new Silkolene synthetic
and the transmission oil to Silkolene Comp Gear, which
is a semi-synthetic. This makes the clutch action and
gear changes so much better.Pre-mix with Silkolene
Comp 2 at 50:1, with a 3% Silkolene Pro Boost fuel
mix.

Here is a little bit of history on the Majesty. This
was a co-operation between Mick Andrews (the factory
Yamaha rider), John E Shirt, and Yamaha. Majesty
stands for MA (Mick Andrews) JES (John E. Shirt) and
TY (Yamaha). They took some of the factory mods on the
TY and modified the production bikes. The early ones
were modified frames, heavier flywheel, and a coffin
shaped tank. Majesty also produced a 320cc engine
conversion. Later, when Yamaha over produced the TY, a
complete Majesty frame was made with higher ground
clearance, different steering head angle, and a
general tidy up. Although the frame was not much
lighter it did improve the handling, althtough not to
everyones liking. It was a clever project, as all the
TY components were fitted, except the frame and tank.
Early ones, and the majority of the late model, were
yellow in colour but the last ones produced were
changed to red with a white tank under instructions
from Yamaha.

Ready to go at the trial with my own riding gear,
which was great. The day of the trial was bloody cold
and wet. Living in Texas I had got used to the warm
weather so this was a big wake up call. The sections
were good, and being wet not too many tight ones.
Mainly slippery hills and off cambers turns. There are
no rocks in East Anglia, but a lot of slippery tree
roots where good throttle control is essential. I had a
fairly good day, my only let down was it just took me
a few sections to get used to the terrain and the
power of the bike. A couple of bad gear choices where
I went to first and should have been in second gear.
The Majesty I ride over here in the U.S. has the B&J
electronic ignition on and quite a bit of cylinder
work, where as my U.K. Majesty is standard and a lot
softer. With the bigger flywheel, which was a Majesty
mod it pulls a lot better but is not as sharp so if
you are undecided on a gear choice you need to go one
higher, which I didn't.

I ended the day in 5th place, which I was fairly happy
with as my second and third laps were good despite
some of the sections getting harder. I put that down
to refamilarisation with the bike and the terrain. A
very enjoyable trial and not too many queues' at the
sections despite the 100 plus riders.

Now What?

2006-03-28T09:56:00.000-06:00

Our tank is ready, but our bike is most definitely not. As you can see it exploded over the week-end. We've got a pile of parts that would make a junk-man shiver.

The new tank-seat unit proto-type stage is complete and the first tank is free from the molds and is perfectly sweet. The first production run is being made as you read this, and we've got the mounting system and hardware sorted out. If you're considering one call us and place your order now.

Back to our pile.....what are we ever gonna' do with this mess? We are going to make the sweetest and most competitive TLR200-X (X for Extreme) that has ever been seen on the shores of North America. The Honda TLR200 Reflex that was imported here was a dumbed down version, turned into a trail bike for the U.S., of a true competitive trials bike that was available in Europe as a TLR200 and a TLR250. To put this in perspective, those of you that are familiar with the Bultaco's, can remember how the Bultaco Alpina was a trail bike derived from the very competitive Sherpa T trials machine. The Reflex is the Alpina of the Honda world. We have discovered that you can make an Alpina return to it's Sherpa T heritage, and we intend to do the same for our Reflex, only more so.

So, what have we done so far? Well, we've talked about the tank-seat unit that saves approximately four pounds from stock. We also have the new WES Exhaust system that shaves a similar amount of weight and flows better than the stocker. Plus it looks way better than the p.o.s. stock exhaust. We're going to trade the steel rims in for some alloy units.

Bob has already taken the plasma cutter to every excess bracket on the frame, there were sparks everywhere. We don't know how much weight this saved, because he didn't give us a chance to weigh it, when the frame hit the floor it was whisked to the welding bench and he simply started cutting.

Motor. Our motor has some internal worn out parts, it remains to be seen how many. We know that the cam-chain is a goner, as it doesn't seem to want to stay on the sprockets. We are going to do some mild performance gains while in the motor, and will be working towards a balance of cams, compression, displacement, and flow. This part does not happen over-night so bear with us as we work through it during the season.

The Guru has had the slide-rule out (utilising his sly-drool) and has been working on a new valving design for our Falcon Shocks especially for the TLR. We're terribly happy with the Falcons that we're producing now but, as usual, he's never satisfied, it can always be better.

That's enough for now, stay tuned as the TLR project unfolds. Ah, ITSA Twin-Shock class look out, here we come......

ITSA/Midwest Trials

2006-03-20T09:25:00.000-06:00

Well, Hockeyboy did in fact make the dusty, musty TL125 do things that motorbike has no business pulling off, proving again that most motorcycle competitions come down to the rider and not the machine as in most other forms of motorsports.....cool.

But, the Old Man's age and treachery prevailed over youth and enthusiasm once again, by coming out on top by the score of ten to thirteen points in a hard fought battle played out on the difficult expert line sections. As usual, one mistake spelled the difference between a victory and a second place finish.

The same was true in the battle of the Wallace boys with Pap coming out on top there.

The weather was absolutely perfect for trials riding, we had a good turn out, and it seemed as though everyone had a good time. We know we did! If you didn't come you missed a damn good trials and a beautiful day in the woods, so try and come join us next time.....

Miracle in Barton's Creek.

2006-03-16T13:02:00.000-06:00

If you'd like to see a miracle then come on out to the ITSA/Mid-West Trials this Saturday at the Ranch hosted by B&J Racing .

This is the musty, trusty, muddy, and dusty TL125 ridden by Dustin (Hockeyboy), miraculously resurrected just a couple of weeks ago (Jessie eat your heart out). We personally like the new tank decals and we're sure it'll save him several points. The boy does things that this bike has absolutely no business pulling off. About the only good thing you can say about this motorbike is that it doesn't smoke as bad as Parsley's Cub, course they're 'sposed to smoke, aren't they?

So come on out and ride with us, we've got some great new sections cut in, and see Hockeyboy pull off some of his magic, and maybe even beat the old man.....

Series Openers

2006-03-13T08:50:00.000-06:00

This coming Saturday is the first round of the Mid-West Vintage Trials Series and the concurrent second round of the ITSA (International Twin-Shock Assocation) Trials series.

This event is a replacement for the Mid-West Puryear round from the past couple of years.

The B&J crew worked both Saturday and Sunday this past week-end cleaning up the Ranch and reclaiming many of the loop trails and laying out a Scottish pattern one line trials. We'd really like to Thank the guys (who shall remain nameless due to all the practicing they got in) that gave up their week-end time to drag limbs and clean-up and set-up the sections.

In the pic we thought we'd give you a sneak peek of the ITSA Trophy. ITSA jig-saw puzzle kind of award that will be assembled based on your results during the course of the series for 2006. We had Atilla blur out the bike so's it'll be a surprise as you build it. To qualify for year end awards you must ride five out of the eight ITSA Trials.

Now, to qualify for the venerable "Nubbie Award" you only have to do something worthy of being labeled "REALLY ENTERTAINING & STOOPID". No doctor's excuse is required. Just to let you know Scott Hale is already putting in his bid for the "Nubbie", he's not quite there yet, but confidence level is high.....

So come on out and bring your bike (that makes participating a little easier) and enjoy a day in the woods, all your favorite celebrities will be here.

B&J RIDER BREAKS INTO THE BIG-TIME!!!

2006-03-07T11:23:00.000-06:00

DATELINE: March 3, 2006
WHERE: Gainesville, Florida
WHAT: AHRMA National Vintage Trials
WHO: Pee Wee Adcock, B&J Trials Team Member - EXTRAORDINAIRE (FINALLY)

B&J's own Pee Wee Adcock rode his B&J fine-tuned RL250 Suzuki to his VERY FIRST National Win!!!!! Yeah!!! (move him up...) Pee Wee is pictured here displaying his First Place Award perched upon our makeshift podium so we could have a Kodak-moment to keep this for posterity just in case it never happens again...We feel that this is just the beginning of Pee Wee's illustrious trials career. 'Nuff said there.

Now, above you see Mr. Adcock reacting to the post he knew was coming.

Congratulations, Pee Wee, on a great ride!!!!

The Crew 2

Snow Day's

2006-02-20T10:01:00.000-06:00

Due to Punxsutawney Phil seeing his darn shadow we've had cold weather and some of the white stuff to practice and play in. It was fun, and to all the other guys that were gonna' come and play but weren't able, we can only tell you that you missed some prime practicing opportunities and some great entertainment.

The rest of you will be wondering why Pee Wee is limping, but Bob got to see why. There is nothing like an ice covered sapling root on an angle to spit a front end a whole 'nother direction than you thought it was going to go! However, after the changes to our Suzuki RL250 the entertainment factor that Pee Wee usually provides are fewer and farther between. We hate that.....

Enjoy the pics.

Sorry For The Delay

2006-02-17T10:10:00.000-06:00

We haven't had much of a chance to blog lately as we've had quite a lot going on. Here's a bit of an update.

B&J Racing is proud to announce that we are the sole U.S. distributor for W.E.S. Exhaust Systems. W.E.S. manufactures some of the nicest, lightest, and most technologically advanced aluminum alloy exhausts world wide. We have used W.E.S. exhaust systems extensively over the years as one of our performance modifications on the Yamaha TY350. W.E.S. also produced in the past a complete alloy system for the twin-shock TY175 and TY250 Yamaha's, which they are currently reproducing for us, complete with a couple of new performance modifications. In the picture you will see the TY250 W.E.S. alloy system fitted to Trevor Kemp's MAJESTY Yamaha, with its recently B&J rebuilt engine freshly installed, completing the project. More to come from Mr. Kemp in a future blog.....

We are using their TLR200 system on our Reflex (link) project (which is shaping up nicely Larry, the first tank seat unit has arrived off the mold). Not only does exhaust flow better than the stock system, it is roughly half the weight of the stocker, and it is way easier on the eyes.

Their latest addition to the W.E.S. line is for the Montesa 4RT. The system is light, compact, and produces a more appealing exhaust note, and better performance.

Check out the complete line of available systems at B&J Racing .

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.....

What's It Worth Part II

2006-01-25T09:05:00.000-06:00

Okay, we will try to be serious....that is sometimes difficult around here unless we are working on the bikes!

Let's look at what it takes to come to a conclusion of how much to pay (or how much to sell) a bike for $$$$$$$$. We use the sellers base price and work up and down from there. Any number will do but, things found in a shed we start at $500.

Things we look at:

1. Is it all there and complete?

2. How are the cosmetics?

3. Is the fuel tank rusty inside?

4. Mechanical condition. Does the motor turn over and if so, what does it sound like?

5. Does it Run? Which is a big plus....but now is when you take into consideration how much mechanical noise it's making. also take note if anything else fell off or is shaking wildly.

6. What after-market parts are on the bike? Are they still functional?

7. In general, are there any dent's, cracks, or anything else unusual?

Then you adjust up or down using the information gathered from your inspection. There are no set limits on the dollar amount for each plus or minus you gave the bike. Take into consideration what it will cost to make the repairs and set your price accordingly.

It all boils down to how much you're willing to pay for something and what it's worth to you.....

What's It Worth?

2006-01-12T09:34:00.000-06:00

Well, we haven't blogged in a few days. Why you ask? Let me tell you why. We have been working on an extraordinarily complex problem. It comes in the form of a recurring question from cyclists all over the world. What is it you ask? Well, let me ask you the question and we'll see if you can help.

The conversation usually goes like this:

Hi Bob! I just found a 1972 and 3/4 Woolsley Cricket Trials or maybe it's a Motor crosser, I'm not sure. I want to road-race it and flat-track it and maybe do some trail riding. It's like brand new, a cream puff!

It was rebuilt before it was put in the shed 15 ago years but the roof blew off a year later. They guy who owns it says it started when he parked it...so he kicked her over...once she broke loose and the mouse shot out the pipe.......

But, the cables are froze up and the motor makes a little noise and doesn't start. It farted once. It needs tires and the chain is rusty but ok and the sprockets are only missing a couple of teeth. I think it's a 100, or maybe it's a 650. It could use paint. What's it worth?

Oh yeah, I have a four year old and would it be a good beginners bike for them?

What should I tell him??????? Please comment!!!!!

A Brake From The Holidays

2006-01-05T16:59:00.000-06:00

What we did over the holidays was to out-fit a Ducati 450 TT racer with disc brakes front and rear. Bob did all the engineering and most of the machine work, he let me make some of the simpler pieces.

I just thought you might like to see some of the finished product, as we were pretty happy with how it all came out, as was the customer. Ecstatic, even.

Hope you had a good holiday and now it's time to get ready for the 2006 trials season.
We hope to finalize the ITSA schedule over the next few days and we'll post it to the B&J Racing website then.

L8R
Pee Wee

Merry Christmas

2005-12-23T09:27:00.000-06:00

photo by Duane Johnston

We thought that there could be no better Christmas card for our friends than this snappy group portrait of the obviously elated Eldorado Cycles Mid-West Vintage Trials Series Champions of 2005.

Bob says, "Please note, this photo was taken after dinner which made us all sleepy, after all it was at least 7:30pm! And we had rode a trials all day!"

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year From B&J Racing!

Trialsrooster

2005-12-15T13:02:00.000-06:00

photo by the Capt.

Three-time championship winner in 2005, the Trialsrooster gets his just deserts from the Crew at B&J during the year end ITSA Banquet in early December. Here he is seen smiling while all are laughing, but we're sorry, our P.G. rating on this blog doesn't permit us to share his comments.

His three championships were won on his venerable BSA Bantam 175, a.k.a. "The Chicken". His first and most prestigious championship was of course the Pre-Historic Intermediate class of the International Twin Shock Association (ITSA). His other championships were AHRMA's Premier Lightweight Intermediate and the Eldorado Mid-West Vintage Trials Premier Lightweight Intermediate.

The ITSA Banquet was a rousing success as class winners and runner-ups and other sundry award winners were honored, or ridiculed, depending on their individual needs.
The food was good and Wayne was surprised with a birthday cake. It was large enough to supply desert for all the banquet attendees, although the local fire marshall wouldn't let us put the 73 candles on it.

A big THANKS to all who attended and to all that rode our ITSA series in '05. And also a special THANKS to The Lunchbox for putting up with us and feeding us.

We'd like to again Thanks Silkolene for their support and the goodies they provided.

The Nubbie

2005-12-08T09:25:00.000-06:00

photo by the Capt.

Oh god. Where should we start with this......

There was mention made of Scott's misfortune HERE on another blog a few months back.

To recap, Our buddy Scott had a slight tip-over at about one mile-an-hour in a fairly difficult section. He stuck his hand out on the way to the ground and placed it on a rock and the left handlebar caught his thumb between rock and handlebar end and severed off the tip of his thumb. OUCH!

Now, if you don't think we got some major mileage out of his misfortune then you just don't know us very well. And, if we didn't like him we definitely wouldn't mess with him about it. And, trust us, we did mess with him about it!

So......we have decided here at ITSA Headquarters to make "The Nubbie" an annual award in honor of Scott's nubbie thumb (or lack thereof). "The Nubbie" will be awarded based on some unforgettable event during a trials endeavor. It is not going to be neccesary for the occurence to be laden with misfortune or the loss of an appendage. It will however have to be unforgettable and worthy of mention many times over your favorite libation.

Of course Scott had already had the honor of winning the Alice Conklin Loop Riding Award for a really amazing crash on the loop on his TL125 that looked like a train wreck.

Scott, you've definitely done your part and we'd like to Thank You and also to Congratulate You on the dubious honor of being the recipient of the inaugural Nubbie! Thanks for the inspiriation of the award and also Thanks for taking all our harrasment over the year.

One-and-a-half Thumbs Up!

ITSA Banquet News #1

2005-12-06T14:07:00.000-06:00

ITSA over now and if you didn't come then you missed it.

Here we see the happy inaugural Twin-Shock Novice Champion Dick "The Capt." Septer. Can you guess what type of bike The Capt. rides? Leave us a comment with your answer and we'll be sure to ridicule you.

We all seemed to have a ball at the banquet and the twelve ITSA class champions received their awards, along with the first and second losers, er, ah, we mean the runners-up.

Silkolene was kind enough to toss some swag our way and everyone that was at the banquet and that braved the cold to ride on Sunday (BRRRRR!) got either some chainlube or pre-mix or Pro-Prep. A big Thanks to Silkolene for their sponsorship.

We'd also like to take this opportunity to voice our appreciation to all the folks for above and beyond help in clearing the loop and rebuilding the sections after our recent inclement weather.

And a special warm Thank You goes out to Miss Nanuk (aka The Parts Bitch) for braving the cold (with her Carhart overhauls, generator and heater) and keeping us organised and tabbing all the scores.

Stay tuned for info about our special annual award. This is a rather dubious award, and it is an award that any one of you could win next year, but might not want to......

More to come from the banquet.......And also a report on the 2-day ITSA Trial.

Trials Construction Under Way

2005-11-29T13:51:00.000-06:00

Contemplating the dirty deed, Hockey-boy waxes philosophic over how to best lay out a section for this week-end's event at the Ranch at B&J Racing. The Scottish format trials has become a hit with many trials riders, in that they don't have to remember which line to ride.....

Here we see several of the illustrious ITSA/B&J trials lay-out crew hard at work. Note the deep reflection and contemplation of the task at hand on the face of our test dummy. If we'd used Mr. Nubbie then he'd of been our crash test dummy.

The recent bit of tornadic weather at the ranch played havoc with the loop and our sections. As a result there are new sections and pieces of the loop will be new too! Even our existing sections got an update and are even better than ever.

We'd like to Thank our lay-out crew from this past long Thanksgiving. Thanks to Mennonite Mike, Mr. Nubbie, Hockey-boy, Trialsrooster and Parsley the Log King.

Come watch, come play, come join the fun. Saturday, 12/03 is the final event of the 2005 ITSA Championship series (followed by year-end awards banquet); Sunday, 12/04, is the first event in the 2006 ITSA Championship series.

For more info go to B&J Racing .

ITSA Finale and Rewards

2005-11-22T12:02:00.000-06:00

Our final ITSA (International Twin-Shock Association) trials for the 2005 season will be held out at the ranch on December 3rd. It will be followed immediately that evening by our end-of-year awards banquet to be held at The Lunchbox in Dickson. We will be treated to some good home-cooking and to see your choices click HERE for the reservation form. Please note that we are needing an accurate head-count to accomodate everyone. If you're planning on attending just fill out the dang form and send it in along with your payment! We are looking forward to seeing all of you there. We're also talking about breakfast on Sunday morning.......

Then on Sunday the 4th we will open our 2006 ITSA season with Round #1 out at the ranch with a whole new loop of sections.

Click HERE to check out the ITSA points standings on the B&J website. It would be a good idea to check out the standings closely, because there are several classes that are very tight and could be won by any of two or three folks. If you're not in contention you will want to come and watch the whining and bickering that might ensue!

See Ya'!

Ragged to Riches El Finito

2005-11-14T16:15:00.000-06:00

We were gonna' show you a picture of the installation of the tank, but the picture quality was less than desireable (in other words they suck). So instead, we decided to go ahead and show you our finished cosmetically updated TY175 project.

So basically, what does it take for a good cosmetic refurb? First of all, give it a bath. Then grab a couple cans of high quality rattle-can paint and decide what you're going to shoot and then prep your parts properly and spray away.

Now that the paint looks so shiny you can't possibly put those old ragged fenders back on. So add the front and rear fender of your color choice with a new rear inner-fender and a front mud-guard stay.

Then toss your ripped and duct-tape repaired seat and rusty dented leaky cosmetically challenged fuel tank aside and replace it with our one piece shiny un-molested tank/seat unit. This tank comes as you see it with the decals, but it is finished in white gel-coat and can be easily painted in any scheme or color that you desire.

So go ahead, take your bike apart, choose a color and a graphics scheme and be creative. Turn that pigs ear into a silk purse.

Compare our before and after pictures above. How'd we do? Any questions or comments? Let 'er rip.

Team Poverty Rides.....

2005-11-03T13:30:00.000-06:00

Gas Prices becoming a problem? Don't stay home. Stay tuned for how to mooch off your buds and save money.

Brought to you by Team Poverty, a.k.a. B&J Racing. Above you see Team Poverty's Tracker wagon and our vintage Holsclaw two-rail trailer, soon to be three-rail. Anybody know of a spare Holsclaw rail?

It's parked in front of Mike Parsley's lavish motor-home. Mike had the honor of being Team Poverty's first victim. We arrived in time to see Mike parked in a nicely shaded campsite. Thinking this would be a great place to park we pulled in to say Hi! After the usual greeting Mike inquired as to where we were staying and we proceeded to take that as an open invitation and moved in with him!

And later when dinner time arrived Mike inquired as to whether we had any food with us. We informed him all we had was drinks, but would be happy to un-hook the Holsclaw from the Tracker and drive all the way back to town to pick up some stuff to put on the grill. We had brought our grill and charcoal for such an occasion. Mike said he had plenty of chicken to go around and had some chili that he could make up also. So we took him up on it and didn't un-hook the Holsclaw and we mooched dinner off him too!

All that mooching worked real well and this week-end we are headed to Jonesboro to try out some more of our mooching skills.

We are currently welcoming comments from the jaded masses (Mark Sturtevant).

Ragged to Riches Part 3

2005-11-02T13:47:00.000-06:00

All righty.

We just couldn't resist showing you this neat little can of Silkolene RG-2 synthetic grease in a cheese-whiz type of a can. Granted it would probably be infinitely more interesting to actually see something mechanical happening but this grease in a cheese-whiz can is the bomb. Everyone here got a pretty good chuckle at the idea.....until we used it! This ingenuous idea makes dispersing the grease where you need it much more accurate and less wasteful. Not to mention the savings in shop rags and soap used in trying to clean a good synthetic grease from your hands. That brings us to the point of the grease itself. Silkolene Pro RG2 is a waterproofing synthetic grease. It was designed for bearing and chassis lubrication where wet conditions are involved. It works! Also, this keeps the contaminents out of the grease because it's all sealed up in that little squirt can.

What you see happening here is the final part of the installation of some trick tapered-head bearings. The stock bearings were pitted and non-captive, which means that Bob lost most of 'em upon dis-assembly. (Sorry....those little balls just go everywhere!) Our taper bearing kit is easier to install and taper bearings have more load bearing surface. This provides smoother operation and better feel to the rider, plus properly maintained they'll last forever.

We put new seals in the forks. The tubes were fine but the clear finish Yamaha had put on the lower legs was is sad shape. We painted the lowers to fix this and change the look.

We added one of our generic front fenders and mudguard stays. We prefer this to the stock fender as the stock unit can become clogged under muddy conditions making for interesting entertainment for your friends. For this reason it was quite a while before I told Pee Wee about this benefit!

So it's on to putting the engine and wheels on.

Check back next week, it's time to see what we're doing for a tank and seat.

Ragged to Riches Part 2

2005-10-26T16:31:00.000-05:00

Notes:

1. Took the bike completely apart and cleaned everything.

2. Painted the following parts with Hammertone: frame and swingarm. Sweet!

3. Rebuilt the forks and painted the fork lowers red to match the rest of our color scheme. We also painted the muffler-guard and the chain-guard red.

4. Next up was the mounting of the rear fender. We used our Gonelli/Bultaco replica rear fender and our Sammy Miller fiberglass inner fender. This replaces the molded stock fender with a cheap fender that you can break all to hell and replace again and again for 36 bucks! (The boss has come up with this idea and insisted that since this is our shop/trials-school bike and he has seen all of us ride, that we use this fender combo instead of our dead-on factory reproduction fender that is a hundred bucks. Granted we have not been able to break on of the repro units yet he figures that since he paid for it one of us would find a way to destroy it!)

Looking better and better all the time.
More to come.......

From Ragged to Riches

2005-10-20T13:33:00.000-05:00

This is the story of a sow's ear that we're going to turn into a silk purse. As you can see this poor Yamaha TY175 has seen better days, both on it's wheels and off. The lower end of the motor was fine, so a bore job with new piston and rings freshened up the engine. We did not polish or powder-coat the cases at this time, we'll do that later when we have to take them off.

The remaining cosmetics left quite a bit to be desired as you can see. In fact, the camera makes the tank look pretty good....trust us it's not!

We want to make this bike look a better. So, we are going to add a little paint and a few cosmetic parts to see what happens.

Check back next week and see what it looks like.......

No Crimes Committed

2005-10-12T13:13:00.000-05:00

Mr. Hart has a bit of a go in Saturdays section #7.

This past week-end some fifty-odd victims visited the asylum known as The Ranch at B&J for the 5th Annual Big Bartons Creek Trials.

They were greeted by the escapees from the big house, who are still at large after laying out sixteen highly technical sections on the picturesque rolling hills and creek at The Ranch. Saturday's eight sections seemed to be a bit less evil for all the entrants, while Sunday showed just how diabolical the minds of trials criminally insane Ginder, Parsley and crew can be, if the loop scores and facial expressions of the entrants are any indication.

Breaking away from our typical format where sections one and two are usually pretty easy, we decided to let's just go ahead and get on with it and get some points and get those feet on the ground! All the sections were designed with numerous line choices within each classes splits, and that led to some obvious confusion as to which line to ride was the better choice.

When all was said and done the comments heard were, "I can do that, I just didn't!", "Really neat and challenging, I had a great time!", and "So that's how you do that! Why didn't you show me earlier?"

Thanks to all competitors (victims) and scorers and spectators, we hope you all had as good a time as we did.

Also mucho Thanks to John and Jackie Hamilton of Pig-N-Pie Bar-b-cue for great eats all week-end! Check 'em out at the food court at Bellvue Mall.

The Crew at B&J

Next trials:
ITSA 2-Day December 3rd and 4th

Returning to the Scene of the Crime

2005-10-05T09:42:00.000-05:00

This week-end the scene of the crime will be re-visited as the 5th annual AHRMA two-day national trial returns to Big Bartons Creek presented by B&J Racing and International Motorsports.

A group of ten known trials criminals descended upon the area around Big Bartons Creek and set about designing a devious trials to confound and confuse all entrants for the week-end, unbeknownst to them we caught them on film. The unsuspecting victims will find themselves amidst an array of technically challenging sections with moderate obstacles, and a killer loop ride!

Pig & Pie will be here again for catering. The best bar-b-cue around and breakfast sandwiches better than you can make at home.

Come on out and see us. For directions check out the link to B&J above.

Removing the Evidence

2005-09-23T21:27:00.000-05:00

We've spent the past few days removing the evidence of the last ITSA (International Twin Shock Association) trials from this past Sunday out at the ranch at B&J.

Preparations for the AHRMA/STRA/ITSA two-day national to be held October 8th and 9th are underway now. Click HERE for more info......

This week-end we're gonna' change gears to the tune of the AMA Super-Motard National at the Music City Motorplex

Future Victim

2005-09-20T13:36:00.000-05:00

One of our fall and winter projects (and hopefully we won't still be working on it by spring!) is going to be a trick little Honda Reflex conversion. By conversion we mean from the trail bike that Honda sent us back to, with much improvement, an RTL200, a competitive twin-shock machine.

We are working on the tank-seat units now and should have our final proto-type complete in a couple weeks. Pictured above is the very first proto-type tank-seat unit. We already have a nice aluminum exhaust system, you can just see a corner of it in the photo.

We have plans for some engine and carb modifications. Of course Falcon shocks and upgraded front suspension will be in the cards.

We're still playing with lots of ideas and combinations, no telling what it'll look like when it gets done!

This is our fairly sane project, wait until you see our really wild one...........

Triumph Tiger Cub

2005-09-19T13:21:00.000-05:00

Today's victim is this Triumph Tiger Cub rigid frame trials bike. We completed this bike a few weeks ago. It is complete with an electronic ignition, Renthal bars, Amal and Domino controls and a Keihin carburetor. It has custom-built alloy wheels with stainless steel spokes, IRC radial trials tires with custom footpeg mounts, right-side rear brakes and alloy fenders. This list is by no means inclusive as there are too many other details to list without boring you to tears. (You want a list? Contact us!)

We delivered it to the customer at the Wyoming AHRMA two-day national where it finished first place both days in its class. We then went to Milliken, Colorado for the next AHRMA national, where it again won its class.

The proud new papa was, needless to say, quite pleased with his new mount.