Old Hat Editorial
There is an old saying
about London buses, “You wait ages for one and then two come along at the same time”. To my knowledge, we have never had a report of one of the least-known branches of historic motorcycling, Observed Trials. A few weeks back I received a report of the ‘Pre-65s’ section of the Australian Trials Championships in Victoria from Bob McGlinchy. Then a week later, along comes a report from Colin Sheehan of the Twin-Shock Trial at Conondale, Queensland. You’ll find both of these in this issue. But it reminded me of just what a major part of the sport this form of recreational riding once was, usually known back then as Sporting Trials, mainly to distinguish it from Reliability Trials.
In New South Wales at least, Sporting Trials were huge and regarded by the trade as being very important for sales. Of course, Britain was the mecca with the Scottish Six Day being the grand daddy of them all, and every winter weekend crammed with events for ‘bog wheelers’ across the country. With no road racing possible in winter, riders of the calibre of Geoff Duke, Sammy Miller, Bill Doran and other tar stars would don Dunlop trials boots and head for the slush – in Miller’s case with resounding and enduring success. It was largely due to Sammy that the modern trials bike evolved, firstly around his famous ultra-light Ariels and then with Bultaco and Honda.
Out in these parts Sporting Trials were not so much seasonal, although usually most prevalent in the cooler months, but the top road racers also made a habit of tackling the ‘feet up’ sport to keep their eye in between races. Eric McPherson, Eric Hinton, Ray Trevena, Kel Carruthers, Keith Stewart, Jack Forrest, Roger Barker and George Morrison spring to mind.
The motocross boom that began in the late ‘sixties seemed to pluck the wind from the Trials scene, but it never completely went out of fashion and produced such champions as Norm Aldridge, Ian Gaff, Dave Pinkerton, Peter Paice, Chris Leighfield, Kevin Zarczynski and many others. My father Charlie was a gun trials rider, using the same Competition model G3LC Matchless on which he had so much success in scrambles. It simply involved fitting the lowest gearing possible in the form of a gigantic rear sprocket, carefully tuning the carburation for low speed throttle response, and usually adding a muffler, and off you went. It was a very laid back day of sport and camaraderie – perfect for infant grubs such as myself who could play in the mud all day. Heaven!
I think there’s the makings of a good story here.