Same machine Different day
John Lampkin and Wayne Braybrook need no introduction and have been friends with your Trial Magazine editor John Hulme for many years. Once again, it was a pleasure to meet up and have some real trials ‘Banter’. We want to thank Beta-UK employee John Bannister for the loan of the Beta TR 34C and Bill Wilkinson for the use of our test venue. Watching and listening to the comments and remarks from both John and Wayne is always a pleasure. The mutual respect between the two riders was very evident until the competitive nature took over. Oh, and the crashes!
WAYNE BRAYBROOK: It was a phone call from my good friend John Hulme that had me sorting out some of my old Apico Screenart Beta riding kit. Having gone through a successful schoolboy process in trials on various machines, it was late November in 1987 at the Northern Experts that I found myself with the very first Beta TR34 Replica model into the country. I had been riding the ground-breaking mono-shock Yamaha, but this new Beta was something else. First and foremost, Jordi Tarres was the rider of the time. We all wanted to follow in his footsteps and, for me, the move to the Beta was the ideal choice; I now just had to match his riding!
I enjoyed riding the TR34, and when the TR34 Campionato arrived in 1989, it was one of those moments that would change my life. It looked like a winner stood still and it was. Excuse the expression; it was the Dog’s Bollocks!
Riding techniques were changing, and the Beta was the one ‘on the money’. It was so good in all areas; lightweight, superb suspension and plenty of power on ‘tap’ — or so we thought it had.
The test area was ultra-slippery rocks, and for anyone who has ridden on the Yorkshire version of limestone will vouch for is that you do not open the throttle. All you have to do with the TR34 is pick your line and ride it, but I cannot believe just how little power it has compared to the 2019 model! Yes, in 30 years, machines have changed dramatically and evidently with the power provided, as the ‘Factory’ 250cc had more than enough.
The handling of the Beta matched the power, and I was soon reminiscing of some of my best rides on the TR34.
The 2019 model is just a pleasure to ride as it does everything so much easier but, as the title of this article says, they’re the same machines, just different days. I suppose the main change is from the steel tubular frame to the aluminium ‘Beam’ type. That would maybe answer the question as to why the TR34 handled as it did compared to the 2019 model.
Nowadays, production machines in all areas of riding off-road are very good. Advances in materials and manufacturing have changed so much, but at the time the TR34 used the best of everything and, in 1989, tubeless tyres had become a standard fitment. I am a firm believer that you should not compare where time is involved as circumstances can be so different. These two models are not like chalk and cheese just different times in life. Jordi Tarres never won a world round on the 1989 TR34 Campionato. However, what we did not know at the time was that Beta had the next phase of the trials motorcycle; the new aluminium framed water-cooled Beta Zero. Now that’s a story for another day.
JOHN LAMPKIN: The move from rider to importer was a new challenge in my life and trials career at the time, and one I have never looked back on. When the TR models arrived, it was off the back of the success that had been achieved by the superb talent of a young Jordi Tarres. The Beta was based around Tarres and his exciting style of riding. I remember the first time I saw him in the flesh on the Beta TR34 Campionato, I could not believe just how good it looked, which was backed up by the performance that came with it! I had just taken Ireland’s Robert Crawford under my wing and, boy, could he ride it. The main focal point at the time was how nimble the handling was and the power delivery, which as the time I thought was very strong. As the official Beta importer into the UK, I am sure you can appreciate that I consider the 2019 ‘Factory’ models to be the best!
Putting my leg over the TR34 was very much a flashback moment, and I soon adjusted my riding style to the needs of a machine some 30 years old. In truth, it did all that was asked of it; the main point is the fact that it was very stable. With so much less power than the 2019 model, all you had to do was point and ride it. It’s almost hard to visualise the hazards that Tarres attacked this machine on with his dynamic riding.
The 2019 ‘Factory’ model is a 250cc but, as many riders will agree, modern machines have more than enough power on hand and that pretty much a production machine is capable of winning a world round if you take Toni Bou out of the picture!
Despite the passing of 30 years between these machines, both have very much played a part in the development of the trials machine, albeit in different times.