Dougie Lampkin's wheelie attempt...a challenger in the making !

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Dave
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Dougie Lampkin's wheelie attempt...a challenger in the making !

Post by Dave »

This weekend Dougie Lampkin will attempt to wheelie around the Isle of Man.

http://www.redbull.com/uk/en/motorsport ... n-red-bull

A fine challenge, but I think he needs a bit more of a push, so I thought I would polish up my skills on Trials bikes, just keep Dougie on edge.

At the weekend when taking the bikes out for a clean, I noticed a good bit of fuel still in the Sherco, so I thought I would burn it off.
As I have only been on the trials bikes once this year, I though it better to wear a helmet.
The bike started without much bother, and off I go, warming it up, then slowly I remembered the wee bits of work the bike needed, like the clutch and brakes, but no worries, you don’t need the brakes then much anyway, and as long as you are moving who needs a clutch.

I did plan to do a bit of off-roading over some obstacles and mud mounds, but the nettles and thistles put me off, so I stuck to the grass pathways.

The wheelies: Due to my lack of practice, lack of power in the 125 Sherco, the wrong wind direction, after 15 minutes of trying different gears and techniques, I think the best I managed to get the front wheel off the ground was about half a metre. Looks like Dougie has not much to fear about me on the Sherco.
I did not fully realise, but when I got off the bike and removed my helmet I was proper knackered.

A slow walk back to get the 250 Beta Rev 3...and some water.
That Beta has a the kick start at the left side...just wrong !
Normally this is harder to start than the Sherco, but not last weekend, a few kicks and away we go.
Again, as soon as I was on the bike I remembered the lack of brakes, also the left rubber grip had gone leaving only a knurled bit of metal to hang onto , nice to know the clutch worked fully on this one, so no worries, when can go wrong ??

As soon as I started moving on the Beta it was obvious that bit more power was a great thing.
First wheelie attempt was a bit of a surprise, the front just lifted up higher than my best effort on the Sherco and caused me to power down dammed quickly.
What a different machine, so much easier to get off the ground.
Which is good, even better if you have two good hands handing firm on the bars, but as my left hand slipped off just as the front wheel was about in the best position I have done so far I got to thinking "oh what the...!!" I managed to step off the rear of the bike but we were moving at the time and suddenly my legs were not going at same speed as the bike on one wheel, so I took a tumble.

The strange thing is that it seemed to happen in slow motion, as I was falling my thought were for the bike, I rolled, got on to my feet running after the bike and got to it just after it fell to the ground, span round, I got to the clutch and picked it up, tweaking the throttle to keep it going, then got on it again. Then I remembered the words of my middle lad saying it is proper tricky without a grip. I did tell him to get some new ones, but looks like that did not happen.
A few laps more, getting the front up, but not to the right place or holding it for long, combination of lack of practice and lack of skill.
Then I parked the bike up, and had a rest...proper hot and sweaty.

Realistically I was not on the bikes for then long but got so tired, I need a bit more stamina training, and a lot more training on the skills.

Dougie won't be getting a challenge from me this year, but you never know for the future :-)
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willian
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Re: Dougie Lampkin's wheelie attempt...a challenger in the making !

Post by willian »

Would have been good to come out, but diary was full

Give the front brake a wee pump to bounce the suspension and blip the gas on the rebound to help it up :2up

I was using that technique with your nephew on the crossbar of my mountain bike yesterday, hard work given his weight and my fear of binning it with him onward.

The giggles and shouts from him were worth the sore calf and shoulder muscles this morning :freebird


And if you have a young child, I cannot recommend the value of getting one of these to get them into bikes, both pedalled and powered!

http://www.weerideuk.co.uk/Weeride_Kangaroo.asp
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