RAF Motorcycle Trials

Motorcycle Trials is man and machine competing not only against other competitors but against “Observed sections”, parts of a course that have obstacles designed to unsettle the rider and observed by a marshal to make sure he doesn’t put their feet on the floor. If they do this is a penalty. The rider with the least amount of penalties at the end wins. Obstacles include rock steps, waterfalls, mud banks, fallen logs etc.

Vehicle Types and Discipline Variety :

Specialist motorcycles are used for this sport, mainly Spanish made. They have no seat (so the bike can move freely underneath the rider), wide handlebars to aid in balance, extremely low gearing as speed is not the desired outcome in most events, and tyre pressure we run are between 3 and 5 PSI for optimum grip.

There are 3 different event types:

– Stop Allowed, where you are allowed to stop and balance in a section before attempting a hazard, please not you are to keep your feet on the foot pegs.

– Non-Stop; the rider is to maintain forward motion at all times. Easier said than done when the sections are tricky.

– Times events, such as The Scott timed trial, the first man to complete the course sets the standard time then the following riders have to be within an hour to be deemed finishers, this still includes the observed sections so penalties are still awarded to riders. Anyone out of the hour will be excluded from the event.