Coming soon on Trials Guru, the details of the ‘Trial Walther’ a very special award presented in Austria. In the meantime why not read more about the former Austrian National Trials Champion from whom the name is taken? Walther Luft from Vienna who was the rider to beat in the late 1960s and the early 1970s.

Pictured here at the 1st European Trial Museum at Ohlsdorf in Upper Austria are Hartwig Kamarad (Museum Curator); Walther Luft; John Moffat (Trials Guru website) and Joe Wallman, also former Austrian Trials National Champion. (Photo: Alfred Wagner)

The Walther Luft story HERE

Joe Wallmann story HERE

1st European Trials Museum story HERE

(Main Photo: John Reynolds – photo: Iain Lawrie)

As part of the 50th anniversary of the Beamish Suzuki brand, the Beamish Owners Club have been planning a once only event, to celebrate the establishment of the brand.

The club have just announced that they are teaming up with the organisers of the Golden Valley Classic Trials’ Gerry Holdstock Two-Day trial on July 5/6th 2025.

The event is taking place at Cowcombe near Chalford.

Full details of the event are viewable by follwing this link: https://www.gvcmcc.club/gerry-holdstock-trial/

If you are interested in Beamish Suzuki machines, then why not consider joining the owners club, full details by following this link to the official website: https://www.beamishownersclub.com/

The 1975 348 Montesa Cota prototype, ridden exclusively by Malcolm Rathmell has today gone on sale on the worldwide auction sute, e-bay with a reserve of £12,500.

With information provided by Tim Britton Media Ltd, details of the historic machine are now online and the reserve of GBP 12,500 has been stated as ‘realistic’ given the bike’s original condition and historic significance in the trials world.

The machine can be viewed online here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/405039824229

Trials Guru’s John Moffat said: “I have known since October 2022 that Malcolm wished to sell on his collection of his former factory trials machinery, he and his wife Rhoda discussed the matter with me in private at the Scott Trial presentation that year. I would say that the reserve is not at all unrealistic given the historic significance of Malcolm’s machines, but I doubt the run-of- the-mill trials enthusiast will fork out that kind of money. It is more likely to go overseas to a private collector or conglomorate of collectors. When you think that Ariel HT5s with no factory history or significance or status are changing hands at that sort of level, a prototype factory bike will no doubt be highly valued by those who have the funds, and disposible income to buy such motorcycles.”

With permission, exclusively on Trials Guru, we have assembled the Glenn Carney Collection for your online enjoyment.

Manchester based trials enthusiast and former rider, Glenn Carney has taken fantastic photos of the sport over the years. All photos in this collection are the copyright of Glenn Carney.

Jump straight to the collection HERE

2024 marks ten years of the website Trials Guru which was launched with the technical assistance of Heath Brindley in the March of 2014.

So, to mark this milestone, we are changing the remit of this now world famous website, one of a few that do not charge to see photographs and articles written by enthusiasts for enthusiasts!

We are now running the website as a knowledge base and historical records facility. We have ceased reporting events, unless they have special merit. We have ceased allowing free advertising to commercial ventures including magazines. We are concentrating on our core objectives of storing records, historical data and results and of course the photographs of our benevolent photographers of which they are many world-wide.

We no longer write articles for commercial magazines, even although these were done previously for no monetary consideration, reward or fees.

We will through time republish some articles as these remain the copyright of Trials Guru and John Moffat the website operator.

The website remains privately funded with no subscription fees payable by our viewers. Trials Guru is not an income generation website, never has been and never will be, simple as that.

In time, we may change the layout and presentation, but that will be considered in the future.

We have already introduced the ‘Rider/People Index’ to make it easier to find the people who have been associated with the sport of trials.

Recently a number of articles have been released and this has been extremely well received by our readers, aricles such as ‘Comerfords Look‘; Walther Luft; Don Smith; Joe Wallman and many more.

So it’s business as usual, we remain ‘DEDICATED TO TRIAL’

Photos: © Illawarra Mercury/ACM; Mike Rapley, Carnforth, England – Main Photo

Back in 2017, Trials Guru ran an article under the AJS/Matchless Trials machines in which we described the AJS of Mick Andrews from 1961 which had been registered by the factory as a Matchless, which was quite normal for AMC to do at the time.

The machine emigrated from England to Australia around 1971 and found its way to its present owner Rob Farnham in Queensland, who has owned 644BLB since 2008. The last UK registration tax disc was dated 1970. Rob bought the historic machine from Noel Shipp and has now decided that he has enjoyed owning this piece of world trials history and perhaps the time is right to move it on to someone else who can treasure it and give it a run out now and then.

The difficulty is with these machines is how much are they worth? Recently, an ex-Hugh Viney Matchless (OLD865) sold at auction for around £4,000 which in the wider scheme of things was pretty low. But given that many countries are in recession, maybe that’s a sign of the current climate.

Rob would let the machine go for 20,000 Australian Dollars. It is an ex-factory machine with history, it set Mick Andrews on the road to bigger and better things, with five Scottish Six Days Trial wins and two European Championships to name but two of his many successes in a very successful career.

But Rob is a realistic person and may negotiate the price if he is convinced that it is going to a ‘good home’ and will be well looked after.

Trials Guru is always interested to hear of such stories, and we are sure that readers of this website are too.

Here is a direct link to the original article on 644BLB.

Words by Matt Liberatore

Former World Trials Champion and Scottish Six Days Trial winner, Bernie Schreiber will return once again to the USA in 2023 to conduct another ZeroBS Master Class two-day trials school on May 13/14, 2023 in Tulsa Oklahoma.

The event will be hosted by one of the oldest clubs in the USA, the North Eastern Oklahoma Trials Team, founded in 1969 by one of the legendary names in US trials history Mike McCabe, who became the first American competitor in the Scottish Six Days Trial in 1972.

In 2022 a very successful ZeroBS trials school was held in Montana hosted by Rich Hilbun. This celebrated the 40th anniversary of Schreiber’s double US National Championship victories in 1982. For 2023 the school will be held in Tulsa, Oklahoma where it will be more central and accessible to students from across the USA.

This venue became a reality after conversations with Dr. David Klein of Texas at the FIM Vintage Trial Trophy in Monza, Italy on September 24, 2022. Klein put Schreiber in contact with his long-time friend, another US trials legend Kirk Mayfield of Oklahoma who competed in the 1973 Scottish Six Days Trial on one of Mick Andrews factory Yamahas. Mayfield and Schreiber competed together in the Turkey Creek US National in September of 1975, an event that included many of the best riders in US history.

Schreiber said, “I’m excited for this opportunity in 2023 to teach, ride and encounter friends again in such a memorable place. It really is an honor to host a school with Kirk Mayfield after all these years and he is someone that many people do not realize was such an excellent rider in the history of US trials. To revisit the famous Route 66 or Mother Road is always a special experience as well. Looking forward to meet many club members and current NEOTT President Jason Shackelford who leads one of the oldest Trials clubs in American history.”

Mayfield, who is one of only six riders to have been granted life time membership in the NEOTT Said: “We have hosted many prestigious events here at our club in Tulsa, but it is such a privilege to host the USA’s only World Trials Champion and my friend for so many years here in Tulsa. Everyone is really looking forward to this, because we can share all our experiences from riding overseas and have Bernie’s instruction on how he became a world champion!”

For information about the Schreiber Masterclass on May 13 & 14, 2023 contact: Kirk Mayfield at: kirkmayfield@gmail.com

Note: Limited Spaces Available.

Quite simply the biggest celebration ever staged of all things retro in the wonderful world of trial, we’re less than two months away from the inaugural FIM Trial Vintage Trophy which is scheduled to take place at the legendary Italian venue of Monza on September 24, 2022.

Trial fans from across the planet are invited to attend and it doesn’t matter whether you’re a rider or a fan, a feet-up ace or an also-ran – you will be assured of the warmest of welcomes!

Master of ceremonies will be the original American Idol and 1979 TrialGP World Champion Bernie Schreiber.

Still the only rider from the USA ever to achieve global domination, the charismatic SoCal superstar will oversee the day’s action with a packed programme of interviews with our sport’s historic heroes and major players.

“I’m excited,” said Bernie Schreiber. “This is going to be an amazing day and I can’t wait to meet up with my old rivals and friends and fans from back in the day as well as new, much younger enthusiasts. Vintage trial is booming at the moment and this is the event we’ve all been waiting for.”

Bringing old and new together, the FIM Trial Vintage Trophy will be staged over a course of two laps of 12 sections on the same weekend as the FIM Trial Des Nations. On top of this there will be an exhibition of classic trial machines at the Autodromo of Monza which will also be the base for a reservation-only Trial Des Nations and vintage cocktail dinner on Saturday after the TDN presentation.

Dinner reservations will soon be available at https://trialgp.com/2022-trial-des-nations-italy/

“Trial has such an illustrious back-story,” added Bernie, “and I’m delighted that the FIM wants to celebrate it in this way. It really is a must-not-miss weekend that encompasses the complete history of the sport we all love.”

The FIM Trial Vintage Trophy will play an integral part of the 2022 FIM Trial Des Nations so whether you’re a competitor or a spectator you’ll be given a never seen before, opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the greatest athletes this sport has ever produced.

There will be two main bits of silverware up for grabs – for best performance on a vintage motorcycle and best performance on an authentic vintage motorcycle. There will also be a support class that will compete over easier sections.

Entries will close 21 days before the event and you can register now at https://www.trialgp-registration.com to be part of this historic event.

The action kicks off at 9am on the Saturday with the start of the FIM Trial Vintage Trophy with official TDN practice getting under way one hour later. The following day the latest generation of trial heroes, both male and female, will showcase their sublime skills and bring you bang up to date starting from 8.30am.

Monza is situated around 10 miles north of Milan. There are three airports within 40 miles and road links are excellent.

For the full timetable and more information: https://trialgp.com/2022-trial-des-nations-italy/

For more practical information download the CTR Info letter 02 Trial Vintage available at the TrialGP Noticeboard.

Source: FIM Press Office

New, for the trials enthusiast, a forty years celebration since the only American to win a Trials World Championship, won the Scottish Six Days Trial, Trials Guru will present a new venture online!

“I’m very excited about this new venture in 2022 and you’ll hear untold stories with GLOVES OFF. I’ll be expressing my thoughts about the sport then and now.” – Bernie Schreiber

‘GLOVES OFF – Bernie Schreiber’, will launch in 2022 on TRIALS GURU as a regular and exclusive column in the news feed, and will be archived on a page for trials enthusiasts.

Gloves Off Archive link: WATCH THIS SPACE!