What does it look like for the future of STRA vintage for 2007 an on?
What was the average number of riders at events in 2006?

Dunno what the average # of riders at vintage was this past year, as I only attended the Oct weekend at Ginders. I do believe that the #s are down, which I consider to be too bad. Vintage is a good way to get started in trials without the investment of a newer bike. Plus it never goes out of date.

Sadly, the numbers are down. Back 10 years ago we would average about 18 riders per event with some events going as high as 25 riders. This year I think our average was under 10 per event.
H

It looks like some revitalization is taking place in 2007 with the Vintage series. Mark Sturtevant is the STRA Vintage Competition Director and the expanded series schedule will be posted soon. Stay tuned.

Yes, and many thanks go out to those who help make this happen!
H

That sounds great, I hope to ride my 'new' TY-175 in a few events for '07!

See my reply on the SCTC board, John Furr is my hero for more info Mark.

I just purchased a TY175, not running. And hope to find another for Aaron to ride. So that we can ride the vintage rounds. So the first one is peeled down to the wee parts. Any tips?
I saw nubbies rebuild pic's on the ITSA site. What electronic ign is availible? Is it worth it? I have no problem with points. Is the silencer on the aluminum pipe needed or does it make it super quiet? Are the stock forks ok, I thought I might try a Race Tech gold valve in them. Has anyone tried tightening up the rake on the forks? I thought pulling them in a few degrees might make it feel better. Yes? No?
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Paul

Thank you Mark for helping with the vintage stuff.

Also big thanks to the vintage promoters. Looking forward to more fun in 07...

Paul, we can answer all the questions you asked about the TY175, but it would take up half the forum space....

Give me a call and I can help you out on some of this stuff. 615.789.5956 or email me at b.j.racing@hughes.net.

Bob

i can only speak for myself, but i'm having a blast riding itsa vintage events this year, really well done and loads of fun. seems to me that stra promoters would rather sell people a modern bike for 6k than lay out vintage events. what ever happened to vintage events on saturday and modern on sunday. best of both worlds. i think it has been forgotten that us vintage guys pay the same membership as everyone else. i'll most likely invest my cash somewhere else next year, or maybe i'll give sportsman a shot on the old ugly ty.

Lee,
I have no idea where you got the notion that most of the event promoters are selling trials bikes but you are wrong. Most of the people that put on events are average club members just like you. I personally don't find it too rewarding to do a modern/vintage event only to have ten or fifteen riders show up on vintage day. At least with a two day modern event I know that I will recoup some of the gas money I spent driving four hours round trip to the trials site six times to set up the trials. If yourself or some others would volunteer to do events instead of the same people having to put them on every year maybe then you would have a better understanding of the why's of what is going on.
Gary Garrison

gary,

here is my point. stra and itsa events are combined this year, and most, if not all, of the work that goes into those events is handled by itsa promoters and members. now, i paid for an itsa and stra membership this year. my itsa membership money goes to the events that i ride. where did my stra membership money go? i feel that i paid money expecting to ride two circuits, when in fact i'm riding only one which pays points in two organizations. now, points don't cost any money to give out, so in turn, my stra membership money pays for modern events that i have no desire to ride. i have no desire to participate in the seriousness of the stra's modern events. i've been riding now for several years as you well know, and attitudes have changed in those years. i may have generalized my thoughts into a blanket statement when they were meant for a few, and for that i appologize, but i don't feel that i should have to spend thousands of dollars for a bike in order to compete in an organization that holds events close to my home. i have to be honest, i think i'm done with the stra for the simple reason that the attitudes of a few ruin my fun, and i think that is what trials is all about. after all, it is a gentleman's sport.

Hey, guys, I'm still interested in vintage, too. I have been sprucing up my TY250A with new tires, seat, and rear fender. I seem to be missing the nearby STRA trials this year, but I hope to ride Barber and Aonia with AHRMA. I'm looking forward to STRA vintage in 2008.

You can ride your vintage bike in any trials, any where. Vintage bikes are welcome at the modern events and they have classes for everybody.

Lee,
Members who contribute to the club (the non profit, run by volunteers club)know from experience that STRA fees benefit every member, not just modern riders. If you had attended the STRA business meeting, you would know that this is the first year of a combined STRA/ITSA series. It may or may not be the same next year.
STRA membership fees do not pay for modern events. All events are funded by the promoters.
For the information of all who complain, but do not contribute, the following is what is required to promote an STRA event:
1-Find a venue
2-Drive there and spend 4-6 FULL days clearing and marking sections.
3-Buy awards out of pocket
4-Pay approximately $160 per day for insurance and AMA sanction fee
5-Rent or otherwise arrange porta-johns
6-Complete the event paperwork and submit it
7-Prepare scores and provide to competition director

Now do all of this for the 8-10 vintage riders who show up and you've lost a lot of money and time. Do it for the 40-60 riders who show up for a modern round, and you will break even or possibly pocket a couple of hundred $ IF you do not have to pay the land owner. NOBODY does this for the money. They do it because they know that if they contribute, they will have events in which to compete. They rely on the contributions of others to make their efforts worthwhile.

STRA fees DO pay for this web site, year end awards (both modern and vintage), door prizes at the banquet, STRA equipment (lap top computer, printer, generator - available to any promoter who needs to use them), and misc expenses.They also provide working capital to enable us to order marking supplies (which again are paid for by the promoter after their event). One other thing - one of the promoters you blasted for trying to sell you a $6K bike does promote as many vintage events as anyone else with the exception of Bob Ginder and allows STRA members free access to the best trials riding area in the country. It now costs $200 per year to ride at the Newnan, Ga property. Free (with your $20 STRA membership) is a pretty good deal for an area that is way better than Newnan.

Your STRA membership also buys you the opportunity to ride 12 additional events because as 4RT said, you can enter your vintage bike in any modern class. Novice thru sportsman are equivalent to vintage C thru A respectively.

Lee,
I join several organizations every year, even though I may not ride in their series. I hate that I join AHRMA because they don't have youth classes(except trials?)for my son to ride. I love riding vintage mx, but if my son can't ride I'll do something else that weekend. I'm still sending in my money, because when my son is old enough to ride I want there to be a series to ride.
You get a lot for a $20 dollar STRA membership fee. Why would you give that up? The STRA is made up of the most passionate about a sport people I have ever met. How many events have you been to that the checkers were'nt riding the series but "Just showed up to check"? They stand out in the woods for 5 or 6 hours for you. They do it to support the sport. So could you consider $20 to STRA a show of support for them?
What was the last thing you wasted $20 bucks on?
At the business meeting, I don't think I saw $20 wasted.
So ride, don't ride. Think of $20 and a little time to help out at an event "ride insurance". It will ensure that you will have a vintage event to ride in the future.
Which reminds me Tim, I need to give you the money for the CTC I said I would join at Franks.

....and keep in mind we give out awards for the top finishers in both the Vintage and Modern series at the year end banquet. The STRA membership fee helps fund those awards too.

ron,

first of all, i was at last year's business meeting and about 8 or 9 before that. second, are you suggesting that i should contribute even though the stra no longer has vintage events? itsa has vintage events and does allow stra members access to those events, but no stra vintage events. have you ever contributed to an itsa vintage event? if you have not, then how can you tell me that i should contribute to stra (modern events only this year)? actually, in the past i have contributed my time to several modern stra events either by checking or helping in lay out and or clean up even though i don't ride modern events. you say that my money helps to purchase equipment for stra events (modern only this year). once again i don't ride modern events. marketing supplies? what marketing supplies feature or even include anything about vintage events or motorcycles. vintage scores aren't posted on the web site that i most graciously gave my 20 dollars to. maybe if the stra thought a little more of vintage events the stra would have more than 8 to 10 riders per vintage event. you want to attack me personally for voicing my opinion, you've lost another 20 bucks. yeah, i could ride modern events on my vintage bike but when slammed beacuse i don't feel the same, why would i want to?

these views are my own. i speak only for myself, not itsa, any other organization, or any other person.

one more thing, last years award for winning the vintage B class, which i won, was a piece of paper. a nice piece of paper, but a piece of paper none the less. how much did that cost? if a piece of paper award is so expensive, if i win anything this year, don't spend another dime on my award. you can keep it.