Domaine Trial-Enduro de Bilstain

The Domaine de Bilstain lies at Bilstain in the province of Liege and, by its own account, was founded in 1973 by the brothers Leon and Jean Crosset. The site covers 40 hectares and carries several facilities: trial and enduro courses, a supermotard track and an area for electric scooters. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday; the operator sells day tickets and subscriptions and rents out equipment. Individual tracks are closed from time to time, and the operator announces those dates itself. There is also a brasserie serving regional food, a function hall and accommodation on site - a house for eight people, an auberge for four to six and apartments for six. Track lengths and prices are not publicly documented; our own record lists loamy ground plus a tight, technical character with off-camber sections. Trial and enduro terrain means short, tight passages at low revs, a lot of clutch work and off-camber sections rather than long full-throttle stretches. Where the engine dies on you in exactly those tight spots, top of our cause list is the combination of a dragging clutch and a flywheel that is too light - a flywheel weight or a properly set clutch takes the low-rpm stalling out.