duckwars

I'm really no expert, but I've seen this question asked before. Most people seem to think your best bet is to just buy a trials specific bike if you wanna do trials.

http://www.observedtrials.net/vb/showthread.php?t=42434 I'm thinking about buying this frame and building it up.... Would this be good for street? Is this designed to take 26" wheels? Could I fit 24" wheels into it? Also, on a side note, building up a trials bike, are there any specific parts that might be rare or difficult to get because they have to be trials specific as opposed to general bike stuff. I know that a lot of trials bikes have flywheels on the crank (or chain ring?) which is very bizarre to me... Anyway, all coments welcome and helpful

What is TGS? I really don't know much about trials geometry. I've been doing searches and reading posts, but most of them are very specific and a little too difficult for me to understand. My thinking is a shorter wheel base means easier to do manuals and wheelies and stuff, but what about for hopping up and down onto and off of objects? sstein, what do you mean they are not good for balance? Not good for track standing, or riding on really thin rails? I plan on doing about 95% of my riding in the street, so I guess this bike is good for that?

So I have a topic in the new trials riders forum, but it seems to be dieing... I thought I might get better responses here. Sorry to make such a similar post, but this is a lot of money (to me) and I really don't want to screw up this purchase. This is the email I recieved about the bike I want to buy... " Hey, I have some pics of the bike for you. Here are the specs: Frame: Planet X Zebdi Fork: Planet X Kniffen Seat: Planet X Rims: Sun Rhynolite Hubs: Redline (frt. is standard, rear is re-spaced from 110mm to 130mm. It's a thread on hub, good for running single-speed). Spokes: DT Swiss Tires: WTB Velociraptor Brakes: Hayes 9 (hydraulic disc) * Some people don't like these. If that's the case, I can replace them with a Magura Louise front and a standard V-brake in the rear (nothing special) Headset: FSA Pig Stem: Generic, 100mm X ~5 *deg Bars: Kore (710 mm) Cranks: Shimano (32t front) Freewheel: 7-speed Shimano Shifter: Shimano 7 speed trigger Derailleur: Shimano Sora The rear brake is bleeding off pressure. I know there is a bad o-ring on the reservoir that I will replace- hopefully that's the problem. If not, I'll put a v-brake on the rear and a Magura Louise hyd. disc on the front. Other than that, the f/w needs to have a spacer (something I can do). The bike is currently set-up as a multi-purpose bike, as I already have a dedicated trials bike. It has a 32t front and a 7 speed rear freewheel (14-28t). If you want something dedicated, I'll replace the cranks with a set of FSA's with a 22t and bash. You will have to purchase a tensioner and single-speed freewheel (or use the derailleur as a tensioner and the current freewheel set on either 18t or 20t). The way it is set-up now is pretty versatile. It's good for getting to a spot to ride, and geared low enough that you can still do trials stuff 32/28. It can also be used for mountain, park, street- pretty much whatever you want. Let me know what you think. " Thanks guys!

I'm like 80% sure I'm being made fun of here, and so, I retract my first statement.

This could be the one! I just got this email from someone off of observed trials. " Hey, I have some pics of the bike for you. Here are the specs: Frame: Planet X Zebdi Fork: Planet X Kniffen Seat: Planet X Rims: Sun Rhynolite Hubs: Redline (frt. is standard, rear is re-spaced from 110mm to 130mm. It's a thread on hub, good for running single-speed). Spokes: DT Swiss Tires: WTB Velociraptor Brakes: Hayes 9 (hydraulic disc) * Some people don't like these. If that's the case, I can replace them with a Magura Louise front and a standard V-brake in the rear (nothing special) Headset: FSA Pig Stem: Generic, 100mm X ~5 *deg Bars: Kore (710 mm) Cranks: Shimano (32t front) Freewheel: 7-speed Shimano Shifter: Shimano 7 speed trigger Derailleur: Shimano Sora The rear brake is bleeding off pressure. I know there is a bad o-ring on the reservoir that I will replace- hopefully that's the problem. If not, I'll put a v-brake on the rear and a Magura Louise hyd. disc on the front. Other than that, the f/w needs to have a spacer (something I can do). The bike is currently set-up as a multi-purpose bike, as I already have a dedicated trials bike. It has a 32t front and a 7 speed rear freewheel (14-28t). If you want something dedicated, I'll replace the cranks with a set of FSA's with a 22t and bash. You will have to purchase a tensioner and single-speed freewheel (or use the derailleur as a tensioner and the current freewheel set on either 18t or 20t). The way it is set-up now is pretty versatile. It's good for getting to a spot to ride, and geared low enough that you can still do trials stuff 32/28. It can also be used for mountain, park, street- pretty much whatever you want. Let me know what you think. -Tim " It's 400$ plus shipping... what do you guys think?

My ebay auctions sold and I'm ITCHING!!! Argh! You're right though. I'm thinking this is more on par with my budget and skill level http://www.observedtrials.net/vb/showthread.php?t=42362

http://www.observedtrials.net/vb/showthread.php?t=42190 thinking if I can get this 250$ shipped I'd buy it. It at least looks awesome and claims to be "light". Any ideas?

Wow, thanks for the warning! There is pretty much NO way for me to get it locally, but I think I will limit my buying to just in the US. Thanks.

What exactly is the difference between a street trials bike and a proper trials bike. I take it regular trials are done in nature on rocks and stuff, where as street trials are, well, in the street. As far as geometry and other parts go, what is the difference? For some reason, just looking around it looks like proper trials bikes have longer wheel bases (so the bike can span between rocks easier?) and street trials bike have shorter ones (makes them more bmx'ish). Anyway, if anyone has a link to a good thread/post about trials geometry, I'd be a much happier man. EDIT: I'm pretty sure I'm gonna end up doing 95% of my riding in city environment.

What kind of questions should I ask specifically. I'm undergoing talks with this guy right now... really don't know how cheap I can get it. Also, does anyone know if I could get 24" wheels into this frame? I really don't understand the requirements for putting in different size wheels.

I do want to say that I like the rules. Every other message board I am a part of is just made so that top 100 posters who know about the topic can mock all the new people. I'm tired of being mocked.

If a little red squiggly line comes up on the bottom of a word after you type it you should right click it.

I didn't know what "chav" was so I looked it up on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav I believe Amy Polard is a "chav"

Looking at the responses it seems the most reasonable are that it's difficult to do other similar sports. Someone citing skate parks are expensive (I can think of at least one FREE one in my area) and dirt jumps being shut down the by the city and such. Seems like a lot of people who would otherwise be doing other XTREME sports get drawn to trials because there is somewhere to do that stuff. I mean, skateboarding is hugely popular here and I guess if those guys couldn't skateboard due to infrastructure (and 5 pound for 2 hours skateparks!!!) they'd be doing trials. I don't know how much the fact that the trials companies are located in England is reasoning for why it is big there. I mean, I believe it is the demand that brings the companies to England, not the other way round. Anyway, thanks for the responses.

I wasn't saying it's ONLY done in the UK, but just that it is much more popular there than anywhere else. Why is this so?

It seems like an odd phenomena. I mean, what about the UK is so geared up for trials riding? I think most X-TREME sports tend find a home in Southern California if not only because of how many sunny days we have. I think I heard England has about 200 days of rain. How can you find time to practice an outdoors X-TREME sport with so few days of opportunity? I'm just curious, mostly because I'm having a near impossible time getting a bike NOT imported from the UK.

thanks for the replies guys! What if I could get this guy to sell me this shipped for 600$? http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/437748/

I can get this for 400$ after shipping which would be an awesome deal vs. trying to ship something from the UK. What do people think of the bike? http://observedtrials.net/vb/showthread.ph...p;highlight=dmr

Well, I still have not even touched a trials bike, but I'm looking to get into this. I'm looking around to see what to buy, but really I don't hear many negative comments. People seem to be happy with what they got. I'm interested in learning from other peoples errors. What mistakes did you make (as far as purchases go) when you first started riding trials? Maybe bought a 26" when you should have bought a 20"? Maybe bought a bargain bike that really sucked, or an expensive bike that was unnecessary? Bought a new bike when you could have gotten a used bike for a better price? Anything along those lines. I'm really trying to make a very conscious and responsible buy here. I don't have the money to mess up on this purchase.

I really don't think so, but I need to put a post up on observedtrials.net. Once I saw a kid riding down the street (before I had any ideas about trials) and he was going REALLY slow and I thought he had a single-speed downhill mountain bike. I started thinking about whether or not a downhill mountain bike really needed multiple gears. I'm pretty sure now he was on some sort of trials bike.

Of course danny is amazing. Kind of goes without saying, but what I want to add is the filming and editing of the video is also pretty damn good. They get different angles on tricks, and they edited the music so well to spike right at all the exciting parts of his tricks. Kudos.

I'm looking into getting my first trials bike. I've been lurking around these forums for about a week now, and this topic doesn't seem to come up as much as I thought it would. I'm about 5'8" and 190 lbs. I'm not sure if that should factor in to what size to get. To me, a 20" would be a good beginner bike because it is lighter (I would think) but at the same time the real reason I want a trials bike is to hop up onto stuff. I would think a 26" would be better for this just because you are higher up to begin with. I don't know why, but I'm leaning toward a 26" just because it seems, I don't know, less BMXish. Although, on the forums, here and observedtrials.net, people like the onza bird, which I'm thinking about getting. If I went the 26" route I think I would get a spyrogira. Any advice, thoughts? Thanks!

San Diego, CA, USA. I don't even have a bike yet, and have been posting for all of 4 or 5 days. Just for the record, watching danny macaskil totally made me interested in this sport. Guys nuts.

Aha! Thank you for observedtrials.net link guys! I'll be scoping them out for used bikes. Awesome! Also, does tartybikes have a physical location? My grandma lives in England (Swindon) and I'm going to visit her this summer and was thinking of waiting until then to get my bike, but I don't know if I can wait. Not having to pay shipping costs to the US would be good, but not having to pay shipping costs at all... that'd be sweet. Anyway, thanks for the help guys and thanks for not being like 90% of other forums who just yell "SEARCH YOU b*****d" whenever a new guy asks dumb questions.