Daviesdt

@iron_panda think it is lack of technique that is preventing you lifting your front wheel. Just to put it in context you are riding a 24 inch wheel bike with about a 380mm long chain stay and shortish wheel base, I've got something similar in my inspired. I also have a 27.5inch wheel full suss mtb with about a 420mm chain stay and way bigger wheel base but I can lift front wheel to do side hops, bunny hops, and wheelies and can also pull manuals on it. What I'm getting at is you are still sussing things out so I wouldn't get to fixated on trying to fix your bike as it's probably ok in terms of back wheel distance so long as chain tension is correct. it's just a case refining your technique to suit the bike. Out of interest, you didn't mention what you are trying to achieve with front wheel lifting. Are you aiming for back wheel hops, wheelies, manuals etc as may be something else you are doing wrong rather than playing with the bike.

@Ross McArthur nice riding as usual, think I just found some motivation to get off my arse and go get some practice in myself after watching that.

Sounds like you have the wrong chain tension as that's what is being taken up when you pedal hence the gap. You need to pull your wheel back till the chain is straight then adjust your drop outs to hold it there. I think ideal chain tension should be only a slight amount of give when you press the chain down towards your chain stay, but that said you don't want it too tight as the chain could break. Think tarty bikes have a guide to setting up chain tension with horizontal drop outs, if they don't you tube will.

Are you trying to align your body with your front wheel or just trying to turn your wheel? You should ideally turn your body with your front wheel and I think push your weight slightly forward and lean on your handle bars a bit. Make sure your front tyre pressure isn't low, squishy front tyres don't help track stands.

Car parks. All you really need is a flat area and some kerbs. I spent about 3 month last winter rolling round a t junction on Trafford park industrial estate, it was lit in the evening, quiet, no traffic, just the job.

For £200 it's worth the punt. I don't see any reason why you should not learn to do mtb and trials at the same time, they have alot of complimentary skills, you only have to look at Chris akrigg videos. It's only a matter of having the time on your hands. I prefer riding trials when I only have a few hrs to spare, mtb is for weekend when I can get out for a full day. Can't comment on the zoot, never ridden one but alot of folks seem to use them as start out bikes before going onto better.

Good grief! You ain't kidding. Think this father Ted episode just about sums things up at moment.

Yeah, pretty sure it's not supposed to look like that... Any tips for straightening a bent rotor? Or should I give up now and buy a new one!?

@Ross McArthur what stem do you have on that echo of yours? It's a really sweet bike and like the more streety stuff you are doing on it. Got an echo 24 myself but with rim brakes on rear, the stem is really long which makes it difficult to manual so was thinking of changing it out.

Traditional I guess is a bit more of the no seat bikes. Hopping around rocks and tricky obstacles. Think alot of the moves start from a static position. Street trials stuff stems from rolling moves. Don't get to hung up on it if you are just starting, you'll prob find what suits you better and I've seen a good few vids of no seated bikes being used for Street stuff and vice versa.

Like those nose backward manual thingies you were doing where you seem to let the front brake go and tip weight forward to move the wheel. Don't even know what you call that.

Didn't even notice that! Never seen that before.

@iron_panda I kinda started similar to you, just decided one day I wanted to start trials and that was that, picked up a second hand bike off ebay and went for it. I ended getting hold of a copy of the trash zen book and kinda used that as a guide for what to do and when as he has a getting started section in the book. Looking at it now, and in my opinion then areas to focus on if you are getting going are; -trackstand (obviously) - progression hops and repositioning hops http://www.trashzen.com/biketrial-bouncing.php - turning and crawling around (spent a lot of time on this, as much as trackstanding) http://www.trashzen.com/biketrial-control.php - lifting the front wheel http://www.trashzen.com/lifting-the-front-wheel.php - lifting back wheel http://www.trashzen.com/lifting-the-front-wheel.php - fakies (again for repositioning) - pedal kick basics (will then extend to other areas such as side hops etc) -rolling up obstacles (unweighting rear wheel) http://www.trashzen.com/rolling-up-a-kerb.php (this looks simple but is the basis for a few other things so worth getting timing and pedal motion right). You'll probably find you'll get bored rigid doing some of the basics time and time again but for me you will struggle doing trials if you cant do some essentials such as trackstanding and repositioning so its worth spending the time on these. I spent more than a few hours just rolling round a car park with ear phones in just trackstanding and crawling round sideways and doing turns on the spot. Still not perfect but enough to allow me to move onto other things to keep the interest up. Then depending on which way you want to go, either traditional trials or street trial will determine what you should be doing next. Seeing as you have a zoot, guessing its more street stuff so I'd put the effort into learning manuals, wheelies and bunny hops but you could do anything you feel like really as its all good. If you figure out pedal kicks and back wheel hops you'll find a lot of other techniques such as side hops, rolling pedal kicks, pedal ups, rolling up obstacles etc start making sense off the back of these. Oh, don't get discouraged, trials don't come overnight. I still consider myself a beginner and been at it 18 months now but lack of practice due to kids etc is my excuse! @ItsMattLooking forward to the tutorials, just subscribed to your youtube channel. Nice one. Can you do some up to front tutorials first, both from bunny hops and pedal kicks? Working on these at the moment so struggling a bit with the timing, weight shift etc especialy from the pedal kick. Trying it on both my inspired 24 and my echo trials but its not working out for me yet as the weight shift while kicking the pedal doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Cheers.

Looks more of a dirt jumper that but seen plenty of vids of folks trials riding dj bikes.

No good then?

Jeez, dont miss them bone shaker bikes for mtb! Take my nice comfy stumpjumper any day! Good vid from chriss all the same though!

@Ali CQuite looking forward to seeing how the flow performs. Interesting that you said its not that different from your current bike, presume you mean the arcade? This could be a new line of vlogging for you, be like the Jeremy clarkson of the trials world!

A skye without a seat!? Is that for real!? Why would they do that!?

So... lesson is... dont bother with fiber fix!? That plated and bolted splice is well funny by the way! In all seriousness though the only way i know to fix a frame is welding it but a weld in the middle of a thin gauge tube like that has its own problems, the weld is likely to just blow through and even if you could lay it by using some kind of backing strip it'd probably fail when using the bike due to locked in stresses in the weld giving a lack of ductility. Best throw the frame out in instances like this, despite what fibre fix may claim.

Ive got an element and im a little under 6ft, think the wheel base on an element is about 1040mm and to be honest i was thinking of upgrading for a fourplay as fancied something shorter, i have an idea bunny hops and manuals will be easier to pull, shorter wheelbase will provide a more bmx feel (in my opinion ) for 180's etc so what could be wrong? Plus if it dont suit your style, think a skye will sell easy on second hand ☺

http://www.diy.com/departments/nails-screws-hardware/bolts-nuts-washers/washers/DIY580730.cat/Type-38245=Flat__washer?pageSize=12&categoryToFilter=DIY580730

Any odds and ends like that i usually just go and speak to my local bike shop for, they usually have boxes of things they have cannabalised off other bikes that may be useful in the future and they may part with what you are after. Unsure where you'd buy washers from. As daft as it sounds though maybe B&Q!?

@CSP Trials

I would have thought it would have been suited to someone your height, short wheel base and high front end is what its all about. Theres a guy called chris stern on here, has his own youtube channel called csp productions. Think he has a v2, maybe contact him?

So, just more time on the mtb doing trials stuff and dont fight the bike. Makes sense i guess. Nice one.