TrashZen

Actually, a lot of 20" riders at comps do complain when the sections are too much 26" oriented (with more rolling obstacles and long reach gaps to front etc...) Then, comp organizers and the UCI tend to say that just having one category taking all bikes' sizes for the best to win would drastically reduce the number of podium places, and in effect, would kinda make the sport look even smaller. :$ Another problem today is that whoever would ride in a distinctly rewarded 24" category at a national comp would get the first step on the podium (since there are hardly more than one or two riders with 24"). Until 10 years ago, stock bikes weren't at all optimised for trials which explained the different categories, but true that now they have become more efficient overall than mod bikes, offering more possibilities. So who knows if 24" could be the final mutation of this sport (of course today we wouldn't take notice).

Yep, but considering 26" stocks took quite a while to move to real trials geometries, 24" trials bike are taking a shortcut, have learned all the lessons, and probably won't need as much time to mature. Actually, they look as pimp as the latest stock or mod designs. So they could catch up rapidly, that's why I wouldn't be surprised if they became the rule in less than 10 years.

Seeing that all the manufacturers are jumping in the 24" trials craze, and that some very nice natural geometries are coming out of this bonanza, could it be that in 10 years from now, stock and mod become old-school? Just imagine that 24" bikes start outnumbering other categories both in comp and in street and become the rule. In 2020, any new rider would unquestionably start on this platform rather than risking to be at a disadvantage on a old-fashion and awkward 20" or 26" trials bike. Plus, for street riders, the seat option could make them more popular than mods. Never tried one, but I am pretty sure they must feel good. Most pro riders gave excellent feedback so far .

I just re-arranged some listings on the Gallery of Biketrials Evolution, that I think could be useful (clubs, manufacturers, demo teams, shops), all by country... If you want to add your club/team/shop, just send me the URL. Also, keep your vintage pics coming (and also your new bikes if you want to add to this archive project, they'll be old before you realize it )

Tadaaaa!!!!! Here it is!!!! The Gallery of Bike Trials Evolution up and running... , so feel free to update it with your oldest steeds as well as your latest and pimpest bikes! I reckon this will get more interesting with time (as you'll be able to search for more bikes) I have also included a section for broken parts which I think could be enlightning and a place to feature your best riding zones. Functionality wise, its fairly basic, but I see it as an archive for biketrials bits. Let me what you think, I may be able to improve it a bit, got struggling with some of the plug-ins.

Thanks for your suggestions I think this will take some time, but I'll organize this as a blog, with tags by make, year, wheel size etc... and maybe I'll try to add some specs to the bike pics... With a tag cloud, I could consider several pictures and flavours per bike model and it'll be easier to browse and search any specific bike.... But first, send me your best pics with specs (600 pixels wide minimum if you can, I don't want to pinch low-res pics randomly from the web), I'll put them aside until I have a decent platform to showcase them. Definitely the type of input I need, though with a year on it?, and a better res picture if you have that?

Thanks for your suggestions I think this will take some time, but I'll organize this as a blog, with tags by make, year, wheel size etc... and maybe I'll try to add some specs to the bike pics... With a tag cloud, I could consider several pictures and flavours per bike model and it'll be easier to browse and search any specific bike.... But first, send me your best pics with specs (600 pixels wide minimum if you can, I don't want to pinch low-res pics randomly from the web), I'll put them aside until I have a decent platform to showcase them. I'd definitely consider this type of input (do you have a higher res version you can send me?)

Hey, Was just looking at all these pimp bikes posted here, and thinking it would be cool to host a bike gallery, sorted by year of production. I don't know if that's been done, but it would give a raw picture of how geometry has evolved from the early 80´s to the 2000, and 2010. I'd like to set this up somewhere on TrashZen, like the gallery of geometry evolution... Visitors could browse bike models in any given year. Anyone who wants to participate can send me good resolution pictures at gallery@trashzen.com (one shot of your current or past bikes seen in profile on a fairly clear background). For each picture, make sure to specify the model name and the year of production (and your trialsforum nickname if you want). The picture has to be good, and obviously, I'll have to limit each bike model to one per year of production, otherwise I'll end up with tens of zoos etc... I am curious to see how far this could go back in time. ^_^ What da you think?

Just discovering some natural spots outside Paris... Fontainebleau off course...

Truly amazing flow, looks like you ride natural as if you were in a skate park! It must be an absolute joy ride when you manage that constant balance tuning on the fly ) You would nearly make us believe that brakes are just dead weight in trials.

Arrrgg.. Horrible mistake! OK, it's on, thanks for pointing it out. Also came across the Zero Gravity website... Any other suggestions, just shout! (messages are mute )

Yep, just updated my listing of demo teams and pro riders for easy access from the side Links menu. If you want your demos' webpage to be listed there, just send me an email. I often get requests for demo teams, so I figure out that a good international listing would help event organizers. Cheers

Actually, probably something along these lines!!! Cesar Canas often used to insult himself, or shout to himself, you can Cesar! you can! This made the comps quite funny to watch.

For quite some time, I had been thinking about how exactly mental training works for me. Trying to put this into writing was not really easy, as it often sounds a bit esoteric, or a loony kind of topic. It will probably make more sense for those of you who have been riding biketrials for a while, but let me know what you think. It's all in your head!

This was the whole idea behind putting up a list of forums with country flags on my links' page, because regardless of the country they are from, riders will usually recognize their own flag straight away even if they hardly read english, at least that's a way to get some help/content in their local language. I had built it pretty much for the same reasons as Peter, as a personal bookmark list. I think Peter is making it in a nice web2.0 style which is not a bad idea.

Hi Will, I did paste some emails into something, but that it´s in French and not updated more than once a month (finding a cyber cafe is not our priority when we pitch our tent ) But if you fancy touring pictures and nonsensical explanations... http://zemovers.blogspot.com and pics http://www.trashzen.com/gallery We´ll probably be back by the end of the summer... I´ll be back on the Atomz rig then...

A random news from a recent riding session (actually last week). When two biketrials webmasters meet, what do they talk about? Trials Riding and web development! Everton is the webmaster of the forum BikeTrialBrasil, the first forum to build momentum among the trials riders community in Brazil. He also developed the site for the first trials´specific online shop in Brazil ran by some his mates a few hundreds of kms further North (Brazil is bigger than Europe). So, when I had the opportunity to pass by his hometown in Joinville, I couldn't resist the tentation to meet him and indulge in a little bit of trials riding for the occasion. He even has a little zone set up in his back yard to ride his blinking new Czar. Everton is the coolest bloke in town, and I must thank again all his family for the very warm welcome that we received (my girlfriend and I) when visiting them! How the hell did i get there? On the heavily geared bike that´s on the picture. Well, it has been over a year that my girlfriend and I have been out riding our touring bikes in Latin America. After a little bit over than 20,000km from Mexico down to Patagonia, we took a bus back up to Buenos Aires and got back pushing on the pedals through Uruguay and now Brazil (going North)