"old-school" Trials

[F-Stop Junkie]

Surely Under Pressure is old school

[abtrials]

reguardless of it being old/new school, trials on a cycle has evolved from motor bike trials, so anything on natural rocks is old school trials anything else is new and obviously sports evolve and get more specific.

i would say you just have different typs of rider like some riders can do it all old or new, just depends what motivates people to go out and ride.

[paolo]

the problem as i see it is trials is to boring to watch to ever become something as big as bmx and skateboarding, in other words trials will never become that big because its fundementally flawed

Well I can honestly say that straight up trials is boring to watch, even if you can appreciate it. I once watched a trials demo by really good rider, before I got into trials, but after 15 mins, I was really bored.

I defenetly have to agree with the boon. Trials in it's pure form, to me, is comparable to a 500m foot race or a long jump event. It's pretty cool to watch for a bit, but it gets repetitive really fast and I don't really have a big apreciation for the talent and hours of practice needed to get to the level of those atheletes.

I see trials a bit like the guy who tried to learn some Paganini caprice but eventually gave up and suicided (I'm pretty sure I'm not making this up, Paganini was basicly an incredible violonist), most of us are working on the same things: higher, faster, longer. But what the hell does that change?

[manuel]

hold on - mototrials is a huge sport with regular TV coverage... ye they go a little bigger (they do have engines mind) but most people here have seen the koxx boys doing the moto courses to massive audiences... its not that different. It could be huge. its not.

I dont really have a point other than its not boring to watch.

[Si-man]

Surely Under Pressure is old school

Got an episode of that on VHS somewhere i recorded off tv haha.

Has tibo mariox or whatever his name was on it.

[trialschallenger]

if you see this from aoutsiders point of view

natural-not to intresting to the lots of stops and starts and to them posibly repetative

(taking nothing from those who do natural its skilled and cn be difficult)

street- when they say sum one drop a 10ft drop they see it as amasing or jumping up on a post box they see it as impressive

i think this is because is one of big moves

hence the few people i have asked see trials as a demo sport

out of the 20 or so i showed video's too they all sed wow to street and they were a little unsure on the natural

but they said they would all sit and watch a demo if there was one in town

[Savage]

Chris, a pic for you! almost landed on you at Red bull, rode at under pressure. Am I old school? Help!

Ben.

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

getting bashrings from Ryan Leech's team mate and importing them from Canada myself.

Where were you when I started riding back in '97 Chris? I phoned Chris Ackrigg at Aire Valley to find out where he got his bashguards from... he was no help and I ended up waiting 'til mid '98 when Blackspire released their first 'Ring God' to cover a 32T ring!!

Old school is a state of mind... I don't know if I'm old school or not, I'm definitely old guard and not new school...

Dave

[F-Stop Junkie]

Chris, a pic for you! almost landed on you at Red bull, rode at under pressure. Am I old school? Help!

Ben.

Careful Ben, or I'll start digging through my archive and find some very old pics of a very young Ben Savage

Anyway, you're only old school if you think you are. A bit Karate Kid, but you know what I mean...

Where were you when I started riding back in '97 Chris? I phoned Chris Ackrigg at Aire Valley to find out where he got his bashguards from... he was no help and I ended up waiting 'til mid '98 when Blackspire released their first 'Ring God' to cover a 32T ring!!

Old school is a state of mind... I don't know if I'm old school or not, I'm definitely old guard and not new school...

Could be worse. A mate of mine (and several others at the time) got scraps of alloy or steel, a handful of hacksaw blades and made their own which were mostly rubbish. Well, except this one kid who had good home made stuff... Something Leeson...

Old guard trials. Interesting. Do we have to huddle together, scared of hoodies, and reminice about how all this used to be nowt but rocks? Remembering how we used to put up with Shimano freehubs, but we were happy.

"Maguras? You were lucky. I had to pull brake block against rim wi' a bit of string."

"String? Luxury..."

It's almost bizarre looking back now, how you didn't just buy a pair of Onza pedals, you went looking through shop after shop trying to find just the right set of VPs. Handle bars, rims, even frames were looked at and examined for trials worthiness. I remember once even considering Renthal MX bars for my trials bike. You didn't buy trials bits because you couldn't buy trials bits. Ideas like tar, or how to modify your VP pedals were passed around at trials events like hidden knowledge. When I first got my copy of Revolution, people couldn't believe it, and I seem to recall quite a list of people waiting to borrow it. The Essex club newsletter falling on the doormat was like a favourite magazine subscription, in all of it's wonderful photocopied glory. Names like Martin Hawes, Darren King and Eddie Tongue popping out at you. Quite a thrill for someone new to such a little known sport.

[boon racoon]

The Bike Battle was an amazing weekend, one of the best of my life and I'm sure the riders would agree. Everything was thought through, money was invested in the event and in the promotion of it. That's the benefit of sponsors willing to pay a good amount of money, and event organisers who have experience doing it. I'm sure Red Bull could run a series - like the Nissan Qashqai Urban Challenge events - tomorrow and they'd be great.

I understand that, and the bit about haymarket pulling the plug on the Bikeshow...

But I was thinking...why hasn't another Trials Bike Battle been organised since? If slopestyle can come from practically nothing and not even existing as a concept a couple of years ago, and turn around into hugely funded MTB events and series worldwide.

Then why when trials has ALREADY had a successful event in the UK 5 years ago and has been around for ages, can't this be the same?

Answer: because where Trials is at now isn't appealing to the public eye, because it's bland.

[F-Stop Junkie]

But I was thinking...why hasn't another Trials Bike Battle been organised since? If slopestyle can come from practically nothing and not even existing as a concept a couple of years ago, and turn around into hugely funded MTB events and series worldwide.

Answer: because where Trials is at now isn't appealing to the public eye, because it's bland.

I guess Red Bull didn't see enough benefit to carry on. I think there was a lot of stars that aligned for Matt Tongue to take the idea to Red Bull in the first place, and for them to pick up on it.

Trials is *anything* but bland. Especially in a Bike Battle format. What it isn't is spectacular to the same extent as slopestyle. Watching guys throwing backflips and huge transfers just isn't the same as big ups at 10mph. The Bike Battle was almost trialstyle instead of slopestyle, and it worked really well. TGS wouldn't mean much to anyone, and natural competition will have a limited appeal for the most part, but urban trialstyle comps? Just look at the crowds in Nottingham, no reason why that couldn't be replicated up and down the country, especially with a highlights show from each round, and a big juicy prize at the end.

All it needs is money.

[matttongue]

I guess Red Bull didn't see enough benefit to carry on. I think there was a lot of stars that aligned for Matt Tongue to take the idea to Red Bull in the first place, and for them to pick up on it.

Trials is *anything* but bland. Especially in a Bike Battle format. What it isn't is spectacular to the same extent as slopestyle. Watching guys throwing backflips and huge transfers just isn't the same as big ups at 10mph. The Bike Battle was almost trialstyle instead of slopestyle, and it worked really well. TGS wouldn't mean much to anyone, and natural competition will have a limited appeal for the most part, but urban trialstyle comps? Just look at the crowds in Nottingham, no reason why that couldn't be replicated up and down the country, especially with a highlights show from each round, and a big juicy prize at the end.

All it needs is money.

hi chris - you're right that there was an element of 'stars aligning' re. bikebattle. The biggest factor was a chance meeting I had with a guy called Tim Kirby from redbull - he knew a bit about trials, liked it and could see the potential. The first proper meeting we had was a year and a half before the event actually took place - thats how much planning the 2 of us put into it. From my point of view the best thing was the attitide of redbull - they really put the interests of the sport of trials and the riders first.....

Unfortunately, Tim left redbull a few months after bike battle to go and live in Australia. Seeing as he was the driving force at the redbull side of things the bike battle format lost almost all its momentum after he left and I decided not to pursue it further - happy memories of the whole event though! - and great commentators too (cheers again chris..)

[Jonny Jones]

Oh yeah I remember Tim. He emailed me after I made the Bike Battle video, he thought it was really well made and to be honest it made me smile for days, cos I was really only just finding my feet with videos and stuff and that coming from somebody big at Red Bull was just amazing! Cheers for all the effort you put into that contest Matt! Just need to get more stuff on Channel 4 / Extreme channel for Trials, as there's nothing EVER, which can only be bad for the sport.

Jonny.

Edited July 11, 2007 by Jonny Jones

[F-Stop Junkie]

From my point of view the best thing was the attitide of redbull - they really put the interests of the sport of trials and the riders first.....

Unfortunately, Tim left redbull a few months after bike battle to go and live in Australia. Seeing as he was the driving force at the redbull side of things the bike battle format lost almost all its momentum after he left and I decided not to pursue it further - happy memories of the whole event though! - and great commentators too (cheers again chris..)

I really don't think I've seen an event before or since that really had the riders at the heart of it. I don't think a single competitor (or commentator... :$ ) had a bad day. The weather was perfect, the organisation was spot on, and the promotion before hand was right on the money. A truely awesome event.

People wonder why events like the Bike Battle cost so much, and it was clearly because the devil was in the details. It's not just finding a venue and some scrap cars, it's about having enough staff to run it, proper catering, a DJ in an armoured vehicle...

[muddyfox]

that he is but canada an u.s pretty much the same scene, hans rey, jeff lenosky, jj gregorwicz, lance trappe an many more ride with seats an old skool trials setups

jj apparently doesnt ride any more and Lance rides a simtra

Edited July 11, 2007 by muddyfox

[Netherking]

To me an oldschool rider is one that isn't obsessed with doing higher sidehops than his friend, enjoys riding alone on small walls and can come up with something more interesting than just a sidehop or tap.

INDEED! i've been riding trials for like 6-9 months now, and i've been watching most of the vid's people are releasing on the forum and get pissed off with vids that consist of just big stuff, drop gaps, big side hops and all that. i love watching the flowing vid's where people have thought about the moves how they would link together, that and techy stuff. thats what i'm in to

[Tommy d]

To the original post:

I agree. I don't think I'd say I'm scared of change, but I tend to be suspicious of new things until they've been around for a while. Ahhh maybe I am scared... The normal-looking bike theory is also true but that's not really what makes me prefer old-school stuff, I mean for one thing I just like to be able to sit down! I had a bike with no proper seat for a couple of years and now having a seat feels so good.

Also, old-school geometry (i.e. short) just suits how I like to ride. I realise it's less appropriate if you're trying to set a new sidehop record, but to me that's no fun anyway so who cares. I'd much rather a round of don't-repeat-the-move!

Still on the mechanical side, I saw the topic just now about problems with new school smaller sprockets not having enough chain wrap. Another thing, admitedly not amazingly often but still useful, is that the more similar my trials bike and dirt/downhill bikes are, the easier I can swap parts between them if I need to. I still like to consider my trials bike a mountain bike. I guess that would be even more true if I ever actually rode natural...

And I'm sure most people would hold this opinion anyway, but trials definitely doesn't have to be boring to watch! It's true that a strictly TGS video is boring to me if it lasts longer than about a minute, but to a non-rider it would be fascinating to see that someone riding a bike (well, ish) can make it jump that high/far. From my experiences with showing videos to friends, they need be no less exciting than a high-speed big air sports. Street videos where you see riders doing stuff on obstacles that people recognise from their high street tend to make people emit gasps and/or swear words. And I would say that both riders and non-riders could appreciate a street-style bike battle where the aim is to do something inventive on a course rather than to clear it without dabbing.

[mehukatti]

What I like about old school trials:

- being able to pedal around relaxed while sitting

- not drawing attention with a seatless bike that looks wierd

- manuals and other street tricks are much easier and fun to pull off

- x-up is much easier without mega-wide handlebar

- generally riding doesn't just consist of three moves: big gap, big pedal-up, big sidehop

- there isn't as much pressure to go big, which can be frustrating especially when you start to hit your own limitations

- focus is a bit more on learning new tricks

I'm not against modern bikes, having ridden coustellier for two years, but currently my interests have been switched to oldschool (circa 2002-2003). I'm currently waiting for the new Ryan Leech frame to be released.

[boon racoon]

- not drawing attention with a seatless bike that looks wierd

something that REALLY pisses me off is people's loud as hell brakes which are actually deafening.

on a group ride coming down a hill with 20 brakes going off just makes riders look stupid and annoying to the public.

[streetjibs]

^^^^HERE HERE!!^^^^

sooo fkn true. really really pisses me off!!

To the point everyone round ere knows i wont ride unless my brakes are silent - which they are

I hate riding with noisy brakes or people with noisy brakes. It seems though from reading posts on this site people equate loud brakes with working brakes.... Not always true i gotta say.

Silent brakes means no vibration which if u think about it means nothings moving to create the noise therefore more solid brake... (im sure this will create a whole nother topic of people tellin me im wrong and stuuupid etc..)