Chris Akriggs Bars And Going Brakeless Riding

[Conor the basher.]

He hasnt painted the chain ..... im pritty sure that a whipperman bmx chain they come in that colour.

[Waynio]

Ben i agree with what your saying, but put this into perspective. (dont want to cause an arguement or owt)

Who out of the BIG street riders has a story behind what they do?????

if you look at the articles martyn does and such forth, they have a subtle story behind them.

Look at the shoot in the dark, now would tunni or damon do a 13ft drop gap in the pitch black? if so then yes i feel they would deserve to have a photo shoot. just generally street ripping it up doing big gaps and sidehops is something that the mag is not looking for. they are looking for "stories" and scenic stuff.

i do agree more people should get publicity, but you have to go out of your way to get it, trust me! iv not had half as much stuff as i could have in a mag but there is a possibility that i could get loads with what i do next year.

you have to have an idea and a story behind an article. the Sun will not write an article on a trials rider unless there is something unique about it? a bit like Tunnis thing on that BBC1 program? they linked it in quite funny with posting letter and was a good laugh and the short while it was on the poeple watching would have been amazed.

The chain is coloured!!!! chris has been spraying bikes like this for years now, every so often he will have a bike that is all one colour, he doesnt care, he IS unique, that is a fact. look at the "slopestyle" bit in MBUK, about racing on a glacier? just like martyn ashton he is not "JUST" trials.

Iv worked with martyn on the trials column for a good 18-24 months now, and im coming to grips with why MBUK is as it is

Wayne.

[ben_travis]

hmmm, i agree whole heartedly with your comments there wayne. I can see a four page article would need a story, which is fair enough.

I suppose my main point was the writing. Now, the trials community is currently getting split by these kind of comments. For example, i rode in leeds two or so weekends ago, awesome ride, with some of the best riders in the UK, all different styles, all working off each others enthusiasm, pushing each other, all the while, having a good laugh. There was no pricks there, everyone appreciated what everyone else was doing.

However, we come on here, make a video, and people criticize because of what moves we put in videos, each video should be appreciated for what it is. Now i for one appreciate constructive criticism, however, when some dick shoots off and slags the video without thinking about it, that pisses me off. There are a few of these people on our forum, who go about slagging off riders videos, without appreciating their work. yes the are only doin sidehops, whic, but the size of some of these sidehops are huge, how can u not appreciate that.

Anyway back to my point, we do enough slaggin of each other on here, well the younger generation do, beacause i have a fairly good relationship with some of the riders on here and i quie appreciate their criticism, as well as their appreciation of my riding. But everyone is slagging off the different styles as BORING. This is the stupidest thing ever, and wont help our sport.

MBUK, are only adding to this, there was NO reason to add the bit in brackets in that article. It added to nothing, and just further ruins our sport. I assume it was written by someone who rides trials, and with which i hope that they know how much damage this does to our sport. If it was written by someone who doesnt do trials, then they shouldnt be writing about our sport anyway. In my opinion.

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

My comments extend beyond trials coverage. I'm interested in bikes in general, and am happy to see stuff on downhill, freeride, xc etc but for a good year or more before I cancelled my subscription, the mag was just a bit, well, pants. The stories bugged me and you could tell they just make half of the crap up to make the story sound better. The reviews were biased and often incorrect and I just couldn't deal with it anymore. The fact that trials only got a couple of pages an issue was a minor reason as to why I can't stand the mag. I guess I just grew out of it.

[aener]

All your posts...

Long have I awated for someone to put voice to how I felt... I could never find the words.

...Ok - hardly long - I've only been on the forums a year or so - but you get the point

[Waynio]

i totally agree ben. the comments written were pretty kamikaze

BUT at the end of the day, would you say Chris Akrigg is MR TRIALS? i would say not, chris has exploited ALL aspects of MTB, could anyone and everyone ride brakeless trials? (honestly!) in the sense of the release of this podcast chris is doing i really think not!

No one would have the balls, but it has taken out the hop in his trials riding not like there was much in it to start with BUT the evolution of trials on a 26" bike has become more "hoppy" alot of backwheel moves which are VERY impressive. (im trying to get over the point of view that alot of other people would be thinking about trials)

MTB Trials has originated from a 26" MTB been modified, general MTB'in has/should still be at the heart of trials, for example "mixing" the 20" and 26" classes at a world champs round? INCORRECT! should not be done, sections should be set for 20 and 26 totally seperate after all they are totally different bikes.

In 2005 at the world round @ Addingham the sections were specifically 20 and 26! 20 with big jumps and gaps and very "backwheel" orientated, 26 very rolly and things to pedal at, not your average 12ft sidehop to 13ft drop gap to extreme precision on the back wheel to get to the perfect spot to take off to sidehop up over a crocodile pit. and this i think is WHAT trials has lost.

I went to Danny B's a few weeks ago, and he was awesome at sidehopping something danny will agree on has not been his strong point in the past, but he could sidehop huge, and he told me that he practised them as competitions were becoming more and more orientated around them, and he is correct. what happened to the good old, rolling run and bunnyhop at a big girth rock!

do you see where trials of today is totally seperated from MTB'in because it is so hoppy??? this is not the fault of anyone it is just trials taking its evolution, next month the next big move might be bunnyhopping to manual across 13ft gaps? or rolling drop offs! or even 180 bunnyhop gaps.

Who knows trials is weird, but at the same time it is VERY very wonderful!

Wayne.

[boon racoon]

Ahh, another street vs natural..ideal

That Hype bit in MBUK I *think* is written by Nick Larsen who runs Charge bikes and has connections with Hotwheels / importing Mongoose etc. He sometimes writes bits in there on the "scene" as to what's meant to be cool and what's not Either way he's always had a chip on his shoulder about the hoppyness of trials and it being lame/boring to watch. But then he does sponsor Akrigg and used to design for Pashley and sponsor Edd Tongue - so he's used to the style!

I don't think what's written is way off the mark, hell I'd probably say something along those lines myself. Whether it should be in a national magazine or not is a different matter.

Edited December 2, 2007 by the boon

[Rusevelt]

Hmm, interesting point. though we must wonder if Nicks comments are just plain ignorance through lack of street knowledge, or to prevoke a reaction from forum members. in a way thats what keeps this forum alive and kicking, negative comments been thrown about left, right and centre.

Edited December 3, 2007 by Rusevelt

[Pashley26]

who wrote that little bit on chris in MBUK?

.....MBUK piss me off.

I hope one day they feature articles on riders who are in the modern day group. Big proper 4 page articles, on the big riders of today (damon, danny, neil, etc) and stop just using the usual lot. that does bug me

back on topic. bike looks rank.

I always buy MBUK and all of there focus is on there own race team, and advertising new products....As far as i'm aware there isn't a regular mag for (or with a content that appeals to) trials riders ? Sorry if i'm generalising a but there but wheres Trials Bike UK ? Surely SOMEONE on here will be able to find out about that ? Theres definatly scope there for a Mag, maby on a level with MBUK, or more likely stuff like MBRider or MBGuide, Surely that would be something Tarty would be interested in ?

And anyway, Oldskool is cool, don't quite know what they were trying to say about hopping around....Trials on 26's at the moment is very comercial. Something it wasn't back when i rode alot. I havn't ridden with a group or watched a trials vid since

That came out !

Theres HUGE differences, trials and bmx seems to have spawned "Street" and now trials is leaning towards street riding becouse it's "Hip"

I deffinatly like this new style but, i hope it will just be a trend...And like all things, trials will go through anther phase where everyone uses old bike bits and frames and goes back to the basics.....So who cares about where trials is now ? Give it 2 weeks and everyone will cut there brakes off, then in another 2 week's we'll all have uber wide bars, then we'll all ride 20's, then..............Who knows !

Jarrod

Jarrod

Edited December 3, 2007 by Pashley26

[Shaun H]

Like someone said earlier, a trials mag isn't really marketable due to this forum. Most people get all the info they need off of this site. You'd need someone with alot of "background" contacts to run it as they'd need all the new proto info and all that before it hits the forum. People would certainly buy it to begin with but the longevity of that is debatable.

[abtrials]

BUT at the end of the day, would you say Chris Akrigg is MR TRIALS? i would say not, chris has exploited ALL aspects of MTB, could anyone and everyone ride brakeless trials? (honestly!) in the sense of the release of this podcast chris is doing i really think not!

No one would have the balls, but it has taken out the hop in his trials riding not like there was much in it to start with BUT the evolution of trials on a 26" bike has become more "hoppy" alot of backwheel moves which are VERY impressive. (im trying to get over the point of view that alot of other people would be thinking about trials)

good point but surely akrigg is almost riding bmx on a bike with 26 inch wheels? not taking anything away from it i ent and will never have the balls to ride like him, but i just think its almost not trials?

i mean trials comes from the moto form and its all natural based, and brakes are esentual, also the hop is the base of the sport, take that away and surley it is no longer trials but something different??

just jhought it was worth raising the question?

[matt rushton]

haha, iolo never got any mention when he went on a brakless stint on more than one bike, doing streety stuff.

I look forward to seeing what akkers comes out with though (colours gash!)

Hudson used to ride without a front brake and do front wheel gaps.

[N.Wood]

prevoke a reaction from forum members. in a way thats what keeps this forum alive and kicking, negative comments been thrown about left, right and centre.

I don't think he'd write something in a magazine just to get a reaction from kids on an internet forum that he possibly doesn't even know about? Why would he want to do that? To keep this forum 'alive and kicking'? Yeah....

[RobinJI]

I think alot of you are confusing streety street BMXy trials with akrigs style, and the style MBUK are trying to encorage, and that waynio is talking about.

Watch a phil feeney video, then watch Akriggs section in earthed 3. There a very different style. Flowing and conected lines don't have to mean streety, those flowing natural lines chris does in the earthed video are amazing but at the end of the day I really can't think of a better more effortless way of traveling past that combination of rocks, if that was in a section he would have cleaned it, with little effort and stupidly good style.

What waynio and MBUK are talking about (I think) is that stock trials is becoming alot more like mod trials, at the end of the day trials is NOT about hopping across a bunch of rocks, its about getting from one end of a section to the other end, without dabbing. How you get to the other end, is up to you. You dont HAVE to hop across those rocks, you can always ride over them can't you? How about using one as a kicker to jump some others? or any other method that pops into your head?

If you want to do hoppy stuff then fair play, its fun, and it works, but don't loose site of the fact there are other methods, and definatly don't complain when other people decide to use other methods.

I thought the guy in MBUK's little stab was a bit out of order, but meh, I also thought it was pretty obvious it was a personal opinion, so just shrugged it off.

[Brian Bleech]

I think alot of you are confusing streety street BMXy trials with akrigs style, and the style MBUK are trying to encorage, and that waynio is talking about.

Watch a phil feeney video, then watch Akriggs section in earthed 3. There a very different style. Flowing and conected lines don't have to mean streety, those flowing natural lines chris does in the earthed video are amazing but at the end of the day I really can't think of a better more effortless way of traveling past that combination of rocks, if that was in a section he would have cleaned it, with little effort and stupidly good style.

What waynio and MBUK are talking about (I think) is that stock trials is becoming alot more like mod trials, at the end of the day trials is NOT about hopping across a bunch of rocks, its about getting from one end of a section to the other end, without dabbing. How you get to the other end, is up to you. You dont HAVE to hop across those rocks, you can always ride over them can't you? How about using one as a kicker to jump some others? or any other method that pops into your head?

If you want to do hoppy stuff then fair play, its fun, and it works, but don't loose site of the fact there are other methods, and definatly don't complain when other people decide to use other methods.

I thought the guy in MBUK's little stab was a bit out of order, but meh, I also thought it was pretty obvious it was a personal opinion, so just shrugged it off.

Exactly

I for one can't wait to see what akrigg doees brakeless

[Bearded Midget]

whatever he does i wouldnt call it trials, firstly hes on a mongoose thats more of a jump bike. then hes obviosly going to be doing bunny hops and manuals and shit. which i see as a more bmx/street bike kinda thing

whoever wrote that article is a tard and shud go and watch dani comas rather than a guy on a green bike with no brakes and calling it trials

personally i cant see how you call it trials. competition trials is "real trials" if you like, and id love to see him do that with no brakes on a mongoose. i mean wtf!

GET A REAL BIKE (preferably with brakes)

edit: btw, MBUK are f**k tards aswell. why the hell even make that article

cos it pisses me off that they had to get a subtle dig in thre about trials riders who hop about, yes chris is taking his style to the next level, and fair play to the lad, he has some style, but taking a subtle dig at the majority of trials riders, just isnt the way to go....MBUK piss me off.

thats the reason i even posted in this topic lmao.

mbuk suck!

Edited December 3, 2007 by braintreetrials

[Tom_]

whatever he does i wouldnt call it trials, firstly hes on a mongoose thats more of a jump bike. then hes obviosly going to be doing bunny hops and manuals and shit. which i see as a more bmx/street bike kinda thing

whoever wrote that article is a tard and shud go and watch dani comas rather than a guy on a green bike with no brakes and calling it trials

personally i cant see how you call it trials. competition trials is "real trials" if you like, and id love to see him do that with no brakes on a mongoose. i mean wtf!

GET A REAL BIKE (preferably with brakes)

edit: btw, MBUK are f**k tards aswell. why the hell even make that article

thats the reason i even posted in this topic lmao.

mbuk suck!

bet he'd do alot better than half the people here, trials is what you want it to be really, blurring the bondries is somthing i really respect and to some extent would like to do myself. Im sure after seeing some clips of him riding he could ride better with no brakes than i or many other people could with. Sure it was narrow minded of mbuk to have a dig... either way i think its great what hes doing and really want to see some footage of it, should be interesting and most likley put a whole new spin on trials.

[RobinJI]

whatever he does i wouldnt call it trials...

You actualy read my post? trials IS NOT ABOUT HOPPING OVER THINGS! it is about getting over/around/past things, how you do that is up to you, chris has chosen to do it in a flowing method using momentum and speed to his advantage, fair play to him. Don't try and say its not trials, because using that method he'd still kick most peoples arse's at getting through a comp section. You've gotta remember this is a guy who was british champion on an onza T-rex while everyone else was using 1080 long low silver bikes. He has proven that you can do comp riding and you can do real trials with a flowing moving style, it doesn't have to all be stop start.

And yeah, his bike is kinda like a jump bike, in fact, its kinda like a mountain bike, and when you think about it, its a stock, think about where the word 'stock' comes from? what the word means, off the shelf, standard, it aint talking about a standard trials bike, thats for sure.

Edited December 3, 2007 by Dont you Just Hate it When...

[Rusevelt]

You actualy read my post? trials IS NOT ABOUT HOPPING OVER THINGS! it is about getting over/around/past things, how you do that is up to you, chris has chosen to do it in a flowing method using momentum and speed to his advantage, fair play to him. Don't try and say its not trials, because using that method he'd still kick most peoples arse's at getting through a comp section. You've gotta remember this is a guy who was british champion on an onza T-rex while everyone else was using 1080 long low silver bikes. He has proven that you can do comp riding and you can do real trials with a flowing moving style, it doesn't have to all be stop start.

And yeah, his bike is kinda like a jump bike, in fact, its kinda like a mountain bike, and when you think about it, its a stock, think about where the word 'stock' comes from? what the word means, off the shelf, standard, it aint talking about a standard trials bike, thats for sure.

Well judging by (Braintree) comments about, your comments , he obviously didnt read your comments properly to make such a negative counter comment .

[Pashley26]

Well, i tell you one thing...

Trials is about Riding....

Not argueing about how your riding !

I've done more trials on My Orange than my pashley in the last few years....Does that mean i don't ride trials ?

Jarrod

Edited December 3, 2007 by Pashley26

[streetjibs]

it is a trials bike... its an old megamo steel jobbie. (u can see in that pic the 4 bolt mounts on the seatstays!)

agree with "dontyoujusthateitwhen".

Lets face it akkers rides through obstacles quicker, with more style and more efficiently than pretty much anyone else. Think about when your riding a section in a comp.. theres bits we hop over and bits u can roll through... the rolling bit is always the quicker and less taxing (energy/bike/etc)

The key is people have to find their own style (what works best for you personally). akkers has found his and is pushing himself to the next level to better HIS style.

[RobinJI]

Yeah, by no means do I think anyone should stop all the hopping stuff! its awesome, great fun, seriously impresive and can oftern be a really good way of tackeling obsticals, its just find it hard to understand how people can completely forget where trials came from and what it is, I mean look at moto trials, they roll everything using the speed and momentum to get over things, yet when a guy with pedals use's the same tried and proven tequnique he gets slagged off and told its not trials? whats that all about?

Anyway, like said above by pashley26 whatever you take trials to be, it sure aint arguning, so meh, I'm gunna get some sleep so I can start turning my old polo into a rally car tomorrow

[JD™]

all people against the "inventivness" of chris = been riding < 3 years

all people who think its cool that something seems as much of a breath of fresh air as this = been riding > 3 years

i'm not saying i will go brakeless... i like having the safety there.. but christ people, have some funking respect for someone trying something different. this guy is better at your "real" trials than you will ever be, and thats without him doing what he does naturally.

grow up.

J

[Rusevelt]

I wonder if Mongoose will push for Akrigg to compete in next year Bejing Olympics, or is Akrigg too far behind bmx skill wise? did Akrigg compete in bmx or feature in magazines before switching to mtb, or was he just a good casual bmx rider?

Edited December 3, 2007 by Rusevelt

[boon racoon]

I wonder if Mongoose will push for Akrigg to compete in next year Bejing Olympics, or is Akrigg too far behind bmx skill wise? did Akrigg compete in bmx or feature in magazines before switching to mtb, or was he just a good casual bmx rider?

It's only BMX racing that's in the Olympics. That's an entirely different (and queer) ballgame.

And yes, from what I can gather he's been riding Trials and BMX pretty much hand in hand from when he begun. Hence his unique style and crossing over into other forms of MTB riding..