Why Is Trials Riding So Big In The Uk (and Nowhere Else?)

[duckwars]

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.

[Guest]

well wakering ~(very near ot southend a couple of miles etc)~ is the driest part of england so us southenders find it easier then lets say manchester riders as we have more dry days, but many people ride comps which are inside, and riding in the rain probably improves your smoothness due to you not wanting to slip over etc

[sstein]

well wakering ~(very near ot southend a couple of miles etc)~ is the driest part of england so us southenders find it easier then lets say manchester riders as we have more dry days, but many people ride comps which are inside, and riding in the rain probably improves your smoothness due to you not wanting to slip over etc

What an absolute load of bullsh*t. Trials riding is not only done in the UK, it has a fairly large base in America and most of europe for that matter, also china (where most frames are impoted from anyway). I don't know anyone who rides indoor comps and although what you say abou riding in the rain is technichally correct, very few people come out in the rain.

[Guest]

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Edited May 4, 2009 by Nick pyke :)

[MikeCottTrials]

im in ssteins corner

['LEWIS']

What an absolute load of bullsh*t. Trials riding is not only done in the UK, it has a fairly large base in America and most of europe for that matter, also china (where most frames are impoted from anyway). I don't know anyone who rides indoor comps and although what you say abou riding in the rain is technichally correct, very few people come out in the rain.

I have to agree with sstein here.

LOL

[duckwars]

What an absolute load of bullsh*t. Trials riding is not only done in the UK, it has a fairly large base in America and most of europe for that matter, also china (where most frames are impoted from anyway). I don't know anyone who rides indoor comps and although what you say abou riding in the rain is technichally correct, very few people come out in the rain.

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?

[Cowman.S]

In some countries maybe few people have seen bike trials before, in the UK i think it was a trend in some areas so it may have developed from there

[JT!]

England is quite small, so people don't have to travel hours for group rides, but big enough so that there's a decent population. England is the happy medium between the USA and isle of man. The raise in online shops in the uk is helping a lot too. I mean people from the usa and the rest of Europe will choose tartybikes before shops in their own country.

[Bol Maaaaaaing]

I dont get it, England is roughly the same size as New Zealand, But there is only about 30-40 riders in the whole country.

Why is that?

[Muel]

well wakering ~(very near ot southend a couple of miles etc)~ is the driest part of england so us southenders find it easier then lets say manchester riders as we have more dry days, but many people ride comps which are inside, and riding in the rain probably improves your smoothness due to you not wanting to slip over etc

It doesn't really rain more here than anywhere else in the UK, the difference is we're not scared of a bit of rain so we ride anyway.

[JT!]

I dont get it, England is roughly the same size as New Zealand, But there is only about 30-40 riders in the whole country.

Why is that?

Well for a start Onza is based here, they've done a lot for trials with having such cheap beginner bikes, once you start shipping budget bikes out of country they price will start to put people off. I also believe Saracen and M.A.D are also British. Monty and Koxx are both in the same continent as us as well as a big long list of other brands that haven't come to mind. It's obvious to see why Europe has such a strong biketrials scene compared to New Zealand.

And no matter how much you look at that side of of it, it also boils down to luck. Take myself for example, i ended up in a city in the USA (which the scene isn't too big over here compared to it's population) where there's half a dozen riders. I could have easily ended up somewhere where i'd have to travel an hour just to ride with someone.

[Scott Gibbs]

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.

I think one of the reasons is most other types of riding are not as accessable. Downhill is major expensive and u need to travel quite some distance for some good runs, crosscountry is boring and not helped by its image. Dirt jumping in the uk is very underground and the nanny state councils dont help flattening the trails everytime u build em! So trials and now street riding is gettin bigger now because u have all u need right outside your door! The scene in europe especially France, Belgium and Spain is huge and has been for a long time now! In the states u got the right terrain and loads of space for all kinds of extreme sports like freestyle motocross, downhill mountainbiking and stunt riding on superbikes. I guess we just took to trials riding better than most.

[Krisboats]

Us british have a lot of patience so we're perfect for the slow progression rate of our riding ability that comes with this sport. That's why we're great at queuing too

[sstein]

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?

I wasn't having a go at you mate, more at Nick

[Adrian]

I dont get it, England is roughly the same size as New Zealand, But there is only about 30-40 riders in the whole country.

Why is that?

population difference

new zealand- 4,173,460

great britain - 60,943,912

theres bound to be more of anything over here.

plus new zealand is kinda the corner of the earth haha so everything would take a lil longer reach there, especially a europe born sport

[Rusevelt]

According to bbc when they interviewed Danny Mac, trials-forum.co.uk is supposedly the worlds biggest online trials forum...... that can't be right considering that were sitting on a tiny island compared to our european and western neighbours.

[Papa Manual]

You have to take into account that there are a lot of people on here who don't live in the UK. I don't think geographic location has much bearing on it. The only trials forum that comes close to Trials-Forum is the forum on Observed Trials; and that has half the member, proportionatly less of whom are active, I'd imagine.

[3dd]

According to bbc when they interviewed Danny Mac, trials-forum.co.uk is supposedly the worlds biggest online trials forum...... that can't be right considering that were sitting on a tiny island compared to our european and western neighbours.

Thats because even riders from another countries are registered here, not just english. 49 countries in Europe? Lets dont forget american and asian countries!

Edited May 5, 2009 by 3dd

[Simpson]

- Downhill - We don't have a lot of good tracks and there all miles apart, plus the bikes cost a tonne.

- Dirt jumping is very underground in this area, theres plently of spots but they are all kept on the down low for local and reputable riders, becasue the goverment will try to ban them and demolish them for H&S reasons apparently, on the only good set of ramps we have down here was destroyed mostly by the mini moto craze. Because it gets very wet very often here the ramps take a lot of TLC to keep them in good nick, but idiot ride them when its wet which makes all the landing gnarly and messes up the lips of the ramps, instead of being made in the wet to be ridden in the dry.

- BMX'ing is a massive sport but mostly for people who want to ride them to the shops not ride them propperly, our local government doesnt invest in skate parks so its very expensive to go to private place eg. i rode a park the other day and cost me £5 for a 2 hour session, i dont know about others on here but i can ride for 10-11 hours a day and can ride upto 5 times a week, so it gets very expensive and are often packed with skaters and gays.

Trials is very much a cult sport here, because there are relitivly few of us who take the sport seriously we make the most of organising group rides mostly through here where we can meet up and act as a community, its totally free to participate in and the UK has some sick spots for urban street riding. Everyone trys to get involved and we all share videos which insires us and more people to ride. Also acess to parts is so easy due to companys such as Tarty bikes.

Most citys in the UK have a trials crowd who meet up, here in Southend we regularly have 10-15 people out on a sunday seshin it up and its awsome, and growing all the time, i would guess there are arround 30-40 riders in the area now.

OH and as for your rain theory, were all hard british lads, hows a lil bit of rain going to stop us?

Edited May 5, 2009 by Simpson

[jack101311]

The growing population of trials biking makes it so popular in the UK and due to the growing amount of population in the UK is the growing amount of trials parks, and trials parks are good. Als major companies such as Onza and Base bike are two manufacturers of trials bikes which have been in shops now for a while. The fact of the matter is that why trials is so big in the UK does'nt matter it's the fact that it here and here to stay what matters. And them super fantastic people from such companies as onza and base bike brought it here and them people are to thank for their creativity and design ideas which lead to the almighty ' TRIALS BIKING' which my friend will never be forgoten and it will thrive and whilst doing that bringing trials parks to areas around you.

[scary_jeff]

This could be nonsense, but weren't Martin Ashton and and Martin Hawes two of the biggest names in trials in the early days? Having two top riders, both British, in MBUK all the time, and doing demos around the country, must have helped popularise the discipline in the UK. I think I saw them in Plymouth at Newham park in 1999 on a Volvo Canondale demo rig, I remember being very impressed. Looking back at it, tons of people can now do the kinds of tricks they were doing back then!

The only other name that springs to mind from back then is Hans Rey, I think at one stage he was the only guy who could do the trick (I don't know the correct name) where you do a stoppie in reverse, pushing yourself along with your foot on the front wheel. But I think the two Martins were younger than him.

[duckwars]

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.

[echo rider tom]

because people in the uk have common sense

they understand that trials is a good sport

[Simpson]

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 can only speak from experience but all the free parks are fairly wank, they have to be made from materials which are weather durable and rain proof, which just makes them slippery un reliable "lego" parks as i call them, and on BMX even when cutting your front wheel can slip out and end in face plants.

I think the main reason is not the shops but just the fact that the UK is a large urban area, with a really dense population, so across the UK there is plently of sick street riding to be done.