Customizing My New Trials Bike! Suggestions And Advice Welcomed&#3

[Herr.Wolfkatze]

Hello forum users,

I don't know how many experienced riders actually view the newbie forums regularly, but I hope someone out there can give me some guidance

Right then, where to start.. I'm a former Aggressive In-Line skater and I wanted a new sport for the summer, as many of my friends have quite heavy duty mountain bikes I decided to get one myself, and ended up with a Specialized P3, which is absolutely fantastic. Soon after doing some research of the bikes specific intended use I stumbled across a trials website and in short, after watching a few videos I fell in love.

I'm now determined to kit my P3 out to a super pimp trials riding spec!

So far, I've come up with this set-up:

Frame: 16" Specialized P3 Dirt Jump Frame ('00)

Forks: Marzocci Bomber Dirt Jump Forks (Tuned to hardest setting)

Bottom Bracket: Stock bottom bracket at the moment, will change if advised to

Wheels: Echo SL front & rear wheels with Saphim Race spokes and Hope 2 Trials hubs

Tyres: Try-All sticky front & rear

Brakes: Shimano XTR V-Brake rear and Hope Mono Trials front

Gearing: SRAM X.7 Rear short-cage derailleur and SRAM X.7 9 Speed shifter

Chain: SRAM PC 971 9 speed chain

Headset: Stock Ahead Aheadset (I want to change this but I know absolutely nothing about headsets, just like bottom brackets)

I also want to change the stem and handlebars, but i'm lost with this too, but as it is it seems I'd be able to make a pretty nifty bike capable of doing anything I want it to between trials and dirt jumping with a simple adjustment of the fork travel distance.

What are your thoughts guys? I'll be making a new thread soon discussing my sticking points, and once this thread starts generating a good level of response, I'll post a link there

Thanks!

Edited June 2, 2009 by Herr.Wolfkatze

[LukasMcNeal]

In my opinion I would sell the P3 and get a bike thats made for trials it will be so much easier to learn etc.

[trialsmax04]

First things first i would swap the Dirt jumper forks for soething rigid. You will find it soooooo much easyer. Keep the Bombers if possible just in case. Its not hard to pop them back on for a bit of dirt jumping.

Next try and find some better gearing. Idealy you want a single speed set up. you can get conversion kits that should set you up nicely. As for the front sprocket im a tad unsure....... Best thing to do would be whip some second hand trials cranks on with a trials front sprocket.

Take or leave this advice as you wish .

All the best

max

[BenLeacock™]

Hmm you might struggle to do the ''tgs'' (tap's, gap's and sidehop) side of trials with the specialized. However the more flowy street riding wouldn't be much trouble at all. If you are going to keep the P3, id recommend getting a high rise bar, with a short stem. It will make the bike bunnyhop and manual, A LOT easier. I no you won't be able to post in the main forum, but have a look in the bike pics, use the search and look for ''inspired'' ''24uk'' either of them will bring up bikes which are normally used for this kind of riding. Have a look at there set up and possibly look into doing similar your self.

www.tartybikes.co.uk - will recommend parts/give very good service.

www.chainreactioncycles.com - will have a wider range of less trials specific parts.

Just using them 2 websites you should be able to find what you need.

Have you had a think about maybe running rigid forks? It will make the trials side of things a hell of a lot easier, and the dirt jumping will be faster?

[adam 94]

I'd say get a frame developed for trials, as it will feel alot nicer to ride and easier to learn on. It will also be tonnes lighter

[Herr.Wolfkatze]

Great responses! Thanks guys. Funnily enough the bike does have high-rise bars with a short stem already, and it is currently also set up to single speed with the help of my friend who works at a cycle store.

I wanted to put some gearing on it because I do frequently ride up and down large hills and so on, and the current gear ratio is quite a pain but it has really improved my endurance I'm getting there with my side hops on the bike, and you're right, the sheer weight of the bike itself does make this quite a sticking point, although I recently discovered as the P3 I'm riding actually has a VERY small frame, most of the weight is contained in the wheels, and the frame itself is fairly light. Thanks to in-line skating I've got quite a bit of lower leg strength and I've learned to do some pretty powerhouse bunny hops (although I'm still getting over my nerves when it comes to clearing objects) so I reckon when I ditch the weight of the wheels I should be doing much better, I think (whilst a dedicated trials bike would help) most of my errors are coming from sheer nerves and an inability to just.. DO the trick I want to perform, I had the same problem skating to begin with and I know it does eventually wear off.

Mostly though I just don't want to ditch the ability to be able to cruise through town, or the back of a forest and sit down when I want to and so on, its a nice luxury to have, and being a struggling student, I'm struggling to justify spending on a second bike when it may suit me to have a nice balance between both worlds.

Oh! And I'm a regular at tartybikes and trashzen, they've been wonderful at answering ALOT of my e-mails

Edited June 2, 2009 by Herr.Wolfkatze

[MadManMike]

Welcome to the forum, whilst it's not a trials bike it's a good bike to learn the basics on.

I ride a 24" DMR Rhythm that is set up to be "a bit of both". Far too heavy and hard geared for trials but for streety stuff it's alright

Get some pics of your bike up!

[Scott Gibbs]

If i were u mate i would get a base ta26 and a set of rigids the base is trials specific but u can also use it for dirt and street! As i think the bottom bracket would be too low on the p3 as it is on my saracen which is a converted jump bike... As for head sets and bb's it all depends on budget! Fsa and truvativ make good bottom brackets and headsets hope, fsa, chris king are good quality kit. A smaller set up on the front would be ideal for trials (ie middleburn rs7 trials) and if u want to run gears go with a short cage mech and a close ratio cassette will do the job.

[Herr.Wolfkatze]

Alright guys?

A mate of mine offered me nice bargain on a full set of Shimano M970 XTR V Brakes with levers and NOKON cables, could anyone advise me on how much I should be expecting to pay for these and whether its a good deal snatch up? I'm a little unsure though whether V-Brakes on the front forks will suit my purposes well enough or whether I REALLY want to be looking into discs on the front.

Any thoughts?

Oh, and I'll be sure to put up some pictures of my bike when my work in progress is completed!

Edited June 2, 2009 by Herr.Wolfkatze

[Scott Gibbs]

Um i think new levers are about 80 quid and bout 50 quid each v-brake so it depends on how old they are man? But v-brakes seem to be the weapon of choice for street riders along with a good set of pads like phat pads or heatsink cnc's that would be a good set up

[Herr.Wolfkatze]

Brilliant!

They're in pretty fit shape so I'll get in touch with him again. I just remembered reading something on TrashZen about needing front disc brakes because the strain V's put on the front forks makes them liable to snap, got me a bit worried y'see. But my current front brake is a bit worn so I can at least save myself some money with a nice new set-up for a while and see how they feel, because I wanted an XTR on my rear anyway, and if these two suit me well then I'll be saving on having to buy disc later.