LordMersey Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 Hello all Seeing as brakeless is becoming so popular I was just wondering who has caught the bug and if you would be so kind tell me why you enjoy it so much. Cheers Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 I'm very tempted now I've got my Monty Pr back for natural stuff. It does look fun and 'different'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben_travis Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 yup...its so much fun. real technical challenge to try and do trials on a brakeless bike. also allows a more fun aspect with throwing in spins etc (this is because i have gone with a shorter bike by some way in my riding). although how much longer i will be doing it for i will never know. however it gives such an improvement in riding when you get back on a bike with brakes, purely because you have learn new techniques for things Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR28 Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 It's like learning to ride trials all over again, but in fast forward. You start off completely useless and feel scared of everything, but you learn so fast - that's what makes it fun for me! Can be frustrating at times, but if you look at obstacles with no expectations that's the best way to look at it. I think you do need a fairly high level of 'standard' trials competence though, as it's way too difficult if you're trying to learn the basics at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 I'm interested in brakeless because I can see that you learn better control while doing it, and it helps to make you smoother. I dunno whether it would help being somewhat good first, though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikee Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 I'm thinking about it. I ride deathgrip abit which is fun but I like my brakes being there so I can do other things aswell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 Makes 'boring' stuff on your braked trials bike infinitely more interesting. Makes you ride better. Makes you learn new stuff. Feels a lot nicer when you pull stuff because it's smoother. More rewarding when you land moves. Makes you ride your 'proper' bike better. Makes your bike quieter (no cables flapping around and so on). Less to break. No worries about setting brakes up every ride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuel Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 It's lighter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan6061 Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 I try a few brakeless lines from time to time. It's fun! Scary though... I can brakeless sidehop from the backwheel, which took me ages to actually get the balls to try. It feels weird, but fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philth Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 (edited) Brake-less BMX > Brake-less Trials There is no point.. Its a great excuse as to why you won't or can't go big or do certain tricks/moves. Edited April 20, 2010 by philth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali C Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 stop being so wrong, your hurting my eyes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casualjoe Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 I rode brakeless on my Zero about 8 years ago, although I was really bad at riding even with the brakes on back then. Came off the back of a manual down a slope to flat and landed in the most savage splits on a gravel carpark, tearing my groin to buggery. Lucky Si the phisio was around to rub it better I cant be arsed to go through the whole learning thing again with all the falls that come with it. Trials bikes have brakes, I like them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Dark Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 Trials bikes have brakes, I like them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin555 Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 (edited) I just dont see the point in breakless at all. Fair enough if its your thing but I can safely say it will never be mine. Every time I watch anything breakless I just think it would look so much nicer if they were riding with breaks. Edited April 20, 2010 by martin555 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philth Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 stop being so wrong, your hurting my eyes Ali you are no doubt one of the better trials riders in England...the reality is no matter how good you are at brake-less trials you will won't come close to the better brake-less BMX riders. I'd almost rate brake-less MTB street higher than trials..barspin 360's off stairs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuel Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 Chalk and cheese ... Brakeless trials and bmx are totally different sports Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philth Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 (edited) Chalk and cheese ... Brakeless trials and bmx are totally different sports Really if it wasn't for spiny trials gearing keeping riders tricks based around trials, your chalk and cheese really would hold no weight. Why is it that most brake-less trials riders are choosing to ride a smaller 24" wheel? Easier to rotate, lighter, more maneuverable....like a bmx. Your one wheel size smaller and a heavier gear away. Edited April 20, 2010 by philth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigjames Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 Why is it the gearing that's keeping the riding to trials moves? Surely its the riders? I mean I don't think I've ever really seen Rowan try to do anything on his brake less bike (which happens to be a 26") that he doesn't do on his 26" bike with brakes. I'm guessing have a shorter more responsive bike makes it easier to get your body weight in the correct place to compensate for not having brakes. You have seen the last Stan Shaw brake less vid? Hardly BMX..... very much chalk and cheese, you might as well be comparing trials with brakes to BMX riding with brakes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat Tea Why Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 Really if it wasn't for spiny trials gearing keeping riders tricks based around trials, your chalk and cheese really would hold no weight. Why is it that most brake-less trials riders are choosing to ride a smaller 24" wheel? Easier to rotate, lighter, more maneuverable....like a bmx. Your one wheel size smaller and a heavier gear away. So basically you are saying all mod riders should ride bmx? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greetings Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 Never rode completely brakeless but had a day of natural riding without a front brake. My god that was fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 Philth, you are painfully, painfully wrong. If you could go ahead and point out how this is 'attempting to be brakeless BMX', that'd be absolutely spiffing. http://vimeo.com/4454622 Oh, and some of the stuff we've filmed for Ali's video (which should be out very soon, if I get my shit together) was actually used as some of the sections for the elite riders at the recent Shipley Tyketrial. How is that 'brakeless BMX'? You have no idea what you're talking about. While I'm at it as well, what's wrong with doing something new? Trials, BMX and every single discipline of bike riding started when someone decided to try something a bit different, so how do you know that 24" stuff/brakeless stuff can't become bigger in the future? It's got a lot of potential, certainly a shit-tonne more than just going out and "going big or going home" () trying to add an extra inch to your last sidehop. Fusing the two also opens up a lot more spots, in that if you can ride trials and BMX on the same bike, you can gain access to spots that for various reasons you wouldn't necessarily be able to utilise on a BMX, and vice versa (Chris Akrigg is a perfect example of this). That's why every brakeless video that's been out so far has got a totally different style to it for each different rider, because it's down to you and what you can come up with or do rather than just going out to the normal walls and sidehopping your life away. Akker's vid came out a year ago, Rowan's came out quite a while ago too, but widespread brakelessness has only really just started happening so it's obviously going to take a little while to develop it's own niche. It's not like when trials itself first began everyone was hooking 70", was it? Trials started off with people just rolling over simple stuff, and look where it's gone now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greetings Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 Didn't read those fascinating posts. It seems that the whole bike market is completely wrong. Gearing defines what you do on a bike! There's a bike which consists of standarized wheels and tubing inbetween and a trials/bmx/downhill kit which comes with a front and rear sprocket. Come on how stupid is that. Would you walk up to a downhill rider and tell him "the only thing limiting you from riding trials on your bike is the gear ratio"? He'd suspension fork you in the face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 Oh, and while we're talking about "going big", Ali's hooked a wall brakeless that he couldn't do with brakes on (pretty narrow wall that he did to 90 - it's ridiculously big), and also done a 55"+ hook to backwheel on a vertical wall. Not exactly small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psycholist Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 I reckon you have to be wired correctly to make any use of brakeless riding - I've been trying to manual with pretty much no success for 15 years, skiing, snowboards, surfing etc. all make no sense to me because the braking system is based on carving/sliding rather than having a specific control to take speed off in a straight line. Basically I don't have the aptitude for the dynamic moves - I use the brakes less riding trials than I used to, but I couldn't stay confident without them. If you're a smooth flowy rider then brakeless will probably work really well for you, if you like to hop around it probably won't. I do think it takes the likes of Rowan Johns or Chris Akrigg to make it look good though, most people will just be able to do less with less control, but that doesn't mean it's not going to be fun ... I'd say try a trials session without using your brakes and see how that goes before going to the trouble of taking the brakes off... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted April 20, 2010 Report Share Posted April 20, 2010 Having brakes on but not using them is nothing at all like being brakeless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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