Some Initial Pictures Of My First Bike (Ebay Buy)

[AOK]

Hi guys,

So, I joined a week ago and since then have acquired my first ever trial bike. I'm very much a newbie so don't know a lot about these beasts, so any comments would be appreciated greatly!

The main question really, is: what's the frame? Its definitely a Zoo of sorts, but is it a Piranha or a Pitbull? And what year?

In other news, I was out most of the afternoon yesterday practicing trackstands and stuff... never have I had a) so many blisters on my hands and so much tension in back muscles i never even knew I had!

[TRD]

i think it may be a Piranha, maybe a 2004-2005? i not quite sure

[Laurence--Trials]

Looks like a 07 pitbull to me. Pretty nice, could do with some riser bars though.

[Oldskooltrials]

It's a short 2004 pitbull, I know because I have got the long version of that frame.

[AOK]

It's a short 2004 pitbull, I know because I have got the long version of that frame.

Great Thanks for successfully identifying the frame. I'm glad to hear its a short frame as apparently these are easier to learn on?

[Mockett]

Great Thanks for successfully identifying the frame. I'm glad to hear its a short frame as apparently these are easier to learn on?

[AOK]

HA! At first, thought you were trying to highlight bad spelling! Then re-read the sentence and got the point

[craigjames]

If you're getting back pain, try a higher stem so you aren't as stretched out. Does indeeds look like an 04 Pitbull, pretty tidy; Rich Pearson ran one for a bit and enjoyed it.

[Skorp]

Good buy!

in my eyes, you could need something like a 20-25degree*120mm stem and a riserbar.

Would make the bike alot easier to get on the rear wheel.

Looks like the rear hub is a standard Xc hub..So that might be a thing you change later on.

The pads on the rear is for Xc aswell, if the brake is bad you should change them to trials specific.

[matt rushton]

It's a short 2004 pitbull, I know because I have got the long version of that frame.

How can you tell it's a Short? Iv'e got the same frame, But theres no chance you can tell from a picture the length of a bike.

[jambo]

Chain looks slack as a wizards sleeve get a Trialtech Z610 HX, 3/32 and a sprung chain tensioner or old short road mech.

[modifiedridah2k9]

Hey, nice bike yeah the blisters will stay on your hand for ages and probably will never go away.

Ride that beast well

[joea]

it a 04 pitbull mate and looks good but get a back maggie for it the it will be even beter

[AOK]

THANK YOU for all knowledge and advice! Its good to hear I have bought something reasonably good!

A few further questions.

- So we know its an 04 Pitbull. The one here looks to have a slightly different joint of the top tube and downtube at the front of the bike, indeed all 04 Pitbull's I find have this slight curve up of the top tube which mine doesn't seem to have. Could it be that there were different versions? Or could it be dependent on the difference between the long and medium length frame? And we're not too sure if its a long or short frame... what do I measure to find out? I have done some research and apparently it should be either 1060mm (medium) or 1085mm (long) but what do I measure?

- I knew from day 1 that I want to change the stem to a slightly higher stem. Skorp, thanks for the suggestion about the 25degree 120mm stem and riser bar. Wouldn't BOTH a higher stem AND a riser bar be too much additional height? Or is it common practice to do this if you're tall? (I'm 6ft2). Also... would trialtech be a good buy? Or are they all the same?

- Brakes! What on earth are my front brakes??

I'm not complaining as they seem to work very well, but are they actually any good?

Also, thanks to joea for the suggestion of rear Magura's... how do I go about fitting these? What do I need to buy? can I still use the brake booster currently fitted?

- Lastly, rear hub, chain, etc..

I certainly agree that the chain is very loose! Is it normal for the rear axle to have so many spacers on it between the sprocket and the fork? Is it because the hub is of incorrect size or something? Are there any drawbacks to fitting a sprung chain tensioner?

Thank you once again for all the help and advice and comments. I look forward to improving the bike whilst I improve myself

Went out again today, I'm slowly getting the hang of trackstands and starting to hop around the rear wheel while locking the front brakes up onto small curbs and stuff! Trying to lift the front wheel as of yet I have not achieved. I can launch into a wheelie (about a foot in the air) from near stand still to place it up onto a curb. But raising without propelling forward with pedal power I can't do yet.. but I'll keep trying

Anyway, the important thing is I'm loving it.. which is exactly why I bit the bullet and decided to finally buy one

[Skorp]

Your front brake is a Tektro Auriga..Its a cheap brake, the ones that i have tried would be ok for trials. Would change it when you start to gap to front, but its deffo good enough for a first bike =)

Its alot of spacers on your rearhub because you have a ordinary bike hub. Its built for having 8 or 9 cogs, or kasette as it's called.

I had a Trialtech Sport stem, and a Trialtech Sport handlebar on my old Long Pitbull. Felt nice!

You should change the handlebar, and not just the stem. Think its like 58cm or something, trials bars should be 70cm ++ You have 25.4mm diameter on your bars aswell, so your handlebar yould not fit most trial stems.

You could ask Tartybikes what handlebar and stem they recommend to use on your bike

You measure the length of your bike from the front axle to the rear.

[modifiedridah2k9]

THANK YOU for all knowledge and advice! Its good to hear I have bought something reasonably good!

A few further questions.

- So we know its an 04 Pitbull. The one here looks to have a slightly different joint of the top tube and downtube at the front of the bike, indeed all 04 Pitbull's I find have this slight curve up of the top tube which mine doesn't seem to have. Could it be that there were different versions? Or could it be dependent on the difference between the long and medium length frame? And we're not too sure if its a long or short frame... what do I measure to find out? I have done some research and apparently it should be either 1060mm (medium) or 1085mm (long) but what do I measure?

- I knew from day 1 that I want to change the stem to a slightly higher stem. Skorp, thanks for the suggestion about the 25degree 120mm stem and riser bar. Wouldn't BOTH a higher stem AND a riser bar be too much additional height? Or is it common practice to do this if you're tall? (I'm 6ft2). Also... would trialtech be a good buy? Or are they all the same?

- Brakes! What on earth are my front brakes??

I'm not complaining as they seem to work very well, but are they actually any good?

Also, thanks to joea for the suggestion of rear Magura's... how do I go about fitting these? What do I need to buy? can I still use the brake booster currently fitted?

- Lastly, rear hub, chain, etc..

I certainly agree that the chain is very loose! Is it normal for the rear axle to have so many spacers on it between the sprocket and the fork? Is it because the hub is of incorrect size or something? Are there any drawbacks to fitting a sprung chain tensioner?

Thank you once again for all the help and advice and comments. I look forward to improving the bike whilst I improve myself

Went out again today, I'm slowly getting the hang of trackstands and starting to hop around the rear wheel while locking the front brakes up onto small curbs and stuff! Trying to lift the front wheel as of yet I have not achieved. I can launch into a wheelie (about a foot in the air) from near stand still to place it up onto a curb. But raising without propelling forward with pedal power I can't do yet.. but I'll keep trying

Anyway, the important thing is I'm loving it.. which is exactly why I bit the bullet and decided to finally buy one

You will need a rear HS33 from tarty, dont get one just now, get the new one when it comes out (a month or less) and you will need a pair of evo mounts, which you can also get off tarty.

My advice for a stem is a trialtech, and trialtech sport bars.

[Revolver]

Also... would trialtech be a good buy? Or are they all the same?

That's fine. I use a rockbars and trialtech stem. With riser bars you get more adjustment out of tilting the bars forward or back, so you could roll them back if you wanted the front end to come up quicker for example.

- Brakes! What on earth are my front brakes??

I'm not complaining as they seem to work very well, but are they actually any good?

Also, thanks to joea for the suggestion of rear Magura's... how do I go about fitting these? What do I need to buy? can I still use the brake booster currently fitted?

Step 1) Buy a rear magura

Step 1a) Buy some magura clamps

Step 2) Strip aaaaaaall of the current brake stuff off there

Step 3) Install it

Ha,

that booster is for a v-brake so it won't work with a magura. You can buy a 4 or 2 bolt one for a magura if you think you need one.

- Lastly, rear hub, chain, etc..

I certainly agree that the chain is very loose! Is it normal for the rear axle to have so many spacers on it between the sprocket and the fork? Is it because the hub is of incorrect size or something? Are there any drawbacks to fitting a sprung chain tensioner?

In the pic it doesn't look like there's many spacers actually between the axle and dropouts. There's plenty on the freehub body but that's because it's a 9speed one, if you upgrade to a hope pro II trials it'll need less of those.

Not really any drawbacks to a sprung tensioner, except if you're using small sprockets and a single wheeled one your chain can skip. Make sure you buy a decent double wheeled one and it'll be fine. Also, try not to land on it.

You could go for a spoke tensioner for added DIY bodge points and reduced cost. I hear they work perfectly fine too.

But raising without propelling forward with pedal power I can't do yet

PULL BACK, and LEAN BACK like you want to flip over backwards. Just make sure you don't actually flip over and land on your arse. Trials bikes aren't really very good at this though. If you've got a short one, 1060mm, there's more hope than for a long. Get some new bars and stem and it might change

[WIGAN ??]

that rear hub looks like a broken face waiting to happen, also there is nothing saying you NEED a rear maggie a good vee setup right will be better than a magura i guarantee, get a nice fresh grind on there and some decent pads job done, that way you can save your money and sort that f**kin hub out

Edited September 4, 2010 by WIGAN ??

[Skoze]

You will need a rear HS33 from tarty, dont get one just now, get the new one when it comes out (a month or less) and you will need a pair of evo mounts, which you can also get off tarty.

No, you wont.

A well set up vee with good pads will be just as good as any magura (better, in my opinion) and you'll not need evo mounts, that frame's had some 4 bolt - vee converters bolted on, just take them off and put the maggy with normal 4bolt clamps on if you wanted to go down that route.

Smart bike (it's definitely an 04 Pitbull, as has been said previously) change the rear hub for a pro2 and find a bar + stem combo that feels good for you and you'll be sorted for a fair while to come. No problems at all with a sprung tensioner, you seem to have a sensible outlook on everything - do what you think's right and i'm sure it will be

[AOK]

Righty guys, thanks again for yet more advice! I haven't measured her up yet, primarily because it probably is a Long. Confirming that won't actually do me a favours! I bought what I bought, now I just gotta make do, whether its long o short!

As for the other stuff...

1) Chain tension

The chain admittedly is very slack, and for one reason or another I don't want to fit a sprung tensioner. What about snail cams? What are they, how do they work? Is their purpose to keep the chain taut? And in my case, is it the black thing with writing on it, visible in this pic:

2) Rear hub..

So how come my hub looks so terrible? Is it just very basic or something? Looked into the Hope Pro 2 you guys recommended.. pretty damn pricey!! Will have to find an alternative. Out of curiosity, is it easy to swap in a new hub? I'm more thinking about the spokes.. surely that's a damn difficult job??

3) Rear brakes

I'm guessing that lack of critique means that, as v-brakes go, the Shimano I have isn't a bad way to go, right? Because I'm thinking to save the £75 for the Magura set up and just stick with the Shimano.. especially as everyone is praising V set ups! but what can I do to make it more aggressive.. new pads I suppose? Would re-grinding REALLY help??

REALLY appreciate all the help!

[trialsmax04]

There is no way you can run snail cams, as it is vertical dropouts. They only work with horizontal drop outs. Nothing wrond with a sprung tensioner.....

[Revolver]

Righty guys, thanks again for yet more advice! I haven't measured her up yet, primarily because it probably is a Long. Confirming that won't actually do me a favours! I bought what I bought, now I just gotta make do, whether its long o short!

As for the other stuff...

1) Chain tension

The chain admittedly is very slack, and for one reason or another I don't want to fit a sprung tensioner. What about snail cams? What are they, how do they work? Is their purpose to keep the chain taut? And in my case, is it the black thing with writing on it, visible in this pic:

2) Rear hub..

So how come my hub looks so terrible? Is it just very basic or something? Looked into the Hope Pro 2 you guys recommended.. pretty damn pricey!! Will have to find an alternative. Out of curiosity, is it easy to swap in a new hub? I'm more thinking about the spokes.. surely that's a damn difficult job??

3) Rear brakes

I'm guessing that lack of critique means that, as v-brakes go, the Shimano I have isn't a bad way to go, right? Because I'm thinking to save the £75 for the Magura set up and just stick with the Shimano.. especially as everyone is praising V set ups! but what can I do to make it more aggressive.. new pads I suppose? Would re-grinding REALLY help??

REALLY appreciate all the help!

That black thing's the mech hanger, onto which you mount the tensioner.

If you don't mind the weight and want to save money, get hold of a cheap, shite derallieur and lock it out using the limiting screws, and by using a spoke where the cable would usually go. OR, make a spoke tensioner

Your hub is decent for an ordinary bike, but it's not up to trials standards. Rather than worrying about swapping hubs over, see if you can find a second hand pro II wheel for sale on here, then you can keep that wheel as a spare. It also saves you building it... and you're more likely to find a full wheel than a hub on its own.

Brake-wise, get some good pads, a good lever and a decent cable. A regrind would be for the best, if the pads are up to it. A decent lever would be one such as an Avid - http://www.tartybikes.co.uk/product.php?product_id=10091&category_id=71 or a Shimano - http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=39002