Need Some Help

[MasterDee]

Hey peeps,

I have a rather strange question regarding geometry,

Basically I have a pace RC250 team which has quite a short rear triangle its pretty handy when your on the back wheel however, when rolling along the front end is almost impossible to pick up it requires such a sudden shift of weight to get it up when it does come up its very violent ultimately what im looking to do is sell my pace and build a street/trials bike and my goal is to have a bike that is extremely easy to manual which also makes hopping over things easyer =)

I am aware there are many variables to achieve the desired feel and I think I am correct in saying the length of the forks is one of the prime factors?

I ride a titanium airborne black widow for XC, recently I spent £600 on a nice new set of fox F series forks however I managed to epic fail when I decided that 120mm of travel would be more than enough (in the past I have only ever rode 140mm) what I didnt know is that 120mm forks are actually a fair bit shorter than 140mm forks and I ended up ruining the entire geometry of my XC bike which I also used to be able to pick the front end up every easily on.

Anyway so the fun is now gone from my XC ride and I want to build something I can have a bit of fun on, looking for something very lightweight that I can ride trials on and mainly I want to be able to manual it with ease perhaps 24" would be better?

I realise some people will say its about skill and im sure to an extent thats correct with enough time I might be able to handle my pace, the point is I shouldnt have to break by back trying, a friend of mine has an Onza Trex (cheap thing totally stock) I rode that and it goes into a manual the second I lean back on it, almost scary so yea I would like something that handles better =)

Advice/reccomendations on bikes and frames and generally how to achieve that manual factor ^^

[MasterDee]

Actually I think I could be interested in running front sus also, so if anyone has any ideas on a street frame that would suit my trials and manualing needs id love to hear em =)

[isitafox]

I'm not entirely sure on how much trials you want to ride as being able to manual easily doesn't really help all that much. If it's just pure street bmx type stuff then your best bet would be something like an Onza Zoot if you don't want to spend much or splash out on an Inspired.

Though if your not that bothered about sticking to 24" then why not just get a T-rex like your mates if you find it that easy to ride?

[MasterDee]

I'm not entirely sure on how much trials you want to ride as being able to manual easily doesn't really help all that much. If it's just pure street bmx type stuff then your best bet would be something like an Onza Zoot if you don't want to spend much or splash out on an Inspired.

Though if your not that bothered about sticking to 24" then why not just get a T-rex like your mates if you find it that easy to ride?

Muhahaha I was just looking at the inspired bikes, I think I might get a four play there seem to be claims that its good for manuals and such.

Yea I know manuals got nothing to do with trials but I would really love a bike that I can have some manual fun on and still ride trials, Inspired fourplay.... seems to be the way to go.

Anyone want to buy a Pace RC250T frame? =O

[JD™]

Muhahaha I was just looking at the inspired bikes, I think I might get a four play there seem to be claims that its good for manuals and such.

Yea I know manuals got nothing to do with trials but I would really love a bike that I can have some manual fun on and still ride trials, Inspired fourplay.... seems to be the way to go.

Anyone want to buy a Pace RC250T frame? =O

You were doing so well... No buying/selling in NMC.

Anyway, something you might want to consider is the height of your handlebars. Thinking about your XC bike first, by dropping fork length you have effectively lower the handlebars in relation to your pedals, which will definitely make the front end feel heavier. Chuck some stackers under your stem or something to see whether that helps combat the problem.

Same thing with your Pace, it should be easy to get up on the back wheel so I'd experiment with stem/bar geometries before blaming the frame. Even just tilting your bars back a bit can have a massive effect.

[MasterDee]

You were doing so well... No buying/selling in NMC.

Anyway, something you might want to consider is the height of your handlebars. Thinking about your XC bike first, by dropping fork length you have effectively lower the handlebars in relation to your pedals, which will definitely make the front end feel heavier. Chuck some stackers under your stem or something to see whether that helps combat the problem.

Same thing with your Pace, it should be easy to get up on the back wheel so I'd experiment with stem/bar geometries before blaming the frame. Even just tilting your bars back a bit can have a massive effect.

Yea I already played with mutliple stems and spacers im not blaming the xc frame its just where the angle of the entire frame is shifted because of the forks, if I had a long enough steerer tube it could be possible to put spacers underneath the crown racer on the forks however my steerer tube isnt long enough =(

Tried different stems on the trials bike but to no avail, I kind of wish I never bought the pace I used to have an orange zero which was godly all round.

Anyway thanks for the advice