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Beginner question, 36 year old


daco

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Hi all,

I red all beginner questions but just cannot find my answers. I am 36 year old 6'2/3, 100kgs and want to start ride trials. As a kid I rode BMX, now I ride 29'XC.  I now have kids, full time job and no time for a hobby but I can get away with 1-2 hrs/day to practice/train with my bike.  I really like 24' wheels idea but I am thorn between two bikes. 

http://www.tartybikes.co.uk/24_inch_trials_bikes/inspired_flow_24_inch_201415/c50p13213.html

http://www.tartybikes.co.uk/24_inch_trials_bikes/echo_trial_mk5/c50p11568.html

One is street, other is pure trials. My idea is to go to my training spot and slowly learn all moves/ tricks and so on. I wont be riding street's or a skate parks. I am mainly drawn to pure trial moves.

Is Echo more suited for beginner than Inspired, or will the learning curve be better/easyer on Inspired side or should i find cheaper bike to learn on? Echo is really nice looking...

 

thanks for opinnions

 

Daco 

P.S. sorry just seen that I accidently posted in 'how to' section

 

Edited by daco
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People have different opinions, but if you want to learn pure moves get a pure bike like the echo. Street bikes are for street moves. But I'm sure you know that.

I think the street trials bikes are harder to learn on and that BMX and pure trials bikes are way easier to learn the respective styles on, street trials bikes are a compromise between the two. But plenty of people start on street bikes and find them okay. Either way you sound like you want to ride pure trials moves so just get the echo. 

If you can afford a fully setup new bike, its the least hassle and time wasting to get riding, because you don't have to worry about fixing anything or setting it up. But there's usually pretty decent bikes for sale on here too.

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Also if you do get the echo, its worth grinding the rear rim as the weather is going to get worse it will make the rear brake much more effective. You can do it your self or tarty can do it. You will want  to a get rear brake pads suitable for a grind and wet weather. TNN ADM's are a decent brake pad for wintery weather in most of UK or ask tarty they can help.

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I started on a street trial bike and wasn't really happy with it so got a pure trials bike (both 24'') I then went over to a 26'' pure trials. Now, after three years of pure trials, I got myself a street trial bike again (24'') and couldn't be happier. I guess this doesn't help at al. 

Here's a link to my blog. I tried to document as much as possible.

http://beginners-trial.blogspot.de/

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On 18.10.2016 at 9:05 AM, daco said:

Thanks for your comments. I am still not sure which way to go :) . Today I will make my order. For now its 60-40 % for pure trials.

Will see with Tarty's for grinding and brake pads, thanks

Niconj, your blog is helpful, thanks

 

 

With what bike did you end up?

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Yeah just to add: pads for a smooth rim will wear out too fast on a grind and I don't think they will work properly, so you would want some suitable pads. Riding a smooth rim in winter weather especially with 100kgs won't be any fun.

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Today my bike arrived. After I assembled it I went for a first ride. It was very weerd. Feeling was that I was to high on my bike and unstable. In the begining I couldn't trackstand longer than on my Kona Kahuna 29er. At first it felt like it was to long. Like I wanted a shorter stem and lot of my weight was in front, above the bar or front wheel. After a while I got used to it and it was better and easier but first few minutes was a shock, compared to a XC bike. Still feel that bunnyhop is not an option for now.I have a lot of practising to do :)

Resized_20161026_154520_001.jpeg

Resized_20161026_181021.jpeg

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High BB and a long stem put your weight much more horizontal and further forward than on a MTB, so the differences you've mentioned are all pretty normal. That bike will feel much better on the rear wheel than your Kona, but bunnyhops will likely be harder (they usually are on a "pure" trials bike, though this isn't the case on a "street" bike) (Y)

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19 minutes ago, Luke Rainbird said:

(they usually are on a "pure" trials bike, though this isn't the case on a "street" bike) (Y)

True... couldn't bunny hop shit on my pure trials. Got myself an inspired and after three days I bunny hop as high as I pedal up with the other bike.

I don't like the red color of the rims and the other parts. Looks like those CUBE bikes that are more color than anything else.

Edited by niconj
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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi,

few questions after few weeks of training. When I ride i constantly hear squeaking (tak taktraktak) noise from headset. Is that something I should be concerned with? Learning, I am heavy on handlebars...

Trackstanding is going fine. I can be in one place about for a minute or more. I can pedal lift fronth wheel up no problem, just cant stay in position on rear wheel.

Main thing that bothers me is stem lenght and handlebar angle. In the begining handlebars were racked way forward and lot's of my weight was over front axle. In that position it was difficult to trackstand. Lifting front wheel up was no option. Then I racked handlebar back. That moved my position 2-3 cm back and it was more comfortable and easier to lift front wheel up. Is that handlebar correction okay or I need to get used to handlebars racked forward because that position is needed for advanced moves later?

Below is the pic of handlebar position inside the stem and bike from the side. Originaly horizontal line was in line with the lower part of opening on the stem(between lower bolts) (in the pic is in the middle)

thanks

D

 

20161111_224117.jpg

20161111_224346.jpg

Edited by daco
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you can ride bars back if you like, but you can also ride bars forward and it is much easier on the rear wheel, so most people ride with their bars very far forward.

The thing is lots of people don't realise how different these are to normal bikes. Basically don't put any weight on your hands at all, when you ride put 90% on your weight on your legs. You can ride weight forward but there is a limit to what your hands will take. Look at the body position at 0.03 in this video, practice that position on two wheels and just on the rear wheel, and get comfortable in it because it makes up like 50% of the moves, notice that he is doing a trackstand, and this is a better type of trackstand for pure trials in my opinion because your weight is ready to produce power.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoblV_lN0Lc

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Interesting read, I to am mid 30s now (almost) and have a wife and 15 month old son, and work 2 jobs to keep things flowing so I don't get a lot of time to get out riding, I used to ride every day back in the late 90s/early 00s and then lost interest after a few of my riding mates got cars/started riding BMX or got girlfriends/became locals down the pub....

I've dabbled in various different bikes over the past 10 years or so but never kept anything longer than about 2 months as I was always looking for that 'perfect feeling bike' (I suppose having more money now than I did all those years ago means I can experiment more) I recently bought an echo pure (2008 I think) and it did feel a bit alien compared to what I was used to back in the old days, it felt like I was riding on a tightrope, and just really unbalanced and high, I had the long high stem and set up the way everyone else does and the bike looked like it was ready to go (I think - to be honest, what it was, not the bike, it was me as a rider, I'm so out of practice with trials, have poor technique at newer style moves, generally a bit unfit and don't give it enough time each week to get better) I think what you have there in that echo is a great starting point, you just need to ride it loads to adapt to its geometry- me being so impatient and fussy have sold mine on and have an inspired hex, funnily enough, I bought this hex new about a year ago, sold it in the spring this year to get the echo, sold the echo after about 2 months and then bought my hex back off the same person! Sounds ridiculous but as I said, always searching for that 'perfect bike' when to be honest, if I just got out more I'd get better and more confident on riding what I have.

'always searching for that perfect bike' :rolleyes:

 

 

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2 hours ago, Cyder man said:

Sounds ridiculous but as I said, always searching for that 'perfect bike'

Same thing happened to me. I though that a different bike would make the difference. I swapped more bikes in three years than some in 10. Whenever you swap a bike you have to get accustomed to the new one, which in turn takes away a bit from what you've already learned on the old one. For now, I will try to keep riding my current bike for more than only 3 months (actually have cracked that mark already I think). Let's see how that goes. :D

Edited by niconj
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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi, after 2 months I learned to trackstand good, can do few hops on front wheel, 7-10 hops on rear wheel. From day one I felt every ride was improvement and that keept me going until my rear sliped and I fell from about meter and a half directly to my tailbone and than ,secondary, hit hard with my backhead right on the concreete. Helmet broken, tailbone hurted hard, for about 10 minutes so hard that I was just  laying on the floor and waited for the pain to go away. Ditn't go to doctors, dont know if it is broken or not. Hurts when I am running or riding the bike. Dont hurt when walking, sitting, drive or sleeping so I think it will be okay, I hope.

My motivation is down for now. I'am not sure if I could survive another tailbone impact again. Looked for some protectors but nothing seems good to me. So for now I paused everything untill I start to feel brave again. 

 

kali.jpg

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Ouch! Reconsider seeing a doctor, just to make sure nothing is broken. And the doctor can advise on recovery time, and what to avoid during recovery.

Can you describe how the rear wheel slipped? I've only been on a trials bike 2 weeks. I'm quite a bit older than you, so my top priority is avoiding injury.

 

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