Advice request - regarding bicycle purchase if needed

[eran]

Hi, 

Well, I discovered this beautiful sport very late (I'm 40),

anyway, I started watching videos and implement stuff outside with my old Giant MBK.

Trackstand, Hopping, Bunnyhop, Endo, Stairs riding, Wheelie etc.

I am into it for a month now, and I can feel the Bicycle are not really design for it,

My question is at what stage should I consider buying Trials bicycle?

how will my progression in real trial bicycle be reflected compare to the regular MBK?
I am working on wheelie for a long time now and the progression is poor.

Can I do 'rear wheel hop' in regular MBK if I am far from being a pro?  

Every training session feels extremely difficult

(i am in pretty good physical shape, I am bouldering regularly and riding bicycle to work) 

 

Thanks in advance for your comments and sorry for the long story. 

Eran.
  

 

[Scott B]

I started on a small frame MTB (in the 90's) myself and eventually moved to a trials specific frame (monty x-alp mod).  It was like night and day.  If you want to progress, there will be many hours spent on your bike learning balance and what may seem like small moves.  My feeling is, the sooner you can do that on a bike with geometry specific to whatever type of trials you plan to ride, the better off you will be.  On the flip side, skills like balance and other non-bike specific stuff will carry through to any type of biking on any frame.  

[ogre]

definitely helps to have a trials bike; stiffer, better braking and a drivetrain thats designed to handle the kind of love that trials dishes out.

 

worth pointing out there are two styles of geometry for trials bikes now; 'pure' competition seatless geos (long wheelbase, high bottom bracket) and streety geos (shorter lower bb) the 'pure' geometries are quite extreme compared to an MTB, they feel 'wierd' on two wheels and for bunny hops etc but come into a world of their own for proper trials moves and techniques. the streety bikes will feel like an mtb or bmx and will feel more stable as a result but won't be as easy to do proper hoppy trials on. yes you can do both on both bikes but your progress will be hindered if you don't make the right choices...

[eran]

Thank a lot for your answers, 

This brings me to the decision of moving to trials bicycles soon. 

Now I need to decide what type.. 

I tend to more of an urban trials.. though I'm not sure.. 

I really like the rear wheel hops style.. 

Pedal kicks so.. Maybe this is more of pure trial bicycle? 

[Boni Toe]

As a fellow beginner I might recommend a street trials bike. I started with a pure 26" trials bike and it's OK but a street trials bike feels so much easier to progress on. (just my experience, someone else may have the opposite viewpoint)