Why cant i decide what bike to have?

[Herbertlemon102]

little bit of a long one!

this has been bugging me for a while. if you follow me on social media, youll probably be thinking i have a completely different bike every few months- this isnt entirely true, ive had my current stock for the past year or so, but youd be correct in a sense, im a bit lost and getting more and more upset about this every day.

i wanted to try (and get reasonably good) on every style of bike, so i could see things from every angle and decide after that which one i wanted to stick with. so since ive started riding 4 years ago, ive owned: 3 limey 320s, limey 326, echo sl 20, revell 20, alias 20.1, another limey 326, marino 26", old inspired hex, echo sl 26", inspired flow 24, proto TA thing with a limey 4 geo, echo 24" all with varying bar angles and setups over time

not all in that order. 

the problem now being as of now that ive learned a fair amount of bike control (id like to think so anyway) is this: when im on something streety, i miss being able to sidehop higher and gap further/ lightness and flickyness (and pedalling into moves)- and when im on something pure, i miss being able to bunnyhop, spin, manual (x-up!!) etc. the Alias 20.1, despite how bad i was on it, was the first thing i think that bridged the two. but, when i grew to 6 foot, it just became to small for me, i always had to run a 185mm stem on it anyway to not feel cramped. 

i know its all about compromise, but all i do now is search for something that bridges the two without too much taken away from either side. everyone seems to have chosen a style, stuck with it and progressing loads while i feel lost somewhere behind. heres a couple clips to show my riding on both styles, i personally think i look better on a street bike, but i cant stand how cumbersome the bike feels for trialsy moves with a "normal" street setup. (edit: however, i wonder if thats down to the shortness of the 24"- a hex with trialsy parts could be a shout)

any insight would be mucho grande appreciated, organising a ride to go and try new things would be awesome. cheers.

 

Edited April 11, 2018 by Herbertlemon102

[Luke Rainbird]

Story of my life. I used to enjoy building bikes as much as riding them and swapped between 24/26" pretty much every 6 months, thinking exactly the same as you really.

When on a street setup everything felt nicer and I enjoyed just following around, but missed being able to do stuff to a reasonable height/standard, but when I was on a more compy bike I was typically riding "better" which we nice but I missed the cruising. 

I solved the problem by playing with cars and not riding any more...

...but I have just built another Hex as it was the best compromise and since it'll now get used far less I wouldn't be too concerned any more. Just enjoy it. 

 

Edit; The alternative, of course, is multiple bikes or to keep a street and hoppy frame kit built up and just swap wheels over (or just a frame if you don't mind the extra effort every once in a while)

[Ross McArthur]

I think this may be a game changer. I can use it for rocks, shows and street.

All you need is the Vader.

Edited April 12, 2018 by Ross McArthur

[Herbertlemon102]

2 hours ago, Ross McArthur said:

I think this may be a game changer. I can use it for rocks, shows and street.

All you need is the Vader.

I do like the look of that. I seem to keep coming back to the hex @Luke Rainbird, I need to have play on a new one. 

[DeersSlayer]

8 hours ago, Ross McArthur said:

I think this may be a game changer. I can use it for rocks, shows and street.

All you need is the Vader.

Why is that bike better for rocks than any of the Inspired 24 or 26 bikes? (Asks the clueless new trials rider...)

[Ross McArthur]

I find it better as its higher bottom bracket makes it more comfortable on the rear wheel. There is also more clearance for things like hooks having a higher bb. The bb height is 60mm compared to 25-35mm on those Inspired bikes.

The steep 74.5 head angle coupled with a long'ish wheelbase of 1060 gives a long reach, so when used with a short stem feels like how a "comp" bike would feel. I can go between this and my Echo 24" with no problems in adjusting.

 

Edited April 12, 2018 by Ross McArthur

[Ali C]

it's all about the new Hex if you're wanting the most versatile bike, the ability to pop on some comp tyres is a major thing to me plus bigger wheels just ride natural so well.  

[Mark W]

Chopping and changing bikes all the time is always going to limit how well you ride any of them.  If you're always changing setup/parts/bike you're never really going to get settled on one, and from my experience - and from watching other riders - until you get properly settled on a bike things are generally going to be harder.  Once you know how your bike's going to react to things, and you're totally used to it, you'll be able to exploit it much more and push yourself more on it.  That's why I'm always surprised with how much certain riders change frames, forks, bars and other significant parts (yet always seem to say that whatever the second-to-last frame they had at any one point was 'the best bike they've ever ridden').

In terms of size of moves and stuff, that's all relative anyway.  Yes, a comp style bike will allow you to go bigger than you could on a non-compy bike, but as you're aware there's a big trade-off with that.  It's also worth bearing in mind that there are some riders on non-compy bikes who are doing some big trialsy moves nowadays, so it's not like you can't do some reasonable sized stuff on them - although as before it's all relative.

Looking more specifically at your Flow vs. the Hex - the Flow's got longer stays (from memory), a lower BB and is a touch longer overall.  It's generally going to feel reasonably cumbersome because of that.  Although I don't like 26", when I rode Ali's Hex it was noticeably more agile than I expected it to be, and certainly more than any of the 'proper' 26" trials bikes I've owned.  It seems you're probably a little more trials-orientated than street so that would probably be the way to go, especially judging from how much Ali's jazzing off the size of moves he can do on his Hex compared to his Arcade.

Worth bearing in mind who you're riding with to an extent though - if you're only really riding with one type of rider you may end up getting a bit frustrated if you're on the 'wrong' bike, although that will depend on the spots you go to.  You might just need to force that particular issue a bit more to keep everyone happy

[Herbertlemon102]

@Mark W the whole “changing bikes too much limits you” thing was the reason I’ve ridden the same bike for the past year, I’ve gotten as comfortable as I I could’ve done but still with that nagging feeling that I’m missing something, I just want to stick with one bike but that nagging feeling is what makes me change between.

seems the new hex is looking positive. Any idea on frame kit stock-ness?

[cwtrials]

If you feel like the bike your on isn't letting you achieve 110% you should try making a ridiculously expensive exact replica of it out of carbon fiber and have it weigh almost the exact same.

But really any jack of all trades bike won't do anything quite 100% and any bike made for just one purpose won't do the others well.   You might get deceived into thinking otherwise by watching Ali, Danny, and others (Marco hoesel, joachim, tra, anyone from Canada etc.) but for us mere mortals it's not possible.  

Have you tried streety angle arcade bars on a more neutral pure bike?

Also. I am selling the twin to ross's Marino. 

[Ross McArthur]

In Jack Nicolson in A few Good Men Stylee, "You cant handle the reach!"

 

[Herbertlemon102]

11 hours ago, cwtrials said:

If you feel like the bike your on isn't letting you achieve 110% you should try making a ridiculously expensive exact replica of it out of carbon fiber and have it weigh almost the exact same.

But really any jack of all trades bike won't do anything quite 100% and any bike made for just one purpose won't do the others well.   You might get deceived into thinking otherwise by watching Ali, Danny, and others (Marco hoesel, joachim, tra, anyone from Canada etc.) but for us mere mortals it's not possible.  

Have you tried streety angle arcade bars on a more neutral pure bike?

Also. I am selling the twin to ross's Marino. 

I’m fully aware it’ll never be 100% as good, but I’ve already made that clear, I just want the best of both. Also, don’t be so negative! They’re mortals too  just keep at it.