Explosifpete Posted November 14, 2018 Report Share Posted November 14, 2018 I need some advice. i want a bike I can practice trials on but still be able to get to the spots as the ones near me are all a bit spread out. I had an inspired hex which was great for the trials part but the gearing meant I was walking it places and I found it really awkward to bunnyhop while rolling and rubbish at the pump track. Tried a friend jump bike but that wasnt good at the trials part. i was think about an old school trials rig like a pashley might be better but I haven’t ridden one so really don’t know. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross McArthur Posted November 14, 2018 Report Share Posted November 14, 2018 So many wrong statements in that post. You were walking instead of riding? Why? Trials gearing might be light but you'll always be faster rolling along than walking. Light gearing, good for going up hills. Rolling along on the flat, give those legs a reet good spin and carry momentum. Speed tuck. If you're finding it awkward to bunny hop the Hex, the issue isn't with the gearing, its most likely your bar and stem set up or skill level. Rubbish at pump track? Have you seen Ali C ride pump tracks on his Hex? I cant think of any reasons why the Pashley would be better than the Hex other than "nostalgic".. Its heavier, longer chain stays, etc. etc.. Post a photo of your bike and we may be able to give you some advice on set up. I'm pre-empting, higher bars, tilting them back slightly, pump your tyres up and put gears on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Explosifpete Posted November 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2018 Quite a few wrong statements in your reply as I was talking about my personal experience not saying it was a bad bike, but... It was very light geared great for learning pedal hops and the like but bit slow getting places, in fact the gear was recommended to me by people on this forum. Obviously the bunnyhop ability has nothing to do with gearing. yes Ali c can tear it up at the pump track but I am not him. im used to a 650b enduro bike so am pretty used to the way that hops, I also used to ride bmx and could hop them pretty high but the trials bike just felt like all my weight is to far forward, again, good for trials My question about the pashley was if it would ride somewhere in between a trials bike and a mtb? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marg26 Posted November 14, 2018 Report Share Posted November 14, 2018 Before I got my first street trails bike recently, I was hoping to be able to get away with general a-to-b riding on it from time to time (specifically an 8 mile round trip commute with fun spots on the way home). After riding it I've pretty much thrown that idea out the window. Coming from MTB too, yes your weight does feel over the front on bunny hops etc but there's like a universe worth of space to move your body position on a trials bike it's not exactly a problem, just need time to adjust. Find it difficult to believe a long low slack enduro 650b MTB is better on pump tracks than a Hex? I thought the recieved wisdom was shorter bikes better there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted November 14, 2018 Report Share Posted November 14, 2018 2 hours ago, Explosifpete said: Quite a few wrong statements in your reply as I was talking about my personal experience not saying it was a bad bike, but... It was very light geared great for learning pedal hops and the like but bit slow getting places, in fact the gear was recommended to me by people on this forum. What gear ratio are you actually using on it? I ride a 24" and run 22:16 which is loosely equivalent to 22:17/18 on a 26. It's a 4.5 mile trip into town on my bike to ride the spots here, and on the way there's a speed trap that shows you your speed. Just riding along normally I'm usually doing between 12-15mph. Unless you've got a pair of Der Kaisers on your Hex there's no reason it should be much slower than that, so the "I just end up walking" thing doesn't make much sense to me... The Pashley won't be much different to your Hex apart from being a bit worse for trials and probably worse for street sort of stuff too. Longer back end, slacker head angle, lower BB - most bikes have moved away from that geo because it generally isn't as good. Equally, unless you're running different gearing getting around and stuff won't change much either unless you're hoping to run gears? Out of interest, what bar and stem did you use on your Hex, and what kind of bar angle were you running? The reason I ask is that most street trials bikes are really sensitive to bar/stem setup, and particularly bar angle. I've seen quite a lot of people go for a more old school style low, long stem on their Hex and that just doesn't really work with the BB height on them, and it'll contribute to it feeling bad for bunnyhops and having that "Weight over the front" vibe. That's why you'll generally see people using a 25-35° stem and some high rise bars on Inspired bikes as it counteracts the BB height to an extent and means your weight position is a bit more neutral. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Explosifpete Posted November 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2018 Don’t get to hung up on the gearing but I think it was 22/18 had it set up like this, maybe I just needed to stick with it a bit longer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marg26 Posted November 14, 2018 Report Share Posted November 14, 2018 Front does look a bit low compared with (taken from Bike Pics thread) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross McArthur Posted November 15, 2018 Report Share Posted November 15, 2018 Yep. May I suggest higher bars? Its a nice enough looking set up/bike. A set of high rise bars, suitable for street riding would help considerably. Like Mark mentions, getting the angle of the bars is key. I mention "suitable for street riding" as, if you look at the Tarty bikes selection of high rise bars, quite a few of the newish high rise bars are designed for pure trials and the geometries of them wouldn't best suit street as they are designed to be ran tilted forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swoofty Posted November 15, 2018 Report Share Posted November 15, 2018 It's also possible to put gears on a hex too. The hex is about as close to a one bike solution as you're likely to get. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marg26 Posted November 25, 2018 Report Share Posted November 25, 2018 (edited) I thought of this thread today. Went out for a ride along the coast. Trying to take it a little bit easy to avoid getting too sweaty in the cold weather due to yet another cold+cough. 99% home, around the 8 mile mark, riding into a headwind I just had enough and got off and walked. 22:16 is such a chore for getting anywhere especially when there's a head wind. Edited November 25, 2018 by marg26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross McArthur Posted November 28, 2018 Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 Riding around with a trials gear isn't easy. It calls for a unique technique. What's yours? An even pressure on the pedals as you rotate them technique is much more tiring. Pedal, pedal, pedal, freeeeeewheeeeeeel, pedal, pedal, pedal, freeeeeeeewheeeeeel. I go for starting with the pedals up and down (vertically) and stamping on the pedals one at a time. So, right foot stomp (Charlie Brown), freewheel, left foot stomp (kriss-cross) freewheel. Repeat. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marg26 Posted November 28, 2018 Report Share Posted November 28, 2018 Think mine is more pdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdl freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewheeeeeeeeeeel pdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdlpdl freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewheeeeeeeeeeel. lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jere_h Posted December 1, 2018 Report Share Posted December 1, 2018 You should try cruising a front freewheeled pogo bike if possible, life with any other bike will feel much happier after that sluggish neck breaker. It an attitude thing. I truly enjoy riding and discovering new spots on my "streety rig", a 26" with 22:18 ratio (hope trials hub). It has a 40mm wide rear rim with Schwalbe Hans Dampf rubber (one of the slowest ever), and it rolls incredibly well. My friend was actually wondering how my riding looks so effortless compared to him pedaling his enduro bike all the time to keep the same speed. Probably because I give it those 3 explosive kicks and then long freewheel until I feel like it needs some more speed again. Pedaling all the time would be a horrible idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Pan Posted January 4, 2019 Report Share Posted January 4, 2019 Haha, you reminded me of a horror story of mine. I was six miles from home. A summer's evening, I'd taken my Zoo! "piranha" in the van to mess about up in the Ogwen valley. Van decides it isn't starting, it's in a dip & no one about. I didn't bring my phone. That was a long ride home! The downhill bit was freezing and agony on my legs. The rest of the ride was equally bad. Pedalling & freewheeling without a seat is not fun!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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