Trials Bikes Of The Future

[Ali C]

28 minutes ago, Canardweb said:

Ok, well that's kind of what the Jealousy does actually. I know it looks stiff but you can do insane things playing on tubes thickness, thermic treatment and hydroforming. Majority of its behaviour comes from the front triangle though as the rear one needs to be stiff for the power transfer.

You can feel it when you get stuck in between two straight obstacles. It will feel insanely soft when preloading it. But if you release weight the frame acts like a spring. That's also thanks to alloy that has good resilience.

I think we’re quite far apart in what our expectations and execution are for this concept

[Canardweb]

5 hours ago, Ali C said:

I think we’re quite far apart in what our expectations and execution are for this concept

So what you want is something like a real spring? Then yes the Jealousy is not something that would make you physically jump higher. It just helps you move faster if you give enough effort.

I don't know if existing technology could offer what you would like and sorry if I was out of context.

[DYAKOV]

On 9/19/2023 at 7:44 PM, Ali C said:

tech: the biggest advancement I can see helping with comp trials is utilizing flex in frames to act like a spring and increasing height of moves. Frames are like pole vaulting with a stiff pole, imagine if you could preload the frame like you do with your tyre (and a pole in vaulting) and use that energy in a gap or sidehop…I’ve absolutely no doubt this will be the future but it’ll take a lot of cost and development to make it work

I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen a video (possibly on daylimotion many moons ago and long lost) where the guy was riding a Frankenstein Monty 221ti with a rear shock. Not sure if the rider was generally good or the shock helped but he was riding massive stuff for the standards back then. The video must have been mid 2000, would be great if anyone could dig it up.

Surely shocks have evolved a lot since then, would be interesting to see an integration of a lighter “mini shock”, just not sure how the frame would cope with side stress. Having said that, there are full sus BMX bikes already, so might be an option to explore.

Nas

[Maintenance Justice]

I'd really like to see a bike that's a bit more versatile generally. Something which can run a modern drivetrain and forks, but with a more trials focussed geo (steeper head angle than the current, super slack 64° variety - I had a Genesis hard tail with a 67° head angle that felt like a real sweet spot for trail and trialsy riding) and perhaps some features geared towards trials riding, like a much lower top tube, a grip shift to save bruised thighs and standard post mounts for 200mm rotors.

A hard tail would be the obvious candidate, and I believe TMS prototyped something along these lines, which is looking a bit more polished now:

 

 

I think bikes like this could be a hard sell to the target market of the MTB community but, like @Ali C says, something with a back end engineered for preloading, perhaps even using some clever, compact, suspension design borrowed from slope style or 4 cross to make it more appealing to the MTB community who pretty much expect full sus these days to take anything seriously, might just scratch the N+1 itch. Especially if you market it as the bike you need to really progress some new skills.

I get a lot of feedback, especially from older riders, that they want something akin to what they started off riding (converted MTB) but that actually works, and benefits from modern technology and engineering. Something that rides well at a pump track, and the local dirt jumps might just interest younger riders who could be drip fed trials riding with the influence of talented Pro riders showing what the bike is capable of beyond what they're initially going to use it for.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Maintenance Justice