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Jeff Lenosky


TomR

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Personally i dont like these vids..

Don;t get me wrong, some of the trials set pieces are very nice, but the bunnyhop barspinning is just hmm, I guess i just watch alot of bmx street and it isn't for me. I like my trials slow and squeaky.

But trials isn't just a set of moves, it's about an ideal. We're lucky that we participate in a sport that is much younger and more open-minded than many other sports. Bikes evolve, riding styles evolve, parts evolve. Trials riders have also taken aspects of the sport and mixed it with other styles of cycling to make something new. Stephen Murray took his trials experience to the X-Games, Lenosky, Aaron Chase and others have combined it with BMX street to make something new, Canadian riders took trials into the trees and made north shore riding...

In a way trials in Britain is a lot like BMX. BMX has many disciplines - street, dirt, park, vert, flatland - but riders from one have a respect and admiration for the others. It's inclusive, not exclusive. There are some people in the trials world who have very narrow views on what trials is, and anything outside of that is some kind of abomination which should be kept at arms length. Other people view trials as an outlook or philosophy which should be pushed and expanded upon. It's an outlook of how you ride an obstacle, a goal to clean it feet up. Take it to the street, add a bit of flow, and it's still trials. There may be some things that we pull in from other aspects of sport, they may not be 'trials' but it adds variety, and that leads to new styles.

Do you ever see a bmx rider do a couple of little back hops and think 'shit trials'? Variety. It will keep things moving forward and keep it fresh.

Edit: replied to the right post :)

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But trials isn't just a set of moves, it's about an ideal. We're lucky that we participate in a sport that is much younger and more open-minded than many other sports. Bikes evolve, riding styles evolve, parts evolve. Trials riders have also taken aspects of the sport and mixed it with other styles of cycling to make something new. Stephen Murray took his trials experience to the X-Games, Lenosky, Aaron Chase and others have combined it with BMX street to make something new, Canadian riders took trials into the trees and made north shore riding...

In a way trials in Britain is a lot like BMX. BMX has many disciplines - street, dirt, park, vert, flatland - but riders from one have a respect and admiration for the others. It's inclusive, not exclusive. There are some people in the trials world who have very narrow views on what trials is, and anything outside of that is some kind of abomination which should be kept at arms length. Other people view trials as an outlook or philosophy which should be pushed and expanded upon. It's an outlook of how you ride an obstacle, a goal to clean it feet up. Take it to the street, add a bit of flow, and it's still trials. There may be some things that we pull in from other aspects of sport, they may not be 'trials' but it adds variety, and that leads to new styles.

Do you ever see a bmx rider do a couple of little back hops and think 'shit trials'? Variety. It will keep things moving forward and keep it fresh.

Edit: replied to the right post :)

damn thats a good post :) - 110% agree with you too.

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But trials isn't just a set of moves, it's about an ideal. We're lucky that we participate in a sport that is much younger and more open-minded than many other sports. Bikes evolve, riding styles evolve, parts evolve. Trials riders have also taken aspects of the sport and mixed it with other styles of cycling to make something new. Stephen Murray took his trials experience to the X-Games, Lenosky, Aaron Chase and others have combined it with BMX street to make something new, Canadian riders took trials into the trees and made north shore riding...

In a way trials in Britain is a lot like BMX. BMX has many disciplines - street, dirt, park, vert, flatland - but riders from one have a respect and admiration for the others. It's inclusive, not exclusive. There are some people in the trials world who have very narrow views on what trials is, and anything outside of that is some kind of abomination which should be kept at arms length. Other people view trials as an outlook or philosophy which should be pushed and expanded upon. It's an outlook of how you ride an obstacle, a goal to clean it feet up. Take it to the street, add a bit of flow, and it's still trials. There may be some things that we pull in from other aspects of sport, they may not be 'trials' but it adds variety, and that leads to new styles.

Do you ever see a bmx rider do a couple of little back hops and think 'shit trials'? Variety. It will keep things moving forward and keep it fresh.

Edit: replied to the right post :)

I know what you are saying but personally I think its just BMX street done on a trials bike. I guess I just watch alot of BMX street and I didn't see anything original, apart from the fact that the guy was on a trials bike (and the odd pedal kicks)

If I started riding my trials bike on ramps I dont think I could call it trials, if I stuck a pair of pegs on my trials bike and started doing some spinning and rolling tricks I dont think I could really call it trials either.

To the public, they know no different, and it looks pretty and fast and interesting..

To any BMXer, its just us trials guys doing street, and unfortunately not to the same level as they can do it.

Progression is good, but just progressing into something thats been done before, for years and years, isn't exactly something new.

This is guys mostly 'doing BMX' on a trials bike .. I've seen guys similarily 'doing trials' on a BMX.

Its always nice to expand the sport, to dabble, but every disipline earns its own name mainly through originality and to my mind BMX beat us to it on the street stakes, they've done it all before.. whereas on the pther hand we lay claim to the big gap/lurch/up static style riding, which they respect and know as trials... and so on and so forth..

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I know what you are saying but personally I think its just BMX street done on a trials bike. I guess I just watch alot of BMX street and I didn't see anything original, apart from the fact that the guy was on a trials bike (and the odd pedal kicks)

If I started riding my trials bike on ramps I dont think I could call it trials, if I stuck a pair of pegs on my trials bike and started doing some spinning and rolling tricks I dont think I could really call it trials either.

Progression is good, but just progressing into something thats been done before, for years and years, isn't exactly something new.

What you'll see seaman is different people doing a different mix of street and trials. There's no defined line where one starts and the other ends. Some people will be very street with a bit of trials, and others a lot of trials and a bit of street. It just depends what the rider wants to do.

Trials isn't about the bike you do it on, but it's how and what you ride. You could ride a 20" at the skate park all day long and it not be trials, but if you pop out a bowl, manual. then do a tap to backwheel then there's a definite trials flavour to the riding.

Trials has been around a long time, but it's only really been progressing on the street side in the last 5-7 years. The MTB street that Jeff and Aaron Chase do has only really been recognised in the last 4 or 5 years. It may not be - yet - the most original sport around, but it's come on a long way those few years compared to the 20 or 30 years that BMX has been around. Plus riders are experiementing to see what they can do and how they can do it. This breeds riders who can do slow techy moves just as well as rolling up, gaps and fufufanus. As I've said before, it's not us copying BMX riders, it's trying to mix trials, bmx and street to come up with something new and unique.

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Seem to be going down that road again of what is trials? When i think to be fair trials is what ever u make it or what ever u want it to be.... There true TRIALS heros in my eyes they can ride however they like!! (Y)

i have alwayse seen trials as ' people -ususlly wearing lycra, competing on a natural or man made course of objects, avoiding penalty points and racing agienst the clock' - same as motorbike trials.. altho i have much more respect for moto-trials..

i started riding wen i was 15 (8 years ago) i didnt ride any perticula type of riding 'format' just liked doing wheelies and jumping off benches.. i was inspired by jason finn, who is an ex competition world class moto-trials rider, turned Moto-trials trick/stunt/show rider... being as he lives very close to me and see that i liked to jump around doing tricks on me pushbike (showing off basically) , he let me help out on his team etcetc..

my riding style evolve through the years, and when i was say 19 i was doing kick hop drop offs, 360 rockwalks , gaping benches, manuals, and basically simila stuff to ryan leech/jeoff... i only later that year found out about trials riding... which back then WAS people , wearing lycra, competing on obsticals.. but i never grew fond of this sport, as i was used to showing off, expecially from spending time working for team jason finn, infront of 1000's of people! i get my kick out of pulling off a good trick / line etc, and geting cheered by people watching! like 180ing off a phone box in the middle of a buisy highstreet, where u can hear everyone go 'oh my god!! O_O' !!

my bikes have progressed from a trek 24 speed mountain bike with rockshox XLC tripple crown's to gt zaskar LE, clubroost stinger with rock shox susp, hardcore, pea shooter, saracen exiles, orange zeros, megamo.. and my latest one -ariving next week.. a GU.. which is my most 'trials' related bike i have ever owned, Also, while my bikes changed,becoming more 'Tuned to my style' my riding has also progressed to tapping walls doing rail gaps, the occasional rock section... But, after all this progression and change in style.. i still, will not class myself as a 'Trials Rider' insted, id say i ride 'street / freestyle' because i ride for the Buzz! not points, medals etc, nothing else! and this is also how i recon ryan leech and jeoff etc ,to a sertain exent would also see their riding styles as too.

Edited by RyanRs
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