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New to trials and new bike (to me)


bluerocketboy

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Hi,

32 and decided to give trials a try, just picked up an onza (perhaps pro, it's been sprayed) seems pretty tidy and all works.

Couple of questions if that's cool, should the levers sit quite far inboard so the don't squash my fingers ( bite point seems OK) and also how tight shouldn't chain be? It's come pretty tight and the cranks spin when I push the bike along.

Also is it a bit difficult to pull up the front wheel to manual on a mod at first? It seems harder than on my dj bike.

Seems like a great forum, can't wait to get out riding.

Thanks,

 

Ben

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Welcome to trials! , if the front is hard to pull up use a pedal kick (one push on the pedal like a wheelie) its more efficient.

As for brakes it is whatever is comfortable and gives you a good hold. You may want to grind you rear rim as the weather isn't ideal at the moment and looping out is no fun at all.

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Have you come across trash zen website yet? There are alot of how too's on there. I've found it really useful getting started, that and meeting another rider for practical tips. Defo grind your back wheel like Ooo says, looping out from a pedal assisted fromt wheel lift really blows your confidence. Just done mine, really wish I'd done it sooner! 

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There are many ways to do stuff. But short answer is to raise the front and lock the rear brake, then do a few rear hops to stay balanced then pedal kick. So you'll need to be able to do rear wheel hops first. The easy way to learn pedal kicks is this:

When you start don't jump just do a sort of static one footed wheelie,

lower the front of the bike slightly by crouching backward into a manual position (not by leaning forward).

Then release the brake just enough for the wheel to slip and gently push the pedal until you are stood up again (the wheel doesn't leave the ground it just wheels along) and squeeze the brake again when you are stood up.

Once you have that balanced, you will feel where you can jump and you can do small pedal kicks flat and up stuff.

Rear wheel hops https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRgqaj-BUzg

As Davies says trashzen is very good: http://www.trashzen.com/  and the rushway site had very clear videos, in left and right foot but its in french

Rush way http://www.rushway.fr/index.php/technique/#.VoEJC2RuT5s

 

 

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See if you can chain a few pedal hops together with back hops between, that peter brandon dude that ooo sent a link for has done a tutorial on them,  ill try and find the link, think he calls them wheelie stops, personnally im still struggling to get it nailed but im blaming bad weather interfering with play!. Its a real buzz getting something nailed for first time, i first managed to pedal hop up a kerb and down again about 3 months ago, it was like id just scored the winning goal at world cup!

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Yeah, wont be popping down there for couple of hours! Never mind. As for back hops, I've got a stack of pallets in my back garden I've been using to get the balance dialled in, found it useful as turns out i needed to be leaning much further back than i thought  i needed to be. Give it a go, its helped me get my hops up to circa 15 and getting better. Good luck with the riding. D

 

 

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Just stack about 4 ontop of each other then place your front wheel on top, set your pedals level then get on the bike. Start with just hopping the bike on both wheels and feel the balance then start to gently lift the front wheel while hopping by leaning back till it lifts and you are back wheel hopping. You'll prob find you go backwards but try to shift your hip position till you can hold steady or even hop forward. If you watch that first peter brandon vid ooo posted above i think he explains it on there. Keep plugging away at it, getting back wheel balance dialled in is frustrating as hell!

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You and me both mate! About 6 months since i got my inspired so still a beginner too but found it hard to practice at times as have young kids. In fact one of the reason for taking up trials is it fits in better around the kids than the mtb. Mtb is 6 hours out the house, mostly due to the driving involved whereas trials, i can be in a good riding area within 10mins, especially with living in Manchester. Finding i ride trials more than mtb these days, but dont let my lack of progress put you off!

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Ha ha that's exactly the reason I've taken up trials, I have two young girls and trail riding takes up too much of the day! Which inspired do you have, I'm considering the flow for the future it looks really fun. Sounds like your having some good progress to me, I'm also hoping the skills will transfer to my normal biking too!

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Ha, reckon there might be a few folks take up trials for that reason. Got the inspired element, think its the one up from the flow but not sure as they dont do it anymore, but was looking at the flow for same reason as you.  Got the element on ebay as a starter bike as wasnt sure at time whether I'd take to trials and its a nice rounded bike, fun for bunny hop orientated tricks etc, was virtually brand new and picked it up for fraction of price. And yes, also have an idea the trials will feed back into my trails. Seen chris akriggs videos where he is trial riding his mtb, pretty good stuff. Got a mate who has a 26 inch competition trial bike, thinking of getting one of them aswell but reckon wife might divorce me if buy any more bikes!

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You can never have too many bikes, I used to take my trials bike out when my youngest son had just learned to ride a bike. Went to a local factory car park which was empty and he'd play pretending the barriers were his den and I'd spend my time hopping up the walls and bollards there. 

I think since I started riding again 6-7 years ago I've only had one brief period where I've only had one trials bike, nice to have a variety of riding styles be it mod, stock or 24 though it can be a nightmare switching between them. I had a ride out years ago on one of my 26's then swapped it for my 20, went down the road to a wall I could easily hop up, went for it and just ploughed head on ending in a heap on the floor cause it needed a totally different technique to lift the front end up!

A women stood at the bus stop next to me just stood there pissing herself!

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a tip that helped me when practicing back hops was: Back hops are used to correct your balance when you start to fall, in an ideal world you would be able to balance on the back wheel without hops. You'll get more balanced if you try not to hop, but instead balance and then just use them when you feel like you are going to fall. Hops will tire you out quick, so just use them to correct position or balance.

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Ha! Yeah, i can guess that would be a head wreck, get used to how one thing feels then in moment of needing to pull something off intuitively it all goes horribly wrong.

Heard something about the ideal number of bikes is the number you own plus one or the number that will result in divorce minus one! May have to flog my dirt jumper which makes me sad but not using it anyway right now. 

Had same thought on riding to get more practice, do it with the kids about, my elder boy has just got going on his pedal bike now so gonna start taking him to a few spots in local park where i can get some practice in. Keeps me, wife and kids happy! Never know, he may even get into trials himself that way.

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Top tip ooo, thanks mate. Must admit, my mate who i ride with has tiny back wheel hops, hes almost just compressing the tyre rather than leaving the floor. Will give it a go.

One thing for me though that would mind an answer on, when i back wheel hop ive found it easier to keep arms straight, lean back and then adjust weight purely through hip position, that sound about right?

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54 minutes ago, Daviesdt said:

One thing for me though that would mind an answer on, when i back wheel hop ive found it easier to keep arms straight, lean back and then adjust weight purely through hip position, that sound about right?

I think when I rode an inspired I had to do something similar, but I didn't progress much as I prefer static riding. With inspired you are better off working on bunny hop based moves and rolling moves, if you do use the rear wheel don't stay on it long enough to hop keep moving. think James Barton / Ali c etc. If you spend you time trying to do static side hops and stuff, it'll be harder to progress.

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