psiron

I bought a cheap bmx and took off the back brake, which worked well. I've just finished Ryan Leech's 30 day wheelie challenge and I can now do coaster wheelies one hand wheelies turns etc, best £20 I've ever spent on mountain bike skills. Anyway I've been wondering If it would be better to learn how to wheelie sitting on the saddle before learning how to manual?.

Hang in there and let Bob inspire you. www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5AP2LmSYBM

Check out some of Bob's video's, www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5AP2LmSYBM

This may help. Place your front wheel against a wall with the handlebars straight try and hold your balance, keep pressure on your leading foot. At this point you should be able to hold the bike up, now analyse how your body is reacting and counter reacting to staying on balance. when you can, try and relax look at your surroundings, move your head around etc bend your knees and get real low etc... roll back off the wall brake and stop at this point you're probably doing a good impression of a fish trying to ride a bicycle, but don't worry this is good stuff, your knees play a big part in trying to stay on balance. This method is useful in the short term because it gives you an opportunity to slow the moves down, its also useful as a transition to something else like hops and rocks. I take this a step further as well by leaning back and rolling the front wheel up the wall and balancing, at first with brakes applied and later with out brakes (word of warning if you attempt this, shin pads and helmet). You don't need to do more than a few minutes a day, to see progress. Hope this helps.

I'm doing the same thing with wooden planks. lay two planks parallel, approach the first one at 90 degrees put the front wheel on and turn it 90 degrees (I turn to the left as I'm right handed), now gently hop the rear wheel towards the plank roll your brakes on and off until your front wheel is near the top of plank and your last hop brings the rear wheel onto the plank. At this point your handlebars will be straight and you now need to lift the front wheel and place it on the second plank, lift the rear wheel and place that on the second plank (I find it easier if I release the rear brake when the wheel lifts and apply it when I land it), now lift the front wheel and place it on the first plank and repeat the process. see how many times you can get from plank to plank. I think its very important to get the basics nailed and dialed you want to be able to "rock, hop and trackstand" without thinking. spend 20 minutes everyday trackstanding on one plank, I guarantee you will be more relaxed and composed, when you do your bigger moves. Good luck !.

Try track stands on a plank about 5-6ft long 10-12 inches wide. When you feel confident try not using your brakes. when you feel good on one plank get a second one now you've got something to aim for, try side hoping and rocking on the two planks, as you get stronger widen the gap between the planks, then try pedal punches and then later peddle kicks. At least with planks its quick and easy to set up, and fairly safe, you will progress very quickly and your moves will be much more precise.

I think you may find mx knee braces will impede your trials riding. If you are worried about your knees then the best thing you can do is try to keep the muscles around the knee strong I find road riding and mtb'ing are excellent for keeping the strength around the knee joint. In the 2 years that I've been trials riding I've never twisted my knee, but I do find I have stiff knees the day after which is ok if I warm them up and stretch them a bit just before I ride. I don't use knee pads or shin pads unless I'm trying something new and the scar tissue on my shins is testament to the times when I tried something new and didn't use them...... I hope some of this helps, advice from another old timer..good luck!

And for the discerning rider the 'Five Ten freerider', you can find them discounted on ebay etc. These shoes are excellent for trials especially as they are quite well padded and offer a lot of support, which is useful for when you bale, they are very grippy and the sole is reasonably rigid, the only downside with these shoes are the cost.

Our local indoor Skate-park runs an academy for youngsters, Its more geared up to BMX, but you may find a coach who does DJ as well.

Some interesting reply's so far. I think BMX is definitely useful for street trials, I've never done pure trials, but I think the onus is on more static riding and maybe flow and pumping are not as important.....

Hi guys, its been a while since I posted something. Anyway I'm curious to know how much BMX has Influenced your riding style. I'm a fairly latecomer to trials riding and after practicing like mad for over a year, it occurred to me that something was missing I noticed that although I could get the bike up and down obstacles, I had little flow and even less pump, so I bought a cheap BMX which absolutely terrified me, anyway I persevered and now I'm riding brake-less BMX and feeling very confident on the back wheel of all the bikes I ride (170mm Enduro, Fourplay, BMX) etc.. I can pump now and my flow is improving. What's your opinion, or is there no difference, BMX isn't necessary..........

I think you'll find both bikes superb, if you happen to get the Sky you can easily upgrade the brakes etc at a later date. I've owned my fourplay pro for two years now and I upgraded the brakes and wheel set to hope now the bike is kin awesome. Good luck with choosing.

will give the brake grease a try, although copper slip is heat resistant not a prob on the trialzones not sure about the avids on my Enduro. :'(

I've had the same problem but not with just Hope trialzone the Avids on my Enduro did the same thing and now i regularly apply a small amount of copperslip to the pistons which seems to stop them corroding. Basically, i remove one of the pads squeeze the lever as much as i dare exposing the piston surface then apply the CS and then repeat for the other side. I hope you have luck with your warranty claim. Personally i think its a price we have to pay for weight saving materials not being very good at resisting our damp climate.

if i was to upgrade my cranks to fit the trialtech bb, which cranks would be best.