i think personally this is a common mistake yunno, people think cos a bikes better on back wheel it naturally does moves better.
think of it this way, yeh i agree with bars forward the bikes feel better on rear wheel, BUT, why do you think its hard to do anything to rear with the bars this way? cos all your weight is biased towards to front, a sidehop you should be behind or just above the bottom bracket, not infront, with the bars back you have a larger reach effectively, you can push the front forwards more.... ALLLLLLLL of this is my 50 pence worth anyway
i think alot of people have the wrong idea with trials to be honest, in regards to bike setup, iv actually gone a step further with mine now. i ran a few months ago an echo cnc 158 x 30 on my curve, bars upwards, but now i run the oldschool trialtech 130 x 25, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better. can land off 6 million foot and still keep front end up cos of it stems and bars have gone stupid these past few years, and thats whats ruining peoples style.
also Bersha is still is stylish young man (A)