La Bourde

Before I swapüed for a new frame, I was riding an Orange Zero from 2001. It was great, I had a good time on it and I did some progress with. Some park/dj frames have a geomerty close to a street/trial. Currently I ride an Eastern nightrain from 2014 as a pumptrack/dj/park bike and it works pretty well for street trial: a friend was stoked how good the frame is. I had also a doberman pinscher, great frame to ride for technical stuff. I plan to build an Octane01 spark. Think it will be even better for street/trial stuff. Look at this one found on pinkbike: 4x frames are not ideal for trials, the chainstays are really long and the bottom bracket low. I have a Last Tremonia, I had a Sunn Forestjump 4x, a Morewood Enza, a norco rampage, a GT moto... They are excellent bikes for pumptrack and 4x, but they are really difficult to rotate and work better with high speeds.

I think to be considered as an intermediate you need a certain number of posts on this forum. Some examples: Flipp has more than 4000 posts and is an amazing rider. Ben Travis has more than 6000 Ali C more than 11k ... I have less than 100. This proves my theory.

Most 26" trial frames are designed around a 400-410mm axle-to-crown fork. An A-C from 440mm is either for a DJ bike or an old 26" cross country mountain bike. For each 20mm more, your head tube angle decreases of about 1 degree. The bottom bracket height increased from about 7-10 mm. I think it is important to have a steep head angle in trial. It helps when beeing on the front wheel.

Hi, So impressed ... how good he is still. 49 years old but still a legend.

I used Shimano Zee as front and back brakes. Recently I replaced the front brake with a SLX (2 pot) one. I was/am really happy with both configuration. A friend tries currently the 4 pistons version of the Deore MT501. They are difficult to find but cheap and to be honest, I did not notice any difference with my brake: same feeling and power. I recommand trickstuff power brakepads.

I used to have some on my mountain bike 20 years ago. I didn't like them in wet. But that are the lightest grips available for sure. Recently I also tried the Lizzard skin DSP. I enjoyed them first but after 6 months riding, the foam on the outside of the bar was deformed (like squeezed) and so thin, that it was like riding without grip.

Having confortable grips is important to me. I love thin grips for the feeling but the vibrations or impacts are less absorbed. If your riding sessions are long, you will get tired early. But if you have short fingers, thick grips might require more effort ... so it is difficult to recommend you some grips without more information from your side. Also I have to feel confident. So I hate grips that twist (single side lock on) or slide on the bar (no lock on at all). That is why I was a big fan of ODI lockon or LizardSkins ones. I had the problem though, that my hands get hurted from the outside collar. With my new tapered fork and new bar, I was lacking comfort. Recently I changed to the PRO Dual Lock Sport grips. They have no outside collar but a retention system to prevent them to twist (expander). I am really satisfied with ! They are available in 30 and 32mm diameter. EDIT: in addition, I don't like grips with aggressive patterns. It is good for rainy days when crashing with your mountain bike, but on a trial bike, it is too aggressive for the hands (for manuals or bunny)

Hi, there is an interview of Fabio Wibmer on Pinkbike. He didn't say clearly that Canyon is developing a carbon street/trial frame, but it makes sens for me. Not sure though, whether it will be available for customers. Enjoy !

Maybe you can get some used ones. This is not the kind of stuff that can get damaged (be careful with arms with parallelograms like XT/XTR though, they may have play) and it is easy to find. I found some Avid Speed Dial 7 levers on ebay recently for a decent price. I have some deore arms on one bike and it works fine. Shimano still produces Deore, LX (for trekking though) and XT arms. As Adam wrote, pads and cables are more important. I recommend not to buy some arms with parallelograms, they required too much maintenance and they are not stiff. I tried also fine high polished cable that should reduce friction on my old race BMX (Jagwire ultra slick). I noticed a difference first, but I can't say it was much better overtime. The cable was really expensive (10x more than a cheap one), so I am not sure it was worth it.

Two other options: Vario Styx and JB Zark.

Welcome! The french forum is also dead (http://www.esprittrial.com/forum/)... I think this one of the last trial forums at all That is crazy somehow. As I still was an active moderator on esprittrial.com, I though the raise of street/trial will boost the forum. But social media came at the same time too... I still don't get why people post on facebook instead of a dedicate forum though

Which High roller do you mean ? The first one or the second version ? The first one rolls really but it is pretty directional. Not sure it is a good tyre for trial on natural obstacles. The high roller II rolls a little worse but is less directional. The DHF and the DHR roll even worse. A really fast rolling maxxis tyre is the ardent, but it has really thin sidewalls, so I will recommend it only on the front. The ardent race uses 3 different compounds and might roll even better (didn't ride it). My preference for street/trial goes to the holy roller. I tried the Kenda K-rad, Kenda Small Block 8, Kenda Kranium, Onza XIII, Schwalbe table top on my hardtails and I think only the holy roller and the table top are good for street/trial.

To reduce the travel of the lever, turn the silver part anti clockwise. Ensure also that the distance between the brake pads and the disc is about 0.5 mm on both side. If not you can adjust this on the caliper (on both side I think - the inner side with a screw and the other side by tensioning the cable)

Can't answer your question but when the weather sucks for a long period, I go to a place close to where I live that is covered and that has some nice rocks ... I can spend more than one hour there training the basics again (riding backward, pivot front wheel, 180°, etc) or just ride over the rocks. Still better than going to the gym

Currently I am building a new 26" bike to ride street/trial but also park. That is why I am looking for cheap parts that are easy to service. For the brakes, I went for some Shimano BR-M375 mechanical disc brakes, actuated by Avid speed dial 7 levers. I love the ergonomy of the Avid levers. All the other V-Brake levers I had do not come close (Deore, LX, XTR, some BMX levers). Why the Shimano and not the Avid BB7 or 5 ? The reason is that they use the b01s brake pads, so I can use my favorite Trickstuff Power brake pads (that I strongly recommend), that are not available for the Avid BBx serie. I like to use some old Shimano cranks in 104.mm with steel axle. On my other bike I run an XTR m970, best cranks I owned. On the new one I will problably use some old SLX cranks. It is always difficult to find the appropriate bashguard though.

I saw today that Schwalbe has a new tire for pumptrack/dirt/street: the billy bonkers. Available in skinwall and black. really light (around 450g) but one size only: 26x2.10.

As always with Akrigg, the video is just stunning. Such moves...

No. It requires a zero stack (ZS) headset. I think ZS44/28,6 for the top and ZS44/30 (if your fork shaft is not tapered- If your fork is tapered EC44/40). Please double check that the inner diameter of the headtube is 44mm (it could be 49 too), where the cups seat.

Yes he can if he has a vice. Pushing the bearings back without the appropriate tool might be tricky though. I heard that the 12mm version of the Hope pro II axle broke. The 9 mm or 10 through version was stronger.

I came from a MTB background too and the first trial bike I bought was a 26" - almost 15 years ago, there was no choice then. I tried 24" bikes (trial and street) many times. But I never owned one, because my preference goes to 26" (I am 1,78m, 5'10). Recently I bought a 24" race bmx (I also had a 20" before) and it is really difficult to swap between 26" DJ and this BMX. Too me, it was easier to swap with the 20", because it felt like another kind of bike. (I found also that riding a different bike for many months helped me to progress) Nowaday enduro/dh bikes use 27,5" or 29" wheels and long and slack geometries, that differ from the street trial one in many ways. It means that you will either way need to adapt when riding your trial bike. So if you still own a 26" DJ bike and you ride it regularly, I recommend you to buy the hex.

I second that Hopefully Schwalbe will release a black version soon.

Only the sides of the tread are softer on a dual compound ... does not really help for street/trial. Did you consider the schwalbe table top ? Here in Germany they are quite cheap. I don't know in the US though.

Nice to see that Inspired get some competitors. The frame looks sweet to me. And knowing Crewkerz reputation, it might be a great alternative to Inspired. Hopefully they will produce a 26" version too. Cause currently the choice is easy to make ...

Interesting topic ! I think I can visualize well how to do a trick or a line. But sometimes, not at all. I know all the different phases of a bunny hop, I can visualize them one after another, but I can't see the whole movement. It is like I need to understand the missing link before I can see it. I really struggle with this, because I think I could go much higher (currently 85cm). The missing part is after the extension, hips close to the bar. How to lift the bike, so that I can tuck correctly (with the nose going down)? I read and watched a lot of videos, but still I can't connect all the pieces together. What about you riding a MTB track for the second or third time ? Can you already ride it fast because you already know where the obstacles are ? Can you visualize the whole track ? That is something I am really good at compare to my riding buddies. It noticed it years ago, when we went for the first time ride bikepark in Portugal. One friend took a slam after about 5 runs on the same track. The next run, he crashed again at the same place (it was a small drop between to turns on a slippery ground - nothing difficult). I was really surprised, he still didn't know the track. At this point I was almost able to explain which line I will took on each turn and why. As we rode together later on a really technical natural track, with a lot of roots and stones, it made a huge difference. I was composing lines while they tried to survive. Mostly I forget what I dreamed of. But when not, it can be so clear in my mind, so natural, so real, but completly weird and full of discripancies. But in my job I sometimes need to visualize things before I code them.

He made an YT video in which he complains how high is the pressure not to deceive his fans on each appearance (event, video, etc.). It was just after his friend Elias was injured during a DH practice. This video impressed me a lot, cause it was easy to notice how his nerves are set on edge. I doubt anyone can deal with such a pressure this long.