Swoofty

I came from years of MTB as well, but I went straight to 24" street trials. The compact maneuverability of a 24" is really incredible and one trip to the skatepark will show that unmistakably over a 26". However, for the last 3 years I've been riding 26" (Czar Neuron 26) and have to say that 26" street trials is highly underrated. I 100% prefer my 26 over my 24 now except for the skatepark environment. Sadly the choices for a straight up 26" street trials bike are extremely limited, but there are some older 26" MTBs that are worthy conversions, although they won't match a modern Hex/Czar. 24s are great; they roll around fine and they excel at spins and quick combinations. For you at 6'1" stay away from the Skye unless you just have to have one. All the steel 24s just feel heavy after you've been on an aluminum street trials bike. My vote goes to the Czar Neuron 24 or 26; I've owned both and they were hands down the best bikes I've ever ridden (I'm 5'10"). Inspireds are overpriced new, buy those used so you can upgrade parts. Check out James Barton - all his new videos are on his DJ bike and it doesn't hold him back at all.

Nice compilation. I have half the years, but nearly as many bikes! Mine were the opposite, mostly street with an occasional pure here and there. Very cool walk down memory lane.

The Echo Mark 6 Plus was the vertical dropout version. Regular Mk6 was horizontal with 1 1/8 steerer; Plus was vertical drops with tapered headtube. I guess they sold out. A friend was looking into them a while back, but he waited too long.

OK so now it's got dual MT5s and Reverz front and rear so it's weigh-in time. It's a whopping 18.8 pounds/ 8.5 kg. I could go to 180mm rotors front and rear and save a little weight, but there's nothing drastic I could do without getting silly. The first 4 rides have been great and I think the lightness of the carbon rim lets the wheel spin up quicker because I can gap and kick up slightly farther/higher than on my Curve V8 that's pretty much the same weight as this bike. Now I've just got to keep abusing it to see how it holds up.

I ran Pepi's Tire Noodles for a bit before that bike was stolen. Pepi's are made for cross country so they are super light and come in a variety of sizes to suit different tires. I used Muc Off sealant, but sadly, I didn't own that setup for very long. It was on 35mm OD carbon rims with Schwalbe table top tires. https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-gear/pepis-tire-noodle-inserts-save-rubber-and-rims-and-boost-sidewall-stiffness/

Magura MT Trail version comes in silver. Cable disc is ok for the front, but you'll outgrow cable disc on the rear very quickly.

What rim and tire are you running? I'm still using tubes, but I've only lost one in the last year. I've got a Hashtagg 48mm rim and Jitse reverz tire. The new bike has 46mm wide carbon rims and the crap V rubber Carthy tire on the rear and it's bottomed out many times so far with no punctures. I'm 81kg and run around 20 psi.

Another shout out to Industry 9. I'd been running a torch SS hub for over 2 years when it started skipping. I changed the pawls, but that didn't fix it so I sent it in to I9 to check the drive ring. They said the drive ring was cracked and warrantied it even though it was well out of warranty. Better yet, they sent me a new Hydra hub instead of fixing the Torch! The whole process to too long because I had to unbuild my wheel to send it in and at the beginning of the pandemic, I9 converted some of their CNC machines to make respirators and then bike sales went through the roof. So took a while, but worked out great for me.

I've been running carbon rims on my street trials bike for nearly 2 years now with no problems. On this build, the lightness of the rims only barely offsets the weight of the rotors so no gain there. The rear rim is 46mm OD and it's really beautiful and seems quite stiff so far. The current rear brake isn't holding like I want so I'm waiting on a new MT5 before I really start abusing it. I'll keep you posted. The entire front wheel with tyre and all is ridiculously light and I resisted the urge to go straight pull and radial laced on the non-disc side. Maybe someday....

Ha ha, yeah it was the hellishly expensive one! Park DT 5.2. Luckily I checked ebay and miraculously there was a used one for $125 that's still in like new condition. My local shop, even with my buddy-bro deal was going to be $30 to do just one brake and the way I go through bikes I figured it was a sound investment. Needless to say, all my disc bikes are faced now :-) Anyone is welcome to come over and use the tool, but as I'm in Los Angeles that won't help too many people on here. I'll get a weight once the Jitsie Reverz is on the rear and the MT5.

I initially bought 2 of the A4s to try as rear brakes on 2 different bikes. The first one was stellar right out of the box. The second one was never very impressive and I eventually sold it. The first one began leaking after about a month and Hayes warrantied it and sent me a new one. It works fine again, but they don't have the overall power of a Magura MT5/7. The Maguras also have lots of pad options available which helps as well. Alas the search for the perfect trials brake continues.

There was a thread a while back where someone was asking about 26" disc pure trials frames. Through that thread I found this TMS Evo6 and now it's finally complete, well 99%. The build was a huge pain in arse for numerous reasons, but the ride today made most of that fade away. My advice to anyone who wants one of these - buy the complete bike. First off, the frame is 116 rear spacing, which is completely unnecessary on a 26" bike. The first hub I ordered wouldn't fit properly so I ordered the Clean hub that comes on the full bike. The post mount brake mounts on the frame were at such an angle they needed A LOT of facing to get them square. Next, the chain tensioner that came with the frame couldn't be set up properly and then to correct for the proper chainline I had to drill and file the frame and tensioner to get it all lined up. Had some freewheel issues as well and then over a month wait for the carbon rims from China. At least now I can go for a ride from my house in wonderful disc brake silence and never have to grind these rims. I'll let you know how it's holding up after I've got a few months on it. TMS Evo6 26R frame Crewkerz WAW tapered carbon disc fork Comas 130x25 stem WAW carbon riser bar Extralite Hyper JF front hub Clean X2 rear hub Light Bicycle carbon rims 32mm front, 46mm rear Bonz splined cranks Clean 135 freewheel Magura MT5 front & rear (will be, Hayes A4 rear right now)

Thanks @stirlingpowers Got these beauties from DHL yesterday. So gorgeous and so light! Now I'm just waiting for rims...

I'm in the process. It would just be nice that at least by the year 2020 i could order something on a website and it would be shipped to me without any extra steps involved. Surely it can be done. So far 3 emails back and forth and the fork's not shipped yet...

Ah thanks for that. That settles it then. Now only if their website would deliver to the US. :-(

I've had the Reverz on front and rear for about a year now and I really like them both. The front has been bald for some time now, but the rear has a fair amount of tread left. I've had only one flat and that was from sliding off the side of a pointy rock (rear tire). It hooks up very well in all I've asked it to do. I can't say much about wet bc it never really rains here in Southern California. The Koala tires were harder to come by when I bought this set, but most people I've talked to who have them say they're about the same all in all.

I don't dislike the through axle idea, but they are just being dicks for using a proprietary and honestly humorous 9mm through axle. 15mm through axle anyone? Industry standard? Ever heard of 'em? Yeah, yeah, everybody's just trying to make a buck, I know. I bet I could get Extralite to make some 9mm through axle endcaps for my Hyper JF hub. Anybody know what the difference is between the vertical leg and the regular WAW carbon fork. No pictures on the website.

I saw the Crewkerz one on Serious, but it's only for 9mm through axle. I'm pretty sure I could adapt to that without buying they're heavy front disc hub <huff>. Echo says they have no more of the tapered version so I'll have to find one in the wild somewhere. I find the Extension fork unbelievably unattractive.

I know they exist, but does anyone know where I can actually buy a 26" carbon tapered disc fork? The echo version seems to have been the most produced, but so far I can't even find one of those. Next question - why are they so rare? What's the big drawback?

Every bike shop I frequent has tried to hire me at the moment because they are all swamped and selling like hotcakes. In a strange twist, my stay at home wife went out and got a job so now I'm the stay at home. I've been filling up ebay with garage finds and I've mostly been getting asking price for all of it, which is doubly satisfying. I'm mostly just enjoying the time with my kids because otherwise I'd just be working to hard.

I loved my 20.1 while I had it. I had BOX rims on mine and they were da bomb! Also had Animal monster truck tires on it and they were heavy, but remarkably good in all conditions. Very very nimble bike; effortless to throw it around.

You could also try scoring the arcade chain tugs to give a little extra bite against the frame. Those tugs are mighty smooth. Or you could ditch the tugs, slam the wheel all the way forward in the dropouts and use a serrated washer and put in a sprung tensioner.

Have you had any problems since? I talked to Tarty about it and Maxxis, at the time. Tarty said they thought something might be up too, but had numerous batches mixed so couldn't tell for sure. Maxxis just gave me the run around (I didn't save the emails :-( and I didn't get any free tyres out of them. Luckily, right after that I found a new pair on ebay for $36 and those were fine.

The Kenda K rads don't hold up well. They are made from a fairly hard rubber that only gets harder with age. Strangely, the 26" Schwalbe table tops are better than the 24" version. In 26" you have two different rubbers available and folding or wire, but there's only one wire bead version available in 24". They never lasted long on my 24s, sadly, but they are very light. I've had dozens (it seems at least) of Holy Rollers over the last decade and they usually hit all the pluses; price, weight and size. However, I'm pretty certain that Maxxis had a run of 24" Holy Rollers that were a little off. The wire bead wouldn't seat properly or they were slightly oversized for 24". The last 4 or so that I've had have all been fine, so maybe that run is gone now. For me Holy Rollers last a good while and the rubber doesn't degrade like the K Rads. I've never tried the D Macs because, like was stated earlier, they're heavy and expensive, but that just means I have no idea how they ride. I wish there were more 24" options, but the Holy Rollers don't disappoint.