[Total beginner. What style bike and wheel size?]

12 hours ago, CC12345678910 said:

This question's abit like "how long's a piece of string??", particularly off that generic of information.

Nevertheless, if you were a mate and you'd come to me and said "I wanna do abit of that [trials] like what you do" and that mate had a background in bikes but like road or XC; like, rides bikes, but nowt where skill is primary over athleticism,

[what I'm getting at is that a die-in-the-blood-never-done-owt-else "cyclist"/road rider would and can smash me when I'm out for a road ride, because athletic AF and does "training" and goes for "training rides" & has watts for days but same person X would never leave tarmac and couldn't even hop a curb in an evasive - like wise light trail/trail centre/XC peeps are more skills orientated by nature but I could never think of them manualling rollers or riding wooden features or doing gap jumps and so forth - some might be able to endo turn and bunnyhop a bit and half do a trackstand clipped in]

and that 5ft 8 mate described their ambitions as you have, my intsticts as someone whose been around trials 15yrs ish would be to get them hooked up with a "cheap" Mod (that is, 20in wheel front and owt above par/a certain standard will have a 19in wheel in the rear with a trials specific large volume tyre in the rear and, frame in particular, 4bolt mounts for magura HS style rim brakes and/or a disc brake mount capable of a large disc brake).

The manoverablilty and ease of use, I 'spose, is the reason I grab the mod more often than not over my 24in Inspired these days. A good mod is just so easy to cock around on, I drop myself on it and no matter how long it's been or what I was riding last I can just click myself into where I left off, like I was just on a pause button.

In this hypothetical I would advise my mate that they want around 700gbp for bought new from shop (Echo, cough, from tartys, cough)

or as ebay/farcebuck mrktfceplm/gumtree etc is your oyster;

<100gbp can buy you a shitter to idley sesh the curb outside your house if you are willing to put the effort in bargain chasing and are not scared of the tools and hard graft/unf**king other peeps finest workmanship and learning the tough way about trials parts and standards.

100-300gbp - kinda same same, less of a shitter spec wise, could be a right shed and at the very least a money pit. I'm exprienced enough to be confident in this price range and would take an educated punt I wouldn't advise others to do. Do your research, know your shit, shop wisely, still be prepared for a frame up rebuild/service and maintainance items to be done for piece of mind. You could get a gem.

300 - 450 squid - proper money now I know, but hold your nerve and this is where the good stuff is/was before the 'rona. What it is, spec and/or condition denotes price. It'll have the good gear but you don't skip the service items just cos you paid more - it's a trials bike, it's never turn key, always high maintainance and quite often highly strung til and even after you get them "well sorted". 

450-600 - this is where the proper stuff is, and, unless it's exceptional, I don't think this kinda money fits the brief. You'd be underskilled and overbiked IMO.

My gut tells me to look for (but in no way restricted to)

Monty 221 PR, 221Ti,

Onza pro series, so Blade 2010 (the white gold colourway) & Comp 2010 (the purple/grey colourway a certain Jack Carthy rode for a spell) Limey 2, Ice, Limey 320,

The 2010ish dark blue Onza Pro w/ 4bolt + disc mount, 2006 Onza T-pro (the anodised army green one),

Echo lite, team, team 09, SL

Zoo! python, pirahana

GU Typhhon, LE, ST, 2014

Czar 07

Adamant A3

Because colour

Neon bow

Speedrace Fans

Atomz Premier

Koxx Hydroxx

KO KM1

ZHI

Ozonys Curve

Yeah, eBay's your oyster...

That's great info, thanks for the time and effort, must have taken you a while. It has encouraged me to go the "mod" route and I don't mind put repair/maintenance time in.

Thanks again.

[Total beginner. What style bike and wheel size?]

5 feet 8 inches tall. Ridden mtb xc for 20+ years so nothing too radical, never bmx'ed.

[Total beginner. What style bike and wheel size?]

I'm interested in getting a trial bike for using in my local woods so riding boulders, rock outcrops and logs. Initially just for fun so I'll be buying second hand and for little outlay to see if I like it but as a complete novice what style bike and what wheel size should I go for.

[Can I ride trials with this back problem?]

Hi all, thanks for your response. I have watched video of trials and am pretty sure that sidehops and some of the more extreme manoeuvres would be a mistake for me. My problem is worn vertebrae causing the nerves to get pinched when I twist. I reckon I could manage some of the easier stuff so think I may well give it a go. If I buy a cheap second hand bike I can always sell it on if I need to. 

[Can I ride trials with this back problem?]

Hi all. I am new to this forum and am thinking of getting into cycle trials but don't want to buy a bike if my back problem doesn't allow me to do so. I mountain bike which causes me no problems at all. What does cause me severe problems (and I mean severe) is twisting at the lower back especially under load. Do many techniques used in trials involve this sort of movement because if it does then it's going to be a no go. My intention is just to have a bit of fun in the local woods, how restricted would my riding be because of this problem. Any advice will be much appreciated.