marg26

These days people drop in with their first video before they've even got any skills. youth oldies People these days!

I guess the other side of what I mentioned is if you do spend more on a shiny new bike you might feel more committed to sticking at trials.

I don't think there's much point buying a nice new expensive trials bike to start learning trials on. You will only scratch and bash it up, either that or you'll fear scratching & bashing it up (especially if you had to stretch your finances to buy it) which will hold you back. Look for a 2nd hand bike you can easily afford and not worry too much about. See also another very recent thread on this very forum.

First saw this guy with his fails video, so had to subscribe. Here's his latest.

I expect trials is difficult whatever bike you choose as a beginner. I got a 2nd hand 24" Inspired. I really want to try a 20" mod. Some people seem to progress fast some progress slow. As you plan on riding in the woods a street trials bike might not be the best choice. 26" should roll easier than 20", but this is trials we're talking about. I guess that might be advantageous to a beginner, but I don't know as I have a low level of experience/skill in trials.

I'd be interested to hear the pointers? It's a move I've put off learning until more confidence on rear wheel, then consequently forgotten to try. See also sidehops. I've seen the advice to keep trying things I find difficult, but... fear... If only we were as flooded with trials coaching videos on youtube spewing out regular contents as there are bodyweight/weight lifting/strength training/rehab coaching videos.

Post unique content on here that hasn't already been seen on facebook. I saw it via my subscriptions on youtube. It's very good :-) Also disappointed that nobody posted Duncan Shaw's Group Ride in Dundee vlog, also really good!

Slowly improving. Staying in comfort zone today but trying these small moves I've been wanting to get down. JM aged 45.

After saying all that and intending just one trials ride a week I ended up going out for a half hour session for 3 days in a row. On the third day I felt the need to take it a bit easier which brought the realization riding trials doesn't need to be a fight against my body. For instance pulling hard on the bars when on the rear wheel but not having the looseness in the legs to allow the bike to move. Which I guess is similar to what you said above. Trials definitely doesn't come naturally to me.

Flatmatters Online came recommended in my YT feed and saw this guy. There's a flatland virtual jam tomorrow on facebook if anyone's interested. Details here:

I don't think it was something I really tried much for quite a while, nor hopping up things, I struggled with rear hops just on the spot on the flat for ages. As with everything start small and slowly work your way bigger. I've only rear-wheel-hopped off around 2 feet, it's not the actual hop down which is difficult, it's the setup where the difficulties (mental/physical) can occur, and that's really the reason I didn't attempt risky moves until I was satisfied I had at least enough control to handle the setup before the hop down. My last video was a couple of months ago, yet another "I'm so shit at trials" moment, messing about...

I was thinking about this some more and I probably did have a similar approach. I wanted to be just be riding along on some 25mile xc/trail ride, see some random obstacle and just hop up/over/whatever as if it was nothing, something like a Chris Akrigg MTB video! It needs stamina, so would sometimes treat my trials rides more like endurance exercise than a skills exercise. I've watched a lot of bodyweight + strength training videos and they always talk about the requirement of good form, and when training for skills (ie not strength) to avoid going anywhere near the point of fatigue because that is when bad form arises, bad habits are formed, mistakes made etc. Being in my forties I need to take more care so just can't practice practice practice at trials.

I don't do any long sessions, usually just an hour, but I'm thinking about continuing with shorter rides say 45 minutes. From watching group ride videos, it seems like lots of people spend lots of time sat around not riding! Ride today was 40 minutes, resting lest than 10 minutes. Wait for heart rate to calm down and go. Agree about the strength, saw improvement in some moves today despite taking a break from it. One improvement was hopping onto a small ledge (14") onto rear wheel, something I've really struggled with in the past. Got it a few times and then just got the feeling it wasn't going to happen again today. Take your point about repetition too, avoiding boredom is a good motivator against that though. I tried going out 3 times a week, I think that's when the problems get too much. Going to continue with trials once or occasionally twice a week which at least leaves time and energy for other forms of exercise besides bikes.

Well I've still been getting this issue recently, it culminated I think when I went to Radical Bikes in August on their re-opening after the worst of lockdown was over. Other than a single ride, haven't ridden the trials bike since. Decided I'd give trials a break for a few months and attempt to improve my upper body strength. Been doing low reps of dips, pull ups, bodyweight rows, push ups etc. Low reps because I'm not strong. Still been getting the strained feeling. Have found to some degree these exercises improve it. Wondered if it's possibly week rotator cuff, but not sure. Found scapular pull ups and push ups actually help. Seems though I find some exercise that helps and a while later need to find something else. Trying to mix it all up more and do more movement based exercise as noticed all sorts of instability in general and shoulder seem a bit lopsided. Seem to hold right shoulder up a bit... wonder if in connection with holding a mouse at a desk for long periods.. Anyway, hope to get back to learning trials at some point but got a lot going on at the moment.

The good news is you'll never have issues with saddle discomfort on a trials bike - guaranteed! The bad news - pedals on trials bikes are even more nasty choppy spike ridden things. Have you thought about a mountain bike?

alright grandads

I got an Inspired Pivotal Lite seat for my Console. Really like it. Not sure how it fairs on the weight-weenie front though. On Tarty's.

Yeah I think 130 would probably do all I need too, but from having the 510 so long I'd probably go with the 520... those colour maps look nicer... There's a few instances where just following a line can be difficult - knowing the scale of what you're looking at, and forks in a trail close together can be difficult to know which you're meant to go down, take a guess and wait until device shows you're off course or not. Speaking of off-course, there's a setting where it repeatedly tells you to turn around while showing you where you should have turned, preventing you from identifying your position in relation to the route and whether you're going in the right direction to join it elsewhere. That's annoying! Having said that, it's got me round 25 - 35 mile routes in the Lakes & centre of France where I've had absolutely no clue where I was I keep wondering what I'd replace my 510 with when it goes kaput, but it just keeps going, 5 years feels a long time for an electronic device these days.

I've been using a Garmin 510 for past 5 years. I use it to record rides, distance, speed, and map where I've been, useful for revisiting areas from group rides etc. Also find it useful for heartrate monitoring. When I first started commuting daily on the bike I just went for it everyday and soon found myself overdoing it. HR monitoring helped me get a guage on how much effort I was putting in. In the beginning I consistently underestimated it. The model I use doesn't have maps, but you can use it to follow the line of a route uploaded onto the device via a GPX file. I've used it a fair bit on the roads and off road in places I don't know. I don't bother with the mobile app for automatically uploading my routes to Garmin Connect, I just copy them onto my PC and upload them to Strava from there. Most people use the Garmin mobile app which syncs with the Garmin devices which can auto upload to strava that way. The app will also provide many other features I've never looked at which interact with the device - such as mobile notifications appearing on the garmin, allowing family members to know in real time where you are (provided there's data signal on mobile) etc.

I was watching Sam Pilgrim and noticed his levers were so far in there was probably only a fingers width overlap between blade and the grip. Might have to experiment with that. Also was on the verge of ordering sugru before realizing I'd adjusted the reach badly.

I was surprised though how much setting the reach right out improved it in my case, but if it's right out already then yours might just need a good bleed I guess.

Yeah I was getting that issue with the blade rubbing against my finger when on the rear wheel, brake felt a bit soft & squidgy not what I expected. Turns out I had been far too conservative adjusting the reach when I initially set them up. Problem solved and fingers didn't have any problems reaching either.

Just went out for a half hour with them. Massive difference especially on the front. Didn't feel doing my usual last minute braking at the bottom of the gaps down between the cliffs was a good idea. And usually everybody turns to see what the massive honking noise was, but these were silent. Did initially notice a big improvement on the rear, but maybe I just adjusted to it far easier, or the existing stock front brakes (+1yr old, ~50 rides, ~36hrs) were contaminated or something - they looked good as new too.

Will give them a go in a few days when I next go out.