Richard86

Just measuring again, 36mm wide may work at a push, but that's with the cylinders all the way in, and lever quarter puller before it would grip the rim,

Hello, almost finished my bike build using a Zona Zenith frame. Trying to keep things super cheap I was hoping I could just use some MTB wheels to get me rolling. But, I've quickly realised that my frame is too wide so my HS33s won't reach the rim. Measuring it up, it looks like I need a minimum width of 40mm. What are the cheapest options for me. I'm looking at a 26" wheel, 135mm hub, with a multispeed cassette or freewheel. Tarty bikes do this. Not cheep in my opinion, and hasn't got a wide enough hub at 115mm.. Single track bikes do this but I don't now the rim width, hub width nor if it's rim brake compatible. To be honest I'd rather not buy form somewhere that can't be bothered to list their items in full. I'm struggling to find anything here. Do I just need to build my own? Any other options for a reasonable price (sub £1000). Also, for a 40mm+ wide rim, what's the narrowest tyre I should consider? Just want to know what the limits are. Thanks all.

I'm in a similar position. I'm really keen to back into Trials, so I've taken an okeyish Mountain Bike, bought a new "old stock" Trials Frame (Zona Zenith) from Ebay for £60 and I'm in the process of swapping all the parts across. Cheapest way to get a Trials bike really if you have the time and tools, and it will have at least a few gears and front suspension for the time being so I can still use it for bike rides with the family. Not sure how I'll get on without a seat, but I might fabricate something to deal with that.. There are extra costs however, my frame only really takes a 4 bolt rear brake so I've bought a Magura HS33. I'm also pretty sire I'm going to need to upgrade the rear wheel as that will likely break soon. I also bought a new BB and headset as these weren't great on my MTB. Oh and wider bars. If you go down this route, parts come up cheap on eBay if you keep looking. If I ride it enough to break more parts I'll invest more money. If not, then not much money spent.

Thanks for all the advice. Cheapo V-brake it is then. I've order an Avid SD7 as I know I like the feel, and I'm just using an old Shimano v-brake I had lying around for the time being to see how I get on. Just need my cranks to arrive so I can take it for a ride. C'mon Postman!!

Hello, another returner here. I'm 33, and last rode trials when I was about 18. It was a mix of bikes back then, but mostly mod. I'm confused about brakes, so apologies if my question below is long winded and vague, I'm just trying to get up to date here. First a little background. I want to build a cheap "soft" 26" trials bike to have a play with, mostly from old parts that I have lying around before I start upgrading bits. By soft, I want to have a seat and gears so I can keep up with the kids on a bike ride. Unfortunately the frame I have (Zona Zenith 26") doesn't have a seat post, so I'm going to weld up a removable attachment of some sorts. I don't want or have space for multiple bikes. I already have too much stuff. One thing I want to get right straight away however, are the brakes. No point trying to do any trials if that's not right. I had enough of that as a kid. I was always a fan of V-brakes. Regardless which is "best", I just like the simplicity, their price and how well they work when set up right. For the rear I will be getting a magura because the frame I have bought has the four hole magura mount so it just makes sense to keep life simple here. For the front, I was hoping to keep it simple with a v-brake. This is where I get confused. When I was a teenager it was a choice of Avid, XT, XTR etc, but all those seem to have gone away now. Looking at Shimano selections, the highest spec V-brake I can find is a deore closely followed by a very cheap Alivio. What's Alivio anyway? Is that new? Since this is all that's on offer now (other brands all seem to be a similar price range of about £25), can I assume they are very good and benefit from years of development, or have manufacturers given up on v-brakes and just want you to fork out on much more expensive alternatives? I was hoping to get an XTR parallel push type brake (but on the cheap as it's old tech now), I really like the even wear and how easy they are to set up correctly, but nobody seems to make anything like that any more. Looking at TartyBikes the only v-brake they sell is the Alivio. So, do I: 1. If I'm happy with v-brakes, wack a cheapo v-brake on the front like the Alivio, or 2. Accept that things have moved on, do what others are doing and spend a fair bit more money and get a half decent hydraulic disc on the front? I really want to go down option 1 as it means using forks and a wheel I already have, but I hate the constant adjustment from pad wear or wheel warpage when you don't have parallel push, and I don't want to have a front brake that is cheaply made because manufacturers don't believe in the technology anymore. I guess my question is, what are people doing up front these days and what should I do?