ogre

if you want to ride at home, collect pallets, large boulders even tree's cut up and placed together. obviously it all boild down to what you can get away with/feasibly move but 2 or more pallets will initially give you everything you need to pick up the basics... don't worry about being overweight, i've always been a bit fatter than i'd like and it's seldom held me back, but being fit always helps, if you want to bring the gym into riding squats and deadlifts will develop the muscles that you'll use to power the bike upwards/across. but conditioning yourself as a whole is always the best way to go. worth mentioning while trials is good for your health, just riding will not make you that fit, the nature of riding is usually very passive, 5-10 minutes on the bike, then chilling out watching everyone else etc, unless you ride solid for long stints you'll not benefit massively from short periods of riding... have you thought about tools and maintenance yet? since your using cable brakes(presuming you buy the bike you suggested), you will need a quality set of cable cutters; thats in bold because those cheap ones you bought in a diy centre are not good enough and when you try to replace you're cable outers you'll end up making bad cuts and getting a spongey lever feel, i've got some £25 cutters and they are fantastic... if you move to hydraulic brakes, you will need to learn to bleed them (there are guides on youtube) you will definitely need to learn to true wheels, even though you use a disc brake, spoke tension and regular maintenance will ensure you wheels last longer, and if you move to a rim brake, the need for true rims will become apparent very quickly... a quality chain tool, something that looks fit for a motorcycle chain, not a cheap one... because trials puts alot of load through your chain, and you'll occasionally land on it etc, you will be changing them frequently and learning to join them right will save you a lot of hassle... quality allen keys, ideally with a ball end so you can work at wierd angles with them, and make sure you have a nice big 8mm as cranks require tightening regularly on a new bike, failure to do so will round your cranks, and then you will be sad...

don't go for a light bike yet, it will take you a long time to appreciate a light trials bike, versus a trials bike.. beleive me anything sub 10kg will feel very light, and any savings after that are negligable, you want strong stuff that can take the nocks right now, and for the next few years. the bb5 disc brakes it comes with are excellent, a friend uses them front and rear on his bike and i couldn't fault them... a rear magura will offer some weight saving but for now stick with the standard stuff, discs are hassle free and despite everyone complaining that you'll hit them, you won't and if you do, you won't damage them... besides cable brakes are sick cause they're low cost, and mess free; split a hydraulic and you've got oil all over your braking surface... no need for elbow pads, i personally have never scuffed my arms in trials often or remarkably enough to warrent them, although shin guards or ankle support can be very useful, i recently broke my ankle and wish i was wearing some kind of ankle support to protect my ligaments and whatnot... but don't let that put you off... isis isn't lighter off the bat but it opens up the options for some of the lighter gear available... how is your fitness? also: don't get this one, it's got isis, but the freewheel is shit. you want a 60ep or even a 108 freewheel, any less will feel shit and won't be any good. if your wondering why i say this, the higher the engagement in a freewheel the more frequently you'll get pick-up through your drivetrain (if you think about riding a shit mtb in a low gear there is an 'idol' feel where the cranks are going round but you don't get any resistance... the high ep freewheels negate this more or less entirely, back in the day when i started our choice was limited, but now you can geta high performance one for a relatively low price, so make sure you do...

dan robinson you are wrong, if you wanna prove yourself right, swap the tyres round and post up... if you do so successfully you will be mailed a legitimate prize...

i'd give you 10er for the cranks, chainring on the cranks... you'll struggle to sell them to be honest as there bottom rung parts and everyone tends to upgrade when things fail... sort me a picture of the arns if you wanna shift em/think they're worth more..

20"s are ace to learn on, they're so dedicated and dialed in for riding, the bike you're looking at appears to be excellent and ticks most of my boxes for what i'd buy personally, my only concern is that the bottom bracket is a square taper meaning that the axle that runs through it is square, and the cranks are also square, this is fine for road bikes and light mtb, but the nature of trials riding tends to give this interface a very hard time, the cranks can round off and i managed to snap a sqare taper BB within a matter of months when i first learnt to ride. the norm in trials is to use an isis bottom bracket as the star shaped interface is less prone to rounding the crank arms and it usually feels a bit stiffer, plus the burlier axle that isis uses is very confidence inducing. but in the short term square taper is fine, and it helps keep the price of a bike down. don't be put off by this comment, just be aware of the issue. learning to ride trials is not easy, it's hard than other disciplines and i found it tooks 3-4 years before i was riding at a standard that i was really proud of, the first few months are awkward, but if you want it, you'll stil enjoy it and me happy sticking at it, but remember it will take time, but it's totally worth it eventually... Trashzen is an excellent tutorial website, and will help you get to grips with the techniques you'll be looking to learn... they have published a book to so you might wanna consider treating yourself to that if you're dead sure this is the hobby you want. tartybikes have numerous tutorial videos that will teach you about the unique bits of hardware that we trials riders use... if you're debating the peripherals that can help with riding, a helmet is vital, it'll stop you killing yourself and it can give you a confidence boost to try new things, alot of riders wear gloves, but if you're prepared to have calousy man hands, then tough it out without gloves, use some climbing chalk and enjoy saving a small fortune on new gloves every few months... (the way you twist the bars in your hands means gloves get eaten very quickly compared to other cycling disciples where you stay on the bars at one angle all the time... try and find some local riders, you'll progress faster and get alot more out of riding with some encouragement and comradery... and sometimes seeing a move being done by another rider will remind you it's not impossible and help you give it a try... hope that helps....

how much did you pay for the full build?

1.you may find removing the freewheel is difficult/impossible tarty offer a removal service if you're struggling. 2.you will break mech hangers all the time, don't buy an expensive CNC'd one, get on the blower to tarty and work out the type you need (probably a K type) buy 2, one for a spare and make sure the seller refunds you for one of them... 3. your current mech will work fine for a tensioner, but if you want to save some weight and have a neater set up, buy one of these tensioners, they are the best performance/value out there, avoid the single wheel tensioners, they suck! 4. if you can run a singlespeed sprocket with a wide base, to protect the hub, you'll need some spacers in order for it to work right though. although this will run up a fair bill, trials bikes are relatively cheap to maintain compared to other disciplines.... happy riding!

trials dedicated gear is the best way to go, unless you've already got alot of trials-knowhow then the odds will be stacked against you, it is possible to ride an mtb for trials but it's hard and you'll progress very slowly. buidling a bike for dual purpose will be a nightmare too, i've considered doing this before, using a hammerschmidt crankset for instance would give trials clearance and geared bike performance, but it's heavier than the trials stuff and wouldn't be that great for getting around or effective trialing.. we used to ride mtbs for trials, but theres a reason no one does anymore...

the ryan leech bashing in this thread is annoying me, if you've called out ryan leech watch this and be honest, could you pull off half this shit on a geared bike with no high ep hub, or performance brake pads, and skinny bars and shitty geo?

its as soft as the tryall, but marginally firmer than the standard monty ones...

the only way to work it out is to duro-meter the tyres and see what they compare to, and then ride them, even thats not a fair representation as tyre pressure and riding style will affect wear rate and if you walk and push your bike instead of rolling everywhere...

i liked them in the light blue...

where'd you get that price?

from what i've read about carbon bikes, and through discussions with some engineering friends i'd image the bashplate is connected to the BB, as a metal insert is used for the BB shell, this could be extended to make up part of the downtube an chain stays, que bad diagram: the blue is chainstay, the red is BB yoke, the green is downtube, if its all one piece then landing on the bash would be just the same as landing on the crank/bash ring...

i couldn't think of the right word, but you see leech and you see a normal enough bike, and you can imagnie trials being do-able on your own bike, tangible as opposed to intangible, meaning you can't even touch it, or get close...

he doesn't ride like modern trials riders, he's distanced himself from it... he uses a bike normal people can associate with, thats why he's able to do the talks and shows and generate the interest cause his riding is almost tangible, if you have a crowd of people watching benito or vincent, their bikes are so foreign that it's hard to relate... plus he's pushing on a bit now and the level of risk that the modern scene has set probably isn't that attractve when what he's doing is working just fine for him. tldr: leave leech alone unless you can ride without correction hops, ever.

thats remarkable, considering the production numbers will be so low, a hardtail carbon specialized is about £1300, and they are produced in huge numbers...

this is excellent value, just buy some performance vee pads for the rear and you'll have a very solid frame with decent enough gear on it... second hand is always good if you can get a second opinion from an experienced rider... always look for: ISIS bottom bracket high EP freewheel (or good freehub, profile or a king) sealed rear hub oversize bars as these will be the first things you buy if you don't have them already...

you on a mod? cause the ratio needs to be different for a smaller wheel...

i see your near/from gainsborough, it's help if you come meet the local riders, as you'll progress so much faster when you're around others who can push you and know what needs doing etc... find me on facebook, i'm matthew ogley i can put you in touch with some of the locals...

it's alot of the same and he doesn't seem to be taking any real risks compared to other "extreme" stuff, lets see him do one of those deadliest trucking routes where theres a death fall at the other side...

i'm happy that tf ticks on, it feels like an important part of trials to me, it may even motivate me to make a video some day hah, thanks for TF tom!

the issue is cable routing, get some cable clips, they clip the cable and clip to your clothes then you can ensure the cable goes roughly where you want and doesn't f**k up. my issue has always been that the jack that goes into my phone gets ruined as my phone flips about in my pocket or something... i wouldn't mind a smaller player that clips on or something...

io presume you're being offered one? limeys arent all that strong in my experience, however they do ride nice and look the tits, if it's 2nd hand consider the riding style of the previous owner, if they were a bit of a basher it's a bad call... unless the price is right and you're as smooth as a baby's bum...

i used some 2 part gorila glue, came in a dual barreled syringe so it ejected the right amount of each, mix and apply, i know you've said no to cutting them, but it makes so much sense to ensure they fit properly...