Hello there, from Holland here so I could say that we're neighbours About the different brakes now: It's all personal preferance, some like the feel of rim brakes, some the silence from disc brakes etc. The performance of all the brakes is very close to each other if set up correctly. Now another point, what are you planning to ride 20'' (mod) or 26'' (stock)? They have a completly different feel and i can't really describe the differences, but i'm sure one else would like to point that out for you. New bikes are very expensive, so i suggest that you start with a second hand bike. And since i'm such a nice guy I already did a search for you: - very cheap 20'' monty, a decent starter bike: http://www.kapaza.be/Fietsen_en_accessoire...trialfiets.html - A better 20'' koxx bike than the monty, but also more expensive: http://www.kapaza.be/Fietsen_en_accessoire...velboss_20.html - A very(!) good 26'' koxx bike, this really is cheap for such a good bike: http://www.kapaza.be/Fietsen_en_accessoire...1_jaar_oud.html I have no idea how close you live to holland, but there is an biketrial event at 6 may in Tilburg, more info: http://www.rideactive.nl/EVENTS/content/fu...rialtilburg.htm A rare chance to get to know more about biketrials, i really sugest to go here and see whats its like, you don't often get the chance for something like this Phew that took me long to write:P feel free to add me on msn for more questions or just to have a chat martino_van_kordelaar[at]hotmai.com [at]=@, replaced to prevent spambots sending me shit