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Faq: Is This A Good First Bike?


rupintart

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The street trials bike works fine for all the riding I do currently. A friend has an Echo MKII stock. We were talking about building some features at his house and some at mine. Not the type of stuff you normally see a street bike on.

Both of us just want to have fun with this, be safe and do nothing crazy. No doubt it will also help with mtb skills too. Myself I have 25 years on the mtb, plus a bunch of years racing mx. My friend probably has close to the same number of years on the mtb.

The Echo I asked about is pretty steep on the asking price. If the bike is a decent build, and you guys with experience know this stuff, give me an idea on what you figure it is worth.

Whatever I get, new or used, I'll never ride it to the full potential or limits. While I don't plan to get hurt, that is always a risk, and as for the bike, no plans to trash it, but it does happen.

PK

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  • 1 year later...

I've posted this in the right place just hope somebody sees it!!! I have the possibility of buying an Adamant A3 I'll look to get a picture up to aid with your help...

specs are 

Adamant a3 frame 
Magura Louise fron disc brake 
Magura hs33 rear brake (shimano lever) 
Riser bars 
Trialtech cranks 
Echo hubs 
Rockman pads 
Echo headset and stem

However I am not overly sure on the bike itself and it's quality... That only being said as it's not the typical "onza" bikes you see quite regularly on sale websites. Is this bike very old/outdated therefore giving myself a disadvantage at learning trials or is it in fact a bit of a find!?

Would someone mind giving this newbie a bit of help!! Thanks

 

Screenshot_2016-04-27-15-18-36.png

Screenshot_2016-04-27-15-18-21.png

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  • 1 year later...

Hey guys! I´m new to this Forum and i will be also new to trial riding stuff.

At the Moment i´m looking to purchase a beginners bike. Had two bikes in mind (inspired Flow & Czar ion - both in 24"). Now i´ve spotted a used Inspired Flow 24" from 2018 i think on eBay. It´s not too far from home so it could be an option to buy IF the Price is correct, which isn´t at the moment. Here´s the link:  https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/inspired-flow-24-pro-trial-bike/1147634411-217-8367

Well...it´s not the pro Version of the Flow (There actually is no pro version availlable of the Flow right?) Therefore it´s not the plus version of the Flow?! So i think the Price isn´t fair right now.

Maybe you guys could help me out what you think would be okay to pay for this. I thought about 700 or 650€....i could get an brand new Flow from 2019 on trialshop.pl about 850€.

Really thankfull for your opinions on this an maybe for helping me out what would be a godd deal.

 

Cheers from Germany

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The frame is a really good foundation. Quality of it is super high, and they have decent geo. The forks look a bit old school but are nice and tough. The only 'problem' is just that the spec is a little basic, but for the price it's not bad. Just something to factor in for upgrading further down the line. Nothing really stopping you getting it and riding it straight out of the box though, there aren't really any bad parts on the bike.

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On 3/15/2010 at 7:47 PM, rupintart said:

This question comes up fairly often. And I somewhat relate it to buying a car. Can a novice driver ONLY drive a shitty Civic, or can he drive a Ferrari? Answer is, he can drive the Ferrari. He is 10000% capable of learing how to drive in the Ferrari just as well as the Civic as it's all new and foreign. He may not "appreciate the differences", but that's not the topic at hand, and that wasn't what was asked. The questions you ask yourself after, well, they don't really relate to biking/trials, so we'll stop it there.

 

People first starting out are always asking "Is this bike good? What about this one? What would you recommend?"

 

More often than not, people will point you towards something a bit more burly and "abusable" (like the whole civic analogy). Fact is, along with burly, comes weight. Tossing around a 30lb bike is not going to be as fun, nor as easy as it is to toss around a 22lb bike.

 

Now a days, a "run of the mill" stock complete comes in somewhere around 22-24lbs, and the mods come in somewhere around the 20-22lb range. Obviously, lighter = more expensive. But many of the completes available today, will not come with the uber lightweight stuff unless specifically noted or intended. i.e. Tarty has "lightweight builds". Be advised though, usually the lightweight stuff isn't necessarily more delicate per say, but it's not designed to be as durable under the same circumstances in the hand of an unsmooth rider. i.e. It can take 10ft drops to flat no problem. But not under somebody who just hucks off of it. That's where the lightweight stuff comes into play. They're durable enough, just not for somebody that's ALWAYS landing really heavy, or unsmoothly.

 

 

 

They typical question: "Is this a good first bike?" And they link to something like:

 

large_akalibuild1.jpg

 

or for you prospective stock riders:

 

large_blacksky.jpg

 

 

 

OK, first off, the first thing most people will tell you is:

 

1. "That bike is too expensive for a beginner to learn on."

2. "Why don't you get something with more neutral geometry?"

3. "There are better bikes for you to learn on such as _____."

 

 

#1 Who the hell are they to decide what's too expensive to learn on? If you have the cash to be able to afford a higher end bike, get it. Period. Don't let anybody tell you it's too $$$ for a beginner or whatever. If you can afford to start off on the best equipment, do it.

 

#2 When starting out, it is ALL new and foreign. Higher BB (or whatever else) may be niche, or whatever reason they give you, but it being all new, it's all going to be the same to you learning curve wise. It won't hinder or help you one way or the other. In essence, the learning curve is the same.

 

#3 Are those neutral or older bikes really better for a beginner? OK, so it's burlier and cheaper. On the flip side, you have a heavier bike that has geometry more designed around stability on two wheels and/or not necessarily what's best for anything else. And in the end, it becomes a bike much harder to toss around comparatively. Again, it goes back to #1, if you can afford the light and/or better stuff, why not? Most of todays completes are built around the compromise of durability and weight anyways as most people who buy completes are usually either

 

A. First time riders

or

B. somebody who wants the compromise of light vs. strong guesswork done for them.

 

So DON'T hesitate to get the higher end bike IF YOU CAN AFFORD IT. Rest assured all of the parts in those completes are more than adequate for a beginner or pro. Again, the guesswork is taken out. Most people start out on lower end stuff mainly because of cost. I would say that's 95% of the reasoning behind choosing a bike to start out on. The other 5% usually being scared to try the higher end stuff in fear of it collapsing under them. The bike is fine. As stated, most of the "uber lightweight" stuff is noted as such and I feel, for the most part, is pretty self explanatory. And a point most people overlook or not even consider is that along with more skill, smooth-ness, and technique, comes the demand for the part to hold up under them. No pro or experienced person would put something under them that jeopardizes their safety, regardless of the weight.

 

In the end, there really ISN'T a "Is this a good first bike for a beginner?". It all usually comes down to price point of what you can afford. And if you've noticed when looking around, all the cheaper stuff usually has the neutral geometry anyways. The big misconception about high end/expensive completes is that they're "reserved for experienced riders". No, they're for ANYBODY. If you were experienced, more often than not chances are you'd build your bike from scratch or from parts of your last bike. It just happens that the more experienced riders are the ones who spend more money.

 

 

Anybody feel free to expound on anything mentioned here. I think I covered most everything.

You definitely can learn trials on an expensive bike 

But trials is a thing that takes alot of time to learn and theres no point of spending 2k on a bike that you might not use or might not enjoy riding.

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