Weight Of Your Trials Bikes

[Phil H]

Everyone is always trying to get their bike lighter ad now even carbon fibre parts are coming in for trials such as the new Onza Carbon bars.

I think 'weight' is over rated. This occured to me as I rode my friends very modified T-REX which weighs alot less than my T-REX. Allthough you would expect it to feel abit nicer due to the weight it just felt sketchy like there was nothing beneath me especially when kickhopping. (It is a very solid bike, and strength was not the reason for sketchyness)

What are your views?

Do you strive for as lighter bike as possible?

Discuss

Phil

[T-OM]

When i comes to my onza t-mag i tend to concentrate on looks more that weight, anybody feel the same way?

Edited October 25, 2006 by T-OM

[Sucram]

i like my t pro's wieght but would mayb like some lighter forks to make the front end lighter. my mate has a saracen mad 2 zero and it feels very much like it needs more wieght on the back and like someelse said feels like theres nothing under you.

[La Bourde]

I think it's a compromise, between weight and stiffness.

Too stiff, you will feel all the shocks, and I think you get tyred sooner.

Too light, the frame is not enough stiff, and your accuracy/precision reduces.

[eskimo]

I'm not a fan of bikes that are rear end heavy. I like them to be fairly equal. My mod has put on serious weight since i put a creeper crawler on the back. I don't like that too much.

Light bikes are always nice. But strength comes first.

[anzo]

Obviously a light bike helps, but how light can you get until the point where it becomes a problem.

I'm suprised its not a bigger craze though, like coloured parts. But are lightweight parts really something that is NEEDED? Look at the bikes from only 5 years ago, weighed twice as much as the ones now but they still did amazing things on them.

I can't see carbon fiber catching on in trials, its light, but thats all, its hardly strong with impact and it costs a LOT. I wouldn't like to have it as a reliable part.

As said, its a ratio of weight:strength, its not really something manufactures can gamble with, or alter.

[Joe Sweeney]

i like light bikes and i'am going for a lighter frame a zona zip much better than my crappy frame at the moment

Edited October 26, 2006 by Joe Sweeney

[Simpson]

to be honest it doesnt bugg me..... i mean i sprayed my forks an stuff to look right.....

but my bikes solid

it weighs what it ways

but it rides like a god

what more could i want!!!!

(apart from a mod )

[Connor]

i rode a realy heavey stock i mean realy heavy, so i moved mod to find a lighter bike has helped me no end for almost everything, i concetrate on looks more than weight at the mo i tend to buy realy high quilty component's , which means you get stength looks and little weight all rolled into one

[poopipe]

like eskimo says its the distribution of the weight that's important. (riding a 30lb bmx teaches you that quickly enough)

Adding weight at either end of the bike is an issue, adding weight at the bottom bracket or adding weight at both ends of the bike just makes your bike generally heavier but doesn't necessarily make it harder to ride.

that said. my t-poo weighed roughly 10 kg/22lb. Not sure what the t-lite weighs but im assuming it'll be 700g less because that's the difference in weight of the frames

[Egg Fried Rice]

i use to have a profile on my mod and the rear end was so much heavier...

now i have gone front freewheel with a t master hub and is equally balanced at just under 9 kilos

JK

[Jamie_Neal]

Strength first, weight second - within reason (Urban forks over Pure forks for example).

One issue I did find that with a light front wheel (stock) and riding in windy conditions made the bike a lot harder to control as it got blown everwhere.

[adamtrials]

Light bikes are nice, but a many very good riders bikes are actually pretty heavy, showing that weight does not necessarily = performance.

However my 26" Monty 231 now weighs 20.5 lbs, which is pretty crazily light...

[kid creole]

you cant really get a heavy mod ,when you ride stock then have a go on someones mod it feels super light . i think lighter the better aslong as it does'nt comprimise strenght

[skuzzbucket]

My Czar weighs in at just under the 24pound mark ,i would not want it any lighter. had a monty 26" which was 19pound and that was crap when it was windy, i feel the weight isn't noticable once your in the zone.

just need to work on my fitness though.

[minicrack]

I would personally say that it is not the bike it is just the rider and feel that weight has very little part to play in trials and how good you are and what your capable of doing weather it be a side hop or drop gap and so on.

Although it is practical to a reasonable amount of weight on the bike.But personally i feel it doesn't have much of an affect on me because i don't tend to think about things like that when im riding.

[eskimo]

Have people also thought about not being weighty themselves?

Save a few pounds before a ride and go take a pooo.

I thought i would change the wording i used there.

Edited October 27, 2006 by eskimo

[Ali C]

I consider weight quite important, but I am mainly a comp rider....when doing the worlds, a light bike could mean the different between winning and loosing. Its not all about going bigger, its about being able to go for longer, you dont want to be knackered 1min in a section, so a lighter bike helps that way.

BUT, for comps, there are other things beside weight, you could use the lightest tires and rims, but the performance would be worse than if it weighed more but with stable rims and tyres.

its all about combrimise

[cornishpasty]

my bike seems heavy only due to the fact that im running halo combats front and back but i love em. just makes me work that little bit harder!! i really hope trials isnt heading to "its the bike doing the work not the rider!!".

sorry for rambling thanks josh