How do you choose a bike for trials riding?

[jasonb]

I've been wanting to try my hand at trials for a few years now. I was doing some searching on MTBR and found this site. I've been riding a Marin Rocky Ridge HT for about 2 years, using it for everything, XC-DH-Urban.

I have a pretty good understanding of trials basics. I can impress my friends with trackstands and hop around in circles but thats about it. I've been working really hard on rear wheelstands but haven't had much luck. Would a different bike help me learn more advanced moves? I don't think I'm ready or even want a trials specific bike just yet. What about bikes that could be used for some trials or urban riding? This bike would probably see very little trail riding, mostly just some messing around in the back yard or on the street occasionally. I don't mind doing some homework on the subject but really don't know where to start? What makes a bike a good choice for this type of riding? Slack geometry, small rear triangle??? What about sizing, are smaller bike easier for learning trials?

In need of some direction!!!

[PXride]

I'm not sure what your bike looks like but alot of people have learned all the trials basics on diff types of bikes. I learned on a Kona DJ frame. if you're looking for an urban trials frame you can probably fined a used Planet X for real cheap on this site.

[dankilling]

It really depends on how you want to ride the bike. If you want to strictly do trials on the bike and maybe compete, then get something geared towards that (Echo, Zoo, Koxx, etc...) BUT if you want the bike to be able to handle some urban, some park, some DJ, some trials...it needs to fit in the middle somewhere, but it wont be 'ideal' for any of the styles, really. Look for chainstays 16-inches or shorter, and then look at what kind of riding you will be doing on it. If you like DJ and park, go for a shorter top tube. If you want more trials-ish, look for a steeper head-tube. These are VERY general guidelines, so take it all with a grain of salt and hit up your LBS to see if they have anything in stock you can try out. Personally, I ride a Giant STP, which many people on this site will tell you is a piece of crap, but for me, its perfect because I do trials-ish moves when I ride street and park (I dont intend to compete in trials and if I did I would buy a trials-specific bike). The nice part about it is I can also DJ on it. But I ride purely for the enjoyment of riding, not because I want to be the super-ultimate-world-class-competition-wonder-trials-man. Hope that helps...

[PJL]

Go for a Planet X Zebdi. Has a seatpost so you can cruise around riding urban and still has good trials geometry compared to any dj/street bikes you'll find. They should be cheap and if you find one of the newer models, they should last you a long time.

BTW, if you have a rear disc on your current 'trials/trails' bike, you might want to lay off backwheel stuff. The disc and dropout have a tendency to remove themselves from the rest of the bike under high stress moves (rear wheel stuff) after a fairly short time.

Also do a search, these type of questions get asked quite often.