24" BMX---> Trials Bike. Advice on Parts???

[Nathan]

Hey,
This is my first post on here, so be gentle with me!
I'm converting my 24" Schwinn BMX Cruiser into a Trials Bike, and am curious about parts.

Forks: I have Marzocchi DJ2's on it already but these are way too heavy. Would you guys recomend rigid? or some light short travel mountain bike forks?

Wheels: I also want to have the option of a skate park bike with it too, so I'm going for a BMX rear wheel with interchangable rear sprokets to have different ratio's. I'll probably build up an MTB front hub onto 24" rim so I can use MTB forks.

Brakes:I was thinking of Magura HS33's front and rear, but will these bolt up to standard brake mounts?

Cranks: No Idea here, cause of the widely different size chainrings between BMX and trials bikes, what size chainring would be suited to a bit of both, with the main adjustability being the rear sprokets.

Handlebars & Stem: Also no idea here, I guess it depends on whether I go 24" rigid forks or 26" short travel MTB forks. I'm not sure to go MTB style riser bars, or small rise BMX bar & step?

I think thats it for the minute, but if I find anything else I'll add it up here later.
Cheers in advance.
Nate

[carnagr]

Keep your cruiser and find a cheap, used, trials bike. Better yet, sell your cruiser and get a BMX and a mod. I honestly don't think that a BMX cruiser designed for both trials and park is a particularly great idea. If you're going to do this, you want to make the bike as triasly as you can, because a trials bike can be ridden in park, but a park bike will not work extremely well for trials. My $0.02.

[Rodmunch]

I think this is a bad plan. I don't think your cruiser will work well as a trials bike at all. I ride a cruiser and a stock trials bike. The two are just waaaaay different in geometry. Like carnagr said, keep the cruiser as is and find a used trials bike. You'll waste money converting a decent cruiser into a so-so trials bike.

[Nathan]

ah, but would I waste money converting a shite cruiser?
The only thing worth keeping on it are the frame and forks, everything else has been flogged to death!
Thanks for your opinions, but currently both your options would be expensive and not really feasable in my situation.
I dont see the diff in converting something like this to trials as say, a small XC frame, as I'm only a beginner. I can always go out and buy a frame/fork at a later date if I decide its something I want to take up more seriously.
Also I have a massive lack of storage space and with already having 3 bikes, I cant fit any more into my garage with my car and moto, so it means converting 1 and making them all rideable (which the 24" currently is not) or selling some. I would only get a couple of hundred as is for the 24" as is, so again not an option.
I'd really appreciate some advice on parts though, remembering I may invest in a trials frame at a later date,

Nate

[Rodmunch]

Oh well, all I'm saying is that riding this converted cruiser might turn you off of trials because it will be hard to do trials on. It doesn't matter if the cruiser is nice or shit, it's still a cruiser with cruiser geometry. Just my opinion. For parts:

Fork: Something rigid.

Wheels: Sounds like you got that covered.

Brakes: I wouldn't recomment putting maguras on your vee mounts. The evo adapters you need will make for weak brakes. If the fork and frame have vee mounts, use vee brakes.

Cranks: Soooo many options. What BB style does the cruiser have? American, European, Mid? This is going to make a difference. Whatever you do, get something that can use a really small chainring, 22 teeth max, and can have a bashring mounted to it.

Handlebars: Man, no idea. The geometry is so different. The cruiser frame is most likely alot shorter than most trials frames. So maybe a long mountain bike stem and riser bars.

Goodluck.

[bouncingbabyboy]

The guys giving you advice realy are trying to be helpful. Let me see if I can put it a different way. Why do you want a trials bike? What do you think a trials bike can do that your bike can't? My advise would be get a rigid fork, drop your seat an maybe get a smaller seat, tip your bars forward more and angle your brake levers down a little more than they are now, get the smallest chainring that will fit your current cranks and ride.

Differences: If you get a good trials bike the chain stays will be short and the top tube will be long. The bike will be lighter than most BMX bikes set up for park and stronger than most race bikes. The bottom bracket will be higher. With a mod you would most likely have a built in bash plate where as a stock bike you would have a bash ring.

I played on a BMX bike for a while and a mountain bike. I got a dedicated trials bike because I wanted to start going up stuff that would eat my front chain ring and I didn't want to tear my mountain bike apart to do it. I have Maguras on trials bike, but if you have v brakes now don't buy a bunch of expensive parts for a 24" cruiser. Wheels brakes and drive train are the expensive parts. Maguras are not different enough from Vs to be worth spending the money if you have Vs that work. A small mountain bike is a better start. That is what everyone was doing trials on in the begining. The tall handle bar will not be as stable and may get in the way when you are on the back tire.

Good luck. When you are ready there are a lot of good trials bike that get sold here. This is a good place if you want advice for buying new or learinng moves.

[eturt9]

get some trials specific v pads like heatsink or plazmatic

[Nathan]

yeah I understand what your saying... and I do appreciate everyone's feedback, however constructive or negative...(thats why I started this post)
My friend mentioned plazmatics, said they were the go!
I rode a 20" Monty for a while and found it to bee a bit too small for getting from place to place, but I'd also think a 26" would be too big to manouver for a beginner so thats why I was thinking something in between would be good...
I'll have a look through the forums for a complete bike, but I need something in Australia, Preferably in Sydney...
Thanks guys, keep your thoughts comming!
(Anyone actually tried trials on a cruiser just out of interest?)

[bouncingbabyboy]

Plazmatics are great. You can use belt dressing to make them grab even better. 24 with a rigid fork would be something to play on until you find your dream bike. I have gone riding on a mod and tried to keep up with my friends on a long all over the place ride. 26 is better but with the gear ratios we are talking about speed is pretty slow. You can get a little more out of a 22/12 gear ratio on a 26 with a cassett, but you're stiil just spinning. What is the riding like in Sydney? There are a few guys on here from Australia.

[Nathan]

Yeah thanks!
I'm looking at an Orange Body Czech 26" trials mountain bike next week, I think that shouyld suit my purposes well...
I'll let you know how it goes...