[Hoon]

So I’m just seeing what people may have to say here as I’ve heard and read this was once a very loved frame. I’ve been toying with the idea of a cheap street rig with decent gearing to pedal around marginally better instead of my FTW geared 18-15.

I have come upon the opportunity to pick up a pretty clean Px Zebdi for cheap. Not sure what year, but it’s white with the standard graphics. Hope bulb hubs, Avid SD7 rear, hydro disc front. It’s been sitting for a few years now indoors.

Now, I’m asking for opinions because frankly, I don’t know how they ride. I know these are shorter, +0 bb, old school stuff and did have the occasional cracking issue. I’m not sure if it will just be better to save the garage space and the money to eventually build up a proper street rig.

Thoughts?

 

[Clean]

I think a lot of people view these frames through rose-tinted glasses as they represent a cool part of trials history, but realistically they were the best of a somewhat bad bunch. As you mentioned, they developed a reputation for cracking - as you're buying second hand, it's hard to know what that frame has been through so far so it's hard to say how long it'll last. The frame is the most expensive thing to have to replace, so with a bit of a question mark hanging over that I'd be a little concerned.

That Hope Bulb hub probably won't feel great compared to your FFW setup (EDIT: Just did a quick check, from memory they had low 20's engagement points but it turns out they're 36 click so not too bad), and if you have any issues it's only going to get harder to solve them with that hub no longer being supported by Hope. If you do need to replace that, that's also a decent chunk of money to switch out. If you decided to do a complete wheel, I think you'll also be limited on rim choice as I would imagine that frame will have comparatively narrow brake mount spacing.

If that front brake hasn't been used for a while and is a similar vintage to the other parts, you may find that things like the seals won't really work super well and may need to be replaced. Again, if it's an older model that's no longer supported then getting spares might be problematic.

If you can get a good price for the bike it may be worth it just to scratch that itch, but it's just worth going into it with your eyes open. More modern bikes will tend to have fewer constraints on what you can/can't replace, and will most likely have more support available for parts fitted to them. Breaking parts on them is less likely to cascade from "I think I need a $5 part" to "I need to spend $200 on X, Y and Z". When I worked at TartyBikes it was really common to see people get in touch having bought a cheap, second hand bike expecting it to be a quick and easy bike to freshen up only to find that costs quickly ramped up. With how much part costs have jumped and how much part availability has dropped, that's only really become worse in many ways.

Sorry for being a downer about it - as I said, if you can get it for what feels like a good price to you then it may be a good option to see if you really want or need that style of bike in your life.

 

[De_Nada]

They were around 1020 wb, 74 HA, 390 cs, 0 bb. The Trials Kings did everything on them. 38mm is probably about the widest rear rim it will take so most modern front rims would probably work.

 

[Hoon]

I think a lot of people view these frames through rose-tinted glasses as they represent a cool part of trials history, but realistically they were the best of a somewhat bad bunch. As you mentioned, they developed a reputation for cracking - as you're buying second hand, it's hard to know what that frame has been through so far so it's hard to say how long it'll last. The frame is the most expensive thing to have to replace, so with a bit of a question mark hanging over that I'd be a little concerned.

That Hope Bulb hub probably won't feel great compared to your FFW setup (EDIT: Just did a quick check, from memory they had low 20's engagement points but it turns out they're 36 click so not too bad), and if you have any issues it's only going to get harder to solve them with that hub no longer being supported by Hope. If you do need to replace that, that's also a decent chunk of money to switch out. If you decided to do a complete wheel, I think you'll also be limited on rim choice as I would imagine that frame will have comparatively narrow brake mount spacing.

If that front brake hasn't been used for a while and is a similar vintage to the other parts, you may find that things like the seals won't really work super well and may need to be replaced. Again, if it's an older model that's no longer supported then getting spares might be problematic.

If you can get a good price for the bike it may be worth it just to scratch that itch, but it's just worth going into it with your eyes open. More modern bikes will tend to have fewer constraints on what you can/can't replace, and will most likely have more support available for parts fitted to them. Breaking parts on them is less likely to cascade from "I think I need a $5 part" to "I need to spend $200 on X, Y and Z". When I worked at TartyBikes it was really common to see people get in touch having bought a cheap, second hand bike expecting it to be a quick and easy bike to freshen up only to find that costs quickly ramped up. With how much part costs have jumped and how much part availability has dropped, that's only really become worse in many ways.

Sorry for being a downer about it - as I said, if you can get it for what feels like a good price to you then it may be a good option to see if you really want or need that style of bike in your life.

Thank you. You put all the thoughts in my head into words really. They seller was asking $250 for it and I was able to get him lower on the price but I’m more feeling I should pass and put the money into my current rig if anything.

 

[Clean]

$250 isn't terrible, but it's still a decent chunk of money towards something else. It's lower than I expecting - especially considering how wild second hand prices are these days - so like I say it isn't a crazy price, but still...

They were around 1020 wb, 74 HA, 390 cs, 0 bb. The Trials Kings did everything on them. 38mm is probably about the widest rear rim it will take so most modern front rims would probably work.

Nice. 38mm is wider than I was expecting, although the only problem for using front rims is that basically all brands apart from Trialtech have gone single wall, and most are 28h. The older Inspired Pro and Team rims could also work, although the newer ones are technically disc only.

 

[De_Nada]

Yeah I had one in 2006 on a pair of Echo front rims which I'm pretty sure were 38mm at the time and definitely double wall. HBTrials still has some NOS 39mm front rims wth 32 holes according to his website. But I think you hit the nail on the head about not buying a PX unless you have some particular attachment to that frame/history. I picked up a used complete from that era about a year ago and while I don't regret it, it definitely sucked a lot more money out of my wallet than I had planned.

 

[tda]

Zebdis rode like shit if you ask me, maybe if you are 5’0 they’ll be ok.


The ftw is the greatest frame made since creation of time, going to the zebdi is like trading in steve mcqueens car from bullitt for a hyundai from the 90s.

Best part about the zebdi?? It’ll break on you


things like pashley, orange zero (maybe), leeson are good bikes from back then and folks keep them alive... Nobody is calling for a planet x resurgence, I remember when kevin shiramizu had their prototype mod- what a disaster that thing was...


trials kings were properly sponsored by them i believe, didnt danny holyrod go to the USA promoting px?! Remember when they made him ride thag pitbull/ their “street” frame? Frame was like 10 pounds, looked like a tanka

 

[Hoon]

Well I think y’all have settled it. I think I’ll save the money (my car needs some TLC anyways) and if anything like I said, the FTW can get the love it deserves. Although it has been treating me great.

 

[De_Nada]

Zebdis rode like shit if you ask me, maybe if you are 5’0 they’ll be ok.

Im not advocating for the Zebdi but it does have the same wheelbase and HA as a Hex which feels just fine for a 6ft person. I think maybe Zebdis just seemed short cause those were the days of flat handlebars. Throw an Arcade bar with massive rise on one and I bet it would have plenty of reach.

 

[tda]

True an arcade bar makes things feel great… it rode like shit , weird sized tubes / like a diagonal downtube. it must be 300 mm shorter than an arcade, i learned how to rolling 180 on one. Everyone’s broke at the chainstay. i went to a koxx 1100 after , what a different beast

 

[De_Nada]

Oversized hyrdoformed tubes and the downtube was triangular or something. Pretty ugly with the matte rattle can looking paint job and the big red X screaming kmart bike. One thing thats been consistent with trials is the aesthetics has always been committed to looking as stupid as possible. Inspired mostly avoid this but not entirely (wtf is up with branded rims where I cant remove the decal???)

I learned how to trackstand pretty well on mine then sold it. Still can't ride for shit. I had an mk5 (this one isnt mine). Actually my first time ever encountering a trials rider in person was on that Zebdi around 2007 when I met up with a guy riding a big long cock (koxx) at UCLA. Good times.

 

[BenR]

I always thought they looked cool 🤷‍♂️

 

[De_Nada]

Tubes didnt bother me I just always really really hated the graphics. I personally hate black and red together, and there is nothing stupider than a giant X for XTREEEEEEEEM on your downtube. Other colorways were even worse. But I hate most frames that are more than one color and not covered in scratches.

 

[tda]

just lookin hurts my body…. oh yes… UCLA was that koxxes bitch!

 

[Clean]

Im not advocating for the Zebdi but it does have the same wheelbase and HA as a Hex which feels just fine for a 6ft person. I think maybe Zebdis just seemed short cause those were the days of flat handlebars. Throw an Arcade bar with massive rise on one and I bet it would have plenty of reach.

It's worth bearing in mind that when looking at the wheelbases for those, the chainstay length is 10mm longer on the Zebdi and the fork offset will have been around 15-20mm longer than the forks on a Hex too. That means the cockpit length is effectively 25-30mm shorter, and as that's the bit you "feel" it's much more noticeable and translates to the bike feeling short. Front ends were low back then too, and that exacerbates that feeling. The Hex having a higher BB height should make it feel a little shorter in comparison to the BB height on the Zebdi, but the head tube is so long and the typical bar/stem setup is so much higher that it reduces the effects of that.

Inspired mostly avoid this but not entirely (wtf is up with branded rims where I cant remove the decal???)

That's mainly for durability and consistency, but I feel your pain as someone who used to remove the branding on everything! I wish I could get those Conti logos off my tyres, but I'm stuck with some random orange flashes on my bike for the time being...

 

[De_Nada]

Thats a good explanation, thanks for shining some light there.

 

[whaden913]

Planet-X was my first trials bike and how I was introduced to the sport, so I have a soft spot for them. I regretted selling mine in college and I am currently building another one because Hexes are expensive and I had some middleburns and a king laying around unused. I am 6'1" and I do remember the bike feeling a bit cramped, but I am hoping the new school bar and stem help that a bit.

 

[tda]

thats the last model they made and definitely the best looking one

 

[Swoofty]

If only the Hex were available as a frame only. Disc brakes win hands down for a bike that's meant to be ridden around.

Edit - Tarty has the Silex 26" frame in stock and goldrush.jp has Czar 26 frames (the best 26" frame!) available.

 

[Blackstick]

I had the blue frame. It was decent to start with and I never broke mine but most of them broke at chainstay or BB. Mine ended up stolen :/