just a shot in the dark, but would a steel bike like a minuteman or a sidekick be ok for trials if they were built right? or is steel just too heavy?
steel?
- Thread starter shifty S
- Start date
Nothin wrong with steel... the Norco trials bike is made of 853 and to me that's the best thing it's got going for it. Desalvo Cycles made a trials frame for Jeremy VanSchoo..something and it weighed in at 3.0 pounds!!
That said.. a Balfa is 6.5 pounds. The geometry is slack. The stays I think are a bit long, even at the shortest setting.
Basic rules is you want the head angle at LEAST 71 degrees. And the chainstays 16" even or shorter.
The Norco can easily be used as a trail bike too with a 100mm fork. The new PX Jackflash is very adaptive as well. Same with the Orange Zero. But I wouldn't recommend a Balfa or 243 or anything with these 69' HAs.. they will feel horrible at trials speeds.
That said.. a Balfa is 6.5 pounds. The geometry is slack. The stays I think are a bit long, even at the shortest setting.
Basic rules is you want the head angle at LEAST 71 degrees. And the chainstays 16" even or shorter.
The Norco can easily be used as a trail bike too with a 100mm fork. The new PX Jackflash is very adaptive as well. Same with the Orange Zero. But I wouldn't recommend a Balfa or 243 or anything with these 69' HAs.. they will feel horrible at trials speeds.
It's scary how similar the Lifetime is to stock trials bike geometry.
So long as you aren't competitive, it's pretty much a solid machine.
But I guess the rules aren't cool with the 26/24 setup.
5.85 lbs.
So long as you aren't competitive, it's pretty much a solid machine.
But I guess the rules aren't cool with the 26/24 setup.
5.85 lbs.
actually they are. 26/26 or 26/24 for stock
my experience has been that XC or Slalom bikes make crappy trials bikes. main problems are chainstay length (want under 16") and bb height (13" is good).
My friend set his brooklyn 26/24 up for trials, and it just didn't feel right. No substitute for stock trials frames.
Hmm. I wonder what the problem Steve Garn from BREW had with his 26/24 trials bike was than...
Using the side-by-side geometry comparison, the endless is identical to Jeff Lenoskys custom Giant.
I know Jeff isn't your typical trials rider...and certainly isn't taken all that seriously in the face of the euro riders....but I thought it was kinda cool that we both came up with the same geometry independantly of each other.
For non-competition and street trials, I agree the Endless would be great!
my friend has a 13" spec'd rockhopper set up for trials, and its incredible! it may not be steel, or even made for trials, but its held up pretty well. another friend of mine has a 15" of the same, and does everything on it, from trials to big drops/freeriding, and the only problem hes had with the actual frame is that tire rub has put a hole in his chainstay (you can see inside the tubing)
so i guess my question now is why get a more expensive trials specific frame?
so i guess my question now is why get a more expensive trials specific frame?
I have a rockhopper 17" that i used as an XC bike and i was thinking f building it up as a stock (I ride mod). The chainstays are a bit too long and the frame is large so it doesn't feel good to move around on. A smaller rockhopper might work, but you can't buy them as frames..they only come as full bikes with xc parts.
Purpose specific designs are noticably nicer to ride.
Rockhoppers are Joe Normal's bike...not really designed with technical riding in mind.
Everything works, but some things work better.
In my opinion you can get a GREAT stock trials frame for around 400 dollars. Any trials frame more expensive than that are truly competion specific. Example the Echo ES2 is about 425 retail. THe ES4 is an extra 200 dollars. The ES2 is a great bike for competion and street riding. THE ES4 is billed as a competiton only frame since it is much lighter than the ES2. $400 dollars to get a frame that pros use is a pretty damn good deal. Now to get an actual trials frame rather than adapting a xc or ds frame is that you get a frame that is MUCH better handling than any non trials frame. I learned trials for a year on an old Specialized Rockhopper (steel) and although it was small enough there was WWWAAAYYY too much foot/tire overlap...on top of that the chainstays were pretty long and the geometry off. YOu notice INSTANTLY the difference. Its like going DHing on a xc oriented hardtail and then jumping on a M1 or Foes MOno. This is how I justify it. Trials has a very steep learning curve. MANY and i mean MANY people attempt trials on a xc frame, find out that its too difficult and stop. Wereas learning on an actual trails frame you will learn faster and more importantly enjoy trials more.
yeah i was talking to both of my friends with the spec'ds and one has a monty x-hydra, and the other just got a GT team trials bike, both agree that its much easier to ride a) on mods and B) on any trias specific bike
fair 'nuff
fair 'nuff