has anyone tried motorbike trials and if so did being able to unicyle help ,im curious about starting
I did some unicycle trials before going to bicycle trials, but I don’t think it helped much. Two wheeled trials is very different, I’d say harder and more interesting. Never tried mototrials though so maybe that’s a whole different thing as well.
It’s fun to try new things.
I have always loved motorcycles
Back in '76, I met a guy trail riding in Iowa who had a Yamaha TY 175 trials bike. For a very short time, maybe 2 years or so, all the big 4 came out with trials bikes. This guy was cool enough to swap bikes with me for an hour. He got to ride my '74 125 Rickman Zundap.
I was very impressed with the trials bike. A lot of fun to plonk around on the steep hillside. My 125 was way faster on the open trail. But the Yamaha could ride easily over impossibly slow steep stuff. That thing was the easiest to wheelie, the lightest, and had the smoothest, impossible to stall power at slow speeds.
They are worth trying out, even though motocross took off and trials didn’t. It is a very unique experience to ride a real trials bike.
Maybe a bit pricey now, pretty much just small euro niche stuff to be found new now. Maybe not to easy to find an old 70’s one now either. On the plus side, if you can find a 70’s Jap trials, they aren’t as obsolete as 70’s motocrossers. Mushy short travel suspension, light weight, tiny wheelbase and torque that never quits is still in style today.
I’m not saying a new Montesa isn’t a lot better than the old 70’s bikes, just that the TY 175 was very impressive, and would be fun if you can still find one cheap. The new trials bikes today cost a whole bunch, but the 2 stroke tech to get max bottom torque hasn’t changed much. Water cooling, expansion chambers and power valves and long stiff shocks did a lot more for motocross than it did for trials.