Well profiles are really close to 150’s only 5mm off. 150’s seem like a good length for all trials riding. I shall talk about it when I get mine all built up. It would be if it wasn’t for those damn defective kh hubs. I really hope I can get a replacement.
Crank length can only help you minimally, unless it is something ridiculous like 125s. Technique is much more important.
Ryan Atkins runs 137s and does some of the nuttiest rail gaps fine.
I know, I use something ridiculous like 125’s now. So the 150’s will be a nice change.
I like 140s for trials.
also, how do you guys commit to sidehops?
I have a bad habit of wimping out.
Sidehops as in ups or gaps? You shouldn’t wimp out on ups, really, its just you make it or you don’t, you can’t get too hurt.
Gaps can be scary. Just kinda picture yourself making it. Try leaning so far before the take off that you think you will fall, this will make sure you clear the gap well. You can also hang about 1/4-1/2 of your tire off the edge of whatever you’re gapping from to give you that extra inch. Sometimes knowing you have that little extra room for error makes all the difference.
yeah i do the same, but lately done some big ones, Just go for it. I usually ride with some trials bikers that tell me to do it and push me really hard so i’m always doing stuff i would never have done on my own.
I broke my wrist falling weird off a 30"+ ledge. I had ridden for a few hours and it was going to be my last attempt for the night.
What makes me not back out of hops is knowing that I have armor. I bought some Harbinger wrist guards, a new helmet, and some small shin pads.
Ive got 137s and boy they are nice…I think anything between 135-145 would be good for trials.
I really like this thread as a Trials Rider not a Street.
When I am about to hop 54cm the ledge doesnt look that bad and then I do it. And then I look at 60cm and I think I cant do that. I think my problem is i need to tuck up to my butt more…But I dont know how???
Try not to think of it is a 60cm ledge, just think of it as a ledge.
That helped me with pallets, mainly from going from up-4 to up-5. It was always, going to jump up 5 pallets, which in my mind, made a big difference from 4.
So, I just looked at it as one ledge. I am going to jump up that ledge. No numbers involved, no difference from anything else I have done before, it was just another ledge.
After thinking that, I got it.
So with the right mentality and practice, it will help a lot.
Maybe this will stem the flow of new threads:D
Try looking at it as a drop. Look down, and think - wow that looks small. Go back and try while thinking this.
Another way (that I have been doing) is practice on something that is 4" above your limit. Try it for a thirty minutes or so, then go to a ledge 2" above your limit. I often break my record like this. It gets you in the right mindset.
gaps are the scariest of anything I do. i hate them, and love them at the same time. I know i can gap 9 foot on flat ground, but if there is something that has over a 1 foot drop i have trouble convincing myself to do it.
EDITTOOLATE:if something has a 1 foot drop and is 6 foot or more(estimate)
From that angle, it looks like you jumped higher than the house. 
Well folks the NUMBER ONE /Omero numero trials question NATTY OR URBAN?! Dun dun dun!
I find natural to take a lot more skill than urban. All the rocks, never really on any flat, smooth surfaces, roots, odd angles to even mount on. I find it to be so much more technical.
And after doing natural riding, going back into the city to ride is just all easier, even skinny stuff becomes more natural to ride and hop on.
Of course he jumps higher than the house. A house can’t jump… duh:) .
Skrobo, unless you haven’t beaten your old record (which was very big) you really don’t need to plaster every thread with this 9ft bullshit. Everyone KNOWS that you did 9ft+. Don’t need to bring it up at every debate; learn to be a bit less cocky like Ryan A, or Luke C. It might make you feel good to stroke your ego at every possible opportunity, but it isn’t very enjoyable for us viewers. Telling others that you should obviously be the best candidate to test part/s, because of so and so, this and this, and look at the size of my penis, really lowers my respect of you.
I thought that the bible taught things more important than premarital sex.
Back on topic,
To make a good trials rider, you should be able to natural and urban. Like me bro sais, a good natural rider is always a good urban trials rider, but an urban rider can suck at naturals.
Exactly. I love natty when I get the chance. Logs, rocks, stumps, stones, sloped angles I love it.
Well written I was thinking almost the exact same. Shame he is probably too full of himselft and will probably just ignore this.
Trials is Great
Well after almost a year and a half of MUni I have now been doing Trials for about two months. Here are some thoughts.
Trials is very cool. It is hard to do well on the KH24 that I use for MUni and is much easier to do on a KH20. I find that improving my Trials skills has given my MUni rididng a definite boost!
I was having trouble tucking when hopping. I am now improving and getting up onto park benches. The three things that I did were the Baldwin Squats, jumping up stairs SIF, and jumping up inclines SIF. Let me explain. When I got good at jumping up stairs SIF I started jumping up the stairs while only raising my knees and not raising my upper body until after my tire had allready landed on the stair. This taught me to tuck my legs. In Spaced Out there is a realy good shot of Ryan doing the same thing. Now for the incline. I was always afraid of not making “high” jumps and falling bad when the tire gets caught on the ledge of what I am jumping up onto. This can’t happen when jumping up a ramp or incline of 45 degrees. You just land where you land with the same effect whether it is 14 inches up or 16 inches up. This has allowed me to get a feel for how high I am actully jumping before trying the jump on a rock or up a ledge. Also it allows me to to concentrate on the jump without worrying about the potential biff.
Stand stills help with Rail riding and high accuracy hops. At FLUCK Forrest Rowel told me to practice stand stills in order to do rail riding. Now when I watch TV I try to practice stand stills. I am still not very good at them but sometimes I actually do 5 to 8 seconds without hoping! However my rail riding and hoping accuracy have improved tenfold.
Until I started doing trials I could just ride off a picnic table. I could not hop off. There is this trials rider that I ride with sometimes and he could hop off picnic tables and other high stuff but he could not ride off. Now after doing trials I can also hop off of high ledges. It was quite interesting seeing the differences in skills between trials and MUni.
Natural trials is harder because you have very few flat surfaces. Learning to land on rough rocks and jumping up step dirt inclines with little traction is much harder than jumping and landing on a flat garden or fountain ledges. Also the skinnies in the woods are usually rough logs. So much harder. However in Urban trials I usualy go bigger. Also people are usualy around to watch and that forces me to try and put on a show!
Unicorn