# Trialable commuter/general purpose bike suggestions?



## car bone (Apr 15, 2011)

I would like to build something that can stand up to some trials abuse but still get me to my job. I don't intend to become the wold champion of trials but it would be nice to have a bike you can go anywhere on and still use it for some trials stuff without it braking to pieces.

What is recommended?

I'd like a beefy steel or ti frame, with a rigid fork. I was thinking some of the praised steel brands, like chromag/evil/cove/cotic and similar.

Brakes, no idea, what are the most used brakes for trials? I have old model Formula megas now and those seems to work quite well.

Wheels? I was thinking an Slx hub and some quite wide mavic rim.

Fork, any reason for suspension here?

Is this doable? This will not be my only bike or even first choice of commuter, more like a toy I can use on good days.


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## cmc4130 (Jan 30, 2008)

car bone said:


> I would like to build something that can stand up to some trials abuse but still get me to my job. I don't intend to become the wold champion of trials but it would be nice to have a bike you can go anywhere on and still use it for some trials stuff without it braking to pieces.
> 
> What is recommended?
> 
> ...


not clear. you want a serious bike or a 'toy'? :skep:


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## OGJON (Apr 15, 2009)

inspired bikes


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## car bone (Apr 15, 2011)

cmc4130 said:


> not clear. you want a serious bike or a 'toy'? :skep:


A bit of both I guess. Someting to have fun with, but also ridable, like 5 miles ridable, so no real trials bike.


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## briantortilla (Jun 18, 2009)

You will not be albe to do trials well on anything that you can ride over 1 mile comfortably. It is not even worth your time to try and make a half assed trials bike. You will just be unhappy with the performance. I started trials on a dj bike and it absolutely sucked. Once I switched to a real trials bike (no seat), my trials riding improved by 100%.


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## OGJON (Apr 15, 2009)

as I said before an inspired bike is the way to go if you can afford one that is, perfect for trials/urban riding & can easily be ridden anywhere.

I have an older Echo Pure street trials bike with 18/15 gearing & I can easily ride it all day & on quite long rides & I'm not very fit, I also have arthritis in both my knees, both hands & my lower back.

my bike:


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## car bone (Apr 15, 2011)

Hi guys I have just watched some Ryan leech vids and it looks like he is using a fairly regular bike most of the time. The plan was to build a burly bike that takes me from a to b, in a straight line. I'm not attempting any macaskill stunts more like being able to take some nice shortcuts on top of things and over stuff that you really shouldn't. And jumping down from things. Maybe I'll just get one of those adjustable seatposts and try it on my current bike.

Btw what would happen if I had a full suspension bike and landed on the rear wheel with the brake locked from like 5-6ft? Would the bike break? Any particular design that would work better than the rest for my use? I'm not really planning on getting a fs bike, I think it will get expensive enough as it is.


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## OGJON (Apr 15, 2009)

Ryan leech uses an older Norco urban trials bike with a short travel fork


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## norton05 (Sep 20, 2005)

> Hi guys I have just watched some Ryan leech vids and it looks like he is using a fairly regular bike most of the time


Ryan Leech can ride a bike like that because he's Ryan Leech  Leech, Macaskil, Chase those guys could backflip a trycycle. Mortals like the rest of us need the right tools for the job.



> I'm not attempting any macaskill stunts more like being able to take some nice shortcuts on top of things and over stuff that you really shouldn't. And jumping down from things


Sounds like you'd be better off on a dirt jumper with gears. Pick your favorite bike company- everybody makes one. I like Black Market Mob but there's dozens of good DJ/Urban bikes to choose from. Not trying to scare you away from trials, but it takes such a different bike and skillset that it really is no fun at all if you half-ass it.



briantortilla said:


> You will not be albe to do trials well on anything that you can ride over 1 mile comfortably. It is not even worth your time to try and make a half assed trials bike. You will just be unhappy with the performance. I started trials on a dj bike and it absolutely sucked. Once I switched to a real trials bike (no seat), my trials riding improved by 100%.


Everything you need to know is right here ^^^, agree 100%.


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## Mr.Magura (Aug 11, 2010)

Hmm, we seem to have the same interests there.

Currently I use a Fireeye 360, rigid fork, single speed, Magura HS33 brakes, and a custom made 500mm carbon seat post.

It does the job. 

I am working on a somewhat more advanced solution these days.
I have made a carbon tube set for a 26" geared trial bike, with a removable seat post tower (think old Intense/Haro style), but it is still a few weeks from being complete.
I did some tests during this week, in regard of the amount of abuse a carbon frame can take in a potential crash, and found it to be fairly easy to make something that is by far more impact resistant than metal. 

Magura


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## cmc4130 (Jan 30, 2008)

norton05 said:


> . . .
> 
> Sounds like you'd be better off on a dirt jumper with gears.


Agreed. Maybe even DJ single speed. I'm biased though. I've never owned a trials bike.

This ain't a Trials forum.


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## car bone (Apr 15, 2011)

Mr.Magura said:


> Hmm, we seem to have the same interests there.
> 
> Currently I use a Fireeye 360, rigid fork, single speed, Magura HS33 brakes, and a custom made 500mm carbon seat post.
> 
> ...


Carbon is tempting because one can do it at home and I have made composites before and know how they make them in aerospace. I wonder how thick a frame has to be to withstand some abuse. Also whats the current price/kg of fiber mat? What vacuum is needed for the bagging to work? I think I can pull 200mbar with my vacuum cleaner or something similar. Will this work?

I think I could build myself some tubes and then make lugs and join them, not just talking sticking a tube in another tube and call it a day but a continous transition of maybe 4 inches, that would probably hold up nicely.


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## Mr.Magura (Aug 11, 2010)

I made the tubeset using bladder molding, so no vacuum involved. 

The cost of carbon, depends a lot of what type and which shape, so no general rules really.

As for the thickness, it again is dependent of the fiber layup. Anything from 1mm to 3mm, also depending where on the frame.

Try reading up on what others have done. There are plenty of well documented builds out there. Most of them for road frames though. 
I am not aware of any previous DJ/trial carbon builds, besides a couple of commercial attempts.

Magura


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## car bone (Apr 15, 2011)

Ballpark price for 3k regular weave non twill/kg?

Bladders, I might look into that. I was thinking making the tubes by laying it up on a copper pipe or something and bagging it.


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## Mr.Magura (Aug 11, 2010)

car bone said:


> Ballpark price for 3k regular weave non twill/kg?
> 
> Bladders, I might look into that. I was thinking making the tubes by laying it up on a copper pipe or something and bagging it.


Again, it depends which type and quality.

Do a search, plenty of companies sells small quantities of carbon.

Magura


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## kitejumping (Sep 3, 2010)

You don't need a trials bike to do basic trials moves. If you just want to ride on / off of picnic tables and pedal kick gap stuff you can do that on pretty much any bike. I occasionally do so on my 40+ lb downhill 29er bike, although I avoid doing it too often as I already snapped one rear chainstay by the brake mounts. I am back on it more again though as my real trials bike is in for warranty repairs. If you get hydro disc brakes get saints or BB7 if mechanical. Not sure about rim brakes. For adjustable seatposts I am aware of, the raise black mamba has the most travel. Expect your bike to have a useful life of 1-2 years if its aluminum depending on the warranty, companies don't like covering more than one broken frame to the same customer in a one year period. If your going custom geo Triton makes some pretty sweet frames.






Short answer: You can do it but expect to break stuff and not do as big of moves as you could do on a real trials bike.


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## kitejumping (Sep 3, 2010)

car bone said:


> Btw what would happen if I had a full suspension bike and landed on the rear wheel with the brake locked from like 5-6ft? Would the bike break? Any particular design that would work better than the rest for my use? I'm not really planning on getting a fs bike, I think it will get expensive enough as it is.


If the chainstays are not braced by the disc brake tabs you will be more likely to if you do it a lot, you also might go through lots of suspension linkage bearings. If you take your trials riding seriously don't get a dually. The best fs bikes I have ridden trials on are slope bikes, due to their low standover and build quality, although you'll probably want to stick to a trials bike unless you also plan on doing a lot of dirt jumping / freeride / street.


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