Trials Training And Technique

I had a weird experience today. I had to go down a very steep grade about 4/5m tall with a short run out and got a severe calf cramp trying to stay on the rear brake. I wonder how far above the peg is considered ideal? I may need to lower my pegs as my brake pedal can't go up any more. Thank you.

Hi All, I have been riding for many (40+) years, but I am totally new to the sport. Bought recently a Cota 315R and I am having a hard time finding a comfortable position for the levers, the clutch in particular. Holding the clutch with my index finger ends up pinching my fingers or hitting my knuckles. From various pictures and videos, I see setups that are dramatically different, WRT inclination and horizontal position on the handlebars. I know the answer is "whatever works best for me", but when learning I find easier to start from a neutral setup and progressively adjust from there. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Feel like I need a training day to help me a little , been racing road and Mx for years at high level but now retired from racing, I started trailing a few months ago ( doing middle route ) I do ok but struggle in a few places can anyone recommend a training school pref midlands area

Just sharing something that has helped me incredibly much over roughly the past year. I'm just a happy user. Neil Price is an Australian Expert level rider, 18 times West Aust. champion, 2x Aust Champ, has competed in Europe and World rounds and all round nice fella. He has been coaching trials for decades and is a real thinker - always considering the detail that makes things work. A year or so ago Neil started a Facebook online coaching group which proved the concept had wings. Six months ago (+/-) he launched a dedicated online platform - quite similar to most social media platforms - Feed, Chat, Likes, Comments, Notifications, Hashtags etc. but also "groups"…

Hello Guys, I got a couple of dummy questions here as a relative rookie... as winter is here and can't get out I'm trying to practice some static balance on my trials bike. As such the bike is off and on flat ground. I haven't been able to find much detailed techniques to improve balance on such conditions... so I have a couple of findings from my own and some questions... if you can please provide sound feedback on it, I'd appreciate it! Findings 1. Start with the handlebar straight - apparently at some point people develops a preferred site to lock the handle bar... in my case, starting with it in the middle/straight position helps me correct unbalance as per item…

Hi, Your suggestion, how to get kids to master throttle and clutch control? First on the very basic level of get moving and stopping. Mastering clutch and throttle is endless journey. Kids 10 and 11 are both okay with Oset and quite confident on wheels. Now they have their first Beta 80 jr. We took our first small step and made first circle with all expected issues like frog jumps, stalls and extensive throttle etc 😅 They kind of get the logic and mechanics, what is the gearbox and clutch and why they pull it. They also kind of know the sound when its too much revs and where is the safe level. I would imagine to start with just start-stop on flat ground and…

Have you had any 'a-ha' moments when riding, like you've figured out something big? I've had a few in my two years of riding - I'm at clubman level now, so I thought I would share and hope others can share similar discoveries that made a big difference to their riding. 1. Unweighting the bike. It dawned on me that these bikes can go over just about everything, it's pulling us fat lugs over the obstacles that upset the bike. Unlike MX where you charge at everything, trials is generally about either getting your body over an obstacle and then pulling your bike with you, or letting the bike get onto something by unweighting yourself from it and then once it's on there, p…

Hi all, I'm new to trial bikes and would appreciate a bit of education about slow wheelie. After several weeks of practices, I start to be able to reach the balancing point but have problems with the rear brake pedal. Many instruction say "cover the rear brake" and I have no problem with my dirt bikes doing so. However, my trial bike has the rear brake pedal much higher than my dirt bikes; I can only bring it down to slightly above the level to the foot step. Then, I often inadvertently drag the rear brake as the front wheel gets higher. There are several scenarios I can think of; 1) This is because my body position is wrong during wheel…

It’s a crazy idea and I just wanted to hear feedback. For back wheel hops, wheelies, or even controlling speed in a section I’ve always struggled with rear brake modulation. I tend to favor the front brake. Tempted to split both brakes off front lever. Lets hear why it’s a horrible idea! Maybe I’ll just give it a go and find out for myself.

Part 3 in my micro series. Clutch and throttle cameras synced to maybe give a better idea about timing. Obviously not much going on with the clutch in a Double Blip. This clip I've tried to show the difference in reaction when the back wheel hits with throttle on and off - it's perhaps a bit subtle, but it should give the idea I think. Throttle on and the bike jumps much more, not as smooth rolling over. Don't take what I offer as reliable knowledge - I'm just a dabbler of little real skill!

Throughout this and other threads there are innumerable discussions about various techniques and manoeuvres that digress into discussion/argument about exactly what's what, sometimes degenerating into completely unnecessary vitriol, or sometimes just becoming a confusing mismatch of terminology. I haven't found any definitive "Trials Dictionary" either here or elsewhere online. Perhaps a sticky could be put here with broadly agreed definitions of eg. Roll-up Double Blip Zap Splatter etc Each should have all the commonly used terms worldwide (or at least in the english language as that's the default here) ie Zap, Jap Zap, Zap Zap …

This is something I looked for when I was starting to learn zaps - I couldn't find anything. So now I can make some approximation of a zap I thought I'd have a go at syncing a closeup of the clutch with video of the maneuver. I'm no expert, that's for sure, but I think this gives some idea of when the clutch pop occurs. When I started I think I was always too early popping the clutch and the wheel just drove forward without getting much lift. Still lots to work on, watching this video has already given me a couple of things I want to try to correct. Timing is the hardest thing to get just right I find - it's not so hard to get the movements kind of working but i…

As per the title... The sort of hill that is going to be 3rd Gear + and lots of throttle and should be fairly easy but requires momentum, but then there's a bump/rock/log/hollow etc. somewhere where you'd want to be at maximum speed. I can see two options, of which the second seems more appropriate but what do you think? 1. Flat out, hit the obstacle as hard as you dare and get kicked or launched and then try to get hard on the throttle on landing. This seems to really kill forward momentum and the bigger the kick, the worse the stall. But it seems the obvious option because... Flat out. Or 2. Approach the kicker and roll off to just cle…

Hi, As suggested on this forum, I started my trials journey by learning full lock turns and figure 8's. I think I know what I'm supposed to do but I can't use my rear brake during these full lock turns because my foot is all over the place from bending my leg and ankle (O-leg). For instance in a left turn, your right foot is supposed to be on the very right end of the peg, so I can't reach my brake. Is this normal and are you supposed to just use front brake during these sharp turns then? Or do I exaggerate too much with the foot and ankle bending?

Wow! This is hard. Just thought I'd have some fun and ride along the kerb edge - I was all over the place. Most of my slow riding is very tight figure of eights, and in my practice car park I'm riding in to and out of the parking bays and it's great practice for slow full lock turns. Can still only get between the white lines in the corner ones that are wider! But then I tried following the white line down the middle of the road (this place is empty) and I was wiggling everywhere. Seems to be about tiny amounts of weight difference that I'm putting through the pegs, so need to learn to have really fine weighting between my feet. Seems even harder than static balance!…

Found a local car park where I can practice during this virus lock-down. There's a flood drain opening built in to the side of the bank just off the tarmac, the wall of which is about ~2' 6" - ish or so. Not done drop-offs from that height so here we go... Did 4 or 5 and finally landed both wheels together. Not sure why that put more force through the pegs but because I was standing too far back it jerked the front of my foot sharply upwards and I've effectively sprained my right ankle, not too bad hopefully . Left was OK thankfully. I should have learnt from watching Guy Martin's Great Escape, where he did the same, landing after a jump. Have now realised…

On a slow tight turn when using clutch bikes front wheel wants to slide away instead of turning bike, if that makes sense Any ideas on what I am doing wrong?.

Decided to try something new in the backyard … Edit - Video removed as it was just for April Fools :). Some interesting stats from posting a trials video for 2 days...

I like this chap, but as this is an English language site have not shared with everyone my "find". However this has English subtitles and I found it very informative with the slo' mo' and breaking up into sections. It's better to watch without the subtitles as they obscure some of the vid. so you can re-run bits without the subtitles switched on as an option. Or brush up your French ?

I've been trying to learn to front wheel hop. I can do reasonable beginner hops on my bicycle, but the moto eludes me. A timing thing and also the bigger leg movements needed I think. So I was thinking how I could help the process along. I knocked up a very rough and ready jig to hold the bike up so I could hop without continually having to stop after every attempt. It has a few problems being so rough, but it works. In just two short sessions my hops have improved more than they have in the past few weeks (still absolute garbage, the video certainly isn't a how-to!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PCeKD7R8Qs