sam Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Which do you think is more physical, bike- trials , moto-trials? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikespace Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 Absolutely no doubt about it - bike trials. I can ride motorbikes all day (ish). Ten minutes operating a set of pedals and I'm knackered. I don't mean just riding a bike, the hopping it about is the knackering bit. I may be lying about the all day bit on the motorbike, but you get the idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beta boy Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 bicycles are definnetly easier i use to do bike trials i did it for 4 years intill i sold the bike to get a moto trials bike i find the motrbike knakering it might just be because i am knew to the sport and i have not built up my muscles enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luke Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 motorbike trials coz theres much more weight and much more involved with them to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shercogeezer Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 I do both id say motorcycle trials is harder! Just my opinion though Miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feetup Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Agreed.. I'm 34 years old. I've been riding both bicycle trials and moto-trials for about 2 years. I took up both at about the same time, and I have a very high interest in both. I own a monty X-lite 26 for semi-serious urban assault trials, a planet-X Jack Flash Rad as a weekend woods freeride/trials bike. For moto bikes, so far I've owned an 01 montesa for 98% of my short experience with this sport, and recently purchased an 04 beta since last October. I've been competing in moto trials in Neta for the past 1 1/2 yrs, and I've just moved up to intermediate class. Given my relatively new experiences with both bike trials and moto-trials, I can say without a doubt: for me at least, moto-trials wears me out MUCH faster than bike trials. They are both different, and yet they are both similar in many ways. There are many shared fundamentals that can help you to improve by doing both. The bicycle version while more physical, requires that you are only moving a 30+lb bicycle around (plus your weight) vs a 160+lb motorcycle (plus your weight). Consider wheel positioning to set up for an obstacle: Which do you think would require more energy? The motorcycle does hands down. The moto-trials bike is also harder to position due to the fact that the suspension absorbs rider inputs. You have to work *with* the suspension, which requires a keen understanding of timing the rebound movements of the fork and shock in order to facilitate moving the wheels off the ground. What happens when your timing is off? The suspension starts working against you, and you use more arms and body which tires (me) out faster and consumes significantly more energy. The bicycle requires only a minute gesture to hop you and bike sideways, or position front or rear wheels. That is just a basic example. As my riding technique improves, I've found both have gotten much easier, and I can do more without getting as tired so fast. I'm sure if Adam Raga took a moment to reply to this, he would laugh, because I'm sure he can rear wheel hop his GG (with no motor) as easily as I can on the bicycle! Two of the biggest things that riding bicycle trials has done for helping my moto-trials ability are: BALANCE and REAR WHEEL MOVES Practice riding 2X4's in the drive way, stack them 4 high. challenge yourself to make it across. Ride around town like a kid and hop sideways up and down stairs. These things will help with BALANCE. Even though you're doing it on a 30lb bike. The first thing you must master is the TRACKSTAND. I can stand stationary on my bike asleep at this point. It helps on the moto-bike too, which I can balance for minutes in my basement w/ no motor. The 2nd thing is that getting used to REAR WHEEL MOVES on the bicycle has made it possble for me to do things that I suspect some people at my level may be afraid to do. If you get used to pedal kicking a bicycle up onto a picknic table in 1 move, then pulling up and hopping on the rear wheel (balance again) at the edge, and then rear wheel off the table to the ground, imagine all the balance, and hand/body coordination that you are employing there. Now translate that to the motorcycle: I found it almost effortless to pre-load the suspension, gas the throttle over a twig, send the front end high in the air, and land the rear wheel on a 10" rock one bike length in front of me. I did this without thinking about it, about 1 year after riding the moto-bike. Just to keep perspective on the amount of riding time I get to put in, I work for a living, and maybe get on the moto-bike or bicycle on weekend days two to four times a month during warm months of new england. So my point is simply that a bicycle can definitely help the motorcycle riding for sure, and I believe that the motorcycle practice has assisted with my technical ability and timing on the bicycle somewhat as well. One thing I did discover did NOT translate well from the motorcycle to the bicycle: the ZAP technique... That is a maneuver that I am still trying to polish on the motorcycle, but I'll tell you a funny thing that happened the first time I tried to use it on the bicycle: Picture a large flat rock, about 2.5 feet up from the ground, wide enough on top for a bicycle. I've upped the rock several times before on my woods trials bicycle, but using a more conservative approach of touching the front wheel to the top lip of the rock, followed by a large un-weighting of the rear wheel to follow it smoothly to the top. I decided why not compress the fork into the rock, using the suspension and a little more speed to attempt a zap technique... well, bad idea.. See the first problem I wasn't aware of at that moment, is that a zap on a motorcycle is made partly sucessfull by the fact that you are using the MOTOR along with a very precice downward and subsequent up movement by the rider. Once you compress and clutch/gas it, you ARE going to go up and forward. Now, consider a bicycle that is powered by me, and the weight of the bike is oh, 35lbs. What do you think happens when you compress the suspension fork into a rock and attempt to leap up? You have no motor to keep your momentum going forward, so what happens? you go STRAIGHT UP! Picture me at this moment: I am now 100% upsidedown, holding the bars, but feet vertical to the sky. The front wheel of the bicycle hasn't moved from the top lip of the 2.5 high rock, and the rear wheel rotates upward, about paralell to the rock, in mid air. Rider and bicycle come crashing down. Rider learns that zaps need the ZAP of the engine to force the suspension to recoil against the rock, as rider leaps up so that bike and body go forward AND up, and not just UP(side down)... My friends laughed their asses off, I just wish I had it on camera.. Ok, nuf about my thoughts on bikes and betas. Hope that was a chuckle for any who cared to read all this.. off to bed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spencey Posted March 29, 2004 Report Share Posted March 29, 2004 Dunno which is harder really 'cause I'm crap at both,still I 'spose someone has to be!.When you look at half the entry of the Trials World Champs. you don't need to look to hard to find ex-cyclo trials experts. I would imagine pedalling is harder but riding the HRC works bikes pays the bills better! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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