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First Ride On The Trials Bike


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I'm 6' even. I'm fairly convinced I need higher. Having trouble getting my weight far enough back because of reach, that and it is physically very uncomfortable to be on the bike for long because I'm bent over really far with my neck bent up to see. I can only find 15mm over stock for risers so it looks like new bars

The Gasser has more room than most modern bikes. Risers are not the answer. Tall has nothing ever to do with it as your arm span is usually close to your height. Lately all new riders want risers. I have yet heard a short guy say he wants to raise the foot pegs! My son hops well. A few trials ago a group of Enduro riders bought a Beta to learn to ride with. First thing they did was put risers on the thing. My son tried to hop the bike, but the risers destroyed the feel of a normal riding position. What it did is take away the initial leverage point , making it something awkward to ride. Believe me Brian you just need time on the bike. You should try a vintage bike some time, if you get the chance.

My little boy at last weeks trial. By the way he`s 6`5 .dec2014_zps9acdb98b.jpg

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Ok, well I'll be staying stock for a bit longer because after the bike and boots I'm still broke. What happens is after about 30 minutes my back and neck are killing me, so I start heading home with my knees bent. But thn my legs start burning. Maybe I'm just not used to using the right muscles. I'll keep with it for a bit. It does seem though if the bars were higher I could lean back farther to get my weight over the rear fender easier.

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Btw, thanks for the effort Lucas. That is a good visual. Maybe I'm going from one extreme to the other and somewhere in the middle is a sweet spot

Back to technique, I did get over some bigger rocks, about 30" tall Im guessing. The little ones were good for timing and front wheel placement, but weren't forcing me to do the second motion properly as they were small enough I could just thrash over em. when doing the larger rock I realized two things, I'm not shutting off the gas quick enough, and I'm not letting the bike go forward under me. So when the back tire hit the top of it I lurched forward. Ended up tweaking my back so I'm out for a few days, but I did learn a bunch in the process and am anxious to go out and try it again

Edited by tahoebrian5
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Brian,

Your body (muscles) get used to it after time. I have a collapsed disc at C4-C5 so holding head anything past looking straight ahead (verses upward) gives me grief after about an hour. It used to be 15 mins on the trials bike so thats better after time.

I have some medium grade degradation thoracic and a lumbar vertebrae about 16mm out of alignment that the ortho doc wants to pin.... my wrists give me some grief after a good trials session.

I still put in heaps of time on the trials motorcycle and trials bicycle plus ride about 1400 kilometres a month on the road bikes.

Amazing what the body adapts to... any leg strength training and/or knee muscle strengthening would be a great idea... when playing on trials bikes.

Mags

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you ride mx or enduro? your trying to ride like your on one of those? trials is different, it's not the bike, no one lowers a trials bike to my knowledge. adjust the bars to a comfort level. not like a top pro they ride way different than you and i. you ask about riding over stuff and wheelies but what about turns? trials is about turns. turn go up, turn go down most every rider in every class looses most points in turns. go out and ride trails and get used to the bike. play ride your favorite trails. spend time with other trials riders, it's the best way to learn. i know a couple of guys way over 6 ft who weight a ton more than you and still ride stock bikes.

trials uses a lot of muscles that are similar to mx but in trials you don't sit so the legs get used all the time. learn to lean on the palms of your hands takes the load off your hands to relax while trail riding. helps me a lot. i also ride more on my toes than my arch area. for me more spring in my legs.

rob

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Hmmm, well like i said im going to stick with it as is for now, but there has been people that said getting higher bars was the best thing for them. Im thinking its probably a matter of preference. Ill try adjusting them back a bit and give it a few weeks.

Ya, i ride a ktm xcw300, mostly desert single track and woods. Also ride a cbr1000 on street and track. the trials bike feels just as different as my other two bikes. I have been working on turns as well. The picture above shows the terrain around my house, and where the bike is parked is much steeper than it looks.. Like steep enough that getting up it on my ktm would be pretty rough. Its anazing how much traction these things get. Anyway ive been doing tight turns over that rocky steep stuff and its very tough to keep from dabbing. specially at full lock and then the front tire stops on a football size rock. Ive been experimenting with trying to unweight the front without the tire leaving the ground to get over em. I still dont have my basic balance dialed yet so its pretty tough to do. Im more obsessed with jumping over rocks at the moment but just because its fun. Every day i go out i learn something new. Thats beautty of it. I kinds plateau'd on the ktm so now its all new

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Your rig looks great.

I've felt the same regarding bar height. I'm 72". I've been told to bend my knees. It's painful but I figure it's part of the routine. I cheat though and stand when I shouldn't sometimes for comfort. From the looks of your bars they are near right being only slightly forward. I would try risers if I were you and still practice knee bend.

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The DB revisited... Its getting a little better. Starting to experiment with a touch of holding pressure.

Still looks like I'm going too fast. That's as slow as I can go without clutching it. My gearing is at 10/41. Is that stock? Thinking about getting a 9 for the front

Edited by tahoebrian5
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