January 19, 20179 yr Hi all. New to trials and there seems a lot to learn and there is a tonne of info on here that may take a while to chug through.... Strangest thing I have learned so far is that parts are easier to find for an old Fantic than for a 2000 Beta 250 Evo3, especially rear mud guards!! Anyway I am torn between three starter bikes. Honda TL125, Fantic 200 and a Yamaha TY250 - all vgc. Anyone have any views, hoping to view the Fantic at the weekend. Looking just to play about at the moment to see if I really like it and also to ride with my son on his Oset. Thanks all!
January 19, 20179 yr All else being equal go for the Fantic. The Honda was underpowered even in its day and the suspension simply does not compare with the Fantic.
January 20, 20179 yr I agree, discount the TL, lovely but underpowered. Now Fantic or TY? Is it a mono TY or twinshock. The mono's smooth power delivery and geometry would make a great starter bike! However if it's the twinshock go for the Fantic! just my thoughts, having owned both over the years.
January 20, 20179 yr Author Yes sorry the TY is the 'mono'. Thanks for the comments. Is there any other that should be on my list that isn't? I need to be able to get parts easy as i dont havw much luck!
January 20, 20179 yr If you want to ride in classic events you probably want a twinshock bike, if you want to just ride about then I'd suggest starting with a mono then switching as they're (generally) easier to handle I started recently with a 125 Gasgas (a modern mono) and have just bought a TY175 so I can ride twinshock-only events. (The TY175 is a nice first twinshock too, BTW, doesn't handle as well as a Fantic out of the box but has a little more grunt and you can fix the handling)
January 20, 20179 yr The mono is a great starter/learner bike, strong, reliable, forgiving and plentiful reasonably priced spares, loved mine
January 20, 20179 yr Without doubt the Fantic 200. The forward kick "Pro's" are getting hard to come by, but the rear kick Minarelli engined "Trial" ones are still quite plentyful. Sweet engine and a decent handling frame that worked well straight from the off. You also won't loose a penny on one, they only seem to go up in price!
January 23, 20179 yr Author The deeper I get with this the more confused I am becoming. There do not seem to be too many TY's near my area (sub £2k) and Fantics are fetching top money at the moment which has pushed me down the newer style, but looking at Beta Rev3 2002, GasGas 270 JTX 1997 etc the parts seem to be very difficult to get i.e mudguards etc. My budget is around £1,400 - not a lot I know but it's all I have at the moment. Thanks for advice so far...
January 23, 20179 yr If you're a new rider you really want a 250 or smaller, the bigger ones can easily get away from you when trials-ing If you're patient and willing to travel a bit then a reasonably priced beginner bike can be found, there's a couple of Facebook groups for buying and selling as well as ebay. Unfortunately, trials bikes are a bit of a personal choice, so until you've ridden one it's hard to get context for others ... I'll be selling my Gasgas cheaply soon (the 2002-on ones are probably the best beginner modern as you can get all the parts cheaply), it got me started and helped me decide what I want to go with in the future! (and also taught me the basics of trial bike maintenance, which is a little different from road bikes)
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