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Thinking of buying a trials bike to practice on and do the odd trial. Never ridden one before (only ridden motocross). What size bike would you recommend? 250, 300 etc. Any advice would be appreciated.

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I have been riding now for a year and started on a 250 Rev 3.  I think there is a lot of negativity about bigger bikes, some with good reason and some probably because there are people starting trials that have not had the background motorcycle experience.  If you have done MX then the power is not going to scare you, but it is - in my opinion - unnecessary and will make learning the new skills more difficult.  The popularity of 250cc is for a reason.  Also a 250 is easy to sell on as it is the capacity so many people want, you will see the 300s are slower to sell.  (I watched eBay for a long time to source the wife's Evo)

I bought my 280 because I couldn't find a decent 250 for sale anywhere at the time and the missus had started to hog the old Beta so I didn't get to ride much.  The power difference was a step change and took about a month to get used to the new bike.  I am half tempted to go down to 250 but having shelled out I cannot really afford the change unless I got a really good offer on my current bike and found a very sweet deal - too much hassle so will carry on.  I like the additional power on climbs but really it is no big shakes.  The missus new 250 Evo is just as good really.

For me personally it is the quality of the brakes and the general feel that are important not the capacity.  The better braking on my TRS gives me more confidence and the one thing I want to improve on the Evo.  My missus has not progressed as quick as me (despite being a road rider and well used to motorbikes) so it is OK for her for now.

I have ridden road bikes for longer than I care to admit and mountainbike as well.  Trials is great fun but not easy.  Balance seems to me to be the critical thing and far more important than lots of revs and gung-ho up some massive obstacle.  The 250cc class falls nicely between the high power 300 for going up a 2m rock face and the 125cc bikes for youngsters.  If you find a nice 250 it will not disappoint you I am sure.  In fact I doubt that a 125 would disappoint you to be honest.  All motorbikes are great fun and trials is fantastic entertainment - I wish so much I had started 30 years ago.  I might be as good as all the nippers in the club then!

Edited by ChrisCH
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I think you already have some great responses, however I will add our experience in case it helps.  

When we found out about trials it was an interesting adventure I am glad we took and keep doing today.  

We started by getting my wife's Gas Gas 125 first so I started learning on it and I was amazed at how well it worked even for me at 190 lbs.  I can even say that I would still be happy riding that 125 today without any upgrade if it had come to that.

We didn't have any other 125's around so the second bike was a 250, and then my daughters Beta 80.  A couple years ago I finally got a 300 and we all upgraded one bike.  (Need to find a new home for the kids 80, now that it hasn't been out much in the last couple years...  )

Power wise the 250 is all I could ever need though the 300 is a great bike I can't see where it really gives me anything the 250 didn't in usability.  I often find a take a few more points on the 300 than I did on the 250 and when it gets out of hand its a bit more of a handful than the 250 is when it dose the same.  I can say that I have had the most fun on the 250 over all at this point, though I haven't had my 300 long enough to say that will always be the case.  Also, the 125 has only ever thrown me when I rev it way out and I miss time dropping the clutch, and other than a really big hill climb at altitude once it hasn't ever lacked power for anything else.  

So in summary, with your MX experience I would say you could go with anything but a 250 would likely be the big win for a good long term experience.  

Hope that helps. 

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