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NEW BIKE!


blackbetty's picture

By blackbetty - Posted on 12 August 2007

So I took the plunge and got myself a trials bike! Its pretty amazing. In anticipation I was trying to learn to back hop on my giant (no success) and on dads green machine hardtail (still no success) and almost as soon as i got on it i was able to 1-3 hops on the rear wheel before falling off. Sweet.

Having a bit of trouble with the front brake. Its a magura marta and its rubbing on the disc a bit and isnt very bity at all. That said it was much more bity before i cleaned it so once it dries it should be a bit more bity. But as for the rubbing, im not sure if the brakes will need re-bleeding. If anyone wants to give me a crash course in brake maintenance your more than welcome. I might even pay you in Gazza's standard currency (cases of beer)

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blackbetty's picture

so i played with the brake and its pretty much better now, still drags but its not like im riding long distances on the thing.

Rob's picture

This is a sweet looking trials machine. Bring on the challenges I say!

You built a course of pallets in the back yard yet? Eye-wink

blackbetty's picture

we had some tiles delivered a while back on some perfect palets but unfortunately they got thrown out! oh well, part of the fun exploring and finding some stuff. You can see in the picture we have a deck out the back which im using as my pallets at the moment.

arpit's picture

Remember to let the brake bed.

That is a seriously cool bike. You'll have no problems doing the rock steps at Manly Dam! Eye-wink

Bruce's picture

go to your local bike shop & ask for some shim washers, because there is no bracket between the fork & calliper you will need to adjust the brake by adding or removing the washers. Hope this helps, I found out the hard way with my Marta's & nearly ruined a disc.

blackbetty's picture

how does that change the spacing of the pads. It looks like they are rubbing on both sides and from what i gather the washers would push the caliper closer to the spokes. sorry ive just got bugger all idea about brakes.

Bruce's picture

Are the calipers mounted square, for some reason my rear brake had an extra washer on one of the bolts causing it to sit at an angle, after removing the offending washer it all works sweat. If you do continue to have problems take it to a shop that is familiar with this set up as they are very expensive brakes($500-$600 per end) & you do not want to damage them.

blackbetty's picture

rightio will do. ive been thinking about doing that bike addiction night where they teach you all this crap but havent had the time or spare money. maybe ill treat myself after the hsc.

Bruce's picture

do it...

starship303's picture

Great looking Echo, your definitely not muching around going straight to a good quality mod. So any reason you went 20" and not 26"?

Anyway looks like awesome fun...i'd be keeping my toes away from that rotor tho! Sticking out tongue

Bring on the riding pics!

blackbetty's picture

well i found one locally pretty much brand new (not a scratch on it and still shiny all over although not so anymore!) for around half the price so i figured what the hell. Had a bit of hard erned dosh hanging around that i felt needed to go into something two wheeled.

i went for the 20" becuase i just plain like the feel of it. they're so light and flickable. ive been riding every day since sunday and already ive gone from not being able to do anything at all to being able to pull 180 endos, pedal up onto the rear wheel and do consistantly 5-10 hops and generally getting more balance and feeling more like im riding a trials bike than awkwardly hopping around the place.

yeah the rotor does look super leathal and as soon as i find something that looks like a decent trials section to film ill post up something for you to laugh and giggle at.

so hands up anyone who wants to go on a trials ride one day?

starship303's picture

yeah some say the 20's are easier to begin on so its a good choice you've made, and sounds like a great deal.

as for a ride...hmm well i'd be up for perhaps a street session somewhere...i've not got a trials bike but i did start to ride technical street/urban early this year on a rigid street bike, that was till the end of daylight savings haulted my midweek fun!

BobaFett's picture

I feel like I've been living in a forest somewhere cause I have never seen a trials bike like this. That thing looks like a weapon. I would love to learn trials, even just basic stuff. I've got a cross country bike and thats it. Would it be a disaster going on a trials ride with my cross country bike? I am actually paranoid that if i try to bounce on my back wheel i'll buckle it. (im about 85kg) can someone tell me if i being paranoid and that i should bounce away !

So you mentioned courses on trials with bike addiction? any recommendations for getting started by anyone?

blackbetty's picture

sorry to mislead you, the course i was talking about is actually a maintenance course that i was talking about cuz my front disc brake was rubbing and i wanted to know more about how to fix that sorta stuff.

as far as trials go im sure you would have a ball on a trials ride because a) you can just improvise and b) if we were to stop and session a place we found with obstacles, i get pretty tired pretty quickly as trials excersises completely different muscles and in a different way so you could just play around on mine if ya wanted to. ill give you a medal if you manage to break a rear wheel from learning to hop on it. the real basic stuff like balancing, trackstands and rocking and riding backwards can be done on all bikes. with the exception of some pretty freaky people i think you'll struggle to do the back hops etc on a xc bike. in anticipation of getting a trials bike i tried and had no luck at all but as soon as i got it i could do a hop or two straight away so it does make a big difference.

as you said and from what ive found, most people haven't really seen much of trials, especially in the push bike form as ive found that more people are aware of it from the motorbike perspective. im still predominately a all mountain rider but i got into this to help my technical ability with that but also to have somethiing to play around on whilst at home or just about the place without going on a full exploration like we do on the bigger bikes. that said, the more i play on it the more im getting addicted to it. i've found that i can make significant progress every day.

wow, all this ranting on should almost be going in a blog.... back to the point

if your looking at getting into it, observedtrials.net is the place to do it. i just posted a thread asking for a 20" mod in a certain price range in the australia section and bikes for sale of all qualities and prices and brands came flooding in. go check it out if your interested.

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