Biketrial

Biketrial, also known as bicycle trial, describes the art of overcoming obstacles on a bike. It’s the sport I pursue with the greatest enthusiasm. There are different styles here as well — in pure trial, the goal is simply to overcome an obstacle. My focus is more on street trial, which means I ride a bike with 24" wheels that are well-suited for both tricks and trial riding.

Buying Guide

Finding the right trial bike for yourself is not exactly simple. As mentioned earlier, I mainly focus on street trial here.

Wheel Size

Street trial bikes usually come with 24" or 26" wheels. You won’t really find 20" street bike riders. How high or far you can hop always depends on the rider’s skill — it has nothing to do with wheel size. However, the agility of a frame very much affects the street characteristics of a bike. An extremely long (trial) bike is great for hopping but much more sluggish during rotations than a bike with a short wheelbase. Ultimately, there are very good street trial bikes in both the 24" and 26" range. Wheel size is largely a matter of personal preference. Note: 24" rims, tubes, and tires are harder to find at your local mountain bike shop than 26" accessories.

Brakes

On a trial bike, the brakes are the most important component that determines whether it’s a good or bad trial bike. The function of the brakes is vital for extreme tricks near edges and drops, so you should never skimp on brakes when building a custom bike. In general, disc brakes seem to be winning out, although there are still very good Magura V-brakes available. The downside of V-brakes is that you frequently have to sand down the rim for the brakes to grip perfectly. With disc brakes, the downside is that the disc can be damaged when you slip off obstacles in an uncontrolled way. In my trial bike career, that has never happened, and the advantage of the high braking power of (very) good disc brakes outweighs the risk for me.

Single Speed

For street trial, you should avoid installing gears. Single speed (meaning just one gear) has many advantages:

• No additional cable between the handlebars and the frame (which would get in the way of bar spins, etc.)
• The chain tensioner can be mounted in an extremely space-saving way, making it more likely to be spared from damage when slipping off obstacles
• Lower weight, since no additional sprockets need to be mounted
• No mis-shifting during tricks
• As a beginner, you won’t notice whether the bike weighs 13 or 12 kilos, and you should focus on your own skills rather than blaming the bike’s weight. In my opinion, very good brakes are far more important than low weight.

Where to Buy?

I prefer to buy from Tom Öhler, because he offers perfect and fast service, and he actually knows everything about every product he sells. Tom doesn’t have a web shop, but he responds quickly to emails.