“What type of trials bike should I get?” is one of the most common questions asked by beginners. The answer is, “it depends”. But that’s not entirely helpful, so let’s discuss why this really is the answer.
Do I Even Need a Trials Bike?
First of all, not everyone has the means to buy a trials bike. Even those that can afford a trials bike – some of us already have one or more bikes – might not want to splurge on a specialty bike before they even know whether they really like riding trials. Does that mean you can’t ride trials? Not at all! The good news is that you don’t necessarily need a trials bike to ride trials.
As discussed in our Start Here guide, if you’re just starting to learn trials, you can start learning on whatever bike you have. Besides not having to dish out your hard-earned cash, if you ride the bike you already own, you’re already familiar with how that bike feels. Beginners should start by focusing on the basics to begin with – namely the trackstand, simple balancing, and basic 2-wheel moves. You don’t need a trials bike for that.
Finally, you might decide that you don’t even want a specialized bike for riding trials. There are a number of expert and professional trials riders who ride trials frequently (or even exclusively) using mountain bikes (for example, Ryan Bratton, Maximillian Mitchell, Ayato Kimura, Chris Akrigg, Tomomi Nishikubo). And then there’s Vittorio Brumotti who does crazy trials moves on pretty much any bike – including road bikes. Though I would not recommend trying to learn advanced trials moves on a road bike.
So when would you want a trials bike? Trials bikes do offer some advantages, but also have some drawbacks. Mostly it comes down to personal preference. See the table below for some of the advantages and disadvantages of buying a trials bike.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| – Overall best suited for specifically trials riding – Lighter than MTBs, so easier to hop higher and farther – Street trials bikes can be more nimble than MTBs – Single wheel moves are much easier – rear or front – particularly with higher bottom bracket geometries – Competition trials bikes provide significant advantage for competing effectively at the more advanced levels (if that is your goal) | – Costs money – Yet another bike to store & maintain – Not built for and uncomfortable for riding longer distances — Can’t ride sitting down (even if it has a seat) — Single speed — No suspension – Difficult or impossible to mix trials with other riding in the same session without swapping bikes (e.g., mountain biking on miles of trails) – Competition trials bikes look and feel completely foreign due to the extreme geometry |
Here are some tips if you decide you don’t need a trials bike, or don’t need one just yet:
- Make sure you have good brakes. This is critical. If your brakes do not dependably lock solid, consider upgrading your brakes. It’s cheaper than a new bike and worth the investment.
- If your bike has suspension, start out with the suspension locked (i.e., stiff). Otherwise the suspension absorbs too much energy, making everything take significantly more effort.
- Choose the right gear: too easy means no power for lifting the front wheel, hopping, pedal kicks, etc.; too hard a gear yields the same poor results but with more effort required. Experiment to find the best choice for you. For me and my mountain bike, it’s the 4th easiest gear.
- Consider installing a bashring to protect your chainring teeth and chain. Once you start riding bigger obstacles, you will likely smash the chainring frequently.
- Be careful of your mech. Things like derailleurs and derailleur hangers can snap off easily on rocks and walls. While the same goes for any bike with disc brakes, brake rotors are susceptible to getting bent and scratched as well.
In summary, you don’t necessarily need a trials bike to ride trials, particularly when you’re just getting started. If you want to compete seriously, you’ll eventually need a competition trials bike. Other than that, it comes down to personal preference.
What Type of Bike Should I Buy?
So you’ve decided at this point that you do need (or at least want) a trials bike. There are a number of options (bike type, wheel size, etc.), so how do you choose?
When it comes down to actually choosing which style trials bike you want, you first need to decide what type of riding you want to do and what type of obstacles you plan to ride. Do you plan to compete? Do tricks like bunny hops, 180s, barspins, and tailjam whips? Just hop around on things? Focus on single big moves, or string together obstacles and moves into lines? Do you care about pure power or just style? Some sort of mix? What are the terrain and riding opportunities like near you – woodland/natural or urban/manmade? Will you be riding with others – what type of riding & locations do they prefer?
Next, let’s look at what the bike options are. At the highest level, there are two main choices: competition style or street trials. But even these have more choices such as 26-inch, 24-inch, or 20-inch wheel sizes. We’ll discuss wheel sizes later; for now, let’s look at the two primary types of trials bike. (Check out our popular video What Kind of Bike Is That? and SuperRider’s “Street VS Competition Trials Bikes” video.
Street Trials Bikes
The following are the strengths and benefits of street trials bikes:
- Looks and feels more like a normal bike (compared to competition style bikes)
- While they can be used to ride natural terrain, they are better suited for urban riding environments, particularly if you plan to ride between spots
- Street style riding and “jibbing”: manuals, bunny hops, 180s, tailwhips, backflips, barspins, jumps, etc. – particularly anything that involves “rotating” the bike
- Quieter disc brakes, with better modulation (though competition bikes can also use disc brakes)
- Lighter than MTBs – no gears, suspension, dropper posts, etc.
- More comfortable and easier for two wheel moves (except manuals) due to things like the stem length, which also makes transiting between riding spots easier and more fun
- Easy to lift the front wheel (though harder to stay on the rear wheel than a comp bike)
- Shorter wheelbase – makes it easier to fit the bike on shorter obstacles
- Often have seats – you can’t ride sitting down, but they’re good for taking a break between lines
Competition Trials Bikes
The following are the strengths and benefits of competition style trials bikes; however, note that this applies primarily to the more modern comp style geometries:
- Better suited for competing in trials competitions; required to be competitive at the top riding levels
- Good for riding natural terrain, particularly for larger obstacles and moves
- Better for single wheel moves, particularly rear wheel hops but also front-wheel hops. These bikes are made for rear wheel moves, and they do it very well – especially newer geometries with higher bottom brackets.
- Great for extreme power moves like sidehops, pedalups, and gaps
- Often lighter than similar size street trials bikes – every ounce counts in a competition
- Longer wheelbase means longer reach, particularly for 26-inch bikes and with longer stems – great for bigger rollups/pedalups, longer wedges, and hooks
What Size Bike Should I Buy?
In addition to determining the type of bike geometry, you’ll also need to decide on the wheel size – and in some cases, the frame size as well. Speaking very generally, both street and competition trials bikes come in three wheel sizes: 20-inch, 24-inch, and 26-inch. Street trials bikes are usually 24 or 26-inch (20-inch for generally smaller riders like kids), whereas competition bikes are usually 20 or 26-inch. But how to choose?
One of the first things to consider is your height. Taller riders (i.e., 6 foot / 1.8 meters or taller) should consider 26-inch, whether riding street or competition style. While you can absolutely ride any size bike, if you’re tall, you might feel cramped on a small/short bike. Conversely, shorter and lighter individuals including children might consider smaller sizes. Kids typically start on 20-inch comp style bikes (a.k.a., “mods”) – larger bikes are often too large and heavy for kids to maneuver effectively. Women competition riders often ride mods as well, though some women do ride 26-inch bikes.
Responsiveness is also an important factor. Smaller wheeled bikes such as 20-inch comp style bikes can be much snappier; conversely, 26-inch bikes are slightly more forgiving, making it easier to compensate for changes in balance.
Riding style plays a role as well. For example, 20-inch mods are easier to bunny hop than a 26-inch competition bike; however, 26-inch comp bikes are great for doing pedalups. Similarly, 24-inch (or even 20-inch) street trials bikes are more nimble for moves requiring spinning the bike, such as 180’s, 360’s, and footjam whips. On the other hand, 26-inch street trials bikes feel more like a mountain bike.
Wheel sizes affect how well the bike rolls over the ground. As you might imagine, larger diameter wheel sizes are significantly more forgiving when rolling over roots, gravel, small rocks, etc.
While it’s not covered much above, there are 24-inch competition style trials bikes (such as my first trials bike). Whereas the 24-inch option has been extremely popular for street trials, it’s less popular for competition trials. The 24-inch competition bikes offer more responsiveness than 26-inch bikes, but have less reach and less rolling forgiveness on rough terrain compared to the 26-inch counterparts. They also offer a good option for medium size riders who do not want a mod, but do not feel comfortable on a 26-inch bike. The one downside is that there are fewer options for 24-inch wheels and tires – so sometimes they are harder to find.
For additional perspectives on selecting wheel sizes, check out Which Size Trials Bike Is Best For You? 20″ vs 24″ vs 26″ from SuperRider.
Additional Considerations
There are some additional aspects to consider before making your final decision on which bike to buy.
Start by determining your budget. How much money are you willing to spend? An older used trials bike is likely to run a few hundred dollars ($US), whereas a new top-end bike can run over $3,000 ($US). Still much less than a high-end mountain bike, but not pocket change either (well, at least for most people).
If possible, borrow a trials bike first, especially if you can try different bike types, sizes, and geometries. If you’re fortunate enough to live near other trials riders, that’s probably pretty easy. Our local group has “spare” bikes that people can borrow if we get advanced warning that you’ll be joining us. Another option is to consider looking for a trials competition with a reasonable distance. If you’re in North America, the Bentonville Bike Fest draws many riders with different types of bikes, bike shops, and people like the Farrar brothers who have (at least in the past) brought a trailer full of bikes that people can test ride.
Determine whether you want to buy a full bike (frame plus all the parts you need), or whether you want to buy the frame and parts separately. Buying a full bike is easier – especially if you’re not familiar with building a full bike – though still requires some level of assembly upon receipt (unless you pick it up locally). Buying the frame and parts separately allows you to configure the perfect setup, but requires more work, more tools, and more bike-building skill. Another factor to consider is that trials bikes are upgradeable. After you ride for a bit, you can upgrade essentially everything including the frame – brakes, bars, stem, wheels, forks, pedals, cranks, grips, you name it.
While we won’t cover every type of bike part here, brake choice is an important topic. Look for a future post on this topic!
Finally, consider reaching out to the trials community as well. Ask questions about bike and riding styles, bike specs, and anything else about choosing a bike in online trials forums or in person at a local trials event, trials show, etc. Many riders love to discuss trials and can be immensely helpful as well as encouraging.
And of course in the end, if you have competing bike “needs”, you can always buy more than one trials bike…
Where To Buy a Trials Bike
Since trials bikes are so specialized, there aren’t many places that sell them. You probably won’t ever find them at your local bike shop, at least not here in the US.
Just like any other type of bike, you can buy new or you can buy used. Just like for new trials bikes, used trials bikes can be harder to find than “normal” bikes since they are such a niche product. But you can get a good deal if you look. Riders typically post bikes for sale on trials discussion forums, Facebook groups, etc. and used trials bike marketplaces have appeared.
For information about specific bike shops and related resources, use our guide to getting started with trials riding, which includes links for buying both new and used trials bikes and gear.
