I'm slowly turning my XC biking time into trial sessions. For now I'm only doing some track stands, endo's and wheelies, but I'm probably going to go for more as soon as I can do these properly. I'm probably never going to reach the level of Danny Macaskill, but that's for sure the kind of stuff I want to do.
I currently have a good, trustworthy mountain bike. And I'm using it for this basic trial. Alas, I'm afraid I could badly damage it, as my wheelies landing are not as smooth as they should be, and so are my endo's. I need this bike to go to work, and it really has a high sentimental value, so I can't afford to break it.
I'd have a few questions related to this.
Is there a (non-obvious) risk I could badly damage the fork or frame of my bike by doing some badly executed trial figures? I know for a fact that my front wheel hub is already bent. How about the wheel slots?
Should I decide to go for a specialised trial bike, what kind of gear should I get? I've seen some low-profile hard tail frames, they seem essential. What kind of wheel should I take (size ?), etc.
Again, if I'm making a new bike, I'd like to keep a reasonable budget. What are the parts that must be of good quality, and what are these who can start "small" to be improved later if needs be?
Would rim brakes be sufficient for starters, or do I absolutely need huge and expensive disk brakes to start?
Thanks for your help. Don't hesitate to be verbose: I might have been riding for a while, it's really this year that I started maintaining my bike myself.