I'm interested in learning more about trials bikes. I've seen them in pictures and videos with the riders doing really impressive stuff on them; incredible balancing, huge jumps, etc.
This type of riding is new to me and seems very fun (sort of reminds me of bmx riding as a kid). My regular routine consists of mainly road and cx riding on normal frames with 700c wheels.
I like to do balancing work and jumps on my cx bike, but there is a limit. The wheels are large and harder (I imagine) to get off the ground than a smaller wheel. Also, although I treat my cx bike pretty rough, and bang it around, I don't want to crack a carbon frame trying to land a big drop (or jump, or whatever).
I'd love to start riding one of these trials bikes, however, I don't know much about them or what even makes a "trials" bike.
I basically know that:
- they don't have a seat post or saddle
- The wheels are smaller than a 700c wheel, some 20", some 24", some 26"?
- they look superficially like a bmx bike
So my question is what makes a "trials" bike, and, what are the most important features to consider when either buying a used one, or building one myself? I'm specifically interested in the wheel sizes ( why choose one over another ), dropout types and rear spacing.