Good intro trials bike (ultra cheap)

[Ghost Lemur]

Been pyning(sp?) for a project. Something to do a kro on. Considered a dirt bike, but the CRM fills that need. Don't want a roadbike atm (don't need yet another vehicle to insure/wof/reg). Then the thought of a trials bike came to me.

Looking at getting a cheap peewee bike for the sons in the near future (next couple of years) and a trials bike would be perfect for the slow riding that I'd be doing with them, and even prior taking them on their bmx's to the forest to practice their dirt skills.

So my requirements (so far)...

• cheap
• common (easy to source supply of secondhand parts)
• a Haynes manual (or similar) available. I'm a mechanical novice
• did I mention cheap?
• oh and cheap.

Any ideas as to machines I should be looking at/for?

Not in any hurry still got lots of gear I have to purchase. But if the right machine comes up it could always sit in the garage for a couple of months until I'm ready.

I've put a bid on this, but expecting it'll go for quite a bit more, so not planning on winning it.

[Motu]

That Beta would be a damn bargin,not competitive with modern bikes but 100% better than any twinshock.They are ideal for teaching kids to ride - you can ride beside them,stop,turn and comeback,just keeping close and at their pace.I used to ride my KT when my girls were riding trail bikes,and I'll do it when my boys do too.You can learn a hell of a lot by yourself,or ride the clubman sections at a trials meeting at whatever level you feel like.It's a friendly atmoshere,no pressure and lots of help and advice offered.There are a couple of other monoshock aircooled trials bikes going on TradeMe at 3 times the price.It's a bit of an orphan though,but then so are all but the current bikes.

[F5 Dave]

I first got into Trials on a TR34. Got it for $1500 several years ago.

Ok it was fun, but to be honest I never done so much work on a bike. Old dirt bikes are always a lot more work than you think & old Italian bikes are more-so.

The distributor is John at Kapiti MC & he is a good bugger, if a little disorganised. He took it over as water cooled came in so knows everything about watercooled models but has some info on the air cooleds. There were two models, one a 240, the other a 260. Hard to tell from the outside.

I bought a GasGas TXT200 to replace it. Cost 6k several years ago. Couldn’t believe I’d ever spend that on a Trials bike. Never ever regretted it. Not only in reliability but handling, brakes, engine. I wish I’d found the money & bought it first.

How desperately do you want to be trying to patch together mongered suspension & rekit dodgy master cylinders whilst working with all the spanner sizes you've never seen before?

[Matt]

I've owned a couple of Beta's - including a TR34 - they're great bikes, but they're a bit more fragile than the later Zeros. Spares will be a real issue now (although not as bad as the likes of Fantic), especially if you need engine parts or plastics.

IMO something like an old TY250 or Honda TLR would be a good intro to trials.

Matt

[chris]

You could have real problems sourcing spares in the future as well as those spares you would need to get it running. This could be a good buy. Wants a bit much though.