Ryan Leech's Tutorials

Ryan Leech, another inspiring person. A professional trials mountain bike rider. He has performed in many events across North America and has made appearances in many different mountain biking films including: The Kranked Series, Ride to the Hills, The Collective and Roam, and most recently Crux. In late 2005, Ryan released his latest DVD Mastering the Art of Trials, which was an instructional compilation of 38 Trials related Skills.

Here is the list of tricks, explaned by Ryan Leech.

Mastering The Art of Trials with Ryan Leech
Tip#1
Tip#2
Style
Zap Tap
Wheelie
Wheelie Drop
Manuals
Bunny Hops
Track Stand
Hopping
Rocking
Forward Foot
Straight Endo
Front Wheel Hops
Rear Wheel Hop
Side Drop
Punch Off
Punch to Raise Front
Rock Walk
Rolling Balance
Track/Hop/Rock Combo
Endo Side Drop
180's
Punch Spins
360 Exit
Static 360 Spin
Wedge Serge
Touch Up
Pedal Kick
Kicker Up
Pedal Kick Drop
Rear Side Hops
Pedal Gap
Pedal Punches
Roll Up
Hook Up
Leech Loop

Project "Streetbike": Done!

Detail pics before the decals:








This is how I brought it:

Jeff Lenosky's Tricks

"Jeff is a world class professional Freeride and Trials Mountain Bicycle Rider. Among his many athletic high points is the world record for the Bunny hop, a high jump event using a full size mountain bicycle. Jeff competes in events world wide and performs demonstrations of his athletic riding skills along with products manufactured by his many sponsors. Jeff has a signature frame and pedals developed with his design input." - Wikipedia

Jeff Lenosky uses his Giant STP to ride the streets. Although he is very good in trails I have the feeling his style is more Freeride/Street than Trial. You often see him riding at speed jumping and doing spins. See his inspiring vid here:

Best looking STP's!

A couple of nice looking STP's that I got from the pinkbike forum.

Work to be done

There's a lot to do until I have the bike as I want it to be. But luckily because I had the basics for a cheap price I have enough money left for the updates!

Spraypaint
The frame is severely scratched. I'm gonna strip the bike and repaint the frame and fork.

This is probably where the bike's lock was hanging. The whole bike will be matte black with accents of scarlet red. I've got lots of sanding to do!

When repainting the frame I'll lose the giant logo. I emailed giant for new decals but they responded they won't give them. Its not a big problem, I informed with a car-sticker company and they are willing to make (car)stickers of the logo. Done with that! =D

All the bolts are rusted! This looks so damn ugly! I'm gonna get new onces that don't rust. In the picture you see the handlebar is made of steel and is damaged. I'm not gonna repaint it. Instead I'll buy a new one.

Tyres
These are worn. I need new ones that's clear. The rims look okay. I don't feel like repainting them so I'll keep 'm black and slightly scratched.. The saddle is a bit damaged but that's okay. A new one would be to expensive for now.

Last thing, I've got an old MTB a Giant Terrago from 1996. The bike has hydraulic brakes. These brakes have a lot more power than regular V-brakes. Above all they have horseshoe-like protection irons, which will look great on the bike. Especially when I paint them red.

Brought a bike

So in my search for a nice street bike I came across the Giant STP. I called the local Giant dealer, but unfortunately I had to learn that they don't sell the STP in the Netherlands anymore. Last model was 2007. The American brands are even more rare so my best option seemed to be an import from the UK. The price including shipment would be about 800 dollars.

Right before I was about to make the order I did one last check on a few occasion sites and YEAH! I found 1 STP. Someone sold te bike and had it labeled as an "Children's Mountain Bike". Obviously because of the small frame size the guy thought it was a bike for kids and it got scarce attention. I did an offer of $100.- and the guy accepted. He was glad the bike got sold.


It's an old model, probably from 2006. Its 21 speed and I don't see the point to that. But having spend such a low amount of money saves me enough for some nice updates.

See my next post for more on that.

Inspiring Bicycle Video

A few years ago I was watching the Extreme Sports channel. I saw a short video about some guys riding their bikes in the streets, doing tricks. I noticed the light-weight bikes with low saddles and only one gear. I thought is was very cool. Now I tried to find something about the sport on youtube. There I stumbled on this vid of Danny MacaSkill. It was the most inspiring vid ever. After I saw this I knew I wanted to learn to do that. I know its gonna take a lot of practice. I'm keepin' this log to see how I progress in learning bike tricks. Check out the vid I'm talking about: