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dont do flatland on a hill

I`m going to say start with the sabbath I own early and new flatland bikes plenty of them and found learning on my 92 standard shorty to be much much easier than say something like my Fenix. You`ll find the weight of the Sabbath will be much more stable and the slower geometry will help you to learn your balance much easier. New flatbikes are extremely light which makes balancing on one wheel much harder and with zero offset forks there extremely squirrely. I`m still a novice and ride a couple of hours everyday and the only flatbike I grab to ride out of 30+ bikes I own is the 92 so before you dump a couple grand into a new school flat bike which is very very easy to do give the sabbath a chance first.

This will also be a big help :
Get your fork glides dialed first this will get you used to balancing the bike on the front wheel and from there many combos can be built off this one trick. Also register for free here http://www.global-flat.com/news/ and then go here  http://www.global-flat.com/tricks/ any trick you ever wanted to learn is here with video and written instruction for any level rider.  Good Luck

Last edited by suicidepan (2012-06-13 6:52pm)

Thanks for the input guys.  I'm leaning toward just tweaking the sabbath, to see if I have any ability at all.   And if I do, then maybe build a NS flatland bike from scratch.

I think it's a good call to spend some time on the Sabbath to see if you like to ride flat, and if you have the patience for it.

Once you decide to do it, get an Intrikat.

Fork glides and endos shouldn't make much difference as far as the weight goes. When you start doing foot-jam tailwhips, you start to notice. Such as the effort to start the bike turning, as well as stopping it. But I really saw it more of an issue when the wheel hits the ground before making it around. All the weight of the sabbath seemed to knock that back wheel out of true more frequently.

After I decided it didn't bother me to be failing about so much, I decided to get the Intrikat, and I have no regrets.

haro, indiana wrote:

Kid718 wrote:

Should I start with something newer?  Any new build would require selling the sabbath to fund.  And would be S&M based.  So probably an intrikat.

Yes--newer flat bikes are so much easier to manipulate--shorter wheelbase, shorter top tube, not to mention lighter all this works to your advantage , because flatland is a difficult discipline, anything helps. The intrikat is a great frame, you can sometimes find a used on global flat.com or gabe weed's ebay store has a best offer option--I got a good deal on mine there, as far as parts also look at global flat--some good deals there, flatland fuel is good too and the staff are knowledgable. As far as tricks check out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkvwdM9Xstc

enjoy!

Good points. If you get hooked and start riding on a regular basis, you'll be better off on something modern.

justkaelin on here is selling a used intrikat

intrikat wrote:

cmc wrote:

new school flat bikes, IMO, are too small light and twitchy for normal riders. they are great if you have ninja reflexes.

Flatland frames are available in various sizes with different geometry options, not all of them are twitchy.

Yeah I get it--I just gotta have a bigger setup.  I tend to like street-ramp crossover bikes though. Like the 19.8tt, 14"cs FLY Mosca I had a while back. Or the Standard Shaman before that.  The 19.75 Strowler seems doable, but I'd want a longer cs.  With size 13 shoes I don't want to pedal and have my heels hitting the pegs or have to run short cranks.  I learned dump trucks on a Holmes, and hitchikers on a HB Taj, bitd!  I even rode a Powerlite f/s frame back when Trevor had his big setup that everyone made fun of, even though it fit him really well.

wds wrote:

I'm gonna agree with those saying just get going on the Sabbath, then if you find flatland is something you'd like to really work on, upgrade to a newer set-up.
It's what I did. I started playing around with flatland on my 21" TT Sunday Funday - not a flat bike per say. I was already running a Freecoaster & front brake, but threw on 4 pegs & started playing around w/ flatland. That was last year. This year I felt it was something I was going to stick with, so I upgraded to a new flatland frame - a S&M Intrikat. I went w/ a 20" tt on it as I still wanted a bike I could nibble around skateparks with. It's been a great choice.
-Bill

You mention something there.  A 3/8 freecoaster rear wheel is my main need.

Kid718 wrote:

wds wrote:

I'm gonna agree with those saying just get going on the Sabbath, then if you find flatland is something you'd like to really work on, upgrade to a newer set-up.
It's what I did. I started playing around with flatland on my 21" TT Sunday Funday - not a flat bike per say. I was already running a Freecoaster & front brake, but threw on 4 pegs & started playing around w/ flatland. That was last year. This year I felt it was something I was going to stick with, so I upgraded to a new flatland frame - a S&M Intrikat. I went w/ a 20" tt on it as I still wanted a bike I could nibble around skateparks with. It's been a great choice.
-Bill

You mention something there.  A 3/8 freecoaster rear wheel is my main need.

Find ya an old standard or suntour freecoaster laced into a super pro they work flawless.
The most badass mid school freecoaster ever !!!!

Last edited by suicidepan (2012-06-14 11:37am)

Kid718 wrote:

suicidepan wrote:

Kid718 wrote:

You mention something there.  A 3/8 freecoaster rear wheel is my main need.

Find ya an old standard or suntour freecoaster laced into a super pro they work flawless.
The most badass mid school freecoaster ever !!!!
http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/ … CF4686.jpg
http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af5/ … CF4777.jpg

Why do I get the sense that won't be easy to find?

Your right there my good man, but the good news is that they use Suntour internals so if you can find a suntour coaster hub I can help you convert it into a perfect working freecoaster on the cheap

Kid718 wrote:

wds wrote:

I'm gonna agree with those saying just get going on the Sabbath, then if you find flatland is something you'd like to really work on, upgrade to a newer set-up.
It's what I did. I started playing around with flatland on my 21" TT Sunday Funday - not a flat bike per say. I was already running a Freecoaster & front brake, but threw on 4 pegs & started playing around w/ flatland. That was last year. This year I felt it was something I was going to stick with, so I upgraded to a new flatland frame - a S&M Intrikat. I went w/ a 20" tt on it as I still wanted a bike I could nibble around skateparks with. It's been a great choice.
-Bill

You mention something there.  A 3/8 freecoaster rear wheel is my main need.

Just saw this today
http://www.danscomp.com/products-PARTS- … r_Hub.html

cmc wrote:

intrikat wrote:

cmc wrote:

new school flat bikes, IMO, are too small light and twitchy for normal riders. they are great if you have ninja reflexes.

Flatland frames are available in various sizes with different geometry options, not all of them are twitchy.

Yeah I get it--I just gotta have a bigger setup.  I tend to like street-ramp crossover bikes though. Like the 19.8tt, 14"cs FLY Mosca I had a while back. Or the Standard Shaman before that.  The 19.75 Strowler seems doable, but I'd want a longer cs.  With size 13 shoes I don't want to pedal and have my heels hitting the pegs or have to run short cranks.  I learned dump trucks on a Holmes, and hitchikers on a HB Taj, bitd!  I even rode a Powerlite f/s frame back when Trevor had his big setup that everyone made fun of, even though it fit him really well.

The Shaman was a great frame for sure. Flatland on a Holmes, Taj? that's rad!