New guy here - pump track bike advice

pkovo

pkovo

Well-Known Member
37 yrs old and Ive Been riding bikes on and off my whole life, but not much over the past decade. Recently found the alexandria pump track which is only 20 min away, and literally around the corner from my parents house. I want to give it a shot, but not sure on what type of bike is best for this. I want to use/repurpose something I've already got. Heres what I have that I thought might work.

-Early 80's redline 500a. My 4th grade race bike. Been restoring it for no good reason and its 90% complete.

-late 90's planet x zebdi. Street trials bike I picked up recently. Set up for trials and I hate to mess with the setup because I do "try" to ride trials on it. But I have an extra zebdi frame that I could build up using/stealing parts I have around.

-early 90s GT Tequesta set as a single speed. Kind of a beater setup with a child seat. My daughter will be mad at me if I repurpose this one


Im pretty big at 6' 200lbs so I fear the 20" bmx may be small although it would be the easiest route. If I built the spare zebdi it might work, but even with a decent lengtg fork the head angle is pretty steep. It would be a frankenbike build too 🙂

Any input from guys that have ridden..or currently ride pump tracks? Wouldnt mind doing some light jumping also.
 
Welcome to the site

You can pretty much ride any of those hell i was riding my SS 29er and getting a great workout. That being said i have bought 2 cruisers since and have a urban/ dirt jumper frame on the way. My vote would be redline/gt.
 
last time i hit the pump track i got to try out a 20", 24" and a 29". And clearly could tell the 29" felt by far the best believe it or not. Felt great. and i'm sure a 26" would feel great too.
 
Thanks guys! I've never even tried a 29". When I took my hiatus from biking, 29" was really just starting to get a foothold. Seems to have made some Serious ground since then.

I'll probably try my built Zebdi first and see how it feels and go from there. May look a tad strange but who cares.
 
Turns out, bike choice wont matter for a while. I bought some new 48 spoke wheelds for the redline yesterday but I broke my hand today (non-riding incident). No biking for at least 2 months.
 
If you have any hopes of jumping of any kind, forget about the 29er and even 26 unless you have a dj specific frame or an geometry designed for such things. A cruiser would be the best thing if you can swing it.
 
I had a Redline 500a, I believe it still hangs in my parents garage but most of the parts have been swapped out.
 
24" cruiser is a lot of fun. lotta good ones out there. I've been havin a blast on my MirraCo Twenty Forty. Worth a look and doesn't hit too hard at under 500 complete. If you decide on 24, may I suggest off the bat a higher rise handlebar. Elevn technologies makes 6.5, 7, and 7.5" rise bar. It worked great on mine to lift it up a little bit. I also ride a 26" at the pump track, but more slalom/ dj specific. Only thing you want to be mindful of with your height on some of these is top tube length. Some manufacturers will make a short and a long. You may want a long. The Giant STP is an awesome choice if it's in the budget. I mean, heck, it fits Jeff Lennosky. Whatever, you go with, I hope you have a blast riding, and hopefully at some point, you hit us up at the west milford pump track.
 
The Zebdi is pretty trialsy but i'm sure you could make that work with the right parts and build. Or go with a cheap cruiser or 26" DJ bike if you want another bike in the garage. Haro makes some budget-friendly 26" DJ bikes but there are TONS of DJ bikes out there and i'm sure you can find some deals on used ones.
 
DJ bike

If you are looking to get more into the DJ type of bike. Cam zink has his own line coming out for DJ bikes, and believe it or not, you can pick one up at walmart for 200 bucks. Yeah its a walmart rider but honestly i may pick one up myself for that price.
 
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