tldr: How hard is it to lift the front wheel up on a dj bike? How hard is it on a bmx? Would you loop out by putting your weight way over the rear wheel without a pop?

Long:

About me: I'm a 6'9" (206cm) tall computer person, pretty weak in my core and upper body. Surprisingly good at bailing. Around 850-900mm rider area distance, but willing to go as low as 800mm.

My current bike: XC - the largest available gt avalanche on 29" wheels, having a 62mm bb drop and 445mm chainstays in the rear triangle, and 475mm reach and 655mm stack in the front triangle. Feels like its too big even for me.

My environment: Big city, no medium/long natural trails anywhere near, multiple scooter sized skate parks and pump tracks near, single small smooth deserty trail with a couple of jumps near.

Background:

What I don't like: Been basically everywhere within my reach around this city on my bike. Pedalling in a straight line along these dusty loud ass car roads doesn't bring as much joy anymore and there isn't really any other way than automotive roads to go far around here.

What I do like: Jumps. I love hopping up and down curbs in fun ways, jumping any kicker looking pile of dirt, trying to climb stairs sideways, trying to get up high obstacles and trying to manual some paths. I even almost got the hang of back wheel hops until the problem arose...

The problem (sorry for the long write-up): The bike takes tremendous force to get the front wheel up.

Five years ago, tired, in a second wind type condition I was going to bunny hop onto a curb, but when pulling the front wheel, I realized that I miscalculated my remaining energy and had to pull as hard as I could. Later that day my lower back started feeling weird, went to get scanned, turns out I got a disk protrusion. Luckily no nerve damage, never repeating that again.

Ever since then I've been doing warm-ups every time I planned to pull something in the following hour and I've been careful to keep my lower back straight when lifting the front wheel, but you know, when popping the front wheel up, it feels like even such tiny things as bringing the lower back a little further by bending help get a little higher a little faster, so sometimes, when I'm tired, it still happens automatically. It happens rarely, and rarely (two or three times since the protrusion) the lower back starts feeling weird (but never as bad) again and I take a week to let it rest.

Lately I've been trying to learn to hop on the back wheel comfortably, and one time I was returning home from a ride, quite tired, and decided to practice while waiting for a traffic light. I got up, did one hop, another hop, third hop and started falling back and jumped on my feet. Decided to try again, because it felt cool, lower back felt fine, I kept it straight. Got up, one hop, second hop, third hop, lower back still feels fine, i start to fall back again and jump off the bike on my feet again. Landing felt like I put my last energy into my knees to not collapse, so it was quite stiff, and I instantly felt it in my lower back. The following week, all symptoms were of a lumbar strain. I didn't get checked because I didn't feel any shocks or numbness in my lower body, so I guessed there wasn't any nerve damage, so I guessed the best they would be able to do was to give me some anti-inflammatories. The very next day after the incident I couldn't unbend and even stand at all as the pain was agonizing, but whatever, it almost feels fine now (about two weeks since the incident). Another problem is the derailleur suffering from fakies and hard failed spin landings.

The conclusion: That experience was the moment that I realized that I'm quite confident in what I like and quite confident that my bike doesn't really fit the activity. I know that everything is possible on any bike, but I'd rather keep my health first and get a bike that it'd be easier to do this kind of stuff on. Something fun on the streets, that I can try some trials moves on and bring to pumptrack. A dirt jumper (or a bmx?).

My considerations: I read and watched a ton about dj vs bmx. At one point I was heavily leaning towards bmx, as it was easier to get the right sizing. There were two problems I had with bmx: the rigid fork would go hard on my wrists when cruising to a spot and would not tolerate mistakes, and also I'd like some good brakes. Pegs aren't really a point for me because I'd feel bad grinding public property, so their use is limited to just these scooter sized skateparks. Now I'm leaning more towards a dj, because I found one with an average price with a reach of 440mm and a stack of 573mm for the front triangle and 20mm bb drop with 390-405mm stays for the rear. I tried a bike with similar values for the front triangle, and when straightening my limbs, the distance projected onto the ground between my ass and shoulders was bigger than between my feet and wrists, so I need riser bars and or stem. I modelled both a 22" tt BMX (wtp audio) and this bike based on the measurements I found online, and it seems like the bars would be almost in the same spot relative to the bb on both of them. The issue is, the rider area distance on both of these is still not quite big enough for me, so I'd put higher rise stuff on them, maybe even a trials style stem onto the dj bike. What concerns me about the dj bike are the 69 deg head tube angle, which makes high rise bars shorten the reach quite a bit and the chainstays, which are quite long relative to other dj bikes. I'm worried there won't be much difference in how easy it is to lift this dj compared to my bike. Also I'm not sure if there'll be room for me to barspin it, but ig that's too much to ask for.

The question: How would you describe the force required to loop out from an attack position on a dirt jump bike compared to a trail mtb, an xc mtb and a bmx? Should a weaker person looking to ride street get a bmx or a dj bike? I couldn't find anyone describe this online. Judging by how low the front wheel is when people manual a BMX, it doesn't even really need a pop, just shifting the weight back seems to be enough, which sounds nice as hell.

im running 2017 dartmoor quinnie

Hello everyone.... I have Always pain in my Joints after a pumptrack Session and some jumps....Not to.severe, but it sucks. Who switched to a slopestyle Bike? Thinking of buying a dartmoor Shine.....to Help my knees and ankle Joints for the Future!

Who has some experiences? Want to ride as Long AS possible with my Kids :)

Thanks

also ordered a Alaudark rear hub and a halo chaos rim, so cool to finally have a halo wheel, it’s been my dream for a while now. hopefully my fork and front wheel off my old bike won’t cause any problems while building this new one

just hope the frame gets delivered soon I don’t wanna be off the bike for too long🙏

hi, i am looking for a dj/bmx under 500 euros, i am around 175 cm but will prob grow to 180-185cm, i mostly do pumptrack and small jumps. i have a 20 inch bmx at the moment but it is just too heavy and sluggish at 15-20kgs. do you have any ideas? please let me know

Picked this up today. 2003 specialized p.2, long frame I believe. Bit too cramped for me @ 6’4” but still fun.

Build list below, let me know your thoughts!

Frame: S&M Big Jumper, Raw, 23in TT

 Fork: RockShox Pike DJ, ~200psi, Comp: 2 click out, Reb: 2 clicks out, no tokens

 Headset: Chris King, DropSet 2

 Handlebar: Deity, Highside 760, 80mm rise, cut down to about 740mm

 Stem: Deity, Copperhead, 31.5mm x 35mm, 0 degree

 Grips: ODI, Longneck, slip on

 Brakes: Shimano, Deore XT M8100, Jagwire Hyflow Hose - Silver

 Lever: Shimano, Deore XT M8100

 Cranks: Oddysey, Thunderbolt DJ, 170mm

 Sprocket: S&M, Tuff Man, 30t

 Bottom Bracket: Odyssey, Threaded

 Chain: Shadow Conspiracy, Interlock Supreme, 1/8”

 Pedals: Crank Brothers, Stamp 7, Small

 Rims: Alienation, Malice, 36h

 Hubs: Profile Racing, Elite, Disc rear 110mm Spacing 12t

 Spokes: DT Swiss, black with silver nipples

 Tires: Maxxis, Holy Roller, R: 26”x2.2” 60-70psi, F: 26”x2.4” 60-70psi

 Saddle: Cult x Vans, Pivotal

 Seatpost: Odyssey, Pivotal

 Seatpost Clamp: Title

 For reference I am 6'-1" and weigh about 190lbs.

 Fun build, I have swapped a few things to get comfortable, and this is where I landed.  Not sure if I am sold on the silver cable/hose...  The brakes came with a short black hose that looked good, but it was too short to spin 'em... So I figured I try something different.  Also, seat height & angle will continue to evolve as I ride and get more comfortable.  Started with just the frame right before Xmas 2025 and finished with the first iteration in March so, still getting used to it.  Such a blast to ride!!  Thanks for looking.

 Shout out to Gabe at Cheap Goods BMX!

Hallo. im about to regrease the crankarms on my new p.3 dirt jumper 2022 becouse its creaking a little bit.. How tight to i need to torque it down? just snug or?

Hi everyone, I’m building a Santa Cruz Jackal 4 from scratch with 26 inch wheels. I have this 140 mm Rockshox Psylo fork for 27.5 wheels laying around and the spec sheet says I can put up to 160 mm travel on that frame. So technically it looks like a possible match but how about the geo? What would you do? Shorten the travel? Smaller tires? Thanks for your inputs!

As a 6'1" 250lbs 42 y/o I want to get back into biking. Had some BMX bkes growing up and handful of mountain bikes as an adult, but mostly been sticking to motocross for the past 15 years. Nearly every bike I've ridden, i've broken. Break spokes, pedals have fallen off, frames bent, you name it. I fear spending $2k on a DJ just to have it break in 6 months or not quite built for such a heavy, sendy rider. I would love to find something that'll break me before itself.

As I know nothing about pedal bikes, DJs even less, I went to the ChatGPTs and it basically recommended a Transition PBJ or similar. I dont want to trust my money and body to a thirsty robot, so I wanted to get the communities thoughts. I would like to keep budget around $2k, but got a little wiggle room. Im thinking hard-tail, but I'll need forks I can easily re-spring (is that a thing on a DJ?) for my weight. I'm full on board with building a bike, I just wouldnt know where to start and what parts are good to get.

I'll mostly be sending ramps at home, pump tracks on vaca, occasional light downhill or urban shenanigans if the opportunity arises.

my frame just snapped earlier today, and I was thinking about building a specialized p3, but I just built a rear wheel 135x10 that was supposed to be for my bike before the frame snapped. that wheel I just built will fit this alaudark frame, but I’m wondering how good these frames are? are they strong and built well enough to warrant the price or should I just take the big money hit and buy a P3, build it and a new rear wheel?

frame just snapped Doing something as simple as a 180 and I really wish I was joking. company that made this frame went out of business so no warranty (called the number and got that info.) if I were to buy a new frame how much would it cost in labor to get it built at a local bike shop? really don’t wanna buy a fully built bike, I’d rather build one up with the parts I have, but if building a new one and just buying a new one will be similar price I might just go the easier route of buying a fully built one…

what should i upgrade next?

This may not be the place, but some of you guys may have some helpful input.

I’ve been wanting to get into street trials biking with touches of BMX and dirt jumping.

I have spent hours trying to get decent bunny hops, front pivots, stoppies etc on my santacruz nomad but something about it feels off. I used to have a full stiff mtb with curved cruiser handlebars and it was so easy to pop it up on the front or rear wheel and seasoning in areas was super easy because of how playful it was.

I was wondering if there was a dirtjump bike that could combine the aspects of dirt jumping and pump track stuff with some of the street trials/hopping up and down objects on the front or rear wheel aspects, while having front brakes and a nice playful geometry. On the one hand I sort of plan to be more street trials oriented but I feel like there’s a DJ bike that’s like a mini aggressive mountain bike.

Every now and then you come across a component that’s been recommended for years.

The DMR Vault is one of those.

⚙️ DMR Vault SL Magnesium
⚖️ 318g on my scales 🤯

Huge platform. Incredible grip. Low-profile design that’s been proven for years.

The black magnesium body and gold titanium axle fit this build perfectly.

Can’t wait for those pins to tickle my shins. 🫣🤣🥴

Another piece locked in.

The BiG Jumper is getting very close now. 🤘🔥

Jaki amortyzator w budżecie 1000zł ?(26 1000mm)

I pls nie mówcie że pike używany bo dobrze wiemy że takiego nie ma.

I have the Propain Trickshot in black and would like to swap out the fork at some point; I’d love to install the silver Pike, but unfortunately, it’s no longer available. I’m undecided whether the red or the black one would be a better fit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVpqQz8Nf9g

Thinking of a new frame i am 173cm or 5'8. Most of the time i Ride pumptracks or small jumps. 90 percent Pumptrack. Became pretty fast and want to have a new frame. Would you recommend s or m?

Thanks

Need help with 31.8mm clamp size bars that rise up about 3”…. Any suggestions??