Trials is a cycling discipline that demands advanced bike-handling skill, balance, power, precise decision-making and speed. Competitions see athletes take turns to ride over a series of challenging obstacles – some of them natural, but typically man-made – that are arranged into sections designed to push the riders’ skills and nerves to the limit. They must avoid touching the ground or the obstacles with any part of the body and anything other than their bike’s tyres.
Trials can trace its roots back to motorcycle trials, on which the sport’s purpose, get over obstacles, is based. From its origins mainly in Spain and the United Kingdom, trials has a strong and growing community and competitive following worldwide.
Rules and scoring
Riders are awarded points for successful riding.
Before beginning a section, riders are allowed to walk through it, and examine all the elements, but must not enter it with their bike. One by one, riders tackle the five sections, which are each made up of six – usually increasingly tough – sectors that contain different obstacles. When riders clear sector gates (mandatory passage between two arrows pointing towards each other) without any penalty they earn 10 points. Sixty points is the best possible score per section.
If any part of the body or the bike except the tyres touch any object on the section, a penalty will be applied (with a maximum of 5 penalty points per section) meaning the full 10 points will not be awarded.
In addition, neither wheel axels may cross the side boundary line even if the wheel is in the air (imagine a glass wall going up from the line). There’s also a time element: only 2 minutes are allowed for each rider to get as far as they can through each section, adding pressure for riders to commit and take calculated risks. Once the time is up, the rider keeps the score gained at the end of those 2 minutes.
The bikes
Competition trial bikes feature a ‘double-triangle’ or diamond design shared with bicycles across many different disciplines. But a trials competition bike has a distinctive frame geometry. They are very squashed, with a low standover height, short chainstay, long downtube, rigid fork, extremely strong rim or disc brakes and (relatively) high bottom bracket. And there’s no saddle...
Trials bikes are not made for comfort. With wide handlebars, usually with a long, high-rise stem, they are agile, manoeuvrable, and capable of conquering extreme obstacles… in the right hands. Their geometry comes alive when ‘stood up’ on the back wheel, a start point for many moves.
Lightweight carbon and alloy frames balance low weight and high strength. Lightweight parts are used throughout the build. They have low, single-speed gearing, and low tyre pressure with regular width treaded tyres, and, usually, rim brakes (with relatively low speeds, the control and weight-saving is the win, and rims are often ground for huge stopping power). Simple caged or spiked flat pedals provide good connection, while facilitating immediate foot release, as moving a leg out away from the bike is crucial for balance.
Riders compete in categories depending on the wheel size: 20-inch, 26-inch or Open, where any wheel size is accepted. Beginners' trials bikes have 16in to 20in wheels, as the smaller wheel size helps accommodate riders of smaller build.
Popularity in urban environments
Pioneering figures such as Swiss-American Hans Rey helped take the tricks and skills of trials to a more mainstream mountain bike audience by performing on a regular mountain bike.
A trend is also developing in cities with strong influences from BMX Freestyle and urban trials.
As its name indicates, urban trials takes place on the street using features found in an urban environment. A more fluid variation of the discipline, it encompasses the same skills as competitive trials competitions: precise control of the bike, jumps and balancing on narrow obstacles. Riders use props such as walls, railings, or any object which they can mount and descend with their bike in order to carry out a sequence of figures and stunts.
The most common bikes used for this are 24" inches and, unlike bikes used in competition, they usually have a saddle.
The big competitions
Held since 2000, the UCI Trials World Cup is the top-level season-long competition, with the overall winners in three categories – Men Elite 20in, Men Elite 26in and Women Elite – decided across typically three rounds at different venues across the summer months.
The UCI Trials World Championships were held for the first time in 1987, and have been hosted in many European venues, along with the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and China. Today, the same three classes as the UCI World Cup, along with Junior equivalents of each, are included, along with a team event, which has enjoyed different formats over the years.
Until 1999 they were held as standalone events – with the separate 20in and 26in categories introduced in 1995 – then from 2000 to 2016 trials was part of the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships. The women's category was first competed in 2001. With the exception of the multi-discipline UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow 2023, trials has since been part of the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships, organised at venues in countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, along with BMX Freestyle. Celebrated UCI World Champions.
A dedicated event for Under 16 riders, the UCI Trials World Youth Games, is the most important international event for boys and girls. The first edition of this annual event took place in 2000. The event provides a key platform for identifying emerging talent and showcasing the discipline’s future stars.
Titles of UCI World Champion for trials have been awarded to nations including Switzerland (9 titles, including 7 in a row for Karin Moor); Germany (6, including 4 consecutively for Nina Reichenbach; France (5 for Gilles Coustellier; and 3 each for Vincent Hermance and Thierry Girard), Belgium (3 for Kenny Belaey) and Great Britain (7 titles for Jack Carthy, including 4 consecutive). The most dominant nation to date is Spain. In the Men Elite 20in category, many rainbow jerseys have been earned by Spanish riders including the incomparable Benito Ros (8 titles between 2003 and 2014); Abel Mustieles (five) and current incumbent Alejandro Montalvo with three. His counterpart in Women Elite, Alba Riera, has claimed the last two titles, the first at the age of 16.
Expect to see some of these stars in action at the first round of the 2026 UCI Trials World Cup, taking place in Dole (France) from 8 to 10 May.