Jamie_Neal

I had no problem with the 19th Surley I used (now using a 16th shimano, again, no problems)

Yeah but you're the only person who puts that much force through the wheel. Glad they're finally bringing it out although I think I preferred the proto as this feels much shorter than 1100 and the headangle feels slacker than 72 deg. Good to see they're bringing out fork options as well - may be tempted when mine go (as long as thet've run out of orange paint by then).

Theres a few of us from Swansea who ride regularly its just probably as close for you to go to Bristol as it is to go to Swansea. There is usually someone out on the weekends, try either me, Partz or Dave33. Cheers, Jamie

Fair enough. I think I'll stick with the way I do it for now as I can still only remember snapping one spoke (have bent a few wheels in half though but thats due to crashing, no snapped spokes) as I'm too lazy to spend any longer on building wheels.

Personally, I can only remember snapping one spoke (in my front wheel) and I just replaced it and its been fine for at least 6 months. I'd say just stick a new one in, true the wheel up, release the stresses in it. I'll try and explain how I do this but will probably fail so I'll explain the method I used to use which is sticking the wheel on the bike, riding along and trying to lay the bike as flat as I can. Doing this, you can usually hear the spokes pinging which sholud settle them. Then check the wheel is still true - if so, go ride - if not, retrue and repeat the process. D521 should be very durable and a snapped spoke shouldn't affect the rim too much. Re-spoking/rebuild is probably in the region of £15 and new spokes are probably £12/15. I'd go for sticking in one spoke first, if it/one near fails rapidly again, look at getting the wheel redone. Cheers, Jamie

You can't get 20T 4 bolt rings. If you have a 22T front, personally I was finding 18 a bit hard on the back so switched to 19 on the back. I've got a 19T Surley cog that has only been ridden a handful of times you can have for £10 if you want (PM me). (Now running 18-16 due to 22T not fitting on my new frame) Cheers, Jamie

Nice vid. That post in Bristol looks too easy on film not to mention Dave making 50+ inches look waay too easy. You'll have to invest in a mini-tripod or find a more level bag/ground. Also, better choice of music than Cat and Dave's I think.

Fair play. Having seen the rocks at Shipley all of that stuff is really impressive.

Hit it harder, they fall apart eventually.

Personally the long adamant is spot on for me but I am 6'4" and I can still bunny hop. I guess it would be too long for you though as most people I know who are around your height ride shorter bikes (like Matt above). The head angle makes a big difference to the reach which as Matt said is the best measurement to compare.

Ah well, soggy street it is

Saturday if anyone is out both.

Yet more and more street riders go for the biggest taps, sidehops and gaps they can and currently I would say that they are probably the majority in terms of the type of riding done in trials. It seems that most people who ride go out to push themselves and the people they ride with yet they don't do it in a comp format where you are judged. I know what you're saying in that generally in sports, there is a small percentage the competes yet there is a large majority that just does it for fun/fitness. I think in trials it could be different as most of the people who ride trials have the ability to enter a comp and would probably do better than me (making it through two sections is good for me) its just most people prefer too ride street in an informal situation. It would be nice if more people tried comps as they are fun and definately a challenge (I usually ignore the people who take it too seriously).

Personally, I've snapped 2 sets of forks on the steerer - the only reason the last set did't snap there was because they were echo controls with the thicker steerer tube where I think it would make more sense to run a thinner steerer with a larger diameter. Although the forks I've just got are Zhi ones with a steel steerer so I'll be interested to see where they go as the seem pretty strong. I was tempted by a Styx as it is a sensible design but I don't like ISIS having had problems in the past and I think it may have been slightly short for me. Also, I'm a bit tight so I went for an Adamant.

Having gone to most of the UK nationals this year, I must say that I've enjoyed all of them even though I haven't ridden/finished overly well (possibly due to going with Dave and going out the night before most of them). There is a great atmosphere and all of the ones I've been to its been dry(ish) as I missed Addingham. I've found that they have definately helped my riding and I'm well up for next year, especially as Tim, Matt, Mike and Dave (some if not all) will go up to elite it should be interesting to watch. The traveling is an issue, mainly why I didn't do any when I was at Uni, but now it is less of an issue although it still costs a fair amount for the whole weekend.

would you buy a bike stand especially made for trials bikes? yes, definitely! [ 8 ] [42.11%] no, i dont need it [ 11 ] [57.89%] I wasn't going to answer that question as I think it would depend on the additional advantages the stand had. Also, height adjustment seems to be one thing that most stands miss. eg if you clamp a bike by the seat post and then want to use the stand for a trials bike, the trials bike sits a lot higher and can sometimes be difficult to work on or vice versa, the bike clamped by the seat post sits too low.

An IS for tensioners would be good, be it 74 kings style or a hidden one for rohloff or leeson. I guess the 74 kings style would give more scope for variation. 12mm bolt through hopes are really easy to come by as the BULBs convert to bolt through but I'm not sure if proIIs do. I would think that kings do a conversion as well - we just need the frames to go with the hubs. They make sense in terms of rigidity. I could have done with SPDs at the weekend to stop me from putting my feet down. Makes sense. Personally, I think I'll stick with a tensioner/mech as if you land on the chain, it has some slack - the problem is not quite the same on mods as they have bash plates to stop you getting near the chain. Larger BBs make sense - bigger bearings and axles makes it stronger. Nice looking frame, is it still going strong? My own additions: 1.5" steerer tubes. Wider BB shells on frames - why run a 68mm shell with a 128mm axle, its just asking for the axle to snap. Why not make it a 100mm shell (yes I know you'd need some one to make different BBs) with 130mm axles? The external bearinged BBs have gone some way to solving the problem but I still think it needs a major redesign. However, trials and the parts avaliable has come a long way in the past 10 years.

Wow, that was awesome. Kind of reminded me of Tim Steadman except less sketchy and better (sorry Tim) especially the hopping onto the chain. That just makes it even more impressive. Also, thanks for putting it on Trials Tube.

Nice, Matt said it was lovely to ride. You going to the comp? If so, I'll have to give it a go. Haven't got used to hooks on my Adamant yet but they'll come.

Should be there to try out my new bike on some rocks.

http://www.unicycle.uk.com/shop/shopdispla...p?catalogid=942 That looks cool - slightly wider than a DX 32 and only 20g heavier for 4mm wider. Be nice drilled.

You can reuse the oil if its not too dirty or if you leave it the crap separates out anyway - you can tell I'm too cheap to buy oil and I now have a water bleed anyway.

Was wondering abount that. Or you could then get away with running a magura on evo mounts as well.

Now you know why it was sooo cheap and I bet you wish it had a disc mount. You can borrow my mod if you fancy a ride although it may be a bit long for you. As for solutions, 20" rim and a BMX/front mod tyre. Can you extend the horizontal dropouts to allow the wheel to slide up further and take another link out of your chain or make a tensioner? I've got a grinder if you fancy trying? No other ideas as yet. Good luck.

Good find although if Tesco tubes are still £1.87 you'd have to buy an awfull lot of Bontrager tubes to make these cheaper if the postage is £4.99.