Peaky

I am a bit behind the times and still using ceramic D521's on my trials rig (Diamond back trial pro frame from about 6 years ago). I currently use kool stops but was wondering if anybody thinks there is a better pad out there for use with ceramics?

I think you mean STEM not Steam. I haven't got a clue though I'm afraid, I use a stem which has not got enough rise so I could do with a new one myself. Lots of people seem to use both that you have mentioned so I guess at the end of the day it is down to which one feels the nicest for you.

I have never used water in my magura's and I can't see the point. A well bled set that are done with magura blood are going to perform way better in the long run than some that are filled with water. 1. If your brakes get hot (like if you leave them in the sun) then you will get steam building up in the brake meaning that they will go spongey. 2. Not only is magura blood not water and therefore not prone to boiling until at much higher temperatures, it is also much cleaner than water. Water contains limescale which could deposit itself on parts of the cylinder and piston scratching them and causing leaks as well as containing loads of bacteria and micro organisms so its quite likely that you will have a load of green gunk floating around in your brake too! I don't see how any of the above can be good. The only time that I would ever use water is if I needed to urgently bleed my brake for a ride and I didn't have the proper bleed kit. I would then flush out the whole system and pump it full of fresh magura blood as soon as I had the chance. I ran a set of magura's for 5 years with magura blood and I never bled them once! They never became spongey and they never leaked. They are in fact still going strong on my friends bike having had a bleed (with Magura blood) when I fitted them to his bike. In my opinion the only time a bleed is necassary is when you tear a hose out, change the length of a hose or if they do for whatever reason become spongey. As for using water in a disc brake though, DO NOT USE WATER. You will have major issues with boiling as mentioned above!

You could always pop a longer bolt through the hole and put a nut on the back of it! Make sure that you cut the end off of the bolt so it doesn't poke out too far though or it'll seriously hurt when you smack your knee against it!

I don't want to have to go too deep with trying to explain why I think my idea is good and why one piston will always move more than the other but in short: One piston will ALWAYS have more "stiction"/friction in its seal than the other as no two seals will ever be truelly identical. There fore the piston with the least stiction will start to move first. Once stiction is overcome the moving piston shall continue to move before the other pad starts too as its easier to move the already moving pad than to start the other one moving (this relates back to Newtons laws of motion and other boaring physics type stuff). This means that the piston which moves second will not move until the first pad has made contact with the rim. The same is true in reverse when the pistons retract meaning that one piston shall always return before the other and therefore leave one piston hanging around in the middle of no-where and the other retracting all the way home into its cylinder. This even happens with brand new brakes (mine are two months old and they did it just like my old ones did). Dirt and air in the system will just make the problem worse but are not the cause. P.S. Feel free to go play with your magura's and prove me wrong! P.P.S If you do have a set of maguras with which the pads move by equal amounts and at the same time then your one dam lucky person from my experience! Oh, and if you give this mod a try then make sure you don't position the cable tie in a way that over stresses the pads retaining clip when the lever is released. The cable tie is meant to encourage the other pad to move and not to put the pad under strain resulting in a situation where your pad will "easily pop off" as Andy H has put it.

I have a Samsung VP-X220L. Firstly its tiny! about 1" thick, 3" long and 4.5" tall. It uses solid state memory so no discs or tapes to jump or damage It has 2MB internal memory and you can just whack SD cards in it to expand the memory It has a ruberised casing so its shock proof and pretty good at repelling dirt and water It has a 10x optical zoom Best of all it comes with a helmet camera that plugs into the main cam-corder and has a remote that you can turn it on and off with so the main camera unit can sit in your pocket/bag out of harms way and the helmet cam is water proof and pretty rugged! It is quite expensive at £450 (this is what I paid for it on a British airways flight where I brought it from the duty free) but I think you would agree that it is awesome value for money! Here is a link so you can have a look Samsung video recorder For some reason my camera is called a VP-X220L instaed of a SC-X300L as it says on the web site. I is the same camera though so I am thinking the model number might be different depending on which country you buy it!

Here is my tip: When adjusting the TPA on maguras one piston will innevitably move whilst the other one will stay retracted, rather than them moving by equal ammounts. The one which which does not retract soo much is also innevitably going to rub against your rim (which is dam annoying). So, my tip to stop your pad rubbing against the rim is this: Take a cable tie and rap it around the body of the brake cylinder on the side which is retracting all the way back, and position it so that the pad can no longer retract all the way back. This will force the other piston to retract. By adjusting the position of the cable tie you will be able to stop either of the pads from rubbing (assuming your wheel isn't the shape of a pringle!). Bit of a bodge but it works a treat and saves you having to redo your break set up every time your brake pads get a bit worn. Instead, just move the cable tie accross a bit! Happy braking people!

I use D521 ceramics on my trials bike (Which is quite a few years old now). When I was riding alot (about 6 years ago) they were on loads of bikes. I don't see anyone riding with them now! I guess ground rims do offer awesome bite but you must go through brake pads like theres no tomorrow! Is anyone else still stuck in the dark ages like me and using ceramic rims?

Good little vieo is that. Especially when you said its nothing special! Some nice riding there lads. Quick question: What programme do you use to edit your videos with? I have Ulead video studio which came with my video-camera but it seems pretty pants! When I create the new video file its usually corrupted in some way where I have added titles or music over the top!

My hope has minced itself before now too! The ratchet ring which is pressed inside the hub got completely knackered! Sent it back to hope and the replaced it all though! I was looking at the DT swiss free ride hub the other day at the Bike show and that seemed to have a lovely freehub in it. Didn't get to ride with it or anything. I was just spinning it by hand and the engagement felt amazingly positive. Reckon it could be a great trials hub! Anybody had a go with one?

If your pads are contaminated then (unless the contamination is very recent) the oil (or what ever the contaminant is) will have seeped deep into the pad and unless your very lucky, sanding the pad will not get rid of all the contaminants (from my experience). The best way I have found to clean contaminated pads is to soak them in degreaser (I use industrial Petroleum Ether) in an ultrasonic bath. Unfortunately for most people they don't have access to either of these but if you have then your onto a winner because it works an absolute treat! The best bet for you other wise is to just leave your pads soaking for a good day or so in degreaser so that it can properly soak into the pad (warning! some degreasers might react with the glue that holds your pad together!!). Once you have dried the pads off and put them back on the bike you will probably find that you have to kind of bed them in again with some heavy breaking and maybe a bit of dowsing with water once you have heat in them. Like I say, you might be REALLY unlucky and have your pad fall apart if the degreaser reacts with the pads glue but if not and it works then you've just saved yourself buying some new pads!! Oh, and another tip, make sure you have thoroughly degreased your disc before putting your pads back in or you will just end up contaminating the pads again.

The above tips are all heading in the right direction I think but the best way to learn this (in my opinion) is to firstly get the idea of doing it from a rolling start before trying to do it from stationary. By using a rolling start you can then carry your momentum into and though the manoeuvre making it a bit easier and it will help you to learn the kind of shape that you have to make with your body and bike. The key is to keep moving when you do this and not to put your front wheel down, completely come to a halt and then try to do it. If you can do it all in one fluid motion it will be mcuh easier. When you have the hang of that then you will have learnt most of the technique but from stationary the action has to be exagerated! Hope its of some help to you Alex

I live kinda near the train station. Like I say, I'm pretty busy over the next couple of weeks but if I do get a spare moment It'd be good to get out for a ride. Martin

With magura's you will nearly always get one piston that moves more easily than the other. If you find that the pad is rubbing against the rim because of this I have a way to get round it: Its a bit of a bodge but I have used this method for years and it works a treat. Get a cable tie and rap it around the caliper body on the side where the pad is returning right back into the caliper and do it up tight in a position that stops the pad from retracting completely. This encourages the other more sticky piston to move and pull the pad away from the rim meaning it won't rub any more. In order to get it spot on you will probably have to jiggle the cable tie about a bit and you may have to change the position of the cable tie if you adjust the TPA. I hope I have explained this alright. Happy Braking!

Cheers lads. I'll definitely take you up on that. I have got a pretty busy month ahead of me but if I get a spare evening I'll definitely get in touch with you about a ride. I have ridden a few times around St Neots with a few lads (most of them work at the Grafham bike shop) just doing a bit of street. Didn't manage to find that many great spots so it'd be great to have some lads show me all the good bits.

Glad to hear that the Martin's are still having an impact on you younger guys, Tricks and stunts is a must have for any trials rider! Anyone know if you can get hold of it on DVD now? If so I NEED a copy!

Cheers for your help guys

Way back when I was 15/16 Martin Hawyes and Martyn Ashton were gods and I worshipped them. I can't believe that anyone who rides trials doesn't know who these people are. At the same time, the fact that someone doesn't know who Martyn hawyes is means that they are probably way younger than me, which makes me feel really old!

I live in St Neots but have only recently moved here from Braintree. I still head back to Braintree plenty though! I have not ridden trials soo much over the past couple of years and now spend most of my time riding DH/freeride and a bit of xc. I still like to get out and throw myself over walls and benches every now and then though and it would be great to get out riding with some other people as all my old trials riding friends have long sold their trials rigs or just don't use them any more. My trials rig is one of the white Diamond back Trial pro frames from around the year 2000. Its running ceramic D521's on XTR/hope hubs, middleburns and just got myself a new set of Magura Evo's for it in white! The last couple of times that I have been back to Braintree I've seen loads of people about on 20" wheeled bikes. Soo wanted to get out and join in the riding but didn't have my trials rig with me. So, basically, the jist of this thread is to see if anyone is up for a bit of trials either in Braintree or St Neots and if so we'll have to arrange a ride. Martin