LEON

That was excellent! Only went for today but I wish I'd stayed all weekend now! I was knackered from work so wasn't exactly on fire but had a great time. Saw a load of old faces and met some new ones, definitely camping next year. Rode John Shrewsbury's Hex too, didn't know if I'd like it, I was wrong! Soooo much stuff to ride there.

Jesus. Why do they insist on making them worse every time they revise them? I could understand for the HS11, but the 33....seriously?

Well I did it, I don't have 2 syringes so I let it flow out of the lever, seems a good bleed but it feels so much spongier than my old 04, even on water. It felt the same before the hose swap too, and the new "bled from the box" HS11 on a mate's bike feels very spongey too. Are they known for being not very stiff?

I really wanna post the video of this, but I should probably save it for the GET competition vid.

Actually, I think my reflexes in the last clip were superb, I held onto the bike, put a hand on the floor, kept my head up. I was ready But as for bails, I'm not flexible / supple / light footed / nimble, so it's pointless me trying to land all nicely, as long as I don't break my ankles I'm ok. I rarely get injured from falls. I'm glad you liked it, but I'm glad that f**king ride ended, that last bail was the FIRST move of the day, everything else came after & obviously I was in some discomfort lol.

An anal guard would have been more helpful.

I have 8 gears, so your argument is void lol.

Last clip, one of my least pleasant. [media=]

Haha! He told me about all this an hour ago. I live under a rock apparently.

Ok, is there a certain position I need the lever in? Also, when undoing the hose barrel 3 threads....it just twists up my hose so I'd need to take the lever off, I've always used bleed kits & never a bath so I'm not clued up on that. So when I push fluid in through the slave...where does it come out?

Right, I bought a used 2011 HS33 and had to change the hose, so the brake has no fluid in it, I've read a billion topics on the "easy bleed system" and can't seem to find a definite answer on how to bleed these brakes the best. Ideally I wanna use phat fluid, but until I have some....is water gonna damage it at all? It's used & I have no manual, and I suppose no leak warranty. Do I need 2 syringes? I don't like change, so I'm struggling to come to terms with the fact that this "easy bleed" brake can't be bled easily. Ta

Oh go on then...I just emailed the glasseye address. I'm in.

This, there is such a thing as too high, 20 odd mm of spacers would be fine on that unless you're 6ft 7".

There you go then, is it worth never being able to ride again due to leg/foot/ankle injury? For the sake of a couple of hundred grams. If you're really obsessed with weight, buy alloy bolts for non stress areas, titanium bolts for the more crucial parts. There are always ways to make a bike lighter, but taking meat off your cranks is just stupid.

Anyone who drills holes in their cranks deserves broken ankles. You'd save as much weight by using an aluminium stem cap bolt.

The modern oversize freeride renthal bars? They're only 38mm rise and not very upswept, would kill the retro theme too, try & get some Azonic doublewalls, 2" or 2.5" is perfect.

Nothing wrong with trialtechs, as shape wise they're just really stiff Azonic 2.5" risers. But in my opinion Trialtechs are too stiff, I like the signature Azonic flex. But yeah don't take any notice of what stem you see on a Hex, their bb's are about 30mm higher than yours. And as Ross said, that 90x17 fsa stem is the best stem you'll ever buy for that money, it's worth buying 2 or 3 because they won't be there long.

No no and no, it's a dated frame with a 10mm bb drop, a high front end will f**k up the ride. On mine I almost found the headtube was too long, I used a 90 x 10 stem, no spacers & 2" risers. Geo wise it's virtually a Planet X Zebdi mk4/5, none of this modern bar/stem is made for such a low short bike. Look up Tim Stedman's old one, I'm sure he used a similar front end to me.

Planet X Zebdi mk5 (white dragon)

I've used a new, mint, perfectly set up echo disc on a 26" bike, and it was crap. They're just not good enough. If you're buying new....avid Juicy 5/7? I've used a juicy 5 with a 203 rotor, and it's the best disc I've ever used in my life. They cost a fraction of a hope trial brake. If you're going V, just get something solid like an avid, you don't need a linear pull xtr with all those moving parts flexing about.

Is Wayne really short? I've never understood his posture.

How tall are you out of interest? I've seen your mentally high front ends and wondered how/why. But like people have said I wouldn't go bigger than 120mm on the headtube, both mine are, I think the 26GHZ has a 130mm (with a -10 bb I found I actually needed less headtube) but apart from that I've never seen a longer one. I'd try as many different bb heights as you can, I have +10mm on my 24"...the old fourplay at 35mm was just way too high in my opinion, I haven't tried any other 24's but those are the two extremes, I think I could probably get along with +15, as always with Marino buyers, do your homework! Because once it's welded it's too late.

It is a bit weird, he died quite a few years ago. I don't see how you can honour him when you didn't even know him. And if you don't even know his name I'd just leave it.

That's the best vid you've made since the old OLD Echo vids (wasn't keen on the last 10 years)

When I look at the round logo, all I can think is washing powder.