Matt Vandart

I'm sorry but I disagree with the lot of you. If you set up standard factory bled, standard pad maguras properly with a rim with no tar or grind, they work well enough for most things early on. If you have the money then buy new pads, but learn how to set up your standard ones first and then when you get new pads they'll work amazingly. If you set up your brakes with the new pads craply, they still won't work. Matt

Correct. the cost of Ti parts isn't just the material itself, it's the tooling costs. There is not much machining on a steerer tube compared to the bashring/sprocket. The thing is with machining titanium alloys, is that the stuff is really tough. This isn't the same property as strong or hard. These are separate properties. Lead is also tough, but very soft (malleable). Anyway to keep it simple, titanium blunts tools, fast. You also have to machine more slowly and you must keep it very cool, otherwise it catches on fire. I was once machineing a titanium alloy component when I was an apprentice and it caught on fire. I shit myself, the old guy that used to teach me machining, just laughed and said to leave it burn. Titanium is also very hard to put out once it goes up, like magnesium. A set of forks with ti steerer would not be massively more expensive to produce. Don't forget markup on Ti Items, companies get away with it because the general public thinks titanium alloys are magical. The thing is with Ti components is that they must have some mistique so the money can be charged. There is also a thin line between what someone is willing to pay and what they are not. You can sell more alloy steerer tubed forks say for £50 because more people are willing/can afford a £50 set of forks than even a £70 set of forks (examples not facts). The xtra, £ it costs to have a Ti tube then becomes an issue. This is due to the tooling costs. For every 100 alloy forks you sell at £50 you may only sell 10 Ti at £120. The tooling has cost you the same as the alloy forks + the extra because of the above mentioned Ti tooling problems. I think I have confused myself Anyway my point is that it would not cost much more to manufacture the Ti steerer forks it's just you couldn't make the figures add up enough to be worth it so companies don't do it. Imagine getting all that Ti for a reasonable cost then asking mucho libre for a poxy axle, people would think you were having a laugh. Matt

Yes, Elliot, yes it will. Matt

do it like this: Mark the mid line of the rim all the way round using a device as shown. Use the braking surface as a guide. Now mark centres between spoke holes (watch your nuts) then centre punch all the way round. Drill like this using a drill press. The sockets (should be of equal size but I couldn't be bothered to look for two the exact same) will ensure that the rim doesn't jiggle around and ensures that you are drilling square. Here I am drilling pilot holes. Go all the way round with the pilot drill and then with the desired size drill. After you have read this, before you drill your rim, go and take your socks off and ride your bike. You will then have an idea of how much weight you will lose on your bike. Or take a good dump. Matt

Go and give him a kicking. Matt

Really check this out I spent years putting off wheel building, I was pointed to this website and a built a perfect wheel that evening, I even trued it to .5mm on the bike. Putting the rest of the bike together is piss, it takes me about 1hr tops but I can do it in less time if I push it. Thats from completely dissembled. Matt

We have a winner! :lol: Matt

Is there any real advantage to doing this? To the guys that did it, did it weaken your frame? Did anything bad happen? Matt

Way to kill the thread Dave Matt

Thats a good idea Matt

It would probably work but may f**k the threads up. The top cap isn't there to hold yer bars on it is to preload the bearings in the headset. You can do this with a big sashclamp. Another way to do what you are asking is to get a really long top cap bolt or threaded bar that passes all the way through your steerer tube. Use the slopey top cap on the stem as normal and at the bottom end of the steerer put a normal aheadset top cap with the end of the threaded rod poking through the hole. Preload you headset bearings as normal and do up yer stem. Now you can remove the topcap and threaded bolt and shit et viola. I have a bike that has had no topcap on it for months it has never come loose or f**k all. Good luck. If you cant understand what I am on about I will happily draw a picture or take a photo of doing mine. (I have the very stem you are on about.) Matt

Well go and make a video where you drop 8 stories onto a crash matt. I'm sure theyed pay you a million dollars in vegas for that. Then Sprog can go watch it. Everyones a winner. Matt

You could probably just get away with etching primer if the lacquer is generally good condition. Hamerite? wouldn't use that it's really hard to get a good Finnish. Matt

Fajitas or however you spell it. MMMM,, yummy yummy I'm gonna have them tomorrow. Matt

Good Info thanks Guys Matt

In what way? Matt

I'm building a new bike with the funds I gained from selling a few spare ones I had kicking around and was wondering if there are any carbon forks that are up to the job. I am building the bike around a Brisa frame I got on e-bay and fancy some carbon forks sorta like the ones the Coustelliers have in on their bikes in the leaps and bounds movie. Anyone use carbon forks? Are they any good? Anyone know what the ones on their bikes are? Thanks Matt

Is that the steerer tube I spy? if so I would have said it's the bloody great slot that looks like it has been hacked out of the stem myself, when you do this sort of mod you need to ensure you have not put any flaws in the structure especially with cast components such as sharp corners etc. You should be able to mend that quite easily with a small hot flame, like a precision plumbers torch or oxxy feul with a small tip, just make sure you clean off ALL paint and other contaminants in an area about 1 inch all round the crack. Be carefull not to overheat because when welding aluminium with oxyfuel it doesn't look like it is melting, heat it too much and it will collapse. Or just bin it and get another, a stem is one thing you really don't want to let go at the wrong time! Matt

That isn't even slightly funny. Killing people isn't an easy thing to do whatever the situation. Shooting someone with a MC116 sniper rifle at 400m is easier as you can dissociate yourself with the target. Stabbing them up to death in an alley is more up close, personal and risky to yourself and any reason behind the motive being discovered. Having control over whether you kill someone as an anesthetist is a big responsibility and probably most people on this forum havn't got what it takes to kill people anyway even in such a seemingly easy way. Personally I would be inclined to run out naked like JD. Best answer so far IMO Matt

Correct. Matt

You might as well try anything really because you can't really do any more damage. Don't listen to people that just say "Buy a new frame" you have already bought one so you may as well get the most use out of it you can. See this thread for instance: Clickety click for Jesus Hope this helps Matt

Wow you guys really take the weight issue seriously. I had a conversation about this in the local bike store and they were taking the piss, but if you add all that weight up it does come to a good ratio of the complete bikes weight. I don't take to seriously though, but I have been looking at ways to lose big weight and I think tires and BB are good places to look at. Anyone started unwinding cables yet? Apparently thats what the XC guys do! Mental. Matt

And thrust yer hips towards the bars. Seriously. When you land bring your ass back and down. Matt

Scooter riding in the Olympics, now that is worth campaigning for for sure. I'll tell you what, that fact is almost definitely due to scooter sales, man every kid has a micro scooter, I rekon theres big money in scooter manufacture. I hadn't thought of that but it is a very good point, when chavs ask where your seat is they are actually making a good point in a social perception context. Matt

Very good points indeed, I wholeheartedly agree. There are a lot of "Lookers" in trials just check the recent London rides video posts. On the point of trials clothing, some clothing is shit some isn't, however to young impressionable kids clothing and music are the beginning and end of their very existence, this should not be underestimated in attracting a new generation to the sport and how it effects the way it is perceived by said youngsters. I have seen a couple of posts on forums along the lines of "What clothing should I wear for trials?". When you are young, being seen to be part of the "individuals together" collective is actually very important both in their heads and in reality. Kids which don't keep up with current "fashion" and "trends" are picked on and it does affect their lives in the long term. Personally I have never given a shit. I didn't wear shoes till I was 8, not even to school (I lived in Australia) and could never care less what people thought about me so no-one f**ked with me. I still don't, I grew up as a scruffy Pikey and I'll always be one. But the vast majority of kids do, even if they won't admit it to themselves or anyone else. BMX is much "cooler" than trials by miles and thats why it has a bigger following. Having said that, remember the days of uniforms in BMX, that was way shitter than trials currently is. BMX has made it to the olympics, it's only a matter of time... Matt