Heatsink

The ±70g means that the tyre weight could be 1275g, plus or minus 70g, i.e. between 1200 and 1345g. Is there anything wrong with the DMR Moto style tread/tyres for trials us?. It's certainly more tarmac friendly than the Tioga DH type tires with their square knobs widely spaced, that buzz on concrete and fold over. Do they offer decent pinch protection & durability? Spotted this beasty in my LBS. He reckoned he could do it for £15 Kenda "K-rad" [attachmentid=3736]

Here's what happens to my 04 lever set-up from time to time. Either the bolt coming loose so leaving just one side supporting the lever, or a crash directly onto the lever: ^ Any lever will break in trials though if incorrectly assembled / crashed hard into, so I'd still stick with this lever because they work great if not abused! The TPA's do break on these pre 05 levers in time, and it seems that it remains a weak spot on the 05 levers too. Although they've moved the TPA dial away from where it's likely to be hit, I gather than the plastic threads on the new dial strip with frequent use Using the older Pre 05 lever has alot of attractions. It's the way I'd go if I had a 05 lever that broke. Plenty of cheap older style levers available to buy on TF, and you can fit many styles of lever blades to them. Magura did a few different versions of their levers and you can also fit the RB lever too which some people like. So far below is the only after market 05 lever blade available, and I'm not selling it! Top secret wood design for incredible weight reduction EDIT: Sorry the images don't work - My server appears to have gone down Steve

It's a great photo! It's definately Aurelien - he sent me the photo a few weeks ago, and it's been on my site and the MBK site for some while. [attachmentid=3727] Aurelien is now riding a blue MBK frame. It looks great in my opinion [attachmentid=3728] [attachmentid=3729] ^ Here's a photo of Aurelien from Koxx Days this year. It sounds like he's having a great time riding against the "bigger boys" of the French Scene, and really holding his own. In March he took part in a friendly competition with Marc Vinco and Gilles Coustellier and tied for 1st with both of them. To decide the winner the organisers decided to let the 3 compete on a harder section. Gilles had to leave, and Aurelien beat Vinco with a clean sheet versus Vinco's 5 dabs! I'm sure you'll be hearing more about him in the future! For more photos and vids of his riding then check out his website: http://aurelien.fontenoy.free.fr/

With Epoxies, the quicker to dry at room temperature stuff is always weaker The one above is sold in my local supermarket, making it readily available and cheap. It is also very strong As you can see from the rear of the packet shown below, you can achieve the highest possible strength with this slow ambient cure epoxy, actually in a matter of minutes by popping the item you're glueing in the oven. If glueing materials with high enough melting temperatures, then you can whack the oven up all the way and acheive the max strength As you can see, for this epoxy curing in a 180deg oven for 5 mins makes the bond 2.5x stronger than leaving it to cure at ambient for 12 hours. (ignore the red box!) Despite the photos, I don't use Epoxy to hold any of my pads in anymore though. Steve

At my day job, when the technicians are assembling machinery they use Loctite 638 if they don't want parts to be taken apart, 243 if they want it to hold but be serviceable. If anyone find them cheaper than www.rswww.com then I'd be interested in knowing where. Expensive stuff glue or thread lock! Steve

I spoke to someone on the phone at Pijin today and he was very helpful. Could have been him!

Hi Mads, Great to see your complete bike. It's looking in amazing condition! I must say too, excellent rear brake set-up! Steve

Thanks for the offer Rich will be sending me down one to borrow, but I thought I'd try and find out where to get them from since I'm sure others would be interested too. I'll have to ask in Halfords about them. Rang around a bit and found that Billys.co.uk usually stock them (due in May 8th) and told me it was a load of rubbish that you couldn't buy them seperately! Steve

Cheers for your suggestion Mike! Good to know you've got similar ones in stock too Wayne. In future there's a good chance that riders will ask me about where I would recommend buying them, so really useful to know. Another frustration I've found with BMX stuff: I need a hollow top bolt for my headset so I can run a Vee cable through allowing bar spins. The trouble is the BMX market is reminding me of the car spares trade where knowing the spec of the bolt is no help! You have to know the manufacturer's fork and the bolts are usually only available to buy with forks unless you raid a shop's spares draw. I know the bolt is larger than the standard MTB M6, but the chap at the PIJIN shop ran a pair of calipers over the bolt he had in his draw and the threads were 8.7mm! I was expecting it to be a standard M8 bolt.... Steve

I was after some grips with funky flanges on them like below: I can't really buy them from the usual shops because they're sold as BMX grips, with MTB grips having no flange, maybe because the flanges get in the way of MTB trigger type gear shifters? These definately look cooler than MTB grips! Anyway, there is a wide array of these available to order in a huge array of colours from BMX shops, except I'm struggling to put my finger on the Chainreactioncycles equivalent of BMX online shops. The ones I've looked at are overcharging on postage which shouldn't be more than around 20p or less for a decent parcel, plus a 1st class stamp. So far, alansbmx.co.uk charge £3 postage winstanleysbmx.com charge £3.99 postage Since the postage is so steep, for the total price I could buy 2 pairs of grips from CRC! All suggestions gratefully received, Steve

Check out my website - pads are available A mod may come, but not for a long time because there's only me and only so much time available! I've just added photos of the frame in the daylight. Thanks for the photo of Jon and the proto frame! I just need to receive the new Heatsink stickers to further improve its looks. Steve

Yep, the chains a bit slack too, repositioned the tensioner and the camera battery died! The geometry is a move back into alignment with the Ashton ET geo. Jon's notably had a WB similar to many stock bikes but this is back to the lengths typical of the break through 24" frame. Big thanks for Rich4130 for helping me out with components from his dead ET frame. Great to have some forks with moved Vee bosses so I can continue to run Vees. Haven't put the KMC chain on yet since I can't find my chain tool!

[attachmentid=3567] Just finished it this evening. Look forward to your comments Daylight photos will follow, but I couldn't resist a quick snap now in the dark. Back wheel is a bit jacked up on a lump but the battery died on my camera so I can't take any more shots! Spec: 24UK Frame Pashley forks with repositioned Vee bosses Front Wheel: 24 x 2.125 Tioga Competition III tyre, Rhyno Lite Rim on Hope Lightweight Hub Rear Wheel: 24 x 2.30 Tioga Factory DH, Rhyno Lite Rim, DMR Revolver hub + ACS Claw Brakes: Heatsink red Vees on the front, Heatsink CNCed Magura backings with red pads + Heatsink CNCed stock booster on the rear. Prototype tensioner with CNCed sprocket. Azonic Single Wall bars San Marco seat and FSA SL280 Seatpost Cane Creek C2 headset (not buying one of those again!) It needs better tyres (front lacking tread and rear has a non-ideal tread pattern) but otherwise I'm stoked! EDIT: Daylight photos [attachmentid=3570] [attachmentid=3571] [attachmentid=3573] [attachmentid=3572] Steve

Paypal is also apparantly not 100% reliable. It's still possible for money to be withdrawn afterwards, and there are some loop holes which mean you don't get the coverage you were expecting. This friend of mine had someone pay him via 2 installments through paypal. Thinking all was well he dispatched the goods and then the money got withdrawn only for him to find that there was no coverage because the payment wasn't carried out in one transaction! I heard of books written on using paypal carefully to ensure you don't fall into any traps like this. Steve

From the rider's point of view, aside from it giving you an ego boost to be sponsored, it can be much more than just free components in exchange for publicity through your riding that you were doing anyway. If you're a great rider then the support from companies can help further. I guess it depends on who's supporting you. The form and depth of support you can get no doubt varies a huge amount, but will no doubt be very beneficial as long as you're happy with the components you're riding, and get on with your sponsor! Although in the trials world there's less available than more popular sports, at the pinnacle of the money tree, World Champs may get their travel expenses paid for and a salary (or appearance fee) without which they wouldn't ride at exciting events around the world. At the other end it could mean lots of free components which certainly helps with funding everything. The publicity side in return can come quite easily if you're a good rider, since just by getting out there and riding, making the odd video, then you can help raise the profile of the company supporting you so that it's a reciprocal thing. Aside from sponsorship being a great facilitator, there's the satisfying aspect of being involved with the R&D of a new product. I often have prototype parts or designs in CAD that I want to share with riders and get their feedback on. I would have thought that it's pretty cool to be able to influence the design and ride exclusive new stuff first. Very satisfying when the product is released and you can see your influence and involvement there. It could be pretty cool to be sponsored rather than wanting to "Stick it up their bums" BTW, I'm not looking for any more people on my team! - I've already got plenty of riders and I'd like to help these guys better rather than dilute my support. however rules are always made to be broken, so if you're wanting to be sponsored then why not send updates to companies showing your vids, photos, comp results, without being pushy. Try and demonstrate a good attitude so that they'll be happy that you're a representative for their products. Steve

Everytime I sell something on ebay I get one of these Scamming emails! They want to buy outside Ebay They want to buy using Western Union They offer to pay much more than the item is worth (appealing to human greed) They give a story about it being a gift for a relation (appealing to your emotions) They usually ask for you to send the goods in advance of payment. Don't even waste your time replying or trying to be clever with them! The fact that 2 people have already voted yes shows why they continue to try this on. A friend of mine who seems otherwise quite bright has managed to fall into a whole range of scams via ebay including the one above when he sent a Mobile phone ahead of payment so that the man's daughter could "Get it in time for her birthday." Then he almost fell for the one where someone offers you 3x the worth of your knackered old car. Fortunately he asked others about it and was put straight! The money appears, the car handed over, and then the money is withdrawn from your account much to your surprise! Steve

Respect is due for deciding to actively seek patents on new parts. The Magura HS33 brake system is a shining example of how putting this protection in place at the outset (with the associated finanicial and time demands) was worthwhile in the long run. I'm always asking myself about the patentability of things I'm working on, so would be interested to see if these new clamps would be judged suitable since the concept is argueably similar to some of the types of improvements I aim to incorporate into components. It could be that my perception of a patentable concept needs refinement. I've built up this understanding from working for a Design consultancy for several years where IP is always used where applicable so would welcome the chance to find some exceptions to what I considered to be a non-fruitful IP area. I hope it works out and doesn't cost too much in the process! Steve

Thanks for that Mike It's an interesting one this. The key words I've heard used for patentable concepts are "Novel" and "Not obvious". Possibly the original Magura mounting arrangement with the spherical clamping, plastic inserts and ribbed calipers used in the field of pedal bikes would be patent material, and on the other hand, useful though it is, surely drilling mounting holes in a different position would not be a novel or un-obvious concept. Of course I could be completely wrong on this! I don't want to dis the new clamps or the idea, just engage in a debate about whether it's patentable. Give us a shout when the patent is approved and I will have learnt something! Steve

That's a useful variant of the clamps! Surely nothing you could patent though? Maybe I've misunderstood but isn't the change just moving the position of the clamping recess? When available I'm sure there will be some demand for those parts whether they are patented or not. I guess the simplest thing to do is just run pads which are slimmer. Backings are typically 7.5mm thick (it might be 7mm, I need to check with the calipers) and pads 6mm, total = 13.5mm. I've made thicker pads available (first 10mm and now 8mm) with the goal of offering the best value for money. The CNCed backings are 9mm thick (reason is to minimise rocking by elongating the wing length), and so run in conjuction with 6mm pads makes them only 1.5mm higher than standard pads, and actually 0.5mm lower than the 8mm pads I have in plastic backings. To make pads slimmer this is the best method I've found. It's a hand sander just sitting upside down on the bench. It's possible to take them down to the right height really accurately if you only grind for a few seconds at a time. Be careful though. I pushed too hard and my hand slipped onto the belt when it got drawn into the machine. ^ Marvel at my slight bent forefinger. Maybe I broke it at some point without realising! Steve

Tight but doable? This sounds great - thanks for confirming the frame and rim combo is a goer Steve P.S. I guess this thread can be closed now

Hi, Is anyone running a Koxx rim in a T-rex with Maguras? It would be really useful to know if I can do this. Thanks in advance, Steve

Nice job on the tensioner and the other DIY tensioners too! Here are some that I've experimented with. If you've got the time then it's a nice project which can save you a fair bit of money. You can buy rollers from www.chainreactioncycles.com, or even better for a quieter and smoother drivetrain (rollers, although cheap don't match the shape of the chain so are notchy and noisy) try and use a sprocket like a recycled derailleur one. ^ This shows an example roller bolt you could use and the roller I bought from Chainreaction. ^ This shows the easily available nut and bolt you can use to attach the tensioner to the mech hanger (The mech hanger uses a non-standard thread which is annoying) ^ The DIY mech hanger nut and bolt on the bike ^ The version with a sprocket and chain guides on the bike (smoother and quieter than the roller set-up) Steve

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Prawn, It's really common getting a build up of wax in your ears. I had exactly what you describe where it goes through phases of relative improvement as the wax moves around. Swallowing etc affected it. I definately had duller hearing out of one ear and the other one didn't work great either! It took a while for me to agree to see the doctor about what I thought was me going deaf. I guess I didn't want any bad news. A quick peak in my ears and it was a relief to hear (just about , after the doctor had repeated it a few times!) that it was just wax blocking things up. The doc will give you drops for a week or so in advance which is quite fun. It's meant to help soften the wax in advance for the washing out, but I was doubting whether it would have much impact. The fun is you've got to tilt your head on its side and drop a couple of drops in. If you tilt your head back it all falls out so you've got to keep your head on it's side for a while before popping some cotton wool in to stop it coming out. So during the run up to the washing out (we won't call it syringing because that makes it sound like a nasty proceedure when it isn't at all!) you walk around looking silly with cotton wool hanging out your ears, and also able to hear less than ever! It makes the day your get your ears sorted all the more sweeter! So I was back in a weeks time for the nurse to clear my hearing up. And what a fantastic day that was! I left with a skip in my step and was enjoying being able to hear every little sound that I hadn't for quite a while. My previous thoughts of having to learn to lip read and how to use sign language were quickly forgotten (Although learning sign language would be quite cool ) A revelation! Steve

I had mine syringed about a month ago. My hearing had gone in one ear due to the amount of wax blocking it up! I was desperate to get it sorted out and I can honestly say it was the most amazing day to actually get my hearing back. The nurse stressed to me many times to let her know if there was any discomfort, and at no time was I under any at all. There's a small container of water attached to a wand that she puts in your ear. The pump makes some noise but with your ears full of wax you can't hear much, just a gentle vibration and water sloshing around. When she stops the water, it takes a sec for the water left in your ear to clear, and then wow! You can hear again. It took a few goes of around 5-10 secs to totally clear each ear - The nurse had a peak in during the process to see how much was left as it went on. The whole thing was over in only 5 minutes. Aside from the joy of regaining your hearing you also have the fascinating chance to marvel at the amount of wax that somehow built up in your ear as it sits in the tank. Enough to start a profitable Candle making business prehaps? I didn't think it would affect me so much but I was really on such a crest of a wave after getting my crystal clear hearing back again. I'd go back and get mine topped up every week if work were understanding! Steve