sharn

Always Interesting to read peoples views. I'm not really BIG on politics or owt but.. Cant say that any party got me particularly excited for the future of the U.k really but i have to say i found myself (much to my own surprise) agreeing on many points with Mr.Farage. Personally, i quite like the man as far as politicions go. He talks straight. He knows what he's saying and he means what he says. And i sort of warmed to his funny little character the more i listend to what he had to say. He seemed to be the only one in my opinion who actually understood anything for himself and who seemed to have a true interest in both the economy of this country and had a vague concern for the society. The rest are clearly pampered spokesmen for the Internationalists and are clearly compelled to represent the interests of them ( If, for the ease of conversation you'll excuse me using those sort of terms) I find myself sharing Mr.Farage's concern about the U.k's continued membership of the E.U for many reasons. One of which is the economic state of some of the countries in the EU whos citizens are clearly ( and understandably) looking for greener pastures here in the u.k - And although i am by no means a nationlist/racist or Anything like such i think it's simply ridiculous that the U.k (or any other country) should be obliged to accept much immigration with no ability to excersize any means of control regarding what it's own economic capacities actually are. It is true that the amount of non/semi skilled labour in the u.k is already more than adequate if not excessive. Apparently theres already 2 and a half million un-employed in the u.k? It seems to me to be a reasonable and sensible proposal of the UKIP party to get out of the EU, primarily just to be free to introduce a system similar to Australia, new zealand etc concerning immigration.. Where-by it can assess against it's own needs at any point and on an individual basis who it can realistically allow to migrate to the country. I'm not saying it's something over which there is current mayhem over.. but there does seem to be some sense in the concern and it seems to me the other (main) parties might have gotten abit too chummy within the Internationalist group to be able to easily turn back, regardless of whether it is actually in the best interests of the country -and after all - lets not forget these people are not likely to actually feel any of the consequences of their actions themselves. I do share a slight concern with UKIP that the continued 'Open-door' Policy for citizens from any Eu membership country could easily see an already 'At capacity' U.K forced into real economic issues of un-employment which is likely to lead to social issues. Its not racism it's realism. It may be not be *extrememly* obvious right now, but i think it is potentially good forsight to see this as a likely problem in the not too distant future, which the leaders of the main parties dont show many signs of addressing untill it's too late (as usual). But i am by no means clued up about all the things - it just seems like common sense? Eu has many bankrupt/poor countries in it now and it's policy that all countries within it have 'open doors' - it's obvious whats going to happen isnt it? It still leaves us (The human family) with the problem of how to help those people but from a strictly selfish 'U.k best interestes' p.o.v - It seems Farage is on the ball on this one. It's a big concern which indirectly effects all the other aspects of society - i.e NHS,Taxes etc. And it seems the 'pro-E,U' parties are simply over-looking it chasing their 'euro-dream' as Farage puts it. However, i do believe that people can cope with anything if theyre willing to cooperate and willing to sacrifice - regardless of the situation. But i'm not sure we have a society in which 100% of its members are so happy to do so and i see a potential for an increase in racial hatred and division as the priviledges of the country are diminished. ( And theres abit of a conspiracy thats part of the plan of the 'Globalists' - Divide and conquer?) Regardless, i myself feel that i understand the UKIP argument from a strictly political, U.K self interest point of view and from that stand point am compelled to agree with it even though i hate to feel so harsh. Naturally i want to say ' Aah it'll all be alright'. But i'm not so sure. About the Fox hunting stuff. Although i understand theyre just proposing a county by county referendem on the ban.. and although i can understand it's a tradition that stems from what once was a necessity to protect live-stock.. It is today just a blood sport. And Honestly this was the main reason i didnt go and vote for UKIP. ( I didnt vote at all ) Plus i was scared that i'd drastically mis-understood something because i'm always told theyre a bunch of racist nazis with comments like on in this thread.. Someone please explain to me why i should hate UKIP over all the rest ( except the Lovely Greens of course) because i'm really confused! Now, you could consider me to be someone you might presume would be dead against UKIP - I'm of a mixed heritage ( Although brought up solely by my Mother and her/our totally English-as-a-bakewell-tart family My fathers family originate from Northern India (But i have nothing to do with them unfortunatly) Over recent years i have taken great interest in the Philosophies & social practices of Islam (the proper islam not these Isis type nutters) and have come to realise that the message of the Quran is (for me) clearly something Prophetic. Like the bible.. but way more concise. You could consider me to be a 'Muslim' Depending on what you understand that to mean. To me it basically means don't worship yourself, dont worship other people, dont worship idols but instead worship ( Or 'give your thanks to'..) That illusive force that brought all those things (and indeed everything else!) into being. That logical conclusion you get to when you intellectually realise that eventually 'something' has to be UNcreated. And that something is The Cause and Source of all things. That is not a man or woman or a donkey or infact anything else possibly conceivable. The Formless. The Eternal. The Knowing. Ultimately and (to me) logically nothing else is truly deserving of praise, as all things are a creation of this Boundless, Absolute 'entity' . I call it 'The only thing that can be called God' or in Arabic - 'Allah' Anyway, so just to say.. I'd still rather have a 'nationalist' goverment with a few ' temporarily' mis-informed potential 'racists' who maybe can be reasoned with ( Or will just drink themselves into irrelevance anyway) rather than a Knowingly evil, Scarily sober, 'Globalist' goverment. And 'they' know very well what theyre doing. But it's possibly too late. And It's written in All the books. *Conspiracy*. Wake up folks. To be honest, never mind Policy.. I mean Politics. I'm more intesrested in the 'Free Man' Argument. Did God endow some people with the ability to make real Laws?! Of course not, thats why theyre just 'Policies' for those who agree to be subject to them. I.e who take an oath to pledge allegiance to them. Unfortunatly theres a very well trained and armed social army ready to enforce that Policy upon any rogue Individuals who may have chosen not to 'bear the mark'. You Are the Living Earth. Created Free and bound only by Natural Law - To honour and respect Life, Liberty and Freedom. Unless you agree (Or are forced by circumstance) to be bound by something else. And the Horror show continues. It's time to get Mad. Edit: Few spelling mistakes and an extra (A) for my Religious Propaganda *Bloody Cameron - Why does he look so odd? Maybe he's actually a goverment experiment? * But seriously

Ive certainly never seen bars thrown on a mod.. Well done Ive got two pins in my finger because of barspins Get them dialled in 180s.. I love a good old 180 Bars

Spray the pedals black Nice bike. Mad sweep! Enjoy

Nice, especially enjoyed the little switch-foot hop before the wheelie-to-up at 0:49.. Something nice about that. Enjoyed the black and white too.. always liked b&w film.. you can see shapes and composition better i find.. Nice one

C :cool2: L !!

Pump like a pro and pump like a maniac with a hand pump upto 110psi! Might aswell go chainless in a big park with a trials gear! Its definatly handy having an easy to switch- harder gearing for street sessions/hitting parks mid ride I hope one of the trials companys can make a nice solution for a few solid 'manual-shift' s.s chain gear options! (maybe using a 1/8 chain on 3/32 rings to help a little with chainline?) Shame i only got mine really working well towards the end of having the Leeson. Getting too old to be riding across town in 22-16! I found it was actually putting me off riding having to go between spots in that gear! (Or should i say: i was more encouraged to blast down to local spots with a harder gearing!) It was set up 28-16 for ages before i sold it actually. But i was hardly riding it for trials.. mainly a little set of trails and some park. Had the Pashley for trials Edit: Beg your pardon.. It was set up 28-17! It made for a better chainlength.. Nah not properly - could do a few small things from rolling with relatively short run-ups with a little B* crank then a good hard one timed with a sortof bunnyhop.. Kinda like a B* crank bunnyhop/sidehop/to-front etc. Only small things really though.. like upto lever height maybe? - just messin about sort of thing. Mainly it was for getting about and riding street.. Found it felt nicer because trials gear is abit lost at moderate speed isnt it.. made landing things like 180s/360/bunnyhops feel abit sketchy to me.. like there was no weight. much nicer with a harder gearing (for me anyway) To be honest the kmc kool didnt like the 12.. had to run the chain upside down because the plates hit the body of the cog so it never sat down on the teeth properly.. untill it dug itself some grooves! With a smaller height chain it was fine straight off. But back onto Bens lovely bike.. On second glance It looks like that second cog is the same size? Is it just a spacer?

.. chuck four pegs on them monsterous dropouts and get to scuffin round the playground Looks like a pretty fun bike.. bet it's nice and solid and satisfying just to nibble about on little stuff and dial s-m-o-o-t-h on the tech line.. B) Remember that Leeson clive made with a peg? Who's was that??

Anyone ride or ridden a Liteville 301? Such nice frames!

nice bike

That was awesome. Very high standard riding! Did you intentionally make the video 3:33?

I havnt watched either of these in yeeears, and iv'e just watched them both today! So weird, i even knew exactly what people would say and how theyd say it.. we used to repeat phrases from evolve all the time when riding! Haha we mustve been like 14? Cheers for diggin em out and putting them up Reet blast from past! And some pretty awsome riding! Forgot how big these guys could go and how smooth lensoky actually was! 21:10 by leech.. thats not easy at all! Cool stuff

Used to have this on VHS And Evolve.. Dno where they went though Seems more interesting when done on those bikes! Like any of that on a '26"-mod' wouldnt be interesting to watch at all. This made me actually go out and ride the local walls today.. Nice one

Yeah, agreed about the forks.. was gona say that actually adding length to forks can ruin everything! Long forks are generally not nice for some reason? Id be more incline to adding to the headtube - thats what i did on my leeson.. purely so i didnt have to have loads of stackers! But my bar height was still far lower than most of you guys running this super high bars! Geometry is a very werid thing.. So many different 'points of action' as to say.. and especially with trials when were all over the bike in so many positions it's all a balancing act... Then as you say.. theres the riders build and flexibility to take into account.. definitely no set formula! Anyway,

I may be completely wrong in my understanding there.. was just a thought that maybe with the short frame you've felt the need to go upwards knowing that you definetly dont want to go forwards by using a longer stem (would throw out the relationship between bars and f.wheel) But like you said all sorts factors and watching your getcreative vid the bars don't look that high? Youre clearly a pretty stocky guy riding mostly street! Maybe a slightly stiocky build body means you like slightly shorter/higher bike overall?! ( (Y) for those bunnyhop gaps. one at 3.30 to rail is a beaut!) Don't mean to sound like a tool.. you obviously know what you like..and are clearly a far better rider than i ever was! Was just thinking out loud as you mentioned the bike was short wheelbase and i figured automatically no-body runs a long stem on this type of bike so maybe you felt the need to go upwards a bit more? But re-thinking it.. maybe it doesnt make a lot of sense Alas, looks isnt everything! Just get a longer headtube on the next one! And/Or slightly longer fork.. extra 1cm means one less stacker!

Nice bike. Nice to see someone else with a 2 speed set-up! I had this going on my Leeson for years - 22-17 for trials/ 22 - 12 for street/trials/bit of park. Also ended up chucking a 28 up front sometimes for 28-17 street/trials/park and 28-12 Trails/ Park etc. Obviously had to add/subtract links in the chain when changing between the 22 and 28.. but managed to make a tensioner that was able to take up the slack between the 17 and the 12.. i had the tensioner underneath the chain (pushing up) on the 12 and above the chain (pushing down) on the 17. Cogs were literally next to eachother and both obviously had to be slightly eitherside of perfect chainline. Had perfect sized spacers ready to be easily moved either side of the jockey wheel to adjust the tensioner in line. It worked, enough to be usable but could certainly be developed better. Remembering the old dmr s.s tensioner how you could adjust chainline with a grub that pinched the sliding arm, something like that wouldve been easier. Would love to see someone design something properly to fit this purpose! I think it would be very useful to the new-school 24 riders?? Maybe even a 22 -17/16 on the back with a permanent 22 - 28 'double' on the front .. with a chain with two split links at the right amount to adjust the chain for either gearing? I dno, would be nice to somehow make it simple and easy to switch between gears.. Anyway, once again.. nice bike! (Leon - maybe the w/b is slightly too short? Making you want more room by going upwards? Relatively, when the bikes on the back wheel.. bar height starts to equate to cockpit length no? ) Edit: Well it doesnt 'equate to' as much as 'attempt to make up for' cockpit length .. In the way that it allows for a fraction more 'length'... which might be what youre body is subconsciously looking for rather than the height? Becuase i'd agree - it is unusual to want more height with a lower b.b? And obviously just using an extra length on the stem might throw out the 'bar-to-front axle' balance you may have found equilibrium for.. meaning really you'd want that length in the frame not the stem?? I know youve been riding for ages so i'm sure you might get what i'm getting at?.. Just a (series of) thought(s).. (which you may have already considered) Or maybe you've just got shorter arms or longer legs than average? Meaning you'd need the bars relatively higher in either case??

Sorry, i presumed people would find their way to the pictures of him making this.. but just incase anybody didnt and might find it interesting.. Here's the link to the flickr for the fabrication pictures.. Never seen anything like that bash guard mod. Not exactly sure of the benefit, ive never ran a front freewheel myself? Agreed it's not the most beautiful thing ever, i actually think the choice of finish lets it down the most but thought some of the design and fabrication elements were quite unique..

Thoroughly enjoyed that. Beautiful shots of a man, challenging himself and patientlly perfecting his art - using his body and intelligence to express himself for the reason of improving himself - not neccessarily to be bigger or be stronger - but to be better.. to be happier. This sacred practice, set against the majestic backdrop of the sun and earth - Coupled with those beautiful solemn sounds it was almost something spiritual. And everything was so dialled it and simplified it was like poetry in motion. Thanks for the insight! Feeling quite relaxed and reminded of what riding bikes is all about. And it reminded me a lot about this interview for some reason.. ''To express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself.. that my friend is very hard to do'' All the best

Leap-frog forward landing briefly on you feet using momemtum to execute a smooth and stylish forward roll.. Finish on one knee annnnnnnd *Jazz hands*

Whens the house warming party? I have an image of your tearing down a dusty track with that cheeky-ass grin on your face, sniggering like mutley! All the best brother. Many big thankyous for all the golf help over the years May you be rewarded

Aaah yeah, didnt realised you'd painted the reflective.. That would makes it less weird. I guess it's like when you see someone with those strange contact lenses in.. just looks freaky! I rekon it'd look good on angel eyes.. Bit like these.. but more like yours without the naff chrome ring..

The perfect Geo.. What do you expect from a bike designed by one of the sports greatest legends? That look lovely mate And i agree with Ross.. Iv'e alsways loved curved forks on the Ashton!

Yes mate! I was looking into those aswell. Seems to be a good balance of Car/Van/Camper. Guy across the road has one and blatantly loves it. But he said theyre not too great on fuel.. Now i'm just thinking of going car-free and building up a few quality bikes.. Including a brompton for bus/train journeys and a 1000W butchers bike conversion & trailer set-up for carrying stuff on <40miles round trips! And then just rent-a-van/borrow-a-car for the few times i might need.. Cars in general are expensive. Even cheap ones.. I like the idea of being able to sneakily charge up your batteries at places and basically get free fuel! Pashley26.. i think i preferd the Rallye grille with those lights.. Looks almost hypnotic with the badgeless, it's like theres nothing to rest your eyes on. Those little dots do look a bit weird on their own.. Although i'm sure theyre nice and bright an all that.. but maybe if it was combined with those 'angel eye' outer ring lights it'd look better?!

Went done the local scrappers today to have some new tyres fitted ( they have a tyre bit ) and as i drove in one of the lads working there stopped, turned around and came over to my car and said ' Youre not scrappin that are you?' Haha turns out he has two mk2s and was appreciating mine.. After some discussion i told him i was thinking of selling it for £1300 once i'd serviced and M.O.T it and he said he thought i'd get more! Because it's an older one with the quarter panels and the chrome trim, in the champagne gold colour and the VVV number plate. He commented on the arches ( As many mechanics seem to do!) and the miles and the overall condition and said i should try and get more than that?! Now don't get me wrong.. i absolutely love this car but i'd almost feel bad selling it for much more than that! Anyway, just thought i'd share cause i thought it was quite amusing the way he turned around and i figured i could use what he said as a bit of a sales pitch So anyway.. Got it booked in at the garage for the suspension plate thingy and an M.O.T.. Then it's officially up for sale. For what price i'm now currently unsure.. Pictures soon ( needs a polish first!)

Haha yeah.. certainly not a world comps bike.. but i bet it;s nice to mess about on.. Just thought it might be interesting to some.. that freewheel 28t macneil bash ring adaption is pretty different! Lower the stem and i bet it rides alright.

Seriously? Wow.. good luck with it all man