OAP

I've posted a few topics on here in an effort to come to some sort of conclusion for sorting my brakes. Here's my dilemma... I currently run pre 05 HS33's. These have done me proud and (touch wood) never given me any problems. The only thing about them is the lever length. It's a bit short and i could do with the extra power of a longer lever. I run them with an antifreeze water mix at 70/30. So i've done some asking about (mainly on here) and concluded the following. HS33/11 2011 prone to leak with water bleed. Echo prone to leak with water bleed. My current HS33's with fresh products lever... can't get hold of the chap (todge I think) who makes them. conclusion - replace my lever unit with an 05 HS33 and fit with echo sl levers blades from trialprod. My question is what do you think of my conclusion? I realise some people run the 2011 and echo's with no leaks but i'd prefer not to take the risk. cheers all

Powerful riding. But on the whole the vid is not my cup o tea, a bit repetitive. The whole top off / punch bag stuff is a bit 'small town legend'. More varied riding spots (ie natty), interesting lines and less ego would make a superb vid.

Still on a mission to improve my brakes. After feedback from a recent thread i posted i'm thinking to stick with my trusty old HS33's and upgrade with Fresh Products levers. Does anyone know if these are still available. I have had a nosey at their website and facebook page. But there doesn't seem to have been any activity on either for quite a while. Does anyone know if these levers are still available. Cheers.

Ok I did a search (several in fact) and came up with nothing. So I have to ask i'm afraid and apologies if it's been asked before, but .. has anyone had any experience of these yet (HS 11 2011 or Echo TR 2011), by way of a comparison. Im going to upgrade my brakes and I can't decide between the two. I prefer to run an antifreeze/water mix, but that's not a religion, just the way I have my old maggies set up. Also (for info) I run heatsink pads front and rear. Any info or advise would be greatly appreciated. Cheers all.

Yep it's my favourite way to spend my day (when I get chance!). Riding natural in a nice location is what i like, finding somewhere new and different. The Mrs rides xc a lot so if i'm out with her and spy a good spot, i will return with the trials bike. If it's a walk, I treat it like a warm up, get a stroll on with the bike on my shoulder. Yeh I ride stock, a neon bow 2011, built up with bit's from Tarty. Must say though i'm a bit wary of riding on my own where i can't get a signal on my phone. Which isn't many places these days, but thats a bit sad in it's own way. The internet was unheard off so we did'nt know any different and I dare say clubs existed but it was hard to find out about them. I think a lot of the moto trials folk used bike trials to train and a few club/comps started that way. But im not sure.

Just around the corner from me this. These scum bags will ride around on anything. We regularly see scrotes rinding around on £3000+ full susser bikes, looking in car windows to see if there is anything worth robbing. I've just finished boarding up my shop.

This makes interesting reading and a lot of sense. My business, a small independent business, which me and the Mrs have worked unbelievably hard to build and have sacrificed a lot for, is based in the heart of Manchester. It's not as bad as expected this morning, but a lot of our neighbours have had their shops damaged or raided. We are so small we can clear out stock and valuables each evening, so we are ok for now. My thoughts go out to all those effected by these low life scum, which ever city or area you are in.

Proper trials bikes... well i'm on my fourth. Which is not many considering the time i've been dabbling in the sport. Like I say.. I wish I'd of stuck at it early on, made the effort to find other riders and got myself better informed (no internet back then). I may have been a half decent rider now But I'm enjoying it now more than i ever have. I like riding natural and treat it a bit like climbing, in that I like finding new places to ride, new lines, in nice locations. A few weeks ago I went back to a stream section I'd spotted in the lake district when out on my XC bike. Some folk on here would probably have gapped straight over it!!! But I took the rucksack complete with butties and flask and kept going at two lines most of the day until I nailed them. Despite the odd shower and soaking feet. Lovely spot to sit and rest between tries and have a sip of my brew. Then packed up and went home. My perfect trials day

I'd say you did ok. But thats neither here not there when you have a ramp like that in you back garden/field into a pond. Just ride it and enjoy.

Im a bit of an old fart in the world of trials (im 39) but i have dabbled with it on and off since I was about 16. MX racing was my passion untill I smashed my legs up and had to have them pinned. But anyhow trials... I was fascinated by it and cant remember where i first saw a trials bike. Back before the internet (shit i really do sound old), In fact a motorcycle dealer in Blackburn had a fantic hanging on their wall & i thought it was amazing. I got a bmx though because all the other kids had them, the fantic disappeared and I forgot about it. Then one saturday I was in Witton park on my BMX and i spotted a lad wheeling around the running track. Round and round. Nuts when I think back!! After that I was then hell bent on turning my BMX into a trials bike, but gave up when I knackered my cranks. Then a few years later my mate who raced BMX at a top level was demoing at a show and he told me about one of the Pi clan (not Ot) who had been there doing a demo on some pallets. I then found out about monty and someone bought me a book on MTB which had a chapter on trials. There were pictures of several trials riders including one guy on an Ibis going over a log section. I pulled the pages out and stuck them on my bedroom wall! I started setting sections in my local woods in and out of a stream and rode them on my bmx until i could get around without dabbing. But I was literally just riding and balancing. Then I lost interest and got into riding my MTB. Then Harry Halls in Manchester (when they were under the Corn Exchange) had a GT on their wall. (i think trials bikes were so rare shop owners always put them up on a wall!!) I got hold of a Sheffield Indoor trials video which had Ot Pi on the first few minuets. I watched it loads and wrote to a dealer for a brochure. Then I got a lucky break when a friend of a friend who rode moto trials was at an international moto trials at Houghton Tower near Blackburn. He turned up to watch on a monty!!! He must of thought who is this weird kid asking me all these questions about my bike. Finally he gave me a go!!! YES i was on a Monty. I rode up to a ditch pulled the front wheel up and then I didn't know what to do so I went ass over tit into the ditch, the kid grabbed his bike and ran off. My mates were laughing but i didn't care i had been on a Monty... I was a bike trialser A few years passed and a few things stared to appear in MBUK so my orange lost a few chain rings and had it's seat post chopped and I was back in the wood riding over roots. I got bored again and shelved trials for a few years until I got my first decent paid grown up job. I went out and bought all the things I could never afford. I drove over to Hull and picked up a monty from a moto trials dealer. Got it home and floundered for months. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how Ot did a pedal kick or any of that stuff. So I sold it to a guy through TMX News. Skip forward a few more years and trials was in the MTB mags even more so I got the bug yet again and built up a Brisa. But I was big into climbing by this time and traveling all over the UK and Europe climbing so the Brisa and my skills never got a chance. My climbing ended about two years ago with torn tendons form years of over training and after a breif stint doing other stuff a year ago I bought an Echo 20" and i was hooked (again!). I then got a Neon Bow (stock) from Tarty and built that up and I've been at it most days since. I run my own business but I try and get a least an hour a day in. I ride on my own and mainly ride natural. I've mastered most of the basics (nothing huge). I ride what ever the weather and i'm currently working on my.. 'gap to front's'. So thats it. My life in the world of trials. I often think if i had got my self better informed or stuck at it, I may have been half decent. But then again I may not have done all the other stuff that I have. But I have enjoyed writing this. Cheers.

Get your tights on and go join the ladies ..... YOGA (Y) If you don't stretch before and after a ride your a fool and no matter how you train or how much effort you put in it will all go down the pan when you injure yourself. Also as you get older this will matter more and more (take it from me). I've done Iyengar yoga for about 9 years and i've seen many so called 'fit' blokes crumble in a 2 hr yoga class. An added benefit is you also get a good understanding of how your body works and it helps you quicken your recovery time if you do get injured.

Not a tap. But yeh video.. good idea I will go have a mooch about and see what i can find.

Well that sounds about it, but when i lift the front i apply the rear brake, balance, load my pedal and then try to go. TRY being the crucial word in that sentence because i can't master the move at all. So perhaps using my rear brake is what i'm doing wrong?

Isn't a 'Pigeon' when your front wheel is already on the object though. Like a wheel swap?

Eerrrrrr Ummm .... i will have to check my diary, but i think it's quite full at the moment, i'm rushed off my feet toasting midges...

Really.... a 'Pigeon" are you having laugh? I have seen pigeons 'pop' up onto low object in a similar manner though, without flapping (well maybe a slight wing flick).. so it makes sense i suppose. PS im not into pigeon watching, i just notice things sometimes. Thank you.

I think this move is called a 'surge' but i don't really know, people i've seen do it on videos make it look like they just 'pop' up onto an object, but i'm pretty sure it's not called a 'pop' (that's just my term). Anyhow the move is as follows... Rider gets near object (usually about 1 to2 ft tall), cracks slightly to raise the front end and then "POP' up they go onto the object, landing to rear wheel. All this is done head on to the object, not a side hop and it's not a pedal up, because it's done from balancing on the back wheel. So here is my question/s what is this move called? and how is it done? I would appreciate any advise as this move is a bit of a mystery to me... as you have probably gathered. Cheers all.

That is one hell of a fall. Looks like my local.. Earl crag. Spent many hours riding and bouldering up there and that's a looonnnnggg way to fall. Get well soon Chris. A fantastic rider and good to see he is in good spirits. True Yorkshire Grit.

Aye if you want to look like napoleon dynamite

Be very careful with tendon injuries to the elbow. Previous to taking up trials in the last year. I spent the last 22 years climbing. Sport climbing and bouldering mainly, all over the world. I spent hours and hours training to get to climb harder and harder moves. Climbing came before everything. Then..... I got tennis elbow, (an injury was inevitable at some point) but i tried to climb through it, bracing and taping it. The outcome of this was tendon damage that finished me as a climber. I have never climbed since and lost touch with most of my climbing mates. PM me and I will advise you as best as i can. Also as someone has previously mentioned take a look at Dave Macleod's site http://davemacleod.blogspot.com/ he is really knowledgeable.

38 and I ride in Lancashire. I ride natural mainly because i do feel a bit old to be riding the streets!! Dabbled in and out of trials for years and just got back into it in the last year. Spent the last 20 years climbing and riding motocross. But tendon injuries finally put a stop to climbing and the bank balance the motocross. I run my own business and try and get in a least an hours riding a day, more on my day off. I also run and do yoga to try and keep nimble... It puzzles me why there are not more older riders. It would surely be better for the sport all round and better for the retailers/manufacturers. I know BMXers (racers and freestyle) who are in their 40s.

Hi all. I was just having a quick mooch around the web and came across these http://fiveten.com/products/footwear-detail/10103-water-tennie I've been considering getting a pair of the guide tennie but these have got me thinking. Especially with the ankle support. I realise they are designed for wetter conditions, but Lancashire is not know for it's dry climate and as far as i can see they are built with a neoprene ankle which gives good support. The rest of the boot is a mesh type thingy material. What are your thoughts?

James I would advise forgetting about the pedal kick for the moment. I'm not saying your not getting it, but you could be making life hard for yourself. By this i mean, you could really do with riding with some other trials riders who can advise you first hand, even check over your brake set up etc, as it all makes a difference. Put a post up to see if there are any riders in your area. if this is no possible I would advise you forget about the pedal kick for the moment and get your balance nailed first. Try rocking with the brakes on if you have too and decrease the amount of rock as your balance gets better, until your rocking is minimal. While your doing this weight your pedals and get a feel for the bike, shift your weight around, squat over the back wheel, see how it all effects the bike and your balance. Then try punching the bike forward with a pedal kick while both wheels are on the ground. Again this will give you a feel for the bike and pedal kicking action. You will struggle with your pedal kick on your rear wheel until your comfortable in a balance.

Sorry my previous reply may of been a confusing ramble Yeh like Revolver says your good foot is the one you have forward when you balance. Use this foot to raise the front to get onto the rear for a pedal kick from a stationery position. If you need some momentum i.e climbing and object or a bigger gap, then you would lift the front with your right foot while traveling forward, and launch with your left as it comes around. All though you will feel better balanced with your good foot forward, it may feel weird at first using it to raise the front. Persevere.. it will become second nature and practice to do it in a slow controlled manner, it will be better for your stability on the rear wheel in the long run.

Cheers guys Those are both helpful points. I didn't know that about chains having an area of greater stretch!! I knew they stretched, but i suppose to be stretched more where you repeatedly exert most force makes sense. I think I have fettled it, I had may chain too tight, something i am prone to doing when i reset my wheel, because I'm putting my attention into getting my tyre to miss the frame. Which is by a whisker!! So the effect was emphasised.... I think Seems ok now anyway. Thanks again. Stu.