eep803

Thats for the truvaitv thing right? I saw that and thought the same, great for street n trials. But the hammershmitt (or however you spell it) is like 450 megabucks and apparently the rock ring on it might not be quite up for trials bashing? Anyhoos, looks a nice idea, bit out of my reach though.

It depends on what day I'm having, sometimes I don't manicure, chicks love the rough skin on my hands and my sharp nails. Other days when I wear a skirt the boys much prefer me to have nice soft hands. On a more serious note. Toughening up the skin with alcohol hand wipes/gel or white/surgical spirit is what a lot of squaddies/runners/hikers used to do to prevent blisters. Nowadays thinking has changed. If you toughen the skin it forms a hard layer which then blisters below and makes it harder for the blister to come out and then leaves a ragedy flap of thick skin to heal. So what they do is exfoliate/scrub and use moisturisers to keep the skin soft n supple and prevent the build up of hard skin patches (sounds suspiciously like a manicure to me). Either way, it passes with time as you and your skin toughen up.

Sorry, feel free to put your skirt back on and book a manicure.

"Come on guys, take your skirt off, cancel your manicure, grow a moustache and harden the f**k up" Wise words from Chopper Reid there.

Hi cheers Manuel, I see where you're coming from now with your style. I wouldn't have said "that guys used to ride trials on an xc", but now you mention it I can see where you're coming from. Please keep the videos coming! I'm an XC rider who likes the downhill with jumps and drops rather than uphill. I find that on a trials bike (my A1) I just have no confidance to let it "flow". I'd like to say that I feel stretched out over the bike leaving too much bodyweight on the bars but maybe thats just come from me knowing the bike is long, whatever though, it just doesnt feel good letting it roll too fast, the steering doesnt quite feel right for it somehow. All moves I do are completely static, TGS stuff, though if I'm honest I'm still barely much above beginner level. I'm 32 now and in my little head world static moves are pretty low risk (unless they're off a telephone box etc) whereas more flowey streety moves fill me with fear of grazed elbows, knees and hips. Thats what I'm trying to change by finding a bike which will give me that extra bit of confidance for those rolling moves. Ultimately I'd like to develop a breadth of skills from xc rider through to a flowey trialser. Many thanks for the frame suggestions and offers. A mate of mine has real nicely offered to let me swap the components of my A1 onto a 2005 Koxx Marc Caisso Replica frame (http://biketrials.com/review/2005_Koxx_Marc_Caisso_Replica_L521.html) of his to try out, but only buy if I like it. The only geo I can find is 1065 with 390 chainstays. I think the bb is pretty low and the frame is nice and light and I hear its pretty whippey/spinny. If not then I'll def look into the other frame suggestions. Skinny

Stock

Check out wiki or google gt85/wd40. I'm pretty sure they're 80% or so solvent and a little bit oil. The solvent is designed to be very "thin" (low viscosity) and "wettable" (spreads out over surfaces) and is possibly non-polar so that it displaces water. I've never used it but my hunch would be that you may have trouble with it leaking out and losing its volume. Also I'm not sure how well the solvent would take the pressure and may gas off in warmer/high pressure situations. I could be very wrong though

Hi guys, cheers for the top quality chat on bikes geo. This is exactly what I was after. I'm tending towards staying with the 26" mainly because it seems like a frame swap could be my cheapest option. I've a mate with an Inspired so I'll nag him to bring it along and have a play and see how it feels. In terms of the sort of stuff I want to ride, I'd say the Danny Mac style was what first took my eye but I also love Rowan Johns videos. Yeah he rides really well and smooth and fluid, but its also the nice mix of stuff he does, a bit more varied than straight TGS. His 24" Canned Country vid is superb. For me I know that level of smoothness and all that only comes with being really good, but the types of tricks he pulls are what I like, lots of spins, manuals and 180/360s off stuff. I suppose thats the sort of stuff I'd like to ride and am aware that my Loooooonnnnngggg Adamant is just not that bike so am looking for cheapish 26" frames that are available on the 2nd hand market for me to swap out my A1. Thats why knowing what sort of geo is best or better still the names of frames which suit this are what I'm keen on. Thanks again, Skinny

Man, I feel so much better about that, I couldn't work out why all those 12 year old kids were ripping it up around me on £50 halfords bmxs and I was floundering around. Now I've got a good excuse!!

Hi, cheers for the replies, yes I'd thought about changing the stem/rise thing. I do struggle to hang right off the back of the bike even though I'm a long and lanky 5'10". Can I run two rear sprockets on a fixed rear hub or is it just one screw on? I hadn't seen the Rockman frame but the Because one looks pretty nice, and cheap too. I was thinking cheap second hand rather than new though as money is tight. Running two bikes starts getting expensive, twice as expensive, but I dont ride twice as much, bummer! Some of the older frames, woodstock, koxx levelboss seem to have shorter geo, lower bbs. Ta, Skinny

Ok, so I got into trials in the summer after watching Danny Macs vid. I love trials trials, you know, good old TGS stuff but really love more spinney moves and manuals and stuff. I recently had a mess around in my local skate park and found I rode like a fish out of water in the half pipe. I've come from a mountain bike background and ride trails n stuff and love jumps n mixing it up so trials/street riding hopefully feeds into my trail riding. I ride an Adamant A1 long BTW. I'd like to drift towards a more Danny Mac style of riding but definately want to keep the trials love. The obvious advice is to get an Inspired 24" and have what appears to be the best compromise of trials and flowey street. But I'm skint and am not sure about fully selling up my A1 and chucking a few extra hundred quid or more in for buying a 2nd hand Inspired. I know the topic of short and long frame geos, gear ratios and wheel sizes has been done a fair bit but I hope it could be rendered down a bit here. I've two options, switch to a shorter, streetier 26" frame and keep all my original kit or drop down to a 24" frame and keep as much as my kit as I can, pretty much just changing my rims n spokes (there was a topic on this recently). Sooo, given my TGSy A1 has a geo of 1095, +30, 375mm chainstay and 71 degree head, what would be a more streety geo in comparison to this? Can you give a couple of examples of suitable frames please (I'm pretty happy being seatless but do run maguras on the back). I have an 18 tooth eno front freewheel, and run a 16 on the back (I think). If I was going for a streetier build I'd like to think about having two gear ratios, I run a crappy rear mech for my tensioner so could rig up a little two position adjuster (also discussed here before). Is it possible to put two cogs on a rear fixed hub? What would be the choice of the second cog? Many thanks all, Skinny

Cheers mate, stick a ribbon round her and call it an early christmas present!

Then do a tequilla suicide to take away the pain?

32, do I win? And what do I win, an 18 year old girl?

I'd heard the one about greasing threads to prevent them stripping. Kinda makes sense, plumbers use ptfe tape on fittings, not to prevent water passing through, but to allow the fitting to tighten up more by using the ptfe (non-stick) as a lubricant.

You could always try this Sorry, couldnt resist. I'd be suprised if you didnt have sore hands after 3 hours of riding, I can barely open the door of my van after a long sesh. Man through it, you'll eventually get hard patches of skin which chicks dig, or is that scars?

I've got old M525 Deores on my trail bike, had em years, changed pads a few times, top performance with zero maintenance. Would I trials em, never had a rear disc on a trials bike but I dont think they quite have the power/bite.

Hi, I'm a fair way from wrexham, probably over an hour an a half to get there! I normally live in Bangor, I reckon that'd be closer and an hour and a quarter! Small country wales, always takes ages to get anywhere. Dave

I've one of those Fresh Products levers, came on the bike when I bought it second hand, never knew just how cool I looked with it!

I've a TSG Road helmet, however its not a road helmet at all. Great rear protection though, which is nice for trials. Its RRP is £50 but look about on ebay. One I tried before the TSG was the Bell Variant, nice looks, rock bottom price, think its RRP is £35. Again, lots of deals come up on ebay.

I'm not sure what series Alu it is. Its an old Spesh FSR and its for a mate, hes using a cruddy clamp on disc bracket which is a pain as its constantly shifting and rubbing. At the moment it just annoys him, I dont want to rumble in and weld it only to have it break on his next trail ride and ruin his frame. I fancied cleaning up the paint, mounting the disc/wheel, getting it lined up then tacking the whole bracket in place. Then whip out the wheel and do a full weld on it. My welder mate is top notch so I'm sure he can go easy and cool. Many thanks for your replies, skinny

Any riders about. I'm working in Tywyn for December and am already bored of my own company. I get on a trials bike and within 15 minutes I'm a sweating wreck. I need to ride with someone else to give me a bit of rest time!!! I've my own van and am happy to head Dolgellau or Mach way. Cheers, Skinny

The Effect has an interesting Truvativ front drive thingy mounts on it, anyone got an opinion on this?

Hi, I've seen this mentioned a few times when people talk about cracked frames, disc or HS33 mounts and wondered what the bottom line was? I'm thinking of welding a disc mount onto a frame (alu), sorry trail not trials, I've got some mates who weld professionally but mainly stainless and more "chunky" alu items. They happy to do it but don't have an opinion on the need for heat treating. I may also do a few trials frames with cracks. I know the principal of why frames need heat treating but does it really matter that much. Has anyone whos done some welding on their bikes had it snap in two on the first ride afterwards then impale the sharp end in their tender bit leaving them utterly disappointed at ever having tried in the first place? Cheers, Skinny