Jake.

Practise an hour a day, everyday. And you'll have it in 8 weeks time maximum. When I first practised, I rode rain or shine.

I looked at this thread title and was like must be old. Then I looked at the news, and was like it's real.

Yeah, it's not a good feeling until you actually have what you eBay'd for... Hang on, how did you by that by accident? Holy sh!t how did I miss that!

Brighton and London have a lot of riders around.

Great... Now I'm not looking forward to practising to do wheel swaps up high stuff.

Question: Have you ever bought anything off eBay without being sure of the parts, and if it was a fair deal or not? :$

1. Look at wall 2. Think about life 3. Positive Chi 4. look at the relaxing 5. Not a probrem 6. Make a kung-fu sound ^ How is thinking about life, look at the relaxing, not a problem, and make a kung-fu sound going to help with a side hop? And my tips are, as soon as you start hopping on the rear wheel- go for the side hop. Or you end up wasting a lot of potential energy that could go towards the side hop.

An Onza Rip was amazing for learning for on me, but it's a bike that can't be upgraded easily. As it's got 20" front and rear wheels, and it's not easy to run hydraulics on it.

My achievement would be to never stop riding bikes. Or, these:

I have so gotta watch this, setting a reminder in my phone.

Haha, I'm not too worried about the frame snapping. I've got a spare frame & can easily buy a new one with money from my job, besides- I think it was one of those bikes where I went "Ooh that looks nice, I'm buying that!" and I looked carefully at the parts and they looked decent, so I gathered it was an fair deal. Besides, I bought an Onza Rip brand new for £350 in 2009. So this compared to that is much better. You made me feel more confident, cheers JD.

Eh, so who copied who?

Great... So this was a bad deal? And how badly will the dent affect me? Slightly worried now.

I was on eBay looking for trials bikes, and there was two that I was interested in. One of which was a Czar Mod, it was at £150 with about a day to go. It had a lot of interest in it, however I found a Koxx XTP with a £350 starting price and £500 buy it now. It finished 2 hours after the Czar, I went for £300 tops on the Czar but it sold for £345. The Koxx had no bids and I won it at £350 + £20 postage. I noticed the Koxx was also for sale here on the forum for £400, so I thought I got a good price. - http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/buysell/item/220-koxx-xtp-20/ This was the listed description on the bike, ----------------------------------------------------------- "Koxx XTP short 20inch (633) Reason for selling is i need money to pay for my car and university and just don't have time to ride anymore. Great bike, in good condition and full running order, always been maintained and looked after. Few trials scratches and a dent on the down tube as you can see in the photo's. Just fitted new chain, HS33 Break leaver and Try-All 108.9 freewheel Specifications Frame= Koxx xtp Forks- Try-All (wrapped in protective carbon fibre tape) Stem- Try-All Bars- Try-All Grips- Try-All Loc-All Pedals- Echo TR Caged Rims-Try-All Double walled Chain- KMC Z610 HX 3/32" Freewheel- Try-All 108.9 Front Break- Hope with Try-All disc Rear break- HS33 with Try-all 2 bolt break booster Try-All tyres Any questions feel free to ask. Viewings welcome, cash on collection (or post £20) Uk only" ----------------------------------------------------------- But the Koxx has a massive dent in the downtube and I'm worried that's something major, and if I got ripped off at all. I went through Tartybikes adding up the prices of all the compoents, they are listed below. (N/A = No answer, I couldn't find the prices for it anywhere on the web.) CLICK ON THE ITEM NAME TO SEE THE ITEM ON TARTYBIKES (only items with prices will have this) Frame= Koxx xtp : N/A Forks- Try-All (wrapped in protective carbon fibre tape) : £131, but not sure if they are the same forks. Should be around the same price. Stem- Try-All : £56, but not sure if it is the same stem. Should be around the same price. Bars- Try-All : £59, but not sure if it is the same stem. Should be around the same price. Grips- Try-All Loc-All : £16.34 Pedals- Echo TR Caged : £35.74 Rear Rims Try-All Double walled : £39.83 Front Rim Try-All Double walled : £29.99 Chain- KMC Z610 HX 3/32" : £14.00 Freewheel- Try-All 108.9 : £66.38 Front Brake- Hope with Try-All disc : £153.19 ^ Try-all disc rotor : £50.04 Rear break- HS33 with Try-all 2 bolt break booster : N/A Try-All tyre rear : £29.99 Try-All tyre front : £28.60 That adds up to £614.84 without the prices of all the items. So I assume with the price of the frame, cranks, bashplate, rear magura, hubs, brake boosters & more- it'll add up to around £800-£1000 new? So uh, have I been ripped? Pics below. And here's the dent Further notes: The bike is arriving on Tuesday so I don't know how it rides yet.

Damn I wouldn't know what to do if this happened to me...

Sounds like you're well on your way to pedal kicks, it took me 2-3 months before I could do them without fail. Keep it up man! Once you get past pedal kicks everything else will seem much easier.

I'm sure Danny Mac lives near Glasgow, maybe he'll ride with you sometime.

Lol'd. I swear this happens to 75% of all men at some point in their life, and the hydraulic brake bit was the same with me too.

Don't get football shinpads, they're designed for football and not cycling. They're often really thick and don't give your leg a chance to breathe, I use 661 shinpads- I dislike knee protectors as they seem to restrict movement. I use a soft shell, it's super light and flexible and stops cuts/grazes from the pedal after slipping on them. It absorbs direct impact but not as well as a hard shell would. Something along the lines of this: http://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/product/661veggieshinguard.aspx?&id=3172 Would be good. Edit: Those shin-guards in the link are almost the same as mine.

So my information cross-referenced with other TF users makes it right.

Bump, this was a pretty damn popular thread, nobody else want to share how they started?

I ride in/near Lewes, if you still ride then PM me. I know a few people locally that'll be up for a Brighton/Worthing ride.

I read through some "bicycle FAQ's" and looked for an answer, here it is. Cleaning and Polishing Bikes Is it OK to 'jet wash' my bike? Jet washing is OK up to a point. It's excellent for blasting muck off your wheels and frame. Don't point that thing at your bearings however. The jet wash is equally efficient at blasting the grease from your hubs, bottom bracket, headset and pedal bearings. Also, a jet wash doesn't always budge oily grime off, say, the chainstays. That's when you need old fashioned elbow grease, soapy water and scrubbing brush or new-fashioned Muc-Off. And be aware that lube and solvent-abuse can wreck disc brakes. * Only clean rotors with a disc-specific cleaner such as Fenwick's. Edit: ^ Hopefully that's the right answer, if not then some other trials junkie will correct me.

If I was you, try riding on each frame and decide which you like the feel of the most.