rupintart

The best thing about aircraft remover is it takes off everything from paint, to powder coat to even anodizing. It strips it DOWN. No worries about leaving it on too long for it to deteriorate the metal like if using some sort of acid. I have no idea how that stuff works, but I know when you apply it, you can see the stuff starting to whither away, and you can take a towel or your hand (with a glove on) and just wipe it off. the worst about it though, is that it leaves a residue, and you have to MAKE SURE to completely clean off the metal, or whenever you got to refinish it with whatever method you choose, it will fish eye, or at the very least orange peel your finish.

http://www.bcaviation.co.uk/paint_stripper...nt_stripper.htm Look for the stuff called Remov/all. You can get it at any auto store or even Walmart. Do they have Walmart in the UK??? If not, count your lucky stars, lol.

I know concerning the whole leverage thing with stock vs mod wheel size, but why would anybody say it's too much brake? I would rather have too much power in the rear rather than "just enough". Hitting the rotor, if you hit the 8inch from a botched sidehop, a 6 inch would get hit as well. I don't quite get how it's "more vulnerable". No bashing or anything, just curious why it's "advised against".

That's probably one of the stiffest boosters available. Who cares how it looks. ALL V brake boosters are ugly. http://cgi.ebay.com/Interloc-brake-booster...d#ht_500wt_1182 $1 Doesn't get any cheaper than that. http://cgi.ebay.com/Shimano-XTR-V-Carbon-B...#ht_1006wt_1165 $35 http://cgi.ebay.com/Salsa-Carbon-V-Brake-B...9#ht_890wt_1165 $40 Use eBay...did you even really search? I found those in less than 5 seconds. And if you don't get either of those, don't complain about not being able to find one...those prices are pretty competitive for how rare they are, as well as readily available because of "Buy it now"

http://www.webcyclery.com/product.php?prod...=477&page=1 http://www.midwestbiketrials.com/store/ind...d8b3d16c5f267a9 It's in the US, both places ROCK, and they're both in stock.

I'm curious as to why you WOULDN'T want a 203 on the rear? When the brakes are the most important thing, especially the rear, why not? 180's are all you really need on the front of a stock, yet people still run 203.... All the mods I've ridden have been maggies on the rear...curious is all.

Your local auto shop should have this stuff called "Aircraft remover". You literally brush it on, watch the paint/powdercoat bubble up in seconds and wipe it off. No scrubbing, brushes, or any of that stuff and it's to the metal. You can have a frame to the metal in less than an hour.

I've never ridden a set that has the J-Bend spokes though, so I can't comment on how stiff they are like that. I've only ridden the hubs with the AL straight pull spokes attached to Stans's Flow and Arch rims. I do wish I owned a set, they are nice. Just pricey in comparison to Hopes. All of my co-workers, however, ride nothing but I9s.

Why risk the grinder hitting your tire and screwing it up? It literally takes me less than 10 seconds to deflate and unmount my tire and I can make sure I get a good, even, harsh grind without worrying about hitting my tire, or anything else for that matter. As far as the contamination goes, use clean hands. The amount of "contamination" you get on your rim will be there after 5 minutes of riding anyways. Unless your tires are massively greasy, I wouldn't worry about it. A new disc each grind...that's a great waste, and gets pretty expensive after awhile. Great vid otherwise, and very well illustrated/narrated. OP, as far as the grinding disc goes just any "metal grinding wheel" works. Don't get the cheap crap, as the disc will only last 1-2 grinds before they're like cheese and all used up. You can get just a sharp grind the 1st couple uses on the same wheel just by changing the angle during the grind. FWIW, I could remove my wheel from my bike, deflate the tire, unmount it, either remount it to the bike or put it in a truing stand and give it a nice harsh grind and remount the tire/install it before that video is even done. And many people who regularly grind their wheel could also do the same (like anything else done many times over) once you've done it a handful of times.

Taken directly from their website: "Holy 120 engagement points! How strong is your drive mechanism? The Industry Nine drive mechanism is a fairly simple, tried-and-true pawl arrangement. When engaged, each of the three driving pawls itself has three points, providing nine points of contact to the hardened A2 drive ring. The drive ring has 60 teeth, which would normally allow a 6-degree engagement – among the fastest in the industry. Our proprietary mechanism allows for a second set of three pawls, phased three degrees from the first. This feature cuts engagement time in half, to a mind-blowing three degrees! Our lightning quick take-up has become highly desirable on singlespeeds, twenty-niners, and disciplines with gate starts. We have tested our drive system beyond 700 ft-lbs of torque, which amounts roughly to a super-chipped Ford Power Stroke turbo diesel engine. In over two years of prototyping and testing, we have had zero drive mechanism failures." http://www.industrynine.net/F.A.Q. Two years of testing, NO drive mechanism failures. Pretty damn bold, and impressive... In the past year, we've sold over 9 wheelsets and none of them have ever come back for anything. Funny how all the people who say "they're light, they can't be that strong, not worth it" are the same people who have never even seen the hub in person, let alone ridden a set. The pawls and track themselves are roughly 1.5 times the width of a Hope. Pretty damn impressive. The drive side bearing is also HUUUGE.

I guess they're not that popular around there. Around ehre in the states they're popular as shit, especially here on the east coast (Made in North Carolina). It's kinda like an East coast vs. west coast thing here (King is made in Oregon). Our shop is the #1 dealer in the state for I9 wheelsets. We sell more I9 custom wheelsets than Mavic wheels. And a wheelset being over $1000usd, that says something. Not one of the wheelsets we've ever sold int he past couple of years has had ONE problem. As far as the hubs go, if you've ever taken one apart you'll see the pawls are BEEFY AS SHIT. When they tested them out, they pulled something like a semi trailer with it. There was some ridiculous figure posted some years back about their strength. Also, I9 has specifically said "we will warranty against trials and competition use. If you can break it, we will fix it." King won't even touch your wheel if you say "trials" in your sentence. That's not to say that they won't touch your hub as there have been a couple people who have blatantly told them the hub was on a trials bike and it's been fixed, but they do give you grief, and if abiding by their policy, they don't have to help you. Not something I want to hear if I'm dropping that kinda cash on a hub. I9's are also more like any other hub: pawls, so you don't have to rely on some voodoo magic, or maintenance regimen to make sure it won't skip. If your I9 skips, it's broken and you send it back, simple as that. Bang for the buck though, it's hard to beat a Hope. Wholesale on the King or I9 is over $100usd more expensive. They are nicer, but the Hope is damn nice, and damn well good enough. That, and I don't have to worry about it skipping like a King. I also know if I tell Hope it was on a trials bike, they won't abandon me. But if you can spare the cash, the I9 is the tits.

You can never have "stiff enough" when it comes to the rear brake. That just means, it "can be stiffer". "Stiff as possible" is better to hear. Vees ***. As for the grind, don't be scared to "grind it too hard". So long as you don't just sit at one spot, you can't grind it too hard. If you have a truing stand, do it on the truing stand. If you don't, it's easiest to take the tire off and put your wheel back on your bike (bike upside down). Put the grinder to it and the wheel will naturally spin as the grinder hits it. Push hard and get one good revolution round and it should be fine and you'll be done with a harsh grind in under 5 minutes. Then, pretty much with whatever after market pad, it will lock. The pad itself lends to the obvious, preference.

Exactly!!!! So.....it probably has the geometry of a Megamo Radical, which is what alot of people who are riding streety 26" trials are using......funny how shit goes in circles.

Well, if you look on the Felt website in the OP, they have the MSRP on it for every model. MSRP on that bike was $6900....if it went into production. The website and picture does that bike no justice as to how swank it looks in person. The downtube and BB area are HUUUUGE. The width of the toptube is HUUUGE. Bike is really stout looking, it's amazing how light it is.

Damn, that looks nice. How do you like the linear slick cables? I was thinking about snagging those up vs a 5mm derailleur cable we have here at work and just loading it full of Tri-Flow. The only thing suck about the XTR cables is that in the cold, whatever grease they use, is SLUGGISH when it's cold outside. Sluggish like sticky caliper sluggish.

One of our employees got this from UPS today: http://www.feltbicycles.com/USA/2010-Produ...es/SIX-LTD.aspx You might be thinking "OK, so what...." Funny thing is, the guy that bought this buys a new bike maybe like once every decade. He buys TOTL, but it's rare to see him buy ANYTHING. The guy didn't run a suspension fork on his MTB until 2003. this year he bought a Carbon Roadbike, and now that. So it's quite the turn of the century for us to watch him purchase, hahaha "ok, so what..." Felt didn't get any pre-season orders on it, so it never went into production. That bike used on the website, is THE BIKE he received. Literally, he has the only one. Kinda ironic, but neat at the same time since it's Felt, and not some boutique brand. Those tubes btw, are f**king MASSIVE in person. Like bigger than Giant Glory downtube large. Bike weighs in at 20lbs 15oz with XTR pedals and tubes. Sorry for the shitty celly pic, but it was pretty neat to see getting built.

LOL, I knew I'd get shit for the stackers. I cut about 40mm of steerer off and STILL had that much left. I don't know right where I want to run my stem yet as those bars feel a bit different than the ones that were on there. I'll be swapping out the stem soon, and the stack height on that Giant stem is pretty small, so I didn't want to have to kick my self in the ass for cutting off too much the 1st time around. It'll be cut as soon as I can figure out which stem I want.

site is still down for me...

Best post on here. Bar and stem advice is kinda hard to give outside the realm of preference. Like the post above, you gotta try and narrow down what's wrong with the cockpit. Sometimes, there's nothing wrong, and you just want a new bar and stem, and figure, you may as well see how a different set-up feels (no need in buying the same set-up only lighter unless you REALLY like it and have tried a bunch of other things.). I played around with a bunch of different stems and bars and found each had thier own thing goin for them. What feels cramped to you may feel AWESOME for other people. or what feels too high may feel not high enough or just right. Best advice is, you just mess around with them. I found that bar and stem on a trials bike is like the saddle on a road bike. Play around with a couple, cause one may feel great, but you'll try the next and could feel 10x times better, or worse.

The only difference between the XX and the elixers is the XX uses more magnesium parts, rather than aluminum. It's the SAME BRAKE and performs EXACTLY the same. It's just lighter due to the difference in materials used. Same thing with the XX Forks. Only difference between a XX fork, and the corresponding sibling is the damper cartridge has that fancy XLoc handlebar lock-out. Same fork otherwise. you can make any 32mm Rock Shox fork "XX" by replacing your damper cartridge with an XLoc, including the Argyle. The only difference between the XX stuff and the new stuff are the obvious ones: Cranks, cassette and shifters. Everything else of that gruppo is the same as other things they offer.

My personal take on things (which many may not agree with) 20 - you like to do a lot of static things like gaps and sidehops...pretty much things from a standstill. Easier to throw around on natty because of size and weight, but you also get the disadvantage of a smaller wheel on the natty not rolling as easy. 26 - Feels more like a regular bike, but not. Better for rolling things where you can really take advantage of the large wheel size like taps, etc. You can be a bit more sloppy on the stock and not pay for it (taps really suck the ass on a mod). Going big seems like it take a bit more effort from static, but rolling things like pedal-ups, etc seem to work out a little better. 24 - I don't think there are enough geometry differences/choices on the 24market to really categorize it as anything other than streety spinny BMX type stuff. Obviously, you can do anything on any bike, street on a mod, streety stuff on a stock, pure trials on a 24 etc, but that's what I've found personally each "size" does.

I don't give a shit to riding like him, infact I HATE TGS.....I just thought it was interesting as hell that the Heatsink page said he had SMOOTH rims and does HUGE gaps and that brake set-up holds??? The only thing I would say as far as my set-up to his is that my rim would stay clean. So I'm not one for caring if X set-up works only under X conditions. If it works, then it works (and it doesn't include tar, lol), and I might give that set-up a try. And shit, if the smooth rim with yellows doesn't work for me then no harm done, I can grind a smooth rim and change pads!!!! Any other inputs?

Looking at POSSIBLY changing from Coust pads to another pad, I was on the Heatsink website. I was always aware they made yellow pads that were for "smooth rims". Most companies have those kinds of pads available, but the thing that struck me was what was under the little picture: "Heatsink Yellow Magura Pads used by Damon on smooth rims " http://www.heatsinkbikes.com/?p=riders I know some of you have ridden with him, are his rims really smooth? How well do those pads work on a smooth rim compared to say Cousts on a grind and/or worn grind? Not doubting those pads work, but do they work well enough to hold his HUGE moves? Every pad I've used for "smooth rims" lock OK, and modulate great, but they're nowhere near as good as a grind. The only time I've ever had success with a smooth rim is a chrome rim and salmon pads. Haven't tried anything else with a chrome rim, but those lock just as good as any trials brake. I would LOVE to find a pad that works well enough on a smooth rim as I run 100psi on my street bike, and grinding the rim down only gets me like 1/4 of the life it does compared to a trials rig normally because the high pressure will blow out the sidewall if there's not enough metal. So I'm already considering new options.

+1 Even the shorter stocks, you'll look funny on a stock because they're large. not to say you wouldn't be able to ride it, but it will be easier for you on a mod simply because of it's size. 24" are great, but 24" aren't really geared towards pure trials either, so unless you plan on doing a lot of streety stuff, I would cross out 24's from your list. Also, mods are generally cheaper to build up. And you can use everything from your mod as well sans the stem and cranks. If you're wanting to really go on the cheap, use the parts from your DMR and just buy a frame with the minimal of parts to get it built "trialsy"

Wow...that was helpful. AFAIK, this is what he was referring to: http://free-du.htnet.hr/trials/frames.html Don't think it has been updated in a minute though....