AOK

hey spoke to the landlady today after dinner... all her rooms are taken at the moment! sorry, but I hope you find something. If all else fails you could always consider living somewhere else nearby, like Wembley, Acton, Park Royal etc and then take the bus to campus. Anyway, good luck

Righty guys, thanks again for yet more advice! I haven't measured her up yet, primarily because it probably is a Long. Confirming that won't actually do me a favours! I bought what I bought, now I just gotta make do, whether its long o short! As for the other stuff... 1) Chain tension The chain admittedly is very slack, and for one reason or another I don't want to fit a sprung tensioner. What about snail cams? What are they, how do they work? Is their purpose to keep the chain taut? And in my case, is it the black thing with writing on it, visible in this pic: 2) Rear hub.. So how come my hub looks so terrible? Is it just very basic or something? Looked into the Hope Pro 2 you guys recommended.. pretty damn pricey!! Will have to find an alternative. Out of curiosity, is it easy to swap in a new hub? I'm more thinking about the spokes.. surely that's a damn difficult job?? 3) Rear brakes I'm guessing that lack of critique means that, as v-brakes go, the Shimano I have isn't a bad way to go, right? Because I'm thinking to save the £75 for the Magura set up and just stick with the Shimano.. especially as everyone is praising V set ups! but what can I do to make it more aggressive.. new pads I suppose? Would re-grinding REALLY help?? REALLY appreciate all the help!

3 spelling mistakes in this thread thus far, and none of them were done by the OP!! ... oh England

Excuse any obvious stupidity, but why are manuals indeed called 'manuals'?? Odd choice of phrasing in my opinion... if I had written the Trial Manual I would have called manuals 'rollies' or something!

i grew up in Ealing and only moved out a few years ago. We have a family friend over there who does pretty decent house shares / bedsit arrangements. I'll find out for you whether she's got any available and more importantly, where abouts the house is.. i seem to remember it just being on a leafy road off Hanger Lane, but i'll check

definitely go for the pink mate. Actually, pink might be a bit girly.. go for 'fuchsia'

Just on a taste level (don't wanna get into the science and how bad it is for you stuff)... there's this one we drink out in Poland called 'Burn'... its a CocaCola Company invention, and its LUSH! Do give it a try when out in Europe.. sure I've seen it in Germany and plenty of other places

THANK YOU for all knowledge and advice! Its good to hear I have bought something reasonably good! A few further questions. - So we know its an 04 Pitbull. The one here looks to have a slightly different joint of the top tube and downtube at the front of the bike, indeed all 04 Pitbull's I find have this slight curve up of the top tube which mine doesn't seem to have. Could it be that there were different versions? Or could it be dependent on the difference between the long and medium length frame? And we're not too sure if its a long or short frame... what do I measure to find out? I have done some research and apparently it should be either 1060mm (medium) or 1085mm (long) but what do I measure? - I knew from day 1 that I want to change the stem to a slightly higher stem. Skorp, thanks for the suggestion about the 25degree 120mm stem and riser bar. Wouldn't BOTH a higher stem AND a riser bar be too much additional height? Or is it common practice to do this if you're tall? (I'm 6ft2). Also... would trialtech be a good buy? Or are they all the same? - Brakes! What on earth are my front brakes?? I'm not complaining as they seem to work very well, but are they actually any good? Also, thanks to joea for the suggestion of rear Magura's... how do I go about fitting these? What do I need to buy? can I still use the brake booster currently fitted? - Lastly, rear hub, chain, etc.. I certainly agree that the chain is very loose! Is it normal for the rear axle to have so many spacers on it between the sprocket and the fork? Is it because the hub is of incorrect size or something? Are there any drawbacks to fitting a sprung chain tensioner? Thank you once again for all the help and advice and comments. I look forward to improving the bike whilst I improve myself Went out again today, I'm slowly getting the hang of trackstands and starting to hop around the rear wheel while locking the front brakes up onto small curbs and stuff! Trying to lift the front wheel as of yet I have not achieved. I can launch into a wheelie (about a foot in the air) from near stand still to place it up onto a curb. But raising without propelling forward with pedal power I can't do yet.. but I'll keep trying Anyway, the important thing is I'm loving it.. which is exactly why I bit the bullet and decided to finally buy one

HA! At first, thought you were trying to highlight bad spelling! Then re-read the sentence and got the point

Great Thanks for successfully identifying the frame. I'm glad to hear its a short frame as apparently these are easier to learn on?

Hi guys, So, I joined a week ago and since then have acquired my first ever trial bike. I'm very much a newbie so don't know a lot about these beasts, so any comments would be appreciated greatly! The main question really, is: what's the frame? Its definitely a Zoo of sorts, but is it a Piranha or a Pitbull? And what year? In other news, I was out most of the afternoon yesterday practicing trackstands and stuff... never have I had a) so many blisters on my hands and so much tension in back muscles i never even knew I had!

dude... i'm a total beginner! but whatever, we'll have a sesh anyway.. sure if we put a message up on here we'll get some other fellas too. oh, and here's a validation vote!

So, it only took a week or two and I have found, bought and collected my first trial bike! I've been out about 3 times now, and slowly slowly getting to grips with the basics. I'm sure most people starting out have the same feeling though as I do right now.. knowing that your hands are holding something much much more capable than you! Ahh, I hope to slowly tame it though! As for the bike, I don't really know what it is.. it's definitely a Zoo! Could be a 04 Pitbull, but could also be an old Piranha.. within a few days I'll post up lots of detailed photos so all you pro's can show your knowledge to tell me exactly what I have bought, what kit it has on it, and what you advise I change! Oh, and I bought some fingerless gloves.. what a good move that was! Update soon. Over and out AOK

hey chris. unlike you I am a total newbie so it will take me a few weeks / months / years (!) until I'll be good enough to be fun to ride with.. but, once that (hopefully happens) I'd love to meet up with others in the London area. I think there's a monthly meet up, they meet by the Eye. Once you're validated keep an eye on the Rides/Location forum, I think they post there! good luck getting back into it!

I certainly will too! Only just started practicing as a total newbie 2 days ago so can't be too far behind you! I'm starting out on a 26 though... trackstands are very very slowly seeing some sort of realisation. Contrary to advice, I don't find being on an upward slope any help! As for getting the front wheel up.. 2 inches??? Off to buy a helmet and some kneepads as I have already had a close call. Look forward to adding to this thread too! If you don't mind that is! Let's keep at it