Swoofty

Yeah that article seems a little fishy. There's no way mt7 and mt5 calipers are different.

Very true. I try to practice new stuff right after my warm up or toward the middle of a ride; never at the end of a ride when tired or even just fatigued. I know from experience that my body can usually do a new move, but my mind mucks it up. Any pro athlete can tell you that the mental side of a sport is just as or more important than physical conditioning.

Ooh yes! Ride with Albert! That's definitely a good way to improve.

You sound like a much more prudent individual than me! I'm nearly 49 and I'm still learning new spin moves. My 180s are spot on, but 360s and some 180 combos still put me on my back from time to time. When I got into trials 14 years ago, my goals where big up to rears and gaps. As I progressed, I moved decidedly towards street over pure and spins were some of the most fun parts. I was a snowboard instructor for a few years before trials and we were trained to teach our students to spin in both directions even though 99% of all people have only one natural spin direction. I carried that idea over into trials and it has been very worthwhile. Nowadays I can usually gauge how a ride is going to go from my warmup. If all feels well, then I can try new stuff with more confidence. If I'm not feeling it, then it's a good day to polish what I know and lay off the new stuff. For spin training you need serious mental focus. Visualize what you're doing and when you're ready you must commit fully to the move. If you're not focused or you hesitate; the chances of ending up on your back increase. It doesn't hurt to practice some bail out strategies either. I'm also not afraid of armor anymore. When I ride the skatepark, I wear the padded shorts, hard knee pads and even a full helmet if it's not too hot. Definitely do what you most feel comfortable with. As I've gotten older, there are definitely sketchy lines that I just can't bring myself to do anymore because the risk/reward ratio is too high. I'll leave you with a 'manly-man' cliche, "The pain of crashing is bad, but the pain of giving up is worse." It's only a cliche 😉

100% personal sadly. I prefer the thin foam grips (Comas, push on). I tried bar tape, but it was never cushy enough. I also wear gloves, but they are the thinnest full finger available just to mitigate sweat. I'm currently searching for new grips for my BMX and sadly I haven't found any I like yet, lock-on or rubber. I can't use foam on the BMX because it doesn't stand up to the abuse of hitting the ground often.

Catch-22 is a novel by Joseph Heller. The phrase 'catch 22' is often used to describe situations where the solution is impossible due to the situation. As in loosing your glasses, where finding you glasses would be much easier if you had your glasses.

That's honestly hilarious. I'm pretty sure Trialtech is the widest out there nowadays. I'd pay more attention to the torque spec of the clamp and make sure there are no hard edges on the inside of the clamp. Companies love catch 22s to get out of warranty claims.

No worries. I'll be in Germany in mid August and shipping would be much cheaper if you're still interested then.

I have a pair of echo adapters. You'll need V posts, but they should be available. Message me with your address and we can figure out shipping, I'm in the USA. Cheers

If you do look into 24" bikes, pay attention to the wheelbases. The 960mm bikes feel more BMX while the 980+mm bikes will feel more like a 26".

Looks like standard threaded on. Those are never easy to unscrew. I usually have to cut the teeth so you can use proper tools on it. I haven't found a chainwip that is strong enough and the 'bit of chain in a vice' technique never worked for me. You can try a heat gun to loosen it as well, but be careful with too much heat as that can damage the hub. Good luck!

Andy on a 20"?!?! That'll help fight global warming what with HELL freezing over now! I guess if you live long enough you eventually see everything. Been looking at an X3 20" myself lately.... Good luck Andy!!

I've only done casual research, but I think there are four 26" actual street trials bikes available right now. The Hex, obviously, TMS Silex 26 and two from Extension. The Drax is the previous model Extension and the Vary is the new one. You can check those for geo that suits you. As for custom; I wish I knew of an aluminium custom builder. Marino is great for steel, but a 6 month wait (at least). There are other steel builders too and then there's titanium if you wanna go full crazy. I went down the custom road recently, but steel's not really my thing and titanium is just too expensive for what you realistically get. I'm keeping my Czar 26 going for as long as I can. It's the perfect bike for me. 1020 wheelbase, +25 BB, 74* head angle and 380 chainstay. There's a 21' Hex, a Marino copy and a TMS Silex 26 on the Canada/US Pinkbike buy/sell right now. Good luck

Well it put a big smile on my face today. Not 100% sorted, but today's ride was pretty great. The brakes are bedded now and everything is properly tight. First thing I noticed was this 'dampening' effect the frame has. It feels more like steel than alu. I guess all those 'bowed' stays don't transmit feedback directly to the cranks or stem. That feeling might not be for everyone, but my old body got used to it pretty quickly. With a 90x35 it's also not as tall as any of my other bikes. I've already ordered a 90x45 to remedy that. I put it on the scale after my ride and was devastated to find it's a full pound heavier than my Guilty! It comes in at 20.8#/9.4kg. Nothing really to do to change that either as they're basically the same spec. I guess used Holy Rollers are lighter than new Holy Rollers 😉 If I'm not too sore tomorrow it'll get another full send.

I didn't. I'm far from France and I wanted to get it sorted quickly.

Yeah I knew the white and black frames were different and I would have preferred the through axle, but I didn't want to repaint the frame. I've broken a rear through axle, but I've never broken a bolt on hub. Either way it's the fixed rear wheel that matters most. No more sliding dropouts for me.

Next up is there novel rear disc mount. I must admit that this is one of the reasons I bought this frame because I just wanted to see what that mount's all about. I'm over it already. I wanted the older TMS Champgn that had this mount, but they were all gone by the time I had enough money to buy one. The Urbex has basically the same geo as my Guilty so this purchase is pretty superfluous, but curiosity is what it is. The 'between the stays' brake mount is dumb. I'm totally fine with 180 rotors, but yeah, good luck putting a +20 or +40 adapter in there. You can't use an extension to tighten the brake bolt and I couldn't even get my 1/4" mini ratchet in there so you're forced to use a regular 5mm allen with about 25 deg to play with. Imagine how much fun it was to set up an MT5 like this. Oh, and the rear brake mount needed to be faced. Can anyone guess how easy it was to get the facing tool in there? I should have turned it into a drinking game; that would have been more fun. All the while my Guilty is just laughing in the background.

All right. You want the dirt, here we go. Every, yes EVERY, TMS fork I've had has had issues. This one is no exception, well, actually, maybe just the through axle this time. The disc mount was faced pretty square which was nice, but the through axle was too long. Yes. Too long. When you fully tighten the axle it measures to about 103mm. WTF?!? This was not what I thought was the problem initially so I was messing with the preload on my hub etc when I realized it was the friggin through axle! I didn't have any 15mm washers on hand so I rigged about 4 washers that were close to compensate for the too long axle. Now I've ordered an axle that will be correct (not from TMS) but it won't be here until next week.

Ok, I'm an idiot. I bought one of these things. It spent 3 weeks in customs for no apparent reason and it's taken me all weekend to set it up properly (I got it as a frame & fork). This is my 3rd TMS now (Evo6, Silex 3 and now Urbex) and they've all had 'issues' straight out of the box. I'm trying not to pass judgement too soon, but the frustration to fun ratio is the wrong way around at the moment. Maybe next weekend I'll be raving about how awesome this bike is...

Everything I run now is post mount and 180mm. Haven't broken anything brake related in 2 years now.

Wow! That's quite a looker. Proper urban camo

Oh right, steel frame. Good thing you're paying attention!

Well done! That looks great! What flavor aluminium did you use?

The Spike Race 33 rims are very impressive. I've been using Light carbon rims for a while now, but recently built a back-up bike and put Spikes on it. I had forgotten how nice they are. Really well made with all the bells and whistles honestly. I'm still old school with tubes, but they've been 100% every time.

Now that is a sweet lookin ride! Needs eeWings