winchman

All ready to go, bike ready, our sons all keen to start, but were to take him? Any one local ish to St.Helens who could give him a few tips / lessons? We are happy to travel. Ideally over the Xmas school holidays as we wont let him on it before as its for Xmas

Whys the freewheel on the front?

Got it for £230, its blob on, looks new.

I wouldnt use Antifreeze, its a poison and will strip paint What you need is food grade Glycol, but you also need a anti corrosion addative and a bacteriacide stuff as bacteria will grow in it. To be honest just use oil, brake fluid and hydraulic oil are two totaly different things, I assume the car brake fluid is incompatable with the seals, it usually makes them swell up as it reacts with the rubber type stuff used in them. So should these be filled with water or oil? being new to this I havent a clue, just know about hydraulic systems being an engineer

LOL Ours have had a go at most things, its strange he might just get up one day and ask Dad I want one! The turning point for us was a lad at work was selling a £1000 BMX on Ebay for £400, he tried twice and didnt get a bid ( ficcle world of BMX wrong colour / name etc) I kept taking the P and offering £100, came in weeks later and told me I could have it for £150! Our son still has it and has had a few different bikes as well but always comes back to it. He has wanted a Trials bike for a bit so Christmas was an ideal oppertunity.

Well we went to see it and bought it for £230, its like brand new, not a mark on the sump guard thingy, couple of scratches from storage, tyres like new, rides well. Could do with two new grips thats all, so whos up for giving him a few lessons after Xmas? Main thing is he is happy, he has a titty lip on though as we wont let him on it till Christmas LOL

Richer sounds have some very good stuff, often last months models, but its a TV what can be different? 32" Sharp £199. http://www.richersounds.com/product/lcd-tv/sharp/lc32sh130/shar-lc32sh130k Last summer we got a 15" with built in Freeview and DVD player 5 year warrenty all for £89! Join the VIP club, its free and you get Emailed discounted offers, no spam just 1 mail per month

Been offered an Onza Bird 12 months old, front disc, hardly used but it has cable operated brakes? I assume this is a cheaper version? He wants £250 but whats it really worth? I was thinking £150 but then I see different models selling for £250 with hydraulic brakes and twin discs. Advice please Oh its very tidy with good tyres

Should we buy a cable braked bike or keep looking for one with Hydraulics?

Been offered an Onza Bird 12 months old, front disc, hardly used but it has cable operated brakes? I assume this is a cheaper version? He wants £250 but whats it really worth? I was thinking £150 but then I see different models selling for £250 with hydraulic brakes and twin discs. Advice please Oh its very tidy with good tyres

Please wear gloves and goggles, this stuff is really toxic and will burn you. Caustic causes the skin to defat, basically it turns your skin in to soap. Have you not tried a local furniture strippers or Chrome platers? these should be able to do it for a few quid. Nitromorse the one you nuterlise with Meths not water is the best. Some finishes are very resistant and can take a few goes This is what the bike factorys use to strip and badly painted frames etc http://www.pcpconline.com/ Oh have a look here before you mess with chemicals at home http://www.kenwoodward.co.uk/

Comming from a world of offroading in 4x4s its interesting to see this. We do occasionally get similar responces, some times idiots spoil it by going were they shouldnt. We find being polite and not rising to the bait just winds them up even more, but is the correct way to deal with it., one of the lads has his Jeep fully camered to film routes etc, he has filmed some really good material of people just being abusive, one called the police, he just showed the video back and the bloke was then crapping him self as the police had a nice chat with him and explained rights of way. The bit we find almost comical is the police and NHS appealed to us all the last two winters to ferry staff about, one of the lads cleared the outside lane on a local motorway as the police have no or very few 4x4s at 15 to the gallon it cost him a few quid, so he asked the coppers who politely said no chance, so one letter to the Chief Constable later, one tank of Petrol, its a two way street and people often forget this. Just watch out if you are technically a child as people shouldnt approach you, they often forget this can land them in a whole load of trouble.

Well just missed a tidy Onza T mag on Ebay, went over out budget.sold for £260 but would have cost £20 odd quid to collect in fuel I assume he is better with a front disc? Whats the Onza t-Vee like? what should we pay for one? I think its decided he wants 20" wheels

I think the seal keeps the fluid in and the "O" ring is acting as a guide to keep the piston square in the bore. Easy to make but unless you have the time, equipment and material just buy one

To be honest I would just take the old ones to an engineers mercahant and they should sell you the correct size for a couple of quid. Have a look at this Make sure they are high tensile though as I have seen a few allen bolts snap as they were poorly made cheap ones.

Have you tried the hub manufacturer? I had similar with Canti bosses, one company fit an odd size, I had to wait 3 months until a bake was returned under warrenty and the scrapped it and sold me the canti bosses for £5. Some one will have them its just finding them.

Thanks its a mine field for me as its a totally new concept. BMX wise he loves the ramps at Rampworx in Liverpool, but often uses it any place he can. He currently rides a Fly Pantera, but prefers my bike, its strange what we like and such a complex decision, he just loved the Fly until he rode mine. One day the Fly was off the road with bearings failed again, but he still had a good day on one of the spare bikes a cheap mongoose thingy, it did the job, I find the BMX world is very trendy and all about names, some of the stuff is appaling but they just stick a name on it and try to give it prestige. Heres a pic of my BMX he loves it, I like it as it was £49 from a car boot sale!Its so light at about 23lbs

Thanks we will keep you posted

Thanks I did wonder what the Mod meant, I thought modified LOL I think I agree with the 20" and see how he goes, after all if I buy second hand and he moves up or gets bored it should still be worth what we paid? Seen a few Onzas for sale so will start to look about

Helicoils wont work 1 I dont think they do them in bike type threads 2 The need a good few milimeters of metal left to fix to The insert is the best way to go I assume they weld a piece in and cut a new thread? But as others have suggester try a BB that dosnt need a threaded frame.

Hello Our son is a very keen BMX rider who fancies a trals bike. So what do we buy? Obviously second hand, budget £150-250 We did see one at the car boot for £175, luckily I know a bit about bikes, so we walked away LOL, looked very good, but not looked after with a big list of problems. Any good places to take him near to St.Helens Forgot to say he is 12 and 5ft6" tall, bit weedy but starting to fill out, wouldnt like a dig from him LOL