Private Repress

Yes I’ve used a quadlock in the past. Super design. Basically it’s a case for your phone that’s like a normal phone case. The back houses a proprietary recess that rotates onto the locking mechanism that is held onto your bars or stem via robust rubber loops or zip ties. I used to use it for cycle cross riding. The phone never separated from the bars. I highly recommend

You can pick up a Giant STP for the £300 mark second hand. There has been a few on eBay recently, I know as I bought two to make a front sus trials bike. If you are prepared to upgrade the parts yourself it can work out quite well... I’ve just turned this; Into this: I appreciate this is a trials build, but STP stands for street, trails, park. The geo is great for an all round fun machine

I forgot to mention that this is the bike I’m running Shimano Zee levers on with Magura MT5 callipers. Thanks @Adam@TartyBikes for the advice - the brakes work a treat

So here the bike is now as it stands. Graphics added to the Matt black frame, I have some in the post for the forks. I have to say, it is incredibly good fun to ride, I completely forgot how good bunny hops are with front suspension. I’m running forks pretty hard. The 70mm stem sits just right, short enough to make the front poppy, but long enough to keep it feeling Trialsy on the rear wheel.

Build day had arrived. I was still a few bits short of what I’d set out to do, so used some spare bits here and there. I wanted to run gears, although it’s a pro2 trials hub. I figured this would offer versatility for trials and park riding With 6 gears ranging from 18t down to 11t this offers fine tuning! And yes... it makes it competition legal haha (showing my age now!)

Whilst waiting on a few bits to complete the build I dropped the frame in at the powder coaters along with a couple of sets of forks - future builds to come! A second hand Thompson seat post was a bargain. Especially as I’ll be having the seat up now and then. I also had to get a longer hose for the MT5 front brake, I’d ran it through the steerer in the last bike it was on so it was too short for the long suspension forks

Next up was wheels... I purchased a wheelset from @LEON, I had these in mind for a different bike but black pro 2 hubs would maintain the the look I was after and I had some trusty spank rims which I pinched of my Zebdi. so I deconstructed both sets and rebuilt them up stealth style: I also managed to find some second hand race face cranks. I searched for saints but finding a decent set that accept an inner ring and 175mm length was proving difficult.

I imagined getting the bike to look something close to Jeff Lenoskys last giant STP build: albeit this is a newer version, the old one has similar geometry (although the 24inch wheels don’t help it look anything alike). A full strip down was required I also decided to brave the world of suspension maintenance: stripped the forks down and cleaned all the internals The forks are still in bits as I need to have them painted - there were some gouges that I’ve sanded out. but I managed to get some marzocchi bomber DJ1 forks on another second hand bike purchase so they have gone onto the current build

Hi all, more custom build spam! Having done a few builds over the last 12 months I decided to change the lineup of bikes to suit some different styles of riding. Pure trials isn’t my bag anymore, and I like a bike that looks like a bike - nothing against modern comp bikes at all, I’m just past the point of hitting any personal bests haha. Watching @jamesb got me seriously contemplating a front sus do it all bike. I started trials on a jump frame with manitou forks way back in the late 90s and I’ve always fancied going back down that nostalgic route. I’d been hanging my nose over some jump bikes on eBay looking for something with a reasonable bb height and that all important beefy rear end to manage a disc brake for trials. Mentioned the idea to @Ross McArthur who suggested a Giant STP. How I’d missed this is beyond me, Jeff Lenosky was a big influence on me as a kid getting into trials but I’d never stopped to think about his Giant, always recalled the days of him riding for Schwinn. 2 days later and a bit of eBaying I ended up with this as a base: I know... she isn’t pretty, but all I really wanted was the frame and fork. I figured I could sell some of the bits off. The 24inch rims were a write off (which I knew about). But it had Hope big un hubs which I managed to get some money back for on eBay.

Halo make 36 hole rims too

@Rip as promised I’m coming back to report on performance. Seriously good is my verdict, I got used to the way they feel in no time, modulation is the biggest learning curve as the bite feels very different, a couple of manuals in and I was fine. I’m running them on 26 inch wheels with 180mm rotors and I’m not the lightest person haha, but had no problem hanging all my weight on the back wheel during long blunts/abubaca’s. I like how positively the lever returns too.

The mortgage company shouldn’t have forced you to get a survey... are you sure it wasn’t a mortgage valuation? A lot of people get this mixed up. Relying on the mortgage valuation alone is risky. Mortgage Valuation - for the lender, a very brief 2-3 page report that confirms the property exists, doesn’t have any major defects and is worth the money that they are lending on it. These used to be commonly disclosed to applicants but this is becoming less common now. Survey (HomeBuyer / Building Survey) - this is for the applicant and is not provided to the lender. It’s a far more detailed report, anywhere between 30 and 50 pages. It breaks down all of the elements of the property and rates each on a traffic light system. Green = ok, amber = small issue, red = urgent issue act now.

Thanks dude, it was a fun project. I used something called nemesis paint stripper from screwfix. They don’t appear to sell it anymore but I’ve heard good things about wickes own brand stuff. To be honest though nothing is fantastic these days as the active ingredients have been reduced massively.

Reading comments in here and being in the industry myself - I couldn’t agree more about the house buying process being so unclear. The FCA really should get their finger out to make things clearer, hidden costs are a sod to those buying their first house. I’ll get hate for this next bit, but I was so lucky when I bought my house two years back - possibly the epitome (in my lifetime anyway) of being in the right place at the right time. Cutting a long story short, my current neighbours are friends of my family - it was mentioned by the neighbours that the house might be up for sale when they bumped into my parents whilst at a supermarket. The owner was elderly and going into a home. I should mention the house was not on the market at this point... no estate agent involved. This was mentioned to my parents on a Sunday, I spoke to the son who was managing the house on Monday morning and viewed it on Monday afternoon. It was very dated and there was some internal wall cracking which would put most off - I’m a surveyor though and determined it was caused by leaking finlock gutters (concrete gutter laid like bricks on the top of the cavity wall). Essentially a superficial crack which I knew could be fixed by replacing the gutters and re-plastering. Monday night I called a friend that’s a mortgage consultant in the business I work for. I had a mortgage in principle by Wednesday. He talked me through the process and made it very clear. Despite being a surveyor, at the time I knew relatively little about the process of a mortgage before it gets to a valuation being carried out. I made the offer Thursday night directly with the owner (the son of the lady moving onto a home). I have to say that it was so nice to have direct contact without some slimey Estate Agent in the middle that was just thinking about what modification from Halfords they could make to their car with their commission (to harsh?). Conversely there are good EA’s but its luck of the draw! Friday evening I got the call that my offer was accepted. A few checks by the solicitors and a valuation later the whole thing competed - I got the keys just 3 weeks after the offer. Now I appreciate that in terms of timing and circumstances things fell into my favour I.e no upwards or downwards chain, but the point I guess I’m trying to make is that it was an absolute pleasure doing business the old way with the seller directly - cutting out the middle man made things clear and concise, no conflicted interests from the estate agent who ultimately in most circumstances are thinking about the payout, and most importantly no bottle neck to hold things up. it could of course gone sour, but the chap selling the house was a gent. My advice to anyone buying a house for the first time would be to go for a reputable mortgage advisor, when you get that right they can really help keep you on track with what you need to do and when. Mine was truly fantastic and even text me with updates while on holiday abroad. As an Englishman, I also think we have a lot to learn from Scotland in terms of the house buying process - if you didn’t know their house buying process is quite different, have a look and see what you think. This has turned into quite a long message, but if you got this far - I wish those that are on the cusp of becoming home owners the best of luck, it’s a fantastic feeling when you do eventually get the keys to a house that you can truly call your ‘home’.

@Rip You still get reach adjustment on the zee levers, but HC3’s have more adjustment points making them more configurable. Feel wise it really is down to preference. I’m yet to ride with them properly having only really played around on my drive, but I personally like the light feel they have, the firmness when the pads bite and most of all the quick lever return. I did come from a standard MT5 lever though. I run HC1’s on my Marino which I absolutely love. I’ll report back after a decent ride.

Not a Frenchie, or a wall...agreed. But still a nice video - I like the idea of sharing all the different ways you can think of to conquer an obstacle - can bring new ideas to old spots. Also, I enjoy watching your riding style, simple and smooth. Thanks for sharing

@Maintenance Justice haha yes it was! Another bike came with some shimano Deore brakes, so pinched the shroud and already had the rest Initial thoughts are that it feels great. As @Mark W has mentioned the arch feels very different but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. thanks for your time yesterday too

Wahoo, the Frankenbrake lives! Thanks @Adam@TartyBikes

Top man, thanks Adam, I may well have some kicking around then

Reopening this, I’m now considering running the Shimano levers on a different bike. Anyone know where I can get the Shimano shroud that goes onto the magura hose? I’m also assuming that I’d need to use the Shimano olive and hose end plug?

I feel your pain, if I had a bike that colour the first place I would be going is the painters. I’ve actually stopped watching Duncan Shaws videos because I genuinely can’t stand the neon pink. I personally have mine shot blasted and powder coated (I’ve done a few, with another little project going to the powder coaters this coming weekend). good luck, the world will be a better place with one less pink fourplay

Dedication to the hunt that! The bike looks lovely.

I need to go through this process... tunes and a beer sounds good!

Are they noisy @Swoofty? That’s something I’m really not into anymore. I did try running an XT v on an earlier build but had similar problems getting the arms to sit properly. As it happens I would have ran a rear disc, but the frame was built to run a Hope mini mono which I couldn’t get my hands on. the stars must have aligned as I have a friend with a spare set. I’ll see what I can do

Brake mounts arrived today, a bit of a faff setting up, as it’s a wide rim and there is no off set on evo 2 mounts I had to sand the pads down to fit haha the bike is now complete, having ridden it properly now it’s clear it’s definitely a park bike! Keeping the rear rim smooth and rocking black pads