Jere_h

Too much firmness is bad I agree, TRP Slate is one of those brakes that hurt fingers. But a healthy level of feedback of the bite point is crucial in my opinion. Spongy lever on the other hand, doesn't let you know what happens there and when, it's just numb and then grabs all of sudden. Also same thing when letting go (modulating) the brake, with a spongy brake you have to guess where it starts to slip. Another thing is, many of us like to run the levers adjusted very close to bars which makes maintaining a secure grip easier and causing less arm pump. With a spongy brake you can't really do that. About my Hope brake.. I used hours to bleed this thing (which is awesome because of the ability to do it moto-style btw, actually no need for a bleed kit), there was some minor air coming out but it didn't improve much. Also shortened the hose and that made probably the biggest difference (obviously). Then I noticed that one of the pistons was slightly stuck or needed much more force to push back than the other one. So I used another hour to move them in and out to make them work better. Now it seems to actuate symmetrically enough so that's probably not the issue number one. The end result is that nothing significantly changed, the brake is still quite soft and numb although yes it brakes well now when bedded in. The contact area of the pads and rotor is huge. Just not a fan of how it feels like, cumbersome is the correct term I think, with the massive blocky lever blade together with lack of firm bite point. Also the clearance between pads and rotor seems almost non existent in this brake by design, I don't think it's a fault. So it's always rubbing a bit when pushing the bike, making that honk honk noise. I thought that Magura MT5 brakes were insanely difficult to get right in terms of clearance adjustment, but this is on another level. Imagine when the rotor is getting slightly bent.... The higher than normal leverage ratio probably being the reason, to all of these issues. Fun thing is that the fancy bite point adjuster is pretty much unusable, because the pads are already too close when it's rolled completely open. Switching to braided hoses might fix the lack of feel but I probably wouldn't bother to try.

After many different brakes over the years I finally decided to spend extra on the Tech 4 Trial zone (for a front brake) to see if they're worth it. Must say I'm not very impressed.. These seem to be plagued with issues, wrapped in a pretty CNC form (that isn't so pretty in terms of ergonomics and safety). The lever blade is so sharp and uncomfortable it's difficult to use these without gloves and even with gloves on it's painful. Crashing on that thing will 100% cause open cuts, it's a pretty dangerous design really. Now they're re-designed the blade for the new EVO range which obviously isn't backwards compatible to the old Tech4 lever, what a surprise. For 235€ I was expecting to get a sharp and precise bite point considering all that sturdy CNC goodness, yet this brake is softer and spongier than anything I've tried before. To me it looks like there must be some air, which is more like a norm these days when purchasing a new disc brake. So let's spend some more to order another ridiculously priced bleed kit straight away. Good thing is these work with the regular brake fluid at least. Another reason could be the leverage ratio being so high, making it inevitably spongy. Whatever it is, the brake doesn't feel great at all. Another main issue is that the pistons aren't fully retracting and hence pads are rubbing slightly, even when the adjuster is rolled completely out. There's barely any pad clearance. So here we already have one strange issue that I never encountered with any other brake, yet these are like double as expensive. I've tried to push the pistons inside a few times (they do retract well and stay there so I don't think there's fluid overload) but after one press they start rubbing again. The good thing to say is that even when not properly bedded in (new Hope rotor too), the brake seems to have some incredibly strong bite and hold even at this point. This is very promising, compared to other brakes I've bedded in they typically had like zero hold at this point. So the lever is very light and seems to have a lot of power (which indicates an enormously strong leverage ratio, which typically leads to spongy feel). How is your experience with the Hope Trial Zone? So far I have mixed feelings (due to the price). Formula Cura 2 has been the best feeling brake for trials and MTB so far, they just weren't there with their reliability and I wanted a brake that has a proper bleed nipple instead of the stupid screw that makes a mess every time (Formula, Magura).

No I don't think I'd ever want to mess up with double springs again. Did that to my freewheels already and it pretty much improved nothing, but just as you said made it loud and also very draggy. One of the things I love about Hydra is the minimal rolling resistance.

Very good points. Although Finnish population is very unevenly spread compared to UK I'd say. In the south it's actually pretty tight and outside of that there's just forest and moose, to put it simply. I don't know a single trials rider that has been living outside the southern Finland zone, ever. The nature in the northern half especially is not very welcoming to trials. Mostly just wild forest, and the mosquitoes and horseflies are from another world there and it's already a trouble in the south. It would be plain impossible to stay still and focus on sidehops in the northern rural areas. The south, especially coastal area is full of phenomenal rocks and cliff so it's definitely ideal and one can find those very close to the city centers. In fact, some of the best spots have been in Helsinki area in the urban nature. Sadly those are often full of broken bottles and crowded with the kind of people you don't want to deal with, especially when trying to do such silly sport that nobody knows here. But yeah it's still definitely mostly a cultural thing. As everyone can imagine Finns are much much more introverted than British. A major part of us don't exactly need friends for sports although group rides are often preferred too. Then there are also people who can't do a single thing without a friend. Trials is a fun one here. When the UK got that 2000's boom, we had just a couple of dedicated riders here. In fact, one guy was pioneering the sport already in the 90's and was doing absolutely impossible things with those old high top tube mountainbikes. Those clips can be still found on Youtube somewhere.. In that time (during the British trials boom, when I was a kid but very much into bikes) I didn't know about the sport, now I can only wish I knew. Still when I started around 2017 all the guys from Helsinki area had basically quit, so I got nobody here to even think about riding with (only one non-biker friend who just liked to watch me progressing on rear wheel hops). In fact only couple of years ago I accidentally bumped to one of the older guys when he was finishing his solo training in my local spot (super rare sight). Ended up chatting about possible winter indoors spots near Helsinki region and he told that they used to have one with a couple of local guys just few years ago. But in the end since everyone seemed to prefer training alone (for more serious comp training I guess), they just ended up having their own riding schedules so they could effectively avoid each other... 😂 Sounds like a joke but this is definitely super Finnish, there are certain types of folks who have a brain wiring like that, myself included. It's difficult to 100% focus on scary and mentally/physically demanding sport if you have to be socially active at the same time, using big part of the mental energy for that with people you don't completely know. We tend to have deeper friendships instead of just "mates" so that's part of the issue. The youngsters might be different nowadays but compared to UK they're still very "shy", although that's not exactly the right word. Street riding in the city centers would obviously mean one has to be fairly outgoing, easy to focus despite of being bombed with "where's your saddle" kind of things (or at least lot of weird looks). For many of us this is too much to find it comfortable. For me personally, having to suddenly explain my sport to a random dude with a fatbike, might completely knock out my focus for the next 30 minutes after getting rid of that situation. Often that is enough to ruin the ride when the dude appears at the best possible time and it gets dark very early in the autumn days, so I try to avoid such situations. Especially if it's a spot that requires +1h driving. Natural riding is awesome for that.

Had Trickstuff power pads (the orange backing) in my Formula brakes and found them really good. Put the same sort of pads on the MT5 lately and yes, even still not bedded in those are really powerful right out of the box. Can't recommend enough. Feels quite similar to Jitsie pads if I remember right. About the Formula Cura discussed earlier.. Another one for warranty and I've been waiting it for like 4 months now. Small leak in the master cylinder, would have been easy and cheap to fix myself but I don't bother really.. Trying Hope next time if I ever switch from Magura to something else. Stay away from Formula, had only problems with those especially in cold weather.

Yeah those are the legends of trials hub but after having like million engagement points on a Hydra, hard to go back to something like that. Even if the Hydra skips, it's so minor it's not going to throw your balance off like those with less engagement.

I see people (typically from UK) that only ride street but never proper natural stuff, or just barely. Does it feel awkward and scary to you or just not interested? Or there just isn't much natural to ride? For a contrast, I've ridden pretty much 99% natural since I started (Finland, so much nice forest and rocks), being in the nature mostly alone is part of the charm for me. And I found everything man made with sharp edges just so damn scary to approach. It's like the margin of error feels so much smaller than with round rocks and the typical pine forest environment. It's funny because one could think that the random angles of rocks and all the unpredictable stuff would be difficult and awkward, but for me I actually don't find those that scary, just challenging. More scary I'd imagine launching a gap to front from a sharp edge of pallet, to another sharp edge of pallet. Or concrete.. And yet many people start learning the moves with those kind of obstacles in their backyard or something. Likely just a matter of getting used to. But soon reaching my mid 30s and trying to avoid crashes as much as possible, doesn't help at all. Even just a slight bad movement might end up causing a spasm in my neck or back. There's a small trials park on the parking lot side of my new riding spot so that will hopefully help a bit with time, but I never really enjoy riding those things. I've started to get some weird balance issues after 30's and just feel like getting high up on something narrow, slippery and sharp is a major risk, especially if exhausted and tired. Pallets and concrete blocks just roll so much easier than natural stuff, need to be much more precise with bike control.

I've really started to get frustrated with my Hydra. Skips almost as often as those crappy 135 freewheels. Doesn't look very good to me from longevity point of view, considering the hub isn't even 1 year old. Seems like there's not much reliable options on the market right now, for regular axle width.. If you value engagement points.

Didn't see a massive issue in that particular video, but it came a bit more apparent from the other videos on your channel. There definitely is some "hammering" effect or last minute kicking, if you know what I mean. And you seem like a fairly strong guy so that might be it + bad luck with the parts. Probably try learning to jump more with the body and less with the pedal kick. If you watch pro competition riders they barely lift the front foot when they gap (some small pedal kicks or preloading for drops are different thing). For gaps, they have already preloaded their cranks a bit before the actual preload for the jump which happens with the body. And their ankles/calves do a lot of job, almost equally on both legs. Much easier said than done, I know.. 😃 A good way to practice would be taking off from a ledge or something. So you kind of have to keep the pedals fairly level, or the rear wheel rotates too much and slips off before you get any power down for the gap. As an extreme example, rail gaps or stuff like that don't really allow much wheel rotation.

Mind posting a clip of you or at least your cranks when doing a gap? Must be a "bitch crank" issue. If it's not, then I don't think it can be an user error in any other way. If you preload a big amount suddenly and kick very aggressively without letting the hub engage first. Sharp impact with momentum is likely the reason, not power. We see hugely powerful riders using these hubs without constant issues, but they are smooth as. In fact I've been struggling with similar issue for years, since I originally learnt gapping with way too much preload/kicking with the front foot instead of shooting forwards with my body and trying to be more equal with my feet. It's really hard to get rid of that unwanted muscle memory and I still occasionally struggle with that. Often when I try to put all my power on something, the front foot unconsciously lifts way too high. But my hubs have been doing relatively well though, if not counting those faulty products that everyone else is having problems with too.

I went from numerous freewheels to a freehub in order to get rid of skipping issues. Modern freewheels are crap, but so are freehubs, it seems. Currently have i9 Hydra and it skips too.. My Hope Pro4 bought in 2017 never skipped even once but unfortunately I sold that...

Just something to consider, street forks with an additional lower cup + integrated headset frame would mean an extra tall front end, slacker head angle and higher bb. In a typical comp geo that might start to feel a bit funny, depends on the bike and your geo preferences of course. Smaller fork offset adds to the height too although very minimal. Also longer axle to crown measurement (including added lower cup height) = more stress for the head tube junction in gaps to front or hooks. Probably something the frame was not designed for. But luckily Damon's not going to put that much stress on the bike, right? 😃

I've always got that vibe from Jack that his insane skills are partly driven by that desperate need to win forever which is sad. Well I was not completely wrong then, now when it starts to literally show. Must be very common issue in sports at the highest level, although there are guys like Toni Bou who just dominate year after year but still seems positive and humble. However I partly understand Jack's frustration too, as some judging decisions against him have been just plain dumb. But a grown man with a plenty of victories should be able to handle this a bit differently. Yeah will be interesting to see how long the Weightmans stay with Crewkerz or if Jack actually quit like he said. 🙂

Yeah basically only a bunch of old ish farts reading Trials forum anyway so whatever. Let's say it's mainly just the Jack thing. Imagine finally reaching such a crazy life goals and not being appreciated by your main sponsor, because the other team rider needs to always win.

As far as I've seen from the latest videos, he was wearing a Hope jacket in the rain. So yeah he's technically using their products. 😄 I'm not going to spoil the stuff on his Patreon, but that move to Clean seems really wise when you know the reasons.