Jere_h

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.

I've stripped multiple things with pipe opener, such as Trialtech rims and a front hub. Clear coated with acrylic after that. It's really easy, but your object is quite large so avoid breathing the vapors too much. It's really nasty smelling stuff and starts to burn in your lungs pretty quickly. Probably not very healthy, recommend doing it outdoors. No need to submerge, a large paint brush works well for spreading the chemical over the surface and rubbing the color away. Very easy to control it that way so it won't eat the alloy too much. You typically need to repeat the "painting" process few times until all the color is gone.

A great example of trying so hard to design something different, at the expense of good looks. Duncan Shaw's custom Marin is another example, but slightly less awkward than this. Pretty sure that thing would sell a lot more if it just simply looked like Inspired or anything conventional. Their brand name would sell already, no need to re invent a wheel. Very questionable move from a small bike brand in these miserable times. Santa Cruz made it well for Danny, something new but good looking at the same time. But obviously they have the reputation of always being super stylish and conservative whatever they do. Again Canyon slightly failed in my opinion, obviously tried to avoid copying Santa Cruz. Crewkerz Guilty is just like a Jealousy in a street form, quite nice and recognizable. Why that offset in the seat/top tube junction Clean, why..... 🤦‍♂️

Just saw an IG post of I think from a Chinese rider, there were like 5 different 26" Maestros in that photo parked together. So yeah probably very popular bike, just not distributed here. Xoxbikes seemed to disappear completely after Damon Watson snapped the dropout of his sponsored bike. Also Kevin and sadly Lykketrial bikes and components seems to be vanished from the earth.

Trialtech Carthy, the newest one.

Switched to Coust pads and they feel much softer/more elastic to touch, it's a very different material. I knew they were good on hs33 when I had those, just never tried them on a rear V-brake. Locking power increased massively compared to the old black TNNs, bite significantly better too but still a bit "unreliable" at times, but that might be due to some flex in the system as I still don't own a booster for V. They are loud and very high pitched, but a booster might help with that too. But now it's definitely a good brake again and I can trust the hold even in sloped surfaces. Might give a go for a pair of Heatsinks if I can find them anywhere in the future. Also I washed the rim with IPA (not the beer) but that didn't make much if any difference.

As said in my original post, the setup is 100% dialed and not to blame. I know these brakes inside out, have designed and built my own adapters and ridden them many years now. Rim brake contamination I have a hard time believing, but I guess that can be a real thing? With disc brakes I get it, the surfaces are very smooth and critical there. But with grinded trials rims I find it weird that any significant contamination would be left after grinding, and the pads will pretty effectively "sand" themselves after some hard braking. At least the surface looks like it now. But yeah I'm going to wash the braking surface with a brake cleaner just to see if it helps. Just ordered some Jitsie and Coust pads to see if those would help too. I'm keeping my bikes inside mostly but at some point they have been on a sunny balcony so it's totally possible that the pads have seen too much UV radiation in their life. Still not 100% buying this theory but will see when the new pads arrive. Another one would be, that the pads character has just changed because they are a bit thinner now than brand new. Less material, less squish would mean stiffer pad = less initial bite. At least this could be one of many reasons.

I'm currently struggling with my V-brake setup. I'm using a pair of approx. 3 year old TNN black pads with CNC v-brake packings and those were absolutely mental when they were new. Silent, tacky, locking up effortlessly. They were better than Cousts in my opinion that I loved too. The up to rears on a steep rock surface that I didn't quite make, I was still able to stick to the rock with ease and not sliding backwards. I was blown away how well the V-brake works compared to HS33 at that time. Currently I can't get the brake to stick anymore, until squeezing very hard, but then it's also hard to release quickly when needed. There's barely any initial bite and it takes way too many cm for the rear wheel to stop completely when rolling to a ledge before drop, so I can't trust the brake in these situations. Just did a fresh grind and it helped only marginally, and I remember the grind quality never being an issue when the pads were new. It just worked no matter how bad the grind was. I've completely replaced my entire V-brake system and there's no issues, no loose that would affect etc. It's just not gripping anymore like it used to. Could it be, that the solvents of the pad material have been slowly escaped, so that the rubber has hardened a bit and lost it's elasticity over time? The pads are barely halfway from new, they don't seem to wear much although I ride a lot.. But the time and temperature changes must have something to do with it. I sometimes ride in a freezing temperatures too before the season is officially over. Have you guys noticed this being an issue with old pads? With tires it is very noticeable, when you swap to a new rubber it's so smooth and tacky compared to the old one that has seen some UV rays etc. Also what pads would you recommend for cold weather, meaning I'd like something softer to compensate when they turn wooden in almost freezing temps. Jitsie blue? I also prefer a subtle grind so the brake is not too grabby when it's time to release it quickly. Probably going to give another go for a new set of Cousts because those I remember being very good even with a worn grind. But is there something now that is even better?

Yeah considering all the randomness and loose tolerances in HS33 (pads wiggle a bit, a bit sticky pistons sometimes etc.), it might feel like they're too close and sometimes grabbing when you don't want to. Rim brake is generally not very precise, it's better to be used with a large lever throw like on-off. This is one of the reasons I like Vees, they just feel more precise and I like to run my levers close to bars to minimize arm pump. With a good V setup there is 0 play in any direction so it's quite well predictable too when it touches the rim.

I decided to go with the I9 because as per forum feedback I've seen, that seemed to be the only high engagement solution for trials that doesn't skip. Well, yes it skips too.. But it's very minor and happens most likely only when I'm turning, so when there is going to be some flex. I've never experienced any skipping when preloading a gap, that usually happened with the 135 freewheels (and ruined the move). So far, it's incredible and the light weight makes it feel almost like a front freewheel setup, or not significantly far away from that. Some say double spring mod would get rid of skipping but add some drag. I might try that at some point if the issue gets worse. With the Clean 135 freewheel I already did the mod and it added hell a lot of drag/noise but nothing improved...

The Trialtech Carthys are unfortunately discontinued and when I realized that I decided to order the last one I could find, just for a spare. Those are so good that the old one I've ridden 4-5 years now is still perfect... With natural riding only (and avoiding sharp rocks), I might never need to buy more rims than these.. From weight weenie perspective though, the Hashtagg is tempting but I really appreciate lateral stiffness too, so.... I think no single wall can match the double wall design. When it comes to grind, I'm super lazy. I do a very light grind using a Bosch mini angle grinder (can't grind at home so need a battery powered tool) with diamond cutting disc, once or twice in a year and ride until it starts to feel "wooden" and slippery. With V-brakes that is mostly a non issue, with the TNN black pads it seems to work well even with a worn grind and I kinda like the idea of not generally using too much brakes. That's something I've been trying to learn actually, to rely more on the balance and chain tension (watch Charlie Rolls). What I don't like about a very harsh and effective grind, is the difficulty to release the brakes quickly. It feels like it always grabs a little bit too much. I've generally managed to do the biggest gaps when the grind is starting to loose its sharpness.

I've had the Formulas now in my mtb for a while and will probably keep them there, because they are actually really good for that. These are just very smooth and easy to modulate, contrary to most of the reviews that say the Cura 2 is a bit on-off?! They feel completely different to Maguras, which tend to be very bitey. I don't think the Cura works well for trials with the stock pads because of that slippery smooth initial bite or better say lack of it. I bought a set of Trickstuff pads that are supposed to be more powerful, will see how they feel. Someone, maybe AliC in another thread complained about sluggish lever feel. Some say the levers feel heavy. To me they feel very light, maybe a bit slower/not as snappy as others but not much. The pad knock is horrible, just tons of loose and it doesn't seem to go away after bedding in. This is possibly the deal breaker for me but it doesn't bother in MTB so... The MT5 is still my favourite brake for trials, why change something that works. It bites and holds like animal and there is zero pad knock. The feel is just perfect now when I've used them again, and the only issue is those master cylinder leaks at some point. Shigura might be a real thing to consider.

Actually I was quite interested to try Shigura with XTR race, but checked prices for a set of levers only and laughed.. Currently I could get a complete set of Cura 2 with two magura rotors for the price of XTR levers. Giving the Formulas a go, will report back how they feel in a comp trials setup after I've got the thing built some day. Cura 2-pot because of weight and reliability. Read some feedback about the 4-pots having typical 4-pot issues.