Tomm

I had a couple of teeth taken out, then braces for 18 months or so. Feels pretty sore at first (and every time they tighten it) but it only lasts a day or so and it's certainly not too painful that it'll stop you doing anything. The worst part was having teeth out beforehand, for sure. They inject your gums with a local anaesthetic and it does sting pretty but it's nothing you can't get over - only the same as having a filling. I had elastic bands on my braces too. No headgear though The day I got everything taken off - oh my word - such a strange feeling! I couldn't get over how smooth and empty my mouth was. Good times. And in the long-run, definitely worth it.

Nice one Anal.

Zoots (what I have) are fairly similar to the Inspired, at least geometry-wise, so I'll chuck in my two pence. I didn't really find too much difficulty moving from a long(ish) stock to a 24, although the last 26" frame I owned was a Levelboss 1065 which isn't the most up-to-date frame. Riding 'normal' stocks with up-to-date geo now seems totally crazy to me, and for sure a LLS frame will be easier to hold on the back wheel and add a few inches to your sidehops/taps. It just depends what you want to do, but like everyone has said, I found 24 was a whole lot more fun. Oh, and if you get an Inspired you can ride like Danny Mac - Guaranteed!

Once validated you can buy & sell in the main forum!

Yeah, either your old frame was out of alignment and so was the wheel, or the new one is out of line. If I were you, I'd just check the alignment on the new frame before you re-dish the wheel.

They're not going to go to the hassle of data recovery though (They're going to take one look at the drive and throw it in the bin, telling you to f**k off ).

It's not THAT similar. And also, Gary Glitter had pictures of children with no clothes on or something, pretty different! That's true but so do a lot of things which CAN be taken apart without problem. But hard drives are waaay more sensitive than other electronics.

I just sat watching that with the biggest grin on my face. Couldn't stop laughing, unbelievable. And yeah, like other people have said, it's crazy that he's improved loads since the last video (where he was already the best street trials rider in the world). I can't really put into words how awesome that video was. Hero.

And it won't work. The drives are made in sterile conditions with negative pressure etc. If you open it up, and get even the tiniest bit of dust in there, it'll destroy the drive. So then you'll have two broken drives. Besides, it's probably the platters which are damaged anyway, so swapping them into a new drive won't do anything good.

Me? It's just gone midnight here, mofo.

I think people trying to argue for atheism need to think of a few things: 1) People have their different beliefs, and no amount of arguing is going to convince them otherwise. Looking at this through a lens from outer space, each person (I.e. Christian vs atheist) has a pretty much identical viewpoint, and arguing about it makes them both look pretty stupid. The high-up religious scholars that welcome people from other religions (most of them do) I think are onto something - accept the other person's right to believe what they want, and move on. 2) I don't really think cynicism is a virtue - If people can believe, why shouldn't they? It's not like being a cynic will make you better/happier as an individual. I don't think smugness is a virtue, either. So whilst I personally can't help being cynical, I would try not to be smug - shouting about how atheism is the one true path etc. That Dawkins chap infuriates me so much for that reason - He's just so smug, you know he thinks he's better than all the Christians he chooses to berate for whatever reason. 3) You're arguing on an internet forum, so you're already losing. (Insert: That photo). 4) There's no real harm in having Christian beliefs. When applied to the (perhaps remote) possibility of an afterlife, it's called hedging your bets Particularly since it undoubtedly gives a lot of people joy/help/guidance etc. Is it? "Common sense" is a concept that presumably has been passed on and shaped over many years of human existence. It's not hard to imagine that religion has helped shaped what we would now perceive as common sense. It's easy to cite religious wars as a criticism of religion, and it's harder to come up with obvious positives. But perhaps the positives are more esoteric and hidden, our moral values, "common sense", and the way our society behaves (which is, on the whole, pretty well) probably has a lot to do with religious beliefs in the past. Whether or not there is a god (or God) as written in the bible, I would argue that religion has had a positive effect on the world. To be honest, I kinda think that's pretty cool. If you're happy, then I wouldn't worry about the cynical bastards that are forced to be unhappy because they can't believe. Just don't be smug about it, or try to impose your views on other people (Like Dawkins) and we're cool. Just because an idea doesn't seem possible, doesn't mean it's not comforting to other people... [/Devil's Advocate] That's where I fit, too. Science can't provide an answer to "Why are we here?" so I can't rule out the existence of a higher power. Doing so would be un-scientific

I wouldn't worry about the content. It's probably not (easily) readable by them, but equally you're probably not going to get the data back, so you could try and wipe the drive anyway. But they won't care. On the other hand, do you expect a replacement hard drive after dropping the old one?! Good luck with that...

I remember seeing that on TV, and then tuning the next week only to find some shite about about a wheelbarrow assault course (and no riding). Ha. Anyway, good work. Pretty good claim to fame I'd say

You have freaky long feet. Nice carpet though.

I never said I want to change how you ride. As with most things in life my attitude is - if you like something, do it and enjoy it. And yeah, I was contradicting myself a bit by saying that TGS riders only do sidehops. But there are a few who seem to concentrate on sidehops, and that is basically what I was talking about. So I wasn't really talking about your riding, no need to get shirty! But would I be right in saying that you could happily ride all day on a single wall that slopes from being 1ft to 5ft?

Gonna disagree with that. So you pronounce the word 'deraillieure' as something like 'de-ray-urgh' because it's derived from French? And all these words get the French pronunciation too? Art, competition, force, machine, police, publicity, role, routine, table?

I'm with you on the Brisa. When they first came out, I wanted one badly for about two years. Then I actually rode one and it was pretty shit.

Ha, served. Fully deserved though. I don't really care what people ride, if they like TGS then fine. But it's like Ali said - it's such a small part of riding bikes it seems a bit strange to limit yourself to one move (sidehops). My image of TGS is people queuing up beside a completely plain flat wall and taking it in turns at sidehops. I can't shake the feeling that practising sidehops is like training for the Olympics pole vault or something. Trials bikes are specialised so much that there is basically a type of bike that is made for sidehopping (long, high BB) and people seem to train for hours just to get an extra few millimetres. It's so arbitrary in the grand scheme of things. When I started riding trials, I liked it because it was a kind of an extreme/alternative sport. Whereas TGS just reminds me of lycra-wearing gimps jumping over a bar. Sure, sidehops are kind of impressive to the average person, but you still look like a gimp. But whatever, if that's what you enjoy, go for it.

Just out of interest, has anyone heard of Shane McConkey? Basically he was a similar kind of nutter to Travis Pastrana (but mainly skiing/base jumping) but I didn't really know about him. Anyway, he died doing a ski --> squirrel suit base jump the other week and it's pretty big news here (Canada). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_McConkey

That would be my guess. A helmet rubbing might make the skin sore but that's not really a headache?

Argh this really pisses me off. Right. Here's the deal. Anyone who pronounces czar as C-zar, Caesar, K-zar (wtf?) is a moron. Czar (Pronounced 'zar') is an actual word. The other ones I can understand though - I always said goo but I can see why people might say Gee You.

Oh I didn't realise you were in the states. It's gonna be easier for you to order one from over there - I'm sure there are plenty of mountain bike shops online that will do them. The things you need to know: IS (to post) The size of disc you want to use (203 for you I think? AKA 8") It's for the front

Most supermarkets seem to do their own-brand "Portuguese Rosé" which is dirt cheap at about £2.50 a bottle, and therefore good. I think my expert opinion may have arrived too late though.

Yeah. If you are going to send it back, have a word with Hope and see what they want you to do. I have heard that in the past, Hope had a few problems with people thinking they were being helpful and dismantling the wheel. When actually they need it to be built up if they're going to remove the ratchet ring. Mind you, they might have changed the design or have a different way to do it. But it's worth an ask.

Yeah, but the whole of England is further North than here. And it never snows there! It's all to do with proximity to the sea apparently. Vancouver is by the sea so it doesn't get extremes of temperature. Whereas somewhere like Toronto which is on roughly the same parallel has much hotter summers and much colder winters. BUT it did actually snow in Vancouver yesterday morning. And you don't have to go far North to get to the Rockies & Whistler etc where there is loads of snow.