thefletch

Hobbsie would have had closer friends than me so first off, my thoughts are with them, and his family, there loss must be uncomprehendable as im a proper mess myself. Cant remember when i first met hobbsie, some time when he had his team giant, so thats about 5 or 6 years ago, from then on i saw him on a weekly basis, often saturday and sunday rides with a few evenings inbetween. When you hear people say 'i dont know what to say', i tend to read it and think nothing of it, but i really dont know what to say so im just gone list some of my (shared with loads of people too) fondist memories of him. firstly theres there endless rides in southampton and bristol and pompy with the usual suspects, some of whom 75% of people hear wont of heard of off as they've quit, Paul Turner, James Noyce, Steve (fat steve) Dave Marshall, Dan Jones, Nick Mannings, cant think of the othewrs names right now. the duck noise he used to do his favourite phrase of 'f**k SAKE' lol the tantrums over not making a line or his bike etc falling in the pond in Southampton (overal one by power station) the aviators off ebay, and the road trip to Portland Bill in Dave Marshalls mini van-awsome day (i'll try and upload a video i made but never released) him stealing my Kenny Belaey every single second i looked away from it lol him telling me about the time he rolled a JCB digger on his apprenticeship Last time i saw him was in Lennons in southampton, he came in and my pretty dull night imediately sparked up, as did it for Joe (who shares my account), Morganic (unicycle rider) mate Lennon and Matt also, he had that carism about him that couldnt be ignored and whatever he done it made you smile. The time before that was on my way to work, there i was, nailing it down J4 onto the M3 in my Fiesta, and this big yellow van starts flashing me and its right up my ass! I ignore it and carry on driving, but i can see it in the rear view mirror weaving into the fast lane, trying to catch up with me. I ignore it again, next thing i know its on the left of me about to undertake. By now i was wondering what i could have done to piss this van driver off so much. its parallel with me but im reluctant to look over as im slightly intimidated. the vans horn goes so i look over... and there's Hobbsie hanging out his window with his thumb up shouting 'alright mate' - in his funny voice of his. next thing, we're having a chat out our windows at 70mph down the M3 in rush hour. Only Hobbsie could do something like that, what a GOD of a friend!!! Rest In Peace P.S. i been on holiday for 10 days and only got back this morning, hense the late reply, joe only told me the news this morning on the phone on my way to work, same place as mentioned above incidently.

Bollocks...I had a picture of him hanging off my toilet throwing up at one of my house parties, can't find it anywhere. It was priceless

Good to see the guy has been arrested, moron...

As I have just said in the other thread I'm just saying what relayed to me by adam who spoke to Hobbsi's sister this morning. If anybody can clear up then please do

As you can see I think me and Callum both put up a topic with this terrible news at the same time. We have obviously heard slightly different storys of the just what happened, if anyone hears anymore news please let us know...

Hi everyone I have just had a phone call from Adam Spendlove. Late last night Hobbsie was killed in an accident. We don't know the full story inside out, but the crux of it is somebody reversed off their driveway without seeing Hobbsie on his bike, Hobbsie had no hope of stopping and hit the car; I believe he was proounced dead at the scene. Adam has been in contact with the family and a book of condonence has been setup. Hobbsie hadn't really been riding much for the last couple of years or so, so alot of the newbies here will probably not know him, but I know alot of the 'original TF riders' who have been here from the start know him and what a great person he was. The horrible thing is that after not seeing him for weeks (and not riding with him for months), we were supposed to be having a little reunion ride in pompey yesterday, but it was decided we would put it back to next weekend as fletch is on holiday at the moment...... Please feel free to upload any photos you may have of him, I am going to have a hunt on my computer now... Thanks, Joe

Not a bad thing, no one will take the piss out of you this way

Good thread! I always used to sidehop the 'incorrect' way, with my chocolate foot into the wall. I decided after two years to try the 'correct way'...now I can sidehop pretty much the same height both ways. The main things I would note is that when I sidehop my favourite way (incorrect way) I usually go slightly front wheel first and I also can't tuck, I can do 7 blue pallets this way, it looks strange on video as I literally don't tuck whatsoever. When going the other way however (correct way) I always land two wheels perfectly, and I tuck, still can only get about 2" short of the other way though. Joe

Has anyone mentioned the fact that it looks to have sharp edges, if i managed to draw blood hitting my angle on a perfectly curved magura edge then thats going to cut deep surely... Also, whats wrong with maguras or than the price? Actionman (monkeyseemonkeydo) hit the nail on the head about the 25% power incrase. If you make a lever to suit the increased piston surely you be back to the same power as a magura. The power of a brake is down to how hard you pull it, relative to the leverage ratio in the lever. Peoples brakes dont work because they dont have the right set up! SLAP ON THE TAR - thats what i say lol fletch

Hoping to come along if weathers ok. Just a reminder anyone whos wants to buy any of my bike is welcome lol. Who is/are you Mowgli?

Correct, but what you fail to mention is that the bigger ISIS axle means that ISIS BBs use smaller bearings, and this is my main issue with ISIS. The echo external combats this (or atleast should); by having the bearings externally they can incorporate bigger bearings, the best of both worlds. My echo external BB is however shafted, but lasted a year so not too bad. I would personally NEVER go back to square taper, round far too easily I don't care what cranks people say don't round, they will certainly round more than ISIS

To be completely honest I'd say its because its more difficult. Street riders who can sidehop 50" are used to going to street rides and people telling them how good they are; if they went to a comp they'd realise they are probably average. This remark isn't intended to undeter the people here who feel affraid of going because they don't feel good enough, everyone should get good support, and we could do with more people riding comps. I just feel street riders who have never ridden any hard natural know they will suck and where they are used to being better than that on the street scene, don't want their pride taking a battering. Its the same with some of the 'natural' videos on here. Alot are on big, perfectly square rocks. Whats the difference between sidehopping that, and sidehopping a wall? Its not technical like comps are.

0% on PURCHASES only most prob. Also more importantly you are charged a 'Cash Advance' fee for withdrawing cash from an ATM and the rates are normally along the lines of: Rape

Have to agree, seeing as even Chris Kings are dangerous for trials use. They are very reliable and barely ever skip BUT, **** me when they do skip...it might as well be a chain snappage.

I done exactly this the other day...got a pinch so started riding fletch's control and I loved it. Could backwheel just as high, tried a few sidehops, weren't as high as my highest but felt easy enough BUT the main difference was gapping!! I could gap a good foot further on stock, I couldn't believe it. There's a road gap near our local train station that I have NEVER done before. The very first time I tried it on stock I done it... This is why I get incredibly pissed off when you're on a ride and some muppet goes "oh yeah you did the line, but you're on a mod"...as if they think its so much easier on mod... And also why I'm looking to swap my Ko mod for a stock...anyone???????????

what is it>?

Ditto all the above! Didnt see any mention of replaying the 30 second clips of Ed Tongue and Peter Kraus in Sprung 3 and 4, or Veedub on his Ellsworth, or the Cresent trials bikes(£700 a frame back then ). The powerpro's and ring thing, with v8 pedals were the best part of old school, powerpro's were like disposable lol. Bikes used to have negative BB rise, 500mm back ends and 12" seat tube was the lowest stand over height available. I remember taking an angle grinder to my frame to get rid of the seat tube lol. Old school was before Deng came along lol. Best part about old school was that trials wasnt about side hops and measuring each move to the nearest 1/4 inch. Riders used to use what they had, not moan about what they didnt have. We used to appreciate each and every new trialskings clip, not bitch that the rider/video isnt as good as the last. Trials as a sport is alot better than what it used to be; with lots of parts readily available and more riders etc. But the attitude of riders as a whole is shit (myself probably included), i find myself biting my lip on group rides when all i can hear is people talking sidehops and inches and who's broke what frame etc. fletch Cant go without mention of Dave Marshall's win on the channel 5 TV show Under Pressure lol

AHA! that new T-shirt design is right off the top shelf!!

Formula disc brakes are extremely underated imo, immensely powerful and lighter than anything else out there

Good riding and all, but can I just say, how ****in awesome is that trials park?!?!!!! In a country where the sport cannot be very popular in comparison to the UK they have already got parks like that to go to. This country will never invest in sports facilities like that, no wonder we're falling behind in ability at almost all sports

So what's the latest with this? Going ahead?? Me and fletch are looking for somewhere different to ride sat. Kieran, be good to ride with you man, was gonna see if you wanted to sometime when I picked the bike up off you but i forgot lol. Let us know cos its a good 2 hour journey, maybe more, we'd have to start plannin now! x Joe

These hubs which which people above have destroyed within hours....are these the same as the current line of echo/zoo/czar hubs???

how can you expect anyone to be 100% if you having given a specific date...

Billocks better purely because he hasn't been taken over by this bloody obsession with sidehops! This is no disrespect to this guy here's video. He is bloody good for 15, but all the videos on here now are just sidehop after sidehop, yea they go fairly high but often the rest of their arsenal is nothing special at all, and because everyone is obsessed with them and all quite good at them no one stands out at being good at them anyway. I bet half the people who post videos on here were entered into a comp, or put on some rocks they'd look like they'd never set foot on a bike before. There are no decent lines anymore either, no style, no imagination, just "oh if i sidehop 45" i'll be considered good"....ummmmmm no, not in my book, if you wanna become a more all round rider try leaning to sidehop 45" to your wrong side also, that will serve you more use. But again, you do have skill for a 15y.o. just don't follow the massive

yeh, the pictures posted pretty much some it up lol what couple of legends...