spode@thinkbikes

I'm more of a static rider and for static stuff, you don't want too heavy a gear. It's a just a different style. I see there are some Mod and Stock riders replying to this. You CANNOT compare the ratios in the same way. Instead you have to convert to inches. Personally, I'm not going any lower than 20:18. But at the same time, I'm not going back to 20:19 purely because getting that gusset single speed kit on involved a hammer

I've been using 20:19 for years. So far, the only benefit I've found for stiffer gears is doing rolling moves. So you can pick up some speed and still have oomph left in the gears to give it a kick. I'm running 20:18 at the moment because I wanted to give it a chance as everyone seems to think I need to run a stiffer gear

I wear gloves, but my hands are covered in calluses. On my primary braking fingers on both hands, across the palm and on my thumb where it grips. Usually that protects me, but every now again I'll get issues - usually in summer.

I went to a place for welding. £15 just to weld the cracks or £30 to have some whack of plates put on. That's what I had done. However, when I had a recent frame welded, the guy charged a ridiculous amount and did a CRAP job of the welding.

Well, after a short trip down memory lane, I managed to find these from when I was 15. I look so young! I spent FAR too much time making it look pretty I took this photo because I thought it was quite cool how I managed to bend the forks. I went through so many pairs of forks back then. My fattys have lasted me forever! Me pedal hopping the thing. It was a wierd bike for trials, a bit big. But I could back wheel fairly high on it actually! I had no idea what the frame looked like, I ordered over the phone - some guy just told me it was suitable for trials. I'm not sure who is the bigger idiot - him, or me for believing him! Me now! Amazing how much difference 6 years makes!

Ouch, that's the one scenario I'm scared of the most. But then I run a rear disc, so I don't generally have that problem

Waaay ahead of both of you.. Bring on the thousand island dressing!

No, I've left the old hanger in place, filed it down where it burred and then just put the DMR hanger on top of that. I went riding today with no ill effects - I just did the skewer up a little bit more than usual. I'd like to get a proper hanger, but tartybikes haven't replied to my e-mail about it and as far as I know, they are the only people with them.

I don't think it's so much he's trying to make a decent video, but more trying to show the current state of his riding.

Sweet. Lose any teeth in the process?

I'm not sure. Trials Princesses perhaps. Either way, I think it may be treason.

I try not to think about my stacks too much. Otherwise I'll get scared when I go riding! As it is I look at things and think "what would happen if..." I chipped one of the vertebrae on my spine, but that was a form of whiplash - possibly from doing too many drop offs when I was younger. I screwed my foot up recently by landing all my weight on it side ways. Apparantly I tore the peraneal tendon. that was ****ing painful and it still hurts now. My shins are covered in scars from the old slip of the pedal malarchy. I face planted when I was doing some jumps and slipped on some dog shit. Got a nice black eye from that. But I would have to say the worst stack that scared the shit out of me, was in folkstone a few months a go. I fell backwards off a bin and without my feet even touching the ground landed all my weight on to a metal bollard about 20cm across. I was about 1 inch to the right of my spine () So i landed all my weight on it, then flipped over, landed face first on the ground with the bike following. I really thought I'd screwed myself up, but I was riding before long Just a bit winded, sore and my back needed some cracking to get me going. I slipped a disc in my back at one point too, that still haunts me now. Everytime I come in from riding my back is on fire

I was just trying to get in the spirit of things!

Or just use VirtualDub

Take a look at what iRiver have to offer. You might be pleasantly surprised. Personally, I have one of those cute little Sony Network Walkmans - the 1GB things. They are ridiculously expensive (~£150), but they are really sweet bits of kit. Weigh hardly a thing, 50 hour battery life. I can ride with it in my pocket and not even know it's there. Probably not worth the money though (mine was a gift..).

What about pictures of us guys, in girls clothing and wigs, riding bikes? Or better yet, horses?

Yes, but I don't have one to replace it!

At the moment, the weather is on the warm side- you're probably safe.

I've never snapped forks in the way I've seen on the forums. But then I don't hook (I've never actually tried, looks like a lot of strain on the frame and forks). I don't think front hops will cause a lot of problems to your forks though.

So.. my rear hanger snapped. I filed it off and then found another hanger and used the quick release to hold it on. It works a treat. However, I f**ked up a side hop and landed on the rear hanger. Instead of it bending, it just popped it off which caused the wheel to come off!! In some ways that's great as the hanger didn't bend, but at the same time - my wheel fell out! I'm not sure which is better...

He was quite funny. Although I recognised most of his jokes. Yet strangely I don't think I've ever really seen him on TV! So I don't know why I'd heard them. He spent most of the night insinuating I was gay! Which everyone else found hilarious....

I'll take March!

18 rear, 20 on front. Just changed from 19/20. Not noticing a huge difference. Running a fairly high PSI. 30? 40?

The biggest piece of advice I could give is... You'll generally find the balance point is much more over the front than you think. If you're only on 3 or 4, you're probably not leaning forward enough. You'll feel like you're about to go over the front.

I hugged Jimmy Carr once. He came on stage and I just screamed "can I hug you??" (I was sitting in the front) and he said yes! And then as he continued to say "well I'd prefer it if you waited until afterwards.." I jumped up on stage and hugged him. Was cool Then I went back stage aftwards and chatted about top gear.