Tony Harrison

GRANT! You're alive!!

I'm on the east coast of the Irish Sea if that helps...

How could I forget? Probably 'cos I haven't seen him since last Christmas.... Grant Peters has to be the nicest guy in trials. Full stop. He's good natured, friendly, innovative and you'd really have to be a twat to piss him off. Grant is a true legend, and he owns Watford.

You going to ride in Backyard Jam? Might go to watch, but not sure yet. I'm down south for my mums 50th on the Saturday and my parents only live 15 miles from Brighton so the temptation is there...

I have a 30Gb i-pod photo (which Dixons kindly gave me when I broke an old 10Gb one) and it does seem to last a lot longer. This might be because it's newer and the battery hasn't started degrading. The smaller i-pods look nice, but I have too much music and also use the i-pod to back up files from my PC, so 30Gb suits me fine.

They just ship new frames. It isn't feasible to re-weld cracked aluminium frames, apart from which the shipping duties to China and back would make it far too costly.

I think you can use the i-pod tools with i-tunes to format the i-pod. If you get stuck read the manual or try the Apple site. Formatting it is better than just deleting the songs.

Was that the time when me and Phil came down? Or the time with Luke Edwards and Jon Granger? Sod the topic. EDIT: You didn't have a Curtis did you? And Ben Rowlands was there, and Tic?

He canes off the way everyone speaks... ("Eh mate! Eh! Eh!")

Yeah, Stella's just trashy. Corona's where its at, but only with lime.

Not forgetting the best bloke of all, Mr Luke Edwards, who I haven't heard from for ages because he's probably riding his new (and oh my god it's sexy...) bike. Whenever I'm round his house he tries to give away bike bits, he'll always refuse an extra tenner and his parents are unquestionably two of the coolest non-riders I know. He drives me about and doesn't want petrol money... could go about this guy forever... And of course, Dimitri. Don't really need to say why, he's just super cool, super sound and he really is a genuinely nice bloke. Even offered to put me and Luke up in his gran's flat if came to visit... not sure where his gran went though...

Have a go at making it, because.... 1) The more you make your own things, the better you get 2) You'll have the satisfaction of a one-off part you made yourself 3) And you'll be protecting your chainstay

Maybe, but it's also a breeding ground for idiots' pathetic attempts at self validation. Must have been your nerve, since you're the one getting upset. Look at this thread and the UCI bikes one you started... notice how few other members get this response when they start a topic. It's how you conduct yourself that matters - to ask for comments then write off responses as 'bollox' because they're not the answers you wanted is just ludicrous. I think what you need to do is go and invent an imaginary friend who thinks you're great.

The answers to the guys questions have, I think, been answer, if he would care to examine the more informative posts in this thread. My advice to anyone confused by longer bikes v shorter street machines is this... buy a medium length bike (1050-1070) that doesn't have a super low front end. Get some riser bars and a good disk brake and then go out and see what you can learn. Don't limit yourself by saying 'I'm not going to do tricks' or by deciding that 'big moves are pointless'. Go out to ride with an open mind, don't listen if people criticise your riding and follow the path that comes naturally to you. In this way, you should have fun. It's only human instinct that we try and shoe-horn people into categories, hence the labels like 'shit bmx' and 'uci style'. Create your own category, and if anyone tells you it's wrong, they're probably just jealous because they're following the crowd. --------------------------- Note for 'ALLORNOWT' Yeah, cos some guy on the radio really knows what's going on in the World. That's the trouble, too many people queueing to lap up whatever is offered up to them in the street. Oh, Michael Moore oh! Idiots... They are usually the same people that are protesting to 'Bring The Troops Home!' and 'Stop The War On Iraq' even though the Iraqi Prime Minister has said that if the US and UK troops were brought out now Iraq would descend into total and absolute chaos. Now this guy is actually there, not some guy on some sport show/radio station. If you choose to subscribe totally to rubbish sources of information (all or nowt is very appropriate...) then it's inevitable that you will spout rubbish too. Think before you type.

I use Microsoft's AntiSpyware software, which is available for free download here. It's really good - when software tries to make changes to your settings, a little popup asks you for confirmation. It does all the usual spyware scans, downloads latest updates from Microsoft site and also has immunisation functions.

People have done 360s on trials motorbikes, and backflips...

Both times I got knocked out, day I got backhops dialled, passing my driving test, first London ride in 1999.

Yeah, eBay is your best bet. Most people prefer a disk or v-brake on the front and an HS33 on the back. The 2005 HS33's have a newer style lever, which some (including myself) prefer, but others don't. Also look at different types of pads - if you're just starting out with trials, the red Magura pads should be fine. Also, if your frame has four bolt mounts (i.e. trials specific mounts that you wouldn't be able to fit a v-brake to, etc) then you'll need four bolt adapters.

The Magura braided hose kit is better. The Unex unions have a small internal diameter, creating a 'bottle neck' at each end of the hose, hence slowing down the movement of oil. You don't really notice when you put the brake on, but often the lever is slow to return.

MrMonkey, I think you may have IASS - Involuntary Additional 'S' Syndrome. I noticed you had added an 's' to the word 'anyway'. Do you also say 'Tescos'?

Sorry, no clips included with this contribution... as far as bikes go, I can see what scunnytrials means. I don't think there's anything wrong with kids getting the best bikes they (or their parents) can afford, but at the same time a good bike won't make you a good rider. Just look at how well Tim Steadman rode on that Saracen he had... massive heavy steel forks and all that. A good bike will only do so much for you, and all this worrying over every mm/degree of wheelbase/fork length/stem/chainstay in the hope of hopping that bit higher is all bollocks if you ask me. There's no substitute for good hard practice.

Do you want some more?

That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. Not, 'met him once and he seems alright', or 'he's really friendly' or whatever. It's people who'll go that bit further to help others, purely because they're nice like that.

BBC News

Don't make other forum users suffer for your ineptitude and lack of coordination. The Labour Party doesn't have a particularly high concentration of pillocks, just the usual one or two. If you actually went and read up on current affairs and politics you'd realise that things aren't quite as simple as you'd like to think... The Government isn't running this country into the ground - the people that live here are.