mike425

Edit, re read it saw you used mild.

Good effort that! The drop outs snapped shut after removing your spacer because of the heat. when you weld it there is so much heat that the metal will change and want to move. This is normal, I would tack it in a jig and then weld it out, lets the metal do what it wants more and avoids stressing it so much. what grade tube did you use out of interest? And wall thickness? Mike

Hi all, so with it being a Friday I am pretty bored out of my mind in the office so thought I would share a little project I am working on. I have wanted to build my own trials frame for years, I owned a leeson around 14 years ago! I have always been more of a fan of steel frames but not so keen on the modern look of trials frames. So I decided to build my own frame based around the geo of an Echo 26" frame. It will be a traditional looking frame with hopefully a custom carbon seat. So far I have almost finished my jig, just need to machine down some cones on the lathe for my head tube which I will be doing on Saturday. This is not my first frame build, but will be the first trials bike. It will be fillet brazed as this is what I know and I enjoy doing it. I have purchased a full Reynolds 631 tubeset, the headset will be integrated. Tubing wise I probably over specced it so this will not be ultra light build but should last a long time. I am planning on getting the dropouts and other plate bits laser cut and machined. Time wise, don't hold your breath lol. This is purely a hobby thing for me so fitting it in can be tricky, it could take 4 weeks or 4 months! Jig, almost done:- I built a balance bike for my neice:- Practice fillets from a while back:- Thought this might be of interest to some people! Cheers Mike

Thats great, you can see how nervous he is when hes riding! I was really impressed with the blind folded bit on the last video.

Haha, yeah, I was in such a rush to build it up andn when I realised what I had done was well pi**ed. Didn't really see the point in taking the headset back out on such an expensive frame just for that though! Cheers for the comments fella's, off the top of my head becuase it is a while since I ordered it, I think it is roughly 1035 WB and +35mm The forks are a bit love or hate, I really like them - they remind me of the old USE and PACE forks. They are really light, I have not measured them but Dmitry estimates them at between 700 - 800 grams. I never really thought about the raw effect, I guess it would fade and also be a bitch to keep polished! I am going to weigh the full bike at some point becuase I thinking it is pretty light overall. Cheers Mike

So after a long wait I finally got this built up and I am really pleased. The full bike is so light with a lot of heavy parts on their and also it rides great. Really easy to manual and very good on the back wheel for trialsy stuff. The titanium makes it ride like nothing else, it has the give of steel but without the sort of harsh 'twang' you sometimes get with it. I would describe it as soft and you can definately feel it taking the sting out of impacts. The rear rotor guard is a briliiant idea, I slipped of a thin rail the other day straight onto it and it did not give an inch saving my disc rotor - Every rear disc bike should be able to use one! I am eventually going to get the forks sprayed white and tempted by some kind of colour on the frame, but I do really like the raw look. Below are some pics of the frame in production that Dmitry took and and also the forks followed by some low quality phone pics I did myself. Anyone thinking of ordering from Dmitry, I highly recommend it, hes great to deal with and always in contact. Mike

I can't beleive how far he fell there! At first it looks like hes only going about 6ft but then he disappears past the first ledge and keep going Really lucky to get away with that!

I think the moto lever is only slightly different, if anything I would say it is probably better as the lever blade on them looks much longer so you get a better leverage on the brake. Is the moto caliper you are looking at an actual 200mm one? if it is you won't get an adaptor as correct me if im wrong you would need a minus 20mm one to run a 200mm rotor on a +20mm fork?? This all depends on whether or not the caliper is machine for a 200mm rotor and not an adaptor to run 200mm I haven't seen a moto V2 in a while but I always liked the look of the lever and I think when my mono trial lever gets bashed up enough I will swap it out for the full moto body. Mike

I had a leeson for a while and I would agree with what the guy above said. They are great frames but if you start riding reasonable size jumps, the frame isn't going to like it when you inevitably come up short!

Ive never understood why maguras disc brakes are so pimp but the rim brakes are pretty dull. I was hoping when I saw this topic title to see a fully updated rim version along the lines of the marta!

Zoot definately if your leaving it the standard spec! I also think it looks miles cleaner than the ashton, I aren't a fan of all the reinforcement plates on the effect

Great vids, Ive got the proper dvd somewhere, haven't seen it for years! I'd forgot how good Martyn was, such a different style to what you see today!

On a similar subject, is it the same situation with select bikes?

You can get second hand trials bike so cheap nowadays I would not touch that with a barge pole. The size of the weld that has been put on either indicates that someone who had no clue what they were doing did it or the frame was properly knackered before hand and it was necessary. Unless its a fiver you'd be mad to buy it!

I think it depends on what you order. I just ordered a 24" and I think it was like 660 for the frame alone and a bit extra for the rear disc guard. Love this bike, looks kinda like the reeeeeally old monty steel frames! Like how different it is, sick of seeing long and low!

Looks great built up, Dmitry sent me the photos of that a few weeks back when I was ordering mine. I also went with the Disc guard, such a good idea!

love it, I way prefer a trials bike to look like a proper bike than no seat and mega low!

I've had it with some new hopes where this happens, the lever adjust doesn't quite stop it further enough away from the bars. I have sorted it previously by adding more fluid into the brake

great vid, where was it filmed?

Great vid, amazing rider, but I thought we had got past the lycra skin suits?

I am 24 as well, quit trials about 8 years also and have just got back into it these last few months, I'm loving it, so your definately not too old! Where abouts in South Yorkshire are you? I am also a lone rider at the minute as most of the guys I used to ride with have also quit, I live in sunny Barnsley and know quite a few natural and street spots locally!

I've bought a frame from them in the past along with various other bits and peices. He was fine, price was good and stuff turned up within a couple of days of ordering. I guess they could have gone downhill since then but otherwise I don't see the problem

I love riding at scarborough, great if its sunny. Theres quite a few walls down towards Holbeck hotel and also the rocks at the bottom of there. They have recently just built a brand new skate park with a mini BMX track next to it right on the sea front on Marine drive where the mini gold course used to be. If you head down towards the sea life centre there are some ok walls and yet more rocks again. I used to ride loads on there and have never been asked to leave etc.

Makes a good change to see a a nice steel frame on here for once. I used to love those Pashleys, imo miles better looking than any of the current frames out there!

Ha, these topics always make me laugh. The current crop of 24's still have miles more Trials friendly geometry than the older style of trials bikes we used to ride, The orange Zero's, Leesons, Megamo's were all probably shorter back then than any of the current 24" frames. I don't see why anyone cares to be honest, and the people I keep hear saying they are useless in competitions must be daft, I reckon Chris Akrigg would still be winning stuff on his old pace in todays competitions! I ride a 24" because I really don't like the really long frames as a do it all bike, to me the 24" are a much better compromise between then two.