steve sturt

Thats where that went! I saw this for sale as a Merino. I was considering buying it myself. By the time I had made up my mind, you beat me to it.

Some would say repetitive. I say, give me more!

In the words of Keith Bontrager "Strong, Light, Cheap. Pick two".

That is a beaut. In pretty good nick too. Ive had two of those. I had white one origianlly. Frame number was 276 I think. That got replaced by a silver one. I have the silver MHz frame and two pairs of pashley forks in my shed, but cant bring myself to build it up for fear of trashing it. I got an old Echo ES3 of a similar vintage which rides almost the same. A little better on the back wheel than the Pashley. All the riding I do now, invloves falling off at comps and scraping around rocks, I dont mind wrecking the Echo doing this but the Pashleys always felt special. Id snap a GHz up though if one came up when I could afford it.

To what and why? The saddle is staying, but the front end does feel a little low. Im not exactly tall though so probably feels better to me than it would to most. I just threw it together with the parts off of a Coust St Blaise that I have. Im not into cleaning it unless its filthy. I only really ride in the woods, so its always dusty, and it doesnt get seen by the public very often. Tons more fun than the Coust ever was.

New old bike for new old rider. Some old school bits, some really old school bits. Echo ES3 Frame. Echo Hifi fork. Echo Stem £10 headset Shimano SLX 203mm front disc 2001 HS33 rear. Belaey rear pads. Hope bulb hubs. Some sort of fat front rims with holes in. Mavic 721 on rear. Maxxis tyres. Ultegra rear cassette (6 speed). Race face turbine cranks. Brisa 20tooth chainring. Some sort of fat chain. Megamo seat Zoo bars ODI Grips. DMR V12 pedals. Race face isis bottom bracket. DMR Ring thing bash guard (heavily used).

I think comparing it to motorcycle trials isn't fair. You can just get on a bicycle and ride anywhere at any time. You just cant do this with a motorbike. Moto trials riders simply have no option other than to turn up at a designated venue, under the protective insurances of a club at a time where the noise of the engines is considered civilised. Comps and club practice days are the only time most people can actually practice moto trials. With cycle trials, we have the choice and most people choose not to compete or form clubs.

Man your style is wild. I like it. Id love to see a street video. My only gripe would be that you didn't edit the clips into one video.

Good work. Top tune. I love New Order. We are starting to get a quite a few father and son riders at the Crowthorne events now. Definately looks like the way forward. Nice to see riders older than me (32). A few more at the comps and I might push for a veterans category!!

From 4.29 to 4.37, there is a rider in the background matching you move for move.

Not sure if they can do anything for you, but I would conatct Pace directly in the first instance. http://www.pacecycles.com/?page_id=14

You will need a pisspot if you ever go abroad.

Nice photos. The first "front cover" image has the wrong year on it though

I thought it might be a crescent, or perhaps an echo es of some sort. Probably an ES1. Its not the ES3. that had a straight seat tube. Ive still got one. The back end looks too short to be a Brisa.

http://www.surreysb.co.uk/venues/hook-woods.htm its about 3/4 mile down a long track off of blakes lane, west horsley. It should be signposted from the turning off of the A246.

Yes. Its a cycle trial at hook wood on the 12th of November Im sure Richard or Graham will be along to confirm but anyone can enter. Start is 11am. Normally 3 laps of 6 sections. 1 or 2 sections are either run as a speed trial or have a time limit. YMSA rules (like BIU, but without the 2 minute limit on sections).

Hi Richard/ Graham Count me in for both of these. Cheers Steve

If youre spending time at the gym when you could be out riding, all the strength training in the world is going to be pretty useless if youre fiving the section as soon as you enter it. As Ali said, getting your technique dialled would be of way more benefit than strength training. A bit of cardio would not do any harm either. At a comp, you ride up to 20 sections in less than 6 hours. It doesnt sound like much, but when youre wrestling the bike and the terrain for a day, you need the fitness to get through the last few sections. The best way of working out what you need to work on is to enter a comp and find out first hand what to expect. Like i said in a previous post, dont worry about not being ready or good enough, there are enough categories to suit all abilities

Should help stamina wise though? Youre just looking for ways to combat fatigue.

I started riding comps in september. The bulk of my riding is XC based. I probably ride 15 hours a week XC, and was doing very little trials. I find the XC helps with cardio, and stops me getting knackered towards the end of the day. The one thing I struggle with is my upper body. I would suggest a sensible press up routine, to help develop the muscle structure in your upper torso. I have also found that there is no substitue for riding trials. Not street so much, but a decent variety of natural terrain. This will help to prevent you making stupid errors, such as stepping off the bike rather than using a correction hop, learning how to use a dab to its full potential should you need one, how to get your pedal down rather than your foot, how to spot "cheat" lines etc. From riding mostly natural, you should learn how to flow through a section, rather than wasting energy and time hopping about. Ive seen a lot of street riders struggle with flow when they ride natural. Saying this, I would not hold off from doing a comp. Riders and observers are usually keen to offer advice, and there are categories to suit all abilities.

If hes a trail rider, his line choice is terrible. Id hate to be caught behind him on some singletrack. If hes a trials riders hes on the wrong bike. I like it though. This is the sort of riding i was hoping to see Akrigg do more of. He obviously wont be for a while though.

74 degree head tube, 76 degree seat tube. 400mm chain stays. 0 bb rise. 22" top tube. 14" seat tube centre to top. 135mm dropout spacing. No idea on wheelbase, as it was made before wheelbase measurements were used. fairly sure thats correct, but it is from memory.

The postcode takes you to the landowners house which is wrong. Youre looking for Blakes Lane, West Horsley, which is off the A246. If you heading towards Guildford on the A246, its on the left, if youre heading towards Leatherhead, its on the right. There are two entrances to blakes lane. Blakes lane is more of a track running parallel to the A246. There is a turning down a long track, off of Blakes lane. You want to head down this. Hook wood is about 3/4 of a mile down this track through a gate and up a steep hill. It is usually sign posted off the A246. If youre heading towards Guildford, look out for a Lotus garage by a small roundabout. Go straight over the roundabout, then look out for signs on the left. Heres a map link http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=s&hl=en&biw=1440&bih=757&q=blakes+lane+horsley&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl Hope this helps.

Hi Dan, Can you put my name down for it? I spoke to you at addlestome about it. I was on the coustellier. Cheers Steve Sturt

Im 30 and just started back up a few months ago after a 5 year break. Did a comp in spetmeber and came 2nd in class. Was twice the height of the 1st and 3rd guy. Must have made an odd photo. I think my bike was older than some of the riders.