Luke Rainbird

Bristol airport is out towards Weston so a bit of a trek form Temple meads but there's a bus that goes between the two regularly

Mostly "OH SHIT," if I remember correctly! Sweet stuff dude, wikidsik

A bike box is designed to get a bike in, so it'll go! How else do shops get spanking new, unscathed bikes in from overseas? I've had bikes on planes before a couple of times, thanks. With decent packing and spacers in the frame it's fine, especially with trials kit. If it were some carbon fibre, 0.2kg frame with no downtube then maybe you'd need to be more worried about it. Perhaps look into external insurance if you're that worried. Hell, it's not a whole world different to sending frames or bikes via courier like hundreds of us do around the country fairly regularly, with very few issues. Maybe you've got a roadie box so the rear end spacing will be a bit thinner. Go get a man box.

These backings should be the same size as standard plastic ones, so you'll be able to either buy normal backed pads and fit the material into them, or buy refills (material only) from places like Phatworks/Heatsink. Glue isn't essential, but helps give a touch of extra security - just a light dab is all that's needed, and is actually better than smearing loads on there Often you can just pull the material from a backing with a vice or similar, but if you throw them in the oven and turn it to 180* or so then by the time it's up to temperature (around 5 minutes or so) you'll be able to remove the rubber just fine. It'll be hot though, oven gloves at the ready! Check out Heatsink's Pad Fitting Guide for more info

Bike boxes are pretty generic, so it'll be trial and error really. Saying that, a frame will only be a little over 140mm wide due to the rear end spacing. How are you unable to fit it in if the box is 190mm? Even with a wheel next to the widest point that's only going to be around the 190 mark, surely? If needs be, cut a side of each and stick them together into an uberbox

The amount it'd adjust the BB rise wouldn't be huge, but it'd need to be looked into. I'm currently on a low front end due to a short steerer and no money and whilst I'd like to raise it a bit it isn't the end of the world. Higher stem would make up for it really

Tasty stuff, James

Danny and Ryan are two rather different riders, both very capable bicyclists. Hadn't seen that full video section before, enjoyed it muchly

Disc mounts would be nice and from a selfish point of view I'd love it if my frame had vee bosses, but other than that there's nothing I'd change on my current Inspired frame. It's plenty light enough at 2.1kg and the geometry is spot on as far as I'm concerned. I'm not too fussed by the dropouts. Vertical makes life simple with regards to brake setup and geo, plus only fools kill tensioners that much, but yeah

Why are you so keen on an Inspired 2 if there's no info about them yet, Simps? Is there anything wrong with your current frame?!

Most likely black, too

Headley's in

Currently stopped in Bristol on the way home. Had a really great day yet again, thanks to all involved especially Sue, Charlie and Sam. Thanks also to Abingdon United FC for letting the event take place on their grounds again. Seeing old faces, meeting new ones, being silly on bikes, getting wet, the memorial garden, MASSIVE GHETTO RAMP SESSION at the end; Incredible! RIP Deej, Rainbird (Red/Yellow toy)

I absolutely LOVE my Ultimates. I don't really ride in the wet, so I don't need any more performance from them at all - they're plenty good enough for dry/damp conditions. I got them both second hand, getting both sets of arms for under £50 posted as the front needed the bearings replacing. That cost me £4 or so and about 10 minutes - it was really easy and the brake was as new after that. I know Ali C had some issues replacing bearings before though, I can't remember the specifics. If you can find one second hand (they tend to go for around £35/40 for a set of arms) then I'd highly recommend them, though other people run other setups (the Shimanos, for example) without any problems too. As with most brakes a decent setup and a little attention to detail (lube the cables well before fitting etc) will give you sweet performance on any half-decent kit.

Balls, just seen you're in Aus! Would have been rather interested in some of your wares but after shipping it'd probably be out of my price range (which is currently <£0, so not great anyway!) Still, if you end up throwing them in the FS section, I'll keep an eye out fo' sho' Thanks for the info on what you've tried and how you've found it, really handy to get some good relative feedback

Boy done good! Heatsink red/CNC on the back, Avid blacks front, Odyssey linears and SD7 levers all round. I've not tried any of the other HS compounds other than the cousts which were excellent pads on both a light dead grind and a smooth rim, little noisy for my liking though! If you go down the Shimano arms route, steer clear of the parallel-push designs. They tend to die fairly quickly with trials use. I think the XTRs have it, but if you go for the XTs I believe they're 'normal' and a bit slimmer too, though I'm not 100% so check it out before you buy The SLX brakes are around £60/70 yeah? For that you could snap up a Mono Trial or full BB7 setup second hand but in decent condition, which'd probably offer a little more trialsyness if you wanted it. That said, I'd imagine for street use it'd do the job pretty nicely.

Shut up, Dark, just get in the car

S'all about Operation Trysomedifferentsetupsoutbeforespendingthedollah guys. Low enough clamp height and a 90*20/100*15 would probably do the trick, possibly one of these: Feedback from anyone with a Trialtech/similar stem on a 24" would be very much appreciated

Oh don't get me wrong they look a bit out of place, but it's not fun having a low low low front end with no more steerer to bring it up. May get an extra chunk added on for problem solving heroicness

Most people tend to stick to www.tartybikes.co.uk for their competetive prices, decent specials and brilliant customer service. There are a few others about too; Select Bikes, Trialsman and Heatsink to name but a few Welcome to the forum

Cool stuff, Ross. Looking forward to seeing the Marino/seeing the Marino getting a good workout soon too

This is going to be nuts, can't bloody wait. Assuming this one goes well, bring on the Hangover Tour 2010!

Considering throwing a similar stem on mine - do you find it hinders streetyness at all (bunnyhops, spins etc)? Not that I can do them anyway, just don't fancy throwing one on and killing my chances further!

Tonight is boring with no fire. It's also crazy light out for 4:45

Won't find it on Tarty, but if you check out Pijin (BMX store) you should be able to track it down Cunning use of bog roll stand: Popped a few more over to your email address If you don't end up shifting/rebuying a BB, fork and front brake at least you'll already have them to throw in your luggage and take back down under with you for the new build