Alun Goch

If your parents are happy to leave you all alone in their house I would consider it a blessing. Unfortunately wen my folks went away I had to sleep with their folks, but managed to "stay with a friend" and have a party at mine! These doggy toast things wudda been ideal when evryone started roaming for food. Anyway, to end, got found out and now Im in the shit Alun

My first bike was doomed as a 'five minute wonder' according to my parents. A year on they buy me a t-mag! sorted! But my dads pretty annoying, most of all when I was grinding my rim for the first time; 'You'll break it' 'Its to weak' 'Thats the wrong grinder' 'It wont make any difference' Then he had a go on it with sandals and came off after the bike stopped and he carried on. 1 - 0 ! Alun

what bout bangor? absolutely nothing at all to do with the fact its closer, just... wherever it is Ill try come anyway alun

soak it in wd40 then use a universal puller. sorted http://www.etoolcart.com/ProductImages/Ast...ic/AST-7828.jpg something like the above, loadsa diffrent types though alun

hey mate I had the exact same problem. for now, you can tighten it by sticking a large nail, small allen key or anything similar in one of the small holes in the inside of the freewheel, and pedalling backwards. use the chainstay as a lever to resist the freewheel trying to turn this. this won't last long though, you'll need to tighten it at least a few times per ride. for a more permanent solution, get it welded last for ages then, tighten it up reall good, and get you'r local garage, or a mate or whatever to put some tacks on it for you with a mig welder. all the best with it, i went through 6 freewheels before mine was welded, was really pissed off about it Alun

I had trouble setting up mine for a while aswell, but found a fairly easy way is.... Firstly align your wheel and chain tension. It is pointless to get the brake set perfect if the wheel will be moved. Leave the brake on one side tightened for now, roughly set up. Loosen the brake mounts so that you can adjust the position of the brake with your fingers, but have it tight enough so as not to move about on its own. Look at the gap between the pad and rim, and set the desired distance, push the brake in to get closer, squeeze the lever to get further. Once you're happy with the distance, slide the mounts up and down, and also rotate the brake, aswell as setting the angle of the pad. Basically get the pad perfectly alligned with the rim, which may take a little while. Pull the lever till the pads touch the rim to see how you're doing. It may also help to have the pad touching while you're adjusting the pad. When you're happy, tighten up the mounts, and do the same to the other side. And as mentioned before get a decent booster and set of pads. It's also important to keep your pads and rim clean, pads with sandpaper, smooth rims with washing up pads (green ones0 is what I found to work. Stick to this and they should be sweet Alun

Recently, the hate shown towards 'chavs' has grown loads, but do they really deserve the image given to them? I know myself from experience that they can be really offensive, violent and real w@nkers at times, but there are people who dress differently that also act like this. So, is it really fair to judge people merely on how they dress? I am friendly with quite a few people who wear their collars up, and their caps floating at the very back of their heads, but they are genuine, likeable people. So not all chavs are like this. Personally, I think that some chavs deserve a hammering, but it's not just them, and it's not all of them. Some people are taking this to extremes and I think it's almost, if not equally as bad as being racist. Let me know what you think, or of any experiences you've had etc. Alun (by the way Im not a chav before anyone says so)

I didnt say it was my bikes fault, I said "Only problems I've had are" or something along those lines! You reccomended new bars and stem, why is this? The feel? Strength? And which spec is the bike at the mo? Alun

Hey, i ride a 05 t-mag spec2, and im in love! I find it really nice to ride, and feel right at home on it. But then again it's my first decent bike (I started on a Base t20). What I have noticed, and alot of people tell me too, is that it does feel slightly larger up front, which I must say I got used to very quickly, and I now find it more comfortable. Only problembs I've had are 1) I managed to crossthread the titanium bolts that come with the RB booster into the maggy mounts 2) The chain seems REALLY close to the frame, just where the seatstay comes from the dropouts, and Ive discovered it has been digging into the frame abit 3) The ACS freewheel that came with the bike was absolute w@nk and lasted only a few hours of riding (it was first time i came across this problem so i had no idea what to do, didnt even think about tightening it, just assumed it was broken!!) and managed to go through about 5 of them in 6 weeks, some outlasting others. I had my dad 'borrow' me some RAF (military approved) loctite from his work, which lasted a while, but eventually came loose. I then had my local garage weld one for me, still going strong 4) Oh yeah, and having so many new freewheels, i had to obviously, take the old ones off, which was hell!! I think it was Supercycles that sent me a free tool with their replacement ACS, which didnt fit, so I had to get my old man to make a tool, with a huge lever, about a meter, no shit, and I turned while he pressed it down into the freewheel!! The last one I took off was the worst, and even with copperslip (anti seize grease) on the thread before it was put on, it just wouldn't budge!! Soooo I put it in the over, then rushed it outside and did the same thing, but with gloves!! And it just about budged. I now have a rather bling gold driveside crank!! I think its the laquer thats changed colour. I think I might put the other one in sometime.... BLING BLING 5) Got a sweet haircut (on my shin) within 15 mins of my bike been put together, after a failed pedalspin, much to my dads amusement But apart from this, sheas beauty, and like I said, I'm in love Alun (wow did I really write that much?!~)

Anyone have a link to the video? I'd like to see it

Also the larger diamater wheel on a 26" means landing on narrow things / edges is easier, as there is a greater circumference to work on.

http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/forum/index....9283&hl=saracen

Aha, so power of a disk brake is more dependant on contact area. I see..... -dissmisses silly thought of grinding disk- Thanks guys, super fast replies, sorry for the stupid thought, i would never had tried it though, promise! -considers a desprate attempt to get out of sticky situation by digging deeper hole asking same question with tar!!! no way...- Cheers, Alun

Yeah, deffinately agree, getting the threads clean is the most important part, use solvent cleaner / degreaser / white spirit / meths / even diesel or petrol, and a tothbrush. You can also get different strength loctite if you're going to use it, I'd say use the weakest one that holds. Alun

Hey evryone, me and a mate had the thought of grinding a diskbrake, but were not sure if it would work. Would the power / lock increase? Would modulation be affected? Would it even work? We thought as disk brake pads are a much harder compound to rim brakes, perhaps it wouldnt have the same effect, and as the pads are so close to the disk, maybe they would drag and catch? If anyone has tried this, or if you can see any more pros / cons, please comment. Thanks, Alun

I'm using Plazmatics at the moment, with a light grind, and RB booster, which is working really well I have only recently ground my rim, but on a smooth rim they worked well too, only ever slipping on edges occasionally, but with a grind, they just dont budge, I was really impressed, and they just dont seem to wear! Loads of people warn that a grind will eat through pads, but Plazmatics get A* from me any day. A booster is a must have too, otherwise you loose power as your frame will just bend out under braking, just be carefull when screwing in bolts, so easy to crossthread in aluminium with titanium bolts, so hard to fix (had to drill, rethread and helicoil mine ) Alun

nah, its rubbing on the chainstay and right at the back of the 'seat'stay. i think the only thing to do is protect the frame, any ideas? its quite a boob relly, its the chainstay thats so fat

http://vtcz.ch/bilder_tech/felge_raendel.jpg cheers

the acs freewheel(front) is alright, but make sure its welded up, cos mine just fell apart after only a few days light use. loctite should do the same, but it gets to the bearings, so lube up boys!

scariest fall so far has gotta be on my mountain bike, wearing those spd pedals. u know the ones your shoes clip into? well, i was riding a wheelie, as you do, and because the brakes where worse than, than.... well they were sh!te, i went over the back, frantically trying to rip my feet out! what i dont understand though is how me feet WERE out AFTER i hit the floor! and i dont understand why i did it agen. twice. but ive learnt now..........

ive got the t-mag spec2 its nice to ride, but then agen i had a base t20 before that! a downsite to it though is the chain is REALLY close to the frame, mine has started to dig groves into it! o actually has anyone got any ideas on how to stop this? dont stop rolling

hey check out the pic in the link below (ul have to scroll down a bit) its a rim thats been slashed loadsa times. anyone know how to do this? it looks to tidy to be done by hand! http://vtcz.ch/index_3.php?