F-Stop Junkie

[old school]That's not the Dogs Bollox, This is the DOGSBOLOX[/oldschool] Ah, them were the days, when all this were nowt but fields...

I loved the Amiga, so far ahead of it's time it was incredible. Shame software piracy really killed it. BTW, I'm 26. There are plenty of us older bods on here, we tend to lurk though. Young people, their 'music' and their baggy clothes scare us.

$50, not fifty quid. If your appeal is upheld you get the money back, it's to stop people putting in petty protests and wasting time.

I remember a time before years spanned all schools. You had the 4+, then first years, then second, the junior school and first year, second year, etc... I think I was a first year four times in my school career.

Street Wolf's were for posh kids. Those in the know had Raleigh Burners! Including me. And a Raleigh Mustang, Lizard, or Activator. Remember when the cool mountain bikes had wheel disc covers? And Muddy Fox paw prints on them! Or discussions in the playground about which would be cooler to go on, Knightmare or Fun House. Oh, and they don't make Wispas any more! I have, however, met Timmy Mallet when he was cool, not at some post-ironic Student Union event. Mask rider? I remember MASK. A friend has the secret volcano lair playset, and I was so jealous. Pole Position was cool too, but the one I saw sometimes was Jason and the somethings. It had a plant in it that tried to crush the cars in it's roots, but the cars had huge circular saws on the roofs. There was the motorbike version of Airwolf (*coolest theme tune ever*) but I can't remember what that was called. Perhaps you're only old school if you watched Challenge Anneka!

Because a rider using one gear out of six has equal equipment to a rider using 4 gears out of six, therefore no advantage or disadvantage to either.

If singlespeed bikes were allowed, then anyone wishing to run gears would be penalised, where as if you make gears mandatory, everyone is at the same disadvantage. Allow singlespeeds, and some riders will have to comprimise the way they ride in order to compete on a singlespeed which gives known advantages. Best to leave it as is. Allow the novice class to use singlespeeds to encourage more non-comp riders to give it a try, but if you move up, especially to Master, then you have to run your bike as you would at an International event.

Because the rules are the same for everyone. Why limit the rider on wheel size? Why limit the rider on time? Why limit the rider to pedal power? I never said it limits the rider anyway. I said it offers a slight advantage in specific circumstances. 99% of the time, it won't make a tiny bit of difference.

Potentially a singlespeed is lighter, less prone to damage if a move goes wrong, provides more clearance on the drive side, and also has stronger wheels than a geared bike. On the one hand, your bike is lighter and easier to ride, and on the other the gears won't jump. Plus in the event of a crash or mistake, there is more to damage that would stop your progress and potentially mean you have to five a section. It's a slight advantage, but an advantage none the less.

I'm not looking to absolve the organisers of responsibility Barry, just raising a point. Speaking of which: "Art. 40 NATIONAL TECHNICAL RULES Every country is authorized to publish its own technical rules however they may be different from the international ones EXCEPT THE PENALIZATION SYSTEM. Such technical rules are only valid for the national events." Except taken from BIU rules found here!

Barry, is it not the responsibility of the rider to make sure they follow the rules of the event? "Art. 33 KNOWLEDGE OF THE RULES The riders, upon applying for entry for competition must possess a thorugh knowledge of the present Technical Rules and respect any other instructions given by the organizers in order to improve the event." I'm not arguing one way or the other in this specific case, just making a general point!

The gears rule has largely been run on the following basis: You can run singlespeeds if you want, but you must either run out of class, or be prepared for protests if you do well. For riders competing at the top of their class - especially for those at the top of the highest class - their bike must conform to the rules, just as they must conform to other rules of the event. If a rider misses a section out, do you think the people they're competing against would let them off a five because it was probably a genuine mistake? Missed a gate in a section, but you probably just forgot. Have a clean. I don't think so. Probably 30%-50% of 26" riders were running proper singlespeeds with one cog and a tensioner, and they were not protested. I'm sure they had a great day and everyone was happy. They were not challenging for a podium or looking to win the championship in their class. Had they been, I'm sure there would be complaints. Andrei's bike could not reach all six gears under any circumstances, which he agreed with when we discussed it. Quite why it takes two weeks to see that a rule was broken, I don't know. I'm sure Andrei did not benefit from the situation, but the bike did not meet the regulations any more than if it had 24" wheels or an engine.

When I get a chance! I've got something in the order of 250-300 images to work through. I need to process these and upload them. Hopefully end of the week at the latest, but then I also want to get the Addingham Tykes shots up, and some - probably here - from the Sheffield Street ride.

Why did I have you pegged as a Sheffield Uni person? Odd. Anyway, depends how long your lunch break is My photobox site is here!

Tom, I've got a card reader, so if you can drop the card to me one lunch time, I'll stick 'em all on CD for you.

Make sure your bike is covered insurance wise, and exactly what the exceptions are. Some won't pay out if it's stolen from a tent, others if it's stolen from a car, some if it's stolen abroad. Will cost a packet to add this to add this to travel insurance I guess, so check whatever insurance policy it's currently covered by.

On a side note, why do people offer custom geometry? I'm not a test rider, I don't ride heaps and heaps of bikes, I want bike companies to pay people who know what they're doing to design good stuff. The only exception to this is the top tube/wheel base. Basically have the head tube at one end, and bottom bracket/stays at the other and just stretch the bit inbetween. If you offer custom geometry, then people either have a chance to come up with their own - potentially good or bad - or rip off an existing frame, though nicely avoiding copyright issues. I seems like a great way to muck up a £600 frame by guessing at geometry. The other issue with this is that if all bikes have wildly different geometrys then there's no common feel or way the bikes ride. Leeson take care to avoid this issue, but otherwise it ride like any bike other than the name on the downtube. Seems like a good way to avoid R&D costs too...

Yup, that's the one. I keep meaning to get something proper sorted, but that's the one for now... BTW, this will also host the Nationals images from this weekend onwards! As and when something else gets sorted, I'll post it up.

Not Addingham Moorside, but those in the general area... Careful where you park.

Nope, 9spd block, 9spd shifter. 8spd shifter will work with 8spd or less.

To be honest, there's a standard spacing for 6, 7 and 8 speed kit. All they did each time was make the cassette/freewheel a cog wider each time, and brought the hub flanges closer together. All Shimano and SRAM have done these days is make the spacers and chain thinner to cram in 9 and now 10 sprockets into the same space. Irrespective of how expensive stuff is, if it's Shimano compatible then a 6 speed shifter won't match a 9 speed cassette. The only exception is if you want to run in a single gear and you don't care about how well the indexing works on different cogs. If you're running a thicker chain then avoid 9 speed cassettes as I'm convinced the cog spacing can and will cause problems. I think that running older, lower quality stuff is the way forward as you get thicker cogs and a decent gap between each one. The only problem is you have to source old kit, shifters, cassettes and so on. Old quality is hard to find, but I'm getting a good hoard together. Once I've got the stuff ready for my new bike, I'll stick a post up.

Nice. Where were the walls? By the side of the court house? Surprised you didn't have any riding from the stairs down the bank opposite Morrisons, or along the canal bank. There's some good stuff there if you look.

Couldn't agree more. Just to clarify, 9 spd has a different cable pull to 7/8spd. If you want to run 6 speed on the new Hope trials hub, then with a 9 spd shifter, you'll need a 9spd cassette with an additional spacer. If you're on 7/8spd, then you don't need the additional spacer, but you do need a 7/8spd shifter. Obviously in both cases, you'll need to take some cogs out to make it fit!

--> QUOTE(joe b @ Mar 5 2006, 09:25 PM) ←Just wondering if Chris (Ratcliffe) posted up his photos that he was taking at the Tyketrial round at Addingham Moorside? Or have i just missed them, or what? Sorry to sound impatient but like to look at good photos that reflect, exactly, how the day was... Nope, but as I only got back from Paris yesterday, and hence back home today, I haven't really had a chance to go through them properly, watermark and post some. I'm also trying to find a decent way of displaying them... Easier said than done, especially if I want to include image ordering. Once I've got the holiday snaps out the way, I'll crack on with it.

4 or 5 years ago, trials was huge! There used to be hour long queues to get a seat for the trials shows at the Bike Show, and MBUK had three or four trials articles per issue, plus Hip Hop. Trials competitions used to have to return entires because they'd reached 110 and couldn't take any more. Riders used to sign autographs at competitions! I think that trials has become more focussed now that good bikes are more readily available. The standard is also generally higher. In a few years time, I think the current generation of riders will be older, most will have moved onto other things, some riders from yesteryear will come back. The sport will only really blow up if there's massive media attention, but I think US style street riding will get that, not trials. So more of the same I think.