shovel

i would advise a really harsh grind on the rear by holding the grinder at quite a steep angle to the rim on the front its up to you but i would advise only a very light grind as i got a bit carried away with my front and went through a set of monty pads in a day :turned:

hope it all goes well for you :turned: your videos have really helped me see just how damn good the pros are and i've learnt alot from watching them over and over

short wheelbase, high front end, light front end, doesn't really matter about length of stays as my martin hawyes used to be soo easy to bunnyhop about 40"+ and the stays weren't that short but yeah all of the above will give you more of a streety flicky feeling bike

i use a panaracer fire xc pro 2.1 on the front and thats also with a mavic xc717 rim and i'm running my tyre at the same pressure or a little harder sometimes. to be honest any light tyre will fold to an extent on an xc717 rim as its real skinny, but anything about 2.1" should be fine as for pads, ebc reds are good, they give loads of bite but on the front they'll wear out a bit quick. a good comprimise between wear and performance would be ebc greens, my friend has a set and they feel really good, the brake locks up when needed but you still get quite a bit of modulation and the wear rate is pretty good too

get a tape measure and measure from just past where the spoke hole is on one side of the rim to the same spot for the spoke hole on the opposite side of the rim, thats the erd, then go onto a spoke calculator on website such as www.dtswiss.com or you could phone up tartybikes and ask them which is probably a bit easier

ronnie rim with really harsh grind magura bled properly with magura royal blood (water will just freeze up this time of year plus magura bloods better :) ) heatsink blue pads i've been running the above although with an old echo cnc rim for a with and its awesome, brake feels so solid with plenty of bite, but modulation when needed, wet or dry its good and the grind still seems to last, but thats probably because i went a bit ott with the grinder :P

thomson elite 100mm 5 degree stem easton ea70 mid rise bars tilted forward a bit bit pricey but very good combo, the stem feels so stiff its unbelieveable

maxxis high roller 2.5 super tacky rear panaracer fire xc pro 2.1 front :S

i'm about 6'2" and i used to ride a giant martin hawyes until start of the summer when i changed to a toxsin #1 my legs used to get so abused on the handlebars doing taps and gaps etc, just too cramped toxsin feels perfect though :S

yup, troy lee xc gloves are real good, not very bulky so you get a good feel but still keep the hands warm or if you really want good feel of the bike then troy lee air gloves although they won't keep the hands as warm

very nice Darren, can't wait to see it in the flesh looks like a right beast colour of the car and wheels go perfectly together if the police start following you and Ben again they'll definately have no chance catching up with you, although might be a bit harder to hide with the colour :S

i'm sure that him and towler will have a great time :D

personally i prefer to use magura royal blood, pretty much cause i can get it free at work :lol: but also i really like the feel of it and wouldn't want to change to water after 5 years although supposedly you can get different weights of mineral oil with magura blood being quite heavy, if you ever pull the lever on a new shimano brake they feel a bit quicker because the shimano mineral oil is a bit thinner, would like to experiment with that some time and see what its like. . . .

got to agree with towler here, most flourescent bike components look pretty awful, they look alright on that v-racing but on other bikes :D

hmmm, i'm not sure that re-bedding in with mud would be a good idea with ebc reds as the pads are quite soft and it'll probably wreck them. . . .

cleaning the disc and then putting on some decent pads such as ebc reds, or even greens seem to bite well with longer life but since the brake is obviously a good couple of years old now its probably worth rebuilding it caliper and lever rebuild kits are available from hope and include new seals plunger and spring etc for the lever and for the caliper it will include new seals etc, once the pistons are out and the brakes apart you'd be suprised at how pitted and dirty the pistons get which will obviously affect the performance of the brake once everything is fitted and the brake is bled through properly the brake should feel good as new and give you a fair bit more power

good luck darren and in fact all of you who are going i was going to try and go but i kinda woosed out, doubt i'd do well, i know it would be good experience but i reckon i need to get out and practice alot more before i enter my first comp

yeah i used to ride at the aecc and at the time i rode a martin hawyes with black fatty-r's, good to see your still riding and improving

cool video with some pretty amazing riding remember when you used to ride with us when you lived in Aberdeen and had your 20" monty, ridings come on a fair bit from then and you were very good then!

i've got a toxsin #1 frame with a magura on the back running heatsink blue pads/harsh grind and i think its amazing, the frame seems to bee really stiff without the need for a booster so i don't really see the need to swap to a disc, you could try it out if you really wanted but i think that a well set up magura on the rear with decent pads would be better than a disc

this may be a stupid question but. . . . . . . what like is the parking up there for this comp because as ben mentioned i am driving the pimp mobile and it doesn't really agree with parking in a field without it doing some gardening of its own with the underside of the car i should get a chance to go past work this week on the way home from uni to see if i can get time off for this (Y)

benny boi, some very impressive moves there, both videos were really good you seem to be improving more all the time, we'll have to go out riding again soon though well done

hmmm, quite interested in this but would involve a day off work if i can get one does anyone know roughly how long it would take to drive there from Aberdeen?

i can see what you mean about more engagements, i used to run a hope ti-glide(24 engagements i think) rear hub for years and it was alright, got on fine with it i then upgraded to a chris king classic earlier this year and you notice a huge difference in the performance of the hub, the engagement is so much more instant and alot more solid theres nothing wrong hopes really, the engagements alot better than a shimano, so i wouldn't bother trying to take it apart and mess about with the pawls and springs as you'll just make problems but if you want a rear hub with more engagements either get a profile or a chris king

i've got a thomson elite stem on my bike and the stem height is pretty low on it, although they are a bit on the pricey side. . . . .