nmt_oli

You are RUDE on that uni rich, you pulled some stuff today that i have never seen done on a uni (Y) . The phone pics are actually bigger, there sized down for that site. If theres good light, and i get the timing right, and can let the autofocus set properly on the rider beofre they do the move i can get a good shot, but as soon as one of those is out, it goes blurry or whatever, but still, for a phone, its damn good.

Southampton all the way :) But im biased - it is a great uni, great campus, great aptmosphere, great riding too. Southampton also is held VERY highly for engineering at the moment, i have been told in the top 5 unis for engineering. A foundation year would be good if you havent done maths, as maths is seriously needed. Ive just started my first year, and there is a lot of maths, which i suspect i will struggle with later on as it gets more complex, as i didn't do very well at maths A level. Despite all the maths, if you are a practical person (ie like building bike, fixing stuff, bodging stuff) you will like the engineering course - the maths is basically a tool, just an intelectual one, to make sure you make it strong enough (Y)

that looks PHAT for everything! bmx, MTB, trials, skate, board, that place rules! Oli

Im so glad to find so many people who are all FOR tougher sentences, capital punishment and so forth. Most of the poeple i talk ot say sentences are a bit slack in this coutry, but then i ask them what to do about htem, and they say make thema couple of years longer- whats that gonna do! It just costs the taxpayer more, and fills up the prisons (which are nearly full a.t.m anyway- maybe why there trying to get rid of people so quickly). Prisons need to go back to basics- right back, i mean enough to satisfy human rights people, and thats it. These people don't deserve more than that. They don't deserve to be waited on hand and foot, pretty much like a hotel, when there are lots of people in this world who have done nothing wrong, and are in poverty and have nowhere to live, and struggle to get food. This world is so wrong. Punishment should be a deterant- its not at the moment, and really wont be until things are made a lot harsher on the offenders. I personally thing capital punishment should also be brought back, when it can be proved beyond doubt, but i know this is unlikely as so many people are against it. It might make people think twice though. (Y)

Less riders than expected, mainly due to the damp start i guess, but was still a good ride. Pics HERE

yeah you lot, all bailing out as it was a bit damp! lol (Y) Was a cool ride- wil upload pics in a mo. (the few i have) EDIT: Pics are up! HERE.

Im pretty sure im busy on saturday, and i may also be away sunday- so looks like a probable no show for me (Y) I will ride sunday if i am available though. Oli

My Giro Xen is the best bit of bike kit ive ever bought :D May be expensive, at £60-90 depending which model you get (ie if its an 04,05 or 06) and where you get it from, but they are light, very confy and fit exelently. I feel is much safer and more confident if im wearing my helmet too. It much nicer than the cheap £15-£30 helmets i had before, and as i have fallen on my head a couple of times (one time, dirt jumping, i landed badly, went down, then my bike (i htink it ws the chainstay) landed on my head- if my helmet had not been there to take that impact it would porbably of cracked my skull, or at least split my head open. (Y) (Y)

Im definately riding tomorrow (Y)

I do a bit of XC, although for fun with a bit of freeride thrown in, no lycra race crap lol. also Freeride on my hardcore hardtail, a bit of DH, a bit of jumps ect.

you may have been in the shop at the time, it was in the shopping centre. Simon announced it quite loudly when i showed it to him, so either you were pisisng around or in the shop. Stil, thats a bit irrelevent now.

I was on the train to ride poole early this afternoon, and the sun was lying there, so i read it. I was very surprised when i saw that page, and was totally appauled. I took it with me and showed the guys who were riding poole who were equally disgraced, and gave it to joel to upload. I can't belive hes allowed to go home, see his family and go 15 miles and do pretty much anything he wants, how is that prison? It more like some long holiday. He get all his food and clothes free, gets a bed, a roof over his head, and now gets to go see friends and go shopping too (Y) Its just not punishment any more, and whats more is we, the taxpayer, are paying for him to go on these nice days out, no doubt! And JT, a few poeple on the poole ride were thinking the exact same thing! what would we do if we saw him, I doubt i would just walk past thats for sure. Bring back the death penalty- it might actually deter these people! (Y) :P :D

A tip from hope themselves: If your rotor is very contaminated, and cleaners don't seem to be doing anything, take off the disk, put it in the dishwasher (alone, or with other disks, but not with dirty plates lol!). Comes out sparkling. Couple wiht new pads (if there contaminated too) and you get a new brake pretty much.

I think htere will be poeple out both days. It ORGANISED for sunday, so thats when non locals have organised to come down,but some of the locals, (that now includes me) are going out tommorrow as well, as the weather should be good. Hope that clears somehting up for you.

as others have said, stick to black silver and ONE other colour(this is components obviously, if the frame is a different colour thats ok). start mixing up more than that and it just doesn't look right. either go all blue, or all red. I personally prefer blue, but it would be easier for you to go red, as you could get your bashguard machined, making it lighter, and silver :P My last bike was white frame, with black/silver components and blue hubs and bashgaurd. This one is silver framed with mostly black components, and gold accents (hub, headset, ect.)

Hmm, looks like i may need to go out tommorrow as well then! just incase it does rain on sunday. Also don't forget, clocks change sunday morning so you got an extra hour to get ready, or if you like an extra hour to ride :P

Since when does the amount of noise from a hub affect the engagements :P

If you have access to all that stuff, then great, but there not exactly 'home made' pads then are they? more custom compound pads.

Have you put any lube back in at all? as running it dry makes them very loud, but can lead to problems. Any decent solvent is good for cleaning the freehub and pawls, just make sure you dont get it on the bearings, as you don't want to eat the grease out of them! but do put some lube back in, a dab where each pawl sits in the carrier, and a light smeer around the ratchet is usually enough. Too much and the pawls and springs can stick, which also causes problems. Use a good quality medium to light grease. I don't use oil as i have found it doesnt stay where its put very well, but if its somehting like finish line as Adam says, thats a bit thicker so should be ok.

Hmm, remember the forces at the center of the wheel are that much geater due to the leverage, so your going to need to stick em on REALLY good, notice how standard pads actually go through the backing slightly to help anchor them. Soft material is likely to just get ripped to shreds, even on a solid disk, because of the amount of pressure there under. The holes in disks are there for a reason too, makes then lighter, helps disperse heat, and hleps remove water from the braking surface. If you then go and make an ally rotor to save wieght as your pads will be compatable with ally, then plazmatic aleady tried, and it didnt really kick off, the pads wore out too fast, the rotors bent very easily, and it was expensive. You needt to get the material totally parrallel to the pad backing as well, harder on the smaller scale of disk brakes, and more critical than maggies- smaller tolerances, due to smaller dimensions. Brakes using soft pads would be very good for bite, but not for modulation, the hard pads now are what gives disk brakes such superb modulation. they dont deform, and they don't grab, they only lock because of the pressure, so you can control the pressure applied very preciely to get the friction you want between the disk and the pads. That means these would have a purely trials application, and wouldn be very good on the front. If put on the back, if they were tempremental then it will be anoying, plus you get the normal problems of disk rotors to bend, and disk tabs to snap ect.

just to let you know, Dave and Adam at tarty bikes advised me away from the Stock (MTB 135mm) profile hubs, as apparently there have been a lot of problems with them. Chris King hubs are very good, people have reported problems, but that is usually because of lack of maintenance. As they are a different system to the hopes and profiles (almost maintenance free), the need a specal lube every now and again, but its really not hard to do. In fact, i think its easier than servicing a hope, as there are no pawls and springs flying everywhere! it just needs to be done a bit more often. Also shovel, your hope had 21 engagement points as far as i know.

Worked in Halford Bikehut for 2 1/2 years up until i started uni.

I bought a Giro Zen a couple of months ago, got the 2005 (current model then) for £73 due to staff discount at halfords. The best moeny ive ever spent on biking ^_^ Before that i was using a crappy halfords own thing for a year or so, and before that a £25 MET. The Met was ok but looked terrible (no peak, horrible colour), and the halfords one just didnt fit very well and actually fell apart (strap system camp away from helmet <_< ) so didnt like the idea of that. Decided to splash out, and it was worth it. Loads of people were asking me why i spent so much on a helmet, and because i ride everyday (commuting) and trials, as well as other disciplines, its soooo much nicer having helmet so snug and so comfy. Everyone whos tried it on as they didnt belive it would be an different to a 'normal' helmet has been amazed. I value my head :P

We did'nt start the riots, but i admit we did nick a picknic bench, which was a practical addition to the campsite ^_^ too bad it had been removed by the time i was left, i was going to stick in in the back of the van and take it home <_< I get what you mean though- we werent being as sensible as maybe we should have, but i can tell you we were being a LOT more sensible than a lot of the people there.

Oh dear :P Sreiously, if you wan't to get validated proper use of english is very important! ^_^ Read the guidelines. Any way, it takes a different length of time for each person as everyone progresses at different rates. It also depends how much you practise. The bet bet is to ride with other people, as you tend to ride more, and harder, and you can get advise and tips of tecnique and what your doing right/wrong while your doing it, which is very useful. If the people you ride with are at about the same level as you, then just learn together, and help each other, its all good fun. Don't slate your mates off if they can't do something, help them out and tell them where there going wrong. If you have no one in your area to ride with, use tutorial websites like TrashZen, these go into good detail on technique.