Zoo_Monkey

wear what u feel comfortable in - skate shoes are perfect, my mate uses try alls they are good but no better than my vans nb: you have to wear shoes with ankle support for trials comps - this is why trials shoes were invented i dont think they are that much better than a set of vans (tnt's are my personal fave) the best shoe for trials is one that supports your foot properly (which sucks if you like oversized skate shoes like me) i recently got a pare of ES skate shoes these are bloody brilliant for trials they give loasd of support and have gippy soles

it makes no difference what weight or hight you are, iv seen 15-16 stone blokes ride a mod better than most and iv seen scrawny weedy 5 foot blokes throw around a long stock bike, you have to get the bike YOU like the most by the time you are good enough to know whether you made the right choice or not (and beleve me the only way to know is to actualy ride the bike) you will prob be thinking of upgrading anyway so go with your gut feeling - watch some trials vids what style of riding suits you? who do you look up to etc.. the stock vs mod debate will always be found on trials forums untill the sport is dead and gone and as i said there is no answer its up to you. what you usualy get as an answer is sombodys persoanl preference in bikes - this is not good enough justification for spending £400 plus, however ase there is no answer here is my opinion i find stock bikes more hastle than mods, gears and derailers and gear shifters etc.. plus they are alot bigger so if you aint got much room in your garage/flat/house/bedroom then they can be a pain in the ar5. stock bikes are also more expensive in every way ie. a good stock hub is £100-£350 where as a good mod hub is £40 plus a £12 acs claw for the same performance (almost). stock bikes are roumoured to hop higher as you are already an extra 6" of the ground, i have never seen this proved. stock bikes do make you go bigger eventualy as they are bigger themselves and the geometry on good stock frames like a zoo pitbull or onza t-rex is geard towards this. stock bikes are more stable than mods, mods have twitchier steering as they have smaller wheels. mod bikes do make you learn alittle faster (depending on how comited you are) as they are eaisy to throw around so make those first few confidence inspiring hops alittle easier. mods usualy use an ACS claw freewheel or better these have 36 engagement points, that is singly the best thing you could ask for on a trials bike. and finaly - i think the t-pro rules the world - exactly the same geometry as a koxx level boss, which costs way over double the price. plus its a great speck and looks sexy - in comparison the t-rex is a medioca spec with nice geometry and good potential for upgrade / progresion altho for tha cash my moneys on the T-pro all the way sorry that was abit long - like i said get the one YOU like the most, from there on its all good :) trust

worst crash so far - 4 foot steep trany grass bank with a set of concrete steps going up it, leading to a dodgy old flower bed with a circula path and past that a nice grasy run out (or so i thoght). so i hit the bank at full speed on my jump bike and cleared the 2foot across of steps and most of the path around the flower bed, on the landing hit the unforseen curb bit around the path and wobbled abit which sent me slaming into the newly planted trees on the grassy run-off!! i kind of skided sideways into the tree with my bike at 45deg and dug the chain ring into the trunk which caterpulted me into the tree trunk. i took most of the impact on my shin (i had my leg guards on cos im a pussy) but i still managed to cut my leg almost to the bone from the impact, without leg guards i prob would have had a broken leg. the funniest bit was when i hit the tree i dislodged loadsa leaves (it was autumn) so it kinda looked like a cartoon crash with all the leaves falling on me after. then i kept riding for a bit (it was numb for a while) which was a mistake because i managed to make the cut septic and i still have the scar there now

i have tried the following - grips + hairspray, touch and go you need to have realy clean bars and grips or they take ages to set - zip-grips/ zip ties and grips, same as above the zip-ties yous stop the ends moving - celulose paint (cheap halfords car paint) + any grips works grate use hairspray to desolve the celulose to get the grips back off. - lock on grips, perfect but if you bash them around alot you end up having to cut them off altho they are the best solution over all trust (Y)

i gota say the T-pro is an awsome bike - my girlfreind rides one and i cant get off it!!! plus my mate has a koxx level boss and they are exactly the same geometry - to be honest if you realy dont like the colour - get it re sprayed you will still save cash over even a second hand level boss. if you wana respray a bike go here Argos Racing Cycles if you want more persuasion to buy a T-pro go here Tarty Bikes The T-pro Rules - Trust (Y)

LOL - dont ask me to draw any instructional pics of that!

dont get v8s for trials if you can help it - get v12s, one reason - v8s have some Non replacable pins, when you lose them they are gone (Y) - and if you do any (insert move here)-to-pedal stuff you are gona lose them prety quick, for a little extra cash you get v12s with all replacable pins and better bearings. or better than that VP pedals are more grippy and altho they can bend this usualy dosnt affect the performance (and you can bend them back) plus they are so cheap you can aford to brake them and they weigh less than magnesium pedals which cost 4-6 times the price i use vps - trust :)

just afew quick extras there are different types of grind - light and heavy some pads work better with light grinds some better with heavy, equaly some suck with a light grind and some wear down so quick with a heavy grind they only las 1-2 rides, the pic of the rim above is a heavy grind also before you butcher your rim you need to consider grind direction ie, the lines "drawn" buy the cutting/grinding disk should apose the braking action - check the pic (Y) best to get someone who has some experience to do it for you the first time hope that helps

thanks man! yea its a great ride im way chuffed with it, try it with the zoo riser bars and Zoo stem you wont be disapointed (the geometry dosnt realy suit flat bars i used to have planet x pro trials bars but they sucked) those pics are about a month old now - i just put on a hope mono hub and a KMC Kool chain. ill get some new ones up there soon! i highly recomend D521's and as i said before the only time you will have a prob with the rim width is if you have almost no brake pad left - the pads on my bike had been on for about a month in that pic and Zoo pads wear down realy fast. glad i could help (Y)

I have a ZOO Pitbull 04 and I run a D521 cd ceramic, you wont have a problem unless your HS33 Pads are Extremly worn down - check the pics http://www.pinkbike.com/modules/photo/?op=viewℑ=571096 i would also like to add that zoo pads on ceramic rims are the Ultimate Brakes - Trust :) hope that helps