MrsMonkey

I'll be there.

Being fair, it sounds like the only 'Monty' parts you've broken are the forks (they were Monty's own forks?) And when you look at the rest of the bits you've broken it just paints the picture that you ride like a clutz.

I really do feel embarrassed for you right now.

It's kinda cheating. In the same vein that it's kinda suicidal aswell. x

Chromoly is a steel. Depending on the finish you leave on the fork, it shouldn't rust as readily as cheap mild steel will. You may get bits of light surface rust on them if you don't keep em clean. Wire wool will do for finishing the fork off after it's stripped, they will polish up nice but you'll have to spend some time on them. The smoother you get them the less likely rusting is to occur. Cleaning and polishing stuff can be very satisfying but it'll take you ages and there's no point starting if you're gonna do it half-arsed. You could get rid of the grind with some decent sand paper and a sanding block (<this will make it a million times easier). Just keep switching to finer grits the smoother you get. Why do you want to take the grind off? If it's not working you might want to look at your brake set up first. If you start removing it image your brake won't get any better unless you take the rim surface right back smooth and then polish it and keep it squeaky clean. Dani x

Rich Johnson - dropped out of the scene for a bit after he had a falling out with Giles Wolfe (rumours abound that they were more than "just friends", despite one of them being married!) as far as I know. He's probably still doing public demo's and other low key stuff. Ian Cooper - Dropped out for a little while when the Raleigh Special Products team was stopped. Started riding for Identiti, putting his name to the Judge frame and appeared on the TV show 'Under Pressure'. Still rides occasionally. Tried his hand at motorbike trials and was upto a decent standard I believe. Matt Tongue - still pops up at competitions now and again and last I heard he was back working with Pashley after leaving for a while. Still riding obviously. Libor Karas - got a visa and a job in the States. Will Cogger? - couldn't give a monkeys really.

Don't ride! How long ago did you do it? You need to get your hand back to full movement/strength first. If you start riding when it's not recovered you're going to give yourself some serious problems in the future. Your hand is one of your main contact points with the bike (obvious enough) but you never really think about the stresses it goes through. Rushing back into it now for the sake of a couple of weeks riding just isn't worth the long term problems you could cause which will ruin your enjoyment in the future. Dani x

Or not. White spirit contains oils, so when the alcohol dries off it will leave a residue on your rim. Get hold of dome organic solvents like ether or something. x Dani x

Martin Hawyes is about 1 year older that Martyn Ashton. x Dani x

what are you on about boy?

I think you're wrong there. Shorter people obviously don't stand as high over the bike so an elevated bb will help raise them up and help with tipping the bike onto the front or back wheel. Also when backwheeling and tucking your bike up the higher bb puts you higher up so there's less chance of bumping your rear trye on your arse if you're a shorty. x Dani x

Since you're coming from 20" I'm guessing you're gonna be wanting to buy a full build. Unfortunately, you aint gonna get much in the way of quality for that price and it probably won't be long before you're shelling out and replacing practically everything on the bike. It might be worth taking a look in the for sale section on here as you may be able to get something slightly better second hand or even the best part of a bike then build it up yourself. You'll still have your 20" to ride in the mean time. x Dani x

Just like school. Except the geeks who really wanted to be prefects and tell everyone what to do finally get their chance to do so with out the risk of being beaten up at home time. x Dani x

It's got to be said. There's a million topics on here every day which get dragged up repeatedly when they're well past their sell by date. Guy's READ THE TOPIC, you'll save yourself from looking like a complete ass and polluting the forum with unnecessary repetition.

Or maybe get a slighly longer bottom bracket axle? The bike is displayed on their website built up with 2006 Echo rims which are even wider than Koxx so the bike should take a wide rim. xDani x