Anjow

I did have a look and it seems my crank had come loose again! So I've done it really, really tight now and I'll see how that goes.

Like I said before, I am not well versed with wikis but I know that you can search for a page that doesn't exist - it will then give you the option to create it.

I'm not too well versed with wikis, but I'm going to make an attempt to add the information I've received in answer to the questions I've asked here.

This is just something I'd like to see, in reality I know it requires effort and money. Since joining here and starting riding, I've run into lots of things I needed to know so I have asked here and the members have helped me. Most of these things are relatively simple questions about bike maintenance and at times I thought "this is such an elementary question I feel a bit stupid for posting it". I wondered if there was a central place for all such answers. I did look at the FAQs forum and there is some excellent material in there - however I noticed it was mostly very specific. What I think would be really good would be if there was a Trials-Forum wiki. This would allow the collection of knowledge in a very ordered way, it would be easily searchable and much more organised than an FAQ forum filled with topics, half of which have discussion on them. Say I had another one of my simple bike maintenance questions, I could post it on the forum, get my answer, then I could repost that answer as a topic on the wiki so people could easily find out 'how to tighten cranks' or whatever, and it wouldn't need to go on the forum. It would reduce forum clutter and provide a one-stop-shop for bike knowledge. There would need to be some protection against vandalism, you could perhaps only let full members edit it. So anyone with spare time (yeah right - just around exam time we've all got days upon days spare), spare hosting and spare bandwidth... There's something to do with it. What say you?

Thanks. Any hints on how I tighten it up? ...And to think I thought my buying a new bike and not second hand would preclude me from these constant problems.

Now I have noticed that there is a clicking or clanking sound coming from near my bottom bracket. It seems to happen when my foot is at the lowest point of the pedal rotation and it happens on each side. Does anyone know what this could be?

Edit: I'm an idiot.

I can't figure the editor out. Anyway, levels you make yourself aren't as fun as ones others have made. And I've already played your level

This is the game I'm talking about, there have been a couple of threads on it here: http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/forum/index....showtopic=96589 http://www.trials-forum.co.uk/forum/index....showtopic=95700 Does anyone know where I can find some extra levels for it? I know there's a few custom ones that come with it but I've done them over and over and I'm after some more.

Thanks, that's all I needed to know. Whilst I have this topic, I may as well ask another question because it doesn't warrant a new topic: Can someone explain 2-bolt vs. 4-bolt brake boosters? I have a 4-bolt echo one because my brakes have 2 bolts for each piston. Do some brakes have 1 bolt per piston and therefore can only use a 2-bolt booster? Or are 2-bolt boosters used on brakes that have 4 bolts for mounting? If so, why use them instead of 4-bolt boosters?

Still being a newbie to trials, I only just noticed that one of my cranks was really really loose. So loose I could wobble it side to side with ease. Anyhow, I've tightened it up now with a large allen key and I was wondering - how tight do I want it? As tight as I can get it? Secondly, I've seen downtube protectors on some bikes. Whereabouts can they be purchased? I didn't notice any on tartybikes. Also, regarding chainstay protectors - I noticed that the length given on sites is longer than my chainstay... Does one get special ones for 20" bikes? Edited: see last post for new question

Hooray for common sense in board management! This place is like a breath of fresh air after so many other places with large, pointless signature images. I end up having to adblock them on other boards. Besides, it all goes to make the pages faster to load. The way I see it, avatars help aid in quickly identifying a poster, so signatures are pure vanity.

I am, but those are just things I'd expect a newbie with common sense to be able to do I'm not a newbie to bikes in general, I have just had many years out. And back when I used to ride I never 'got my hands dirty', mechanically speaking.

I knew how to set one up already, I had done so when the bike came in the post. I just wanted to see if there was a trick to doing it that would make it fast and effective. I can. I could before the bike arrived. I could on my XC bike ~7 years ago. I have some mechanical skills. I just don't have a) confidence, or b) time because I've a 15,000 word dissertation and a program to finish for this friday. Then I've got eleventy other bits of software to write and be assessed on, two presentations and two exams.

I think I will get a bike shop to do it. The only reason that didn't occur to me immediately is because I'm new to trials and I didn't know whether normal bike shops would know how to 'deal with' trials bikes - if they might set them up wrong or something.

Do you get 'better' axels? Would it be better to get a 'special' one? Would that make it less likely to bend?

I don't know the mechanics of changing an axle, but I know that changing a hub is far beyond my abilities at the moment, and I certainly don't have time for it. I guess I'll just have to continue riding on it.

I posted the other day about my bike never being 'happy', and how it ends up with the cones too loose and whatnot. My problems are with my rear wheel. Today my dad came round to visit and he had a look at my bike - he's not a bike expert, but he has more common mechanical sense than me. Anyhow, he told me my axle is bent - I looked and it is. He also said that this is what's causing my cones to loosen off and whatnot. He said to get a new axle. Now, I don't know anything about bike axles, never dealt with them before. What axle do I need? Do all trials axles work with all trials hubs? I don't know what hub I have, it's an Onza one and I'll take pictures if you want. Also, how does one change the axle? I doubt it's something I'll be doing for a while yet as I don't have the confidence or the time.

What's with everyone getting into Air right now? Myself included. Others I recently got into include Bonobo and RJD2.

There is no scientific rationale given by them for how it works. They only say that it goes through a panel of testers employed by them (biased). For any 'drug' to be considered valid it has to go through randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled tests. This is just a group of their friends or employees, who are either biased consciously or subconsciously. Forum users who are saying it works are just expecting it to work and so succumbing to the placebo effect.

Seems like digital snake oil to me.

Zona Zip. I'm afraid I can't give too much details because I just don't know what the bits are! If you need to know what I have, ask and I'll take a picture of it.

Okay, I will do. Is anyone able to tell me about fitting them please?

Which would you recommend out of these two: http://www.tartybikes.co.uk/product.php?id=34 (notchless) http://www.tartybikes.co.uk/product.php?id=2092 (notched) These are used instead of the other sort of chain tensioners, right? Not alongside them? From the look of it, these are what I currently have: http://www.tartybikes.co.uk/product.php?id=169

Why can't my bike just stay happy? When I get things set how I want them it works for a day and then it screws up all over again. I have it so the cones are tight enough, the brakes aren't catching, the chain is neither too tight nor too loose, then within 24 hours either the brakes are catching, the wheel is wobbling or the chain is about to fall off. What makes it even more frustrating is how the position of the back wheel changes between when I've set it up and when I've ridden it. When I set it up it is just right then within 10 minutes of riding the chain has slackened right off even though I'm using the chain tensioners. It wouldn't be such a problem to ride-test how I've set it up if I didn't live on the 9th floor and didn't have to cart my bike down in the lift and through a load of security doors each time. On top of this it seems that the little ridges around the magura pistons that hold it in place in the little ring thing are just in the wrong places, it ends up so one of my rear pads is closer than the other whatever way I try it. At the moment I've got enough on my plate with a big dissertation due in next week and the one thing that's meant to help me relax is even more of a pain in the arse than the huge report I'm doing. I'm on the verge of just sticking the bike in the corner and saying 'f*ck it'. I'm ranting. Also, can someone tell me about snail cams? Would one of those help with my chain problem? I don't know anything about them.