Jez

Drill a small hole in it and borrow a screw extractor from somewhere. Soak it in WD40 as well. That saved my ass with crap ali crank bolts many a time.

Bolts just need to be thicker and more rigid. Problem solved. But you've gotta look at it from a manufacturer's perspective - it would involve both the brake and the frame manufacturers producing (for a while at least) two versions of the same frame and brake - one with hefty bolt holes and one with the current size. It would piss a lot of current users off if the current size went out of production, and running two designs is more expensive for the factory than running one. I'm sure one day the issue will be adressed, but it won't be until more people shout about it. Compare the size of canti mounts in thickness to yer Magura bolts and you'll see what I mean - and even canti mounts flex. I remember back in the day when I got my Monty X-Lite, being amazed how much the rear mounts moved when I pulled the brake. First thing I did was go out and buy a hefty brake booster, only to be pissed off by watching the frame move after I'd fitted it. Then I noticed the same thing on my stock bike. Eventually someone will sort it out, but don't hold yer breath. Maguras seem to have gone through very few design changes in the past 7 or 8 years - as far as they are concerned they have a product that works and sells well - they're thinking 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Maybe it'll take someone bringing out a better component to get them off their asses. Perhaps if everyone switches to discs... We'll see.

Sense of improvement and accomplishment does it for me. Nailing a huge move and thinking "f*ck, yeah!", that's what it's all about, and like someone said, looking back and realising how far you've come. It's the same with everything that I enjoy, be it playing guitar or even my job, I jsut love getting better at stuff and becoming abnormally skilled. To be able to do stuff that others can't. Plus there's the added side effects of it keeping you in shape and people being amazed that you can get yer bike up something that high...I remember thinking one day that I could get my bike up stuff that I couldn't jump up on foot. It brought a smile to my face. The other great thing is riding with someone who's *really* good and egging them on - when they do something huge there's this massive mutual respect thing that everyone has. They might not be the world's nicest guy, but by god they can ride. I've always been one for bucking the trend as well, so being as it's something that not many people did back when I started riding, it kinda made you one of a select bunch of skilled people. And like someone else posted further up, I like mechanical stuff - my dad's a mechanical engineer, and I guess some of it rubbed off on me; I used to kid myself that I hated spending hours trying to get my V-brakes perfectly aligned, or bleeding my maguras or fitting a new chain...then one day I realised I actually enjoyed it, as perverse as that sounds I think I have a thing about troubleshooting, which is why I enjoy my job. Plus, there's nothing quite like watching a video you've just recorded and seeing how impressive something you did looks...

Scunny: Hey, I never said I was old, I said I *felt* old And ye're right, a lot has changed - so much so I'm worried my meagre skills will embarass me somewhat I won't respond to the Metallica comment because I'll just end up in a rant...;P Spangler: What the hell is Moz up to these days? If he's still riding he must uber shit-hot by now...him & Paul Henley were bloody good when I was riding with them. And yeah I noticed people defecting to bmx a lot towards the end of my trials days Seb: when I get back into the swing of things I'll give ye a shout Anyone wanna explain this UCI thing to me? I keep seeing these initials everywhere and somehow I doubt that cinema car parks have THAT much to offer in the way of decent trials territory...

Jayjay, whereabouts in Erd is Halfords? I've never bothered to find it (there's a Fletchers 10 seconds walk from where I work so I get all my stuff there).

Check this out... Me on my Heavy Tools-copy back in...uh...'97? '98? something like that. Check out the cheesy shades. Man, I had no hair back then! Same bike, about to leave picnic table for planet earth. Yes, that's a 32 tooth ring on the front. In all her glory...Shimano M300 (LX) V brakes, Sun Rhyno Lite rims, unbranded forks, Tomac signature bars, IRC El Gato 2.25" tyres, DMR V8 copies...those were the days. And my other abuse-taker. Monty X-Lite. I think it belonged to Ben Savage before I bought it. Getting parts for that back then was like getting blood from a stone. Said stone was only available from Spain, of course. I feel so old now.

Gonna go post some pics of my old bikes and myself in that 'oldest trials picture thread' in the members area somewhere if anyone's interested in the bikes that took this battering

I don't think Zoo existed when I was doing all that snapping As far as I can remember the only dedicated trials bike companies were Megamo and Monty back then. MTB makers were just starting to bring out dedicated trials frames...ah I'm reminiscing again. Somebody stop me.

Cheers guys Good to know us oldies are still accepted around these parts Now where did I put that 32-tooth bashring...

It's been a while, but here's the list that I can remember: about 3 sets of cranks of varying make/model. 2 sets of forks 2 frames (headtube weld both times) More chains than I can remember (finally solved this by getting a lawnmower chain) At least 3 axles Many spokes About 3 crank bolts (great fun to remove the remaining bit) About 3 or 4 different saddle rails Something of the order of 20 or more saddle bolts, AND COUNTING (I have mine in a weird position that stresses the bolt and the rails) 1 pair Wellgo cage pedals (that then became a home-made chainstay for the front ring!) 1 pair Monty cage pedals 1 pair DMR V8 copy pedals Far too many Magura lines 3 or 4 freewheels 1 Rear hub Sheared the sprocket thread off the replacement for the above hub At least one headset Oh and about 2 or 3 rear casettes (always wore 3rd out ) Bear in mind that all of that was spread over 3 bikes (2 stock, 1 mod) over a period of about 3 or 4 years. I was also doing dirt/jumping on the stocks (me and my oldschool 32-tooth bashring, haha!). I don't think there's any pics of that little lot, although I have a pic of one of one of my stocks and my mod knocking around somewhere. I'll see if I can dig 'em out.

You'll learn the basics way quicker on a 20", but I always found 'bigger' moves easier on a 26" due to the longer wheelbase (when you're on the back wheel, the front wheel on a 26" is higher off the ground than on a 20", more room to prehop/absorb landings as long as you have a small enough frame). I owned and rode a 26" that ate parts for breakfast until I finally replaced EVERY single part with something bombproof. By the time it got stolen it was a completely different bike from what it started out as. I also owned a second hand nail of a 20" Monty X-Lite, which helped me improve my technique no end, but had various problems left over from it's previous owner (a certain rider who's gonna be 'big' soon, but who I won't mention). Everything was a LOT easier to do on that bike, especially anything involving flicking the back end around. I finally flogged that off when I got annoyed with the breakages, and built myself another 26" around a Saracen X-Ile frame (yes, that's how long ago it was), and it startled me to discover that I could still do all the stuff I could on my mod, it was just that lil' bit harder because of the extra weight. However, the drops and big hops up stuff became easier. SO, if I were you, I'd start on a Mod (20") and move onto Stock (26") at a later date maybe. But that's just my 10p. You might wanna stick to mod, or just start on stock and graft at it until you've got everthing nailed. The other thing to consider is cost of parts and availability. I had a nightmare trying to find replacements for my Monty and Maguras back in the day (it's probably better these days though), whereas I could walk into any local bike shop and get a replacement part for my 26". Bear in mind that the massive rear tyre of a (decent) mod will be more forgiving of bad landings than the somewhat thinner and lower wall height found on most stocks. I hope that summed up the pros and cons reasonably. Bear in mind that my opinion is probably a little out of date because I haven't ridden for 5 years

I never really nailed that one for some reason, I always figured I was trying to hop forwards too much (kept hitting my rear wheel on the wall). I think the lack of bounce from the tyres doesn't help.

270 (or more on a good day) sidehop off a bench. Used to love doing them. Took me forever to master 180s on a stock, then I bought a mod and discovered I could crank an extra 90 degrees out of it.

OK, so I s'pose I aint' THAT old, but I feel it. Just spent the last few days downloading vids and I gotta say I nearly shat myself. Everyone's immensely good these days. Scarily so. Back in my day, Ashton, Hawyes and Rey were the only guys anyone had ever heard of. I think Akrigg and the Tongues had just debuted in MBUK when I quit...damn, I sound like an old bloke already. 5 years ago I gave up trials because' I was breaking too many of the parts on my Monty X-Lite and couldn't afford it any more; now I'm getting back into it. A cheapass Saracen 2.Zero is on it's way already (hey, it's cheap, and more importantly it's local if it breaks), and I have more pallettes than I can shake a stick at at work Just gotta learn to ride again - I can still get my work bike up on the back wheel and get over the odd small log or two, so it looks like I ain't completely lost it Anyway, is anyone still riding in Birmingham? Around '99 there was a growing contingent in Solihull I used to ride with, but they seem to have vanished off the face of the earth. Anyone riding in central Brum? I live in Erdington, but work in Nechells, so I'm pretty central.