duane

Hi, I am starting to ride more rocks, but its very quickly shown up that I am still hopping backwards while on the backwheel. I can get on the back wheel half a dozen different ways, from just leaning back and pressing on the pedals - great as the back wheel stays in the same place - to the other extreme I kick and pull hard to place the back wheel where the front was. In the first case I manage a few (two) hops then start inching backwards, in the second case my very first hop on landing is a big correction backwards after which I stablise with the back wheel more or less where the bottom bracket was and then start creeking back again inch by inch. So is it something about my position, set up, technique or anything else I should look at ? Thanks Duane. PS Did search, didn't find anything. Als I have watched loads of videos and cant see anything that I am doing differently

Don't think your BSing - "For a while opinion seemed to be more in the BS camp but now we have a few more claiming stair mastery." - thats suposed to read something like - "popular opinion was saying it wasn't possible, but now the weight of opinion has shifted to yes it is, we know it is becuase we have done it." Anyway I still want to think this guy is full of it, mainly because there is no run up and unless someone says otherwise I am assuming you need you a good run up ? Duane.

I haven't got my protractor out to check, but I live in Dubai where regulations are something we will think about in a few years time after everyone has already moved into thier villas on the "palm jumeriah" man made islands or thier apartments in the 120 storey and growing by 3 more storeys a week "Burj Dubai" tower. What I do know is there is no run up at all, there is a lake, a fence, a bike width of path and then the stairs. Being Dubai and completley free of any building regulations, every set of steps is at a different angle, some I can hop up head on, while the steeper sets I can only get up by angling across the two or three steps to reduce the incline angle a bit. For a while opinion seemed to be more in the BS camp but now we have a few more claiming stair mastery.

Gutted ! I always suspected people thought "look at that idiot scrabbling about on the steps, why doesn't he just get a bike with a seat and ride up them like a normal person". Now I know its true. From now on I will only ride after dark until I can side hop at least 40 inches and gap over busses. Thanks for the answers anyway, Duane.

I can't believe it, the stairs are 45 degrees, theres no run up and they are 10 foot high, how do you stop the bike looping out ? a trials bike has longer reach, but its still very difficult not to fall back even when just hopping in place with the brakes locked. I really don't want this guy to be right, it felt like such an acheivement the first time I got up every set of stairs and now there some guy that can just ride up them like a normal hill.

Hi, I was out on my bike falling all over some rocks again yesterday when a runner stopped to talk to me. He talked about how great he was at mountain biking and asked where else I ride. I mentioned that for a fitness circuit I hop up all the stair cases around the lake that we were talking by. At this he seemed very unimpressed and said that he rides up them all on his FS bike. I thought he was talking nonsense, but then if you had never seen a side hop and someone described it you would think the same. So is it possible to ride head on up a 10 foot stair case just by pedalling a low gear on a full suspension bike ? Tell me I am right to think he was bull 5hi11ing, Duane.

Hi, I am in a similar position, I am looking to upgrade from my Base to either a short Control or short Pitbull, at the moment I am leaning more towards the Control, as its lighter and I will never, ever be doing any big moves. With regards to BB rise, most current intermediate frames seem to have 10 or 20mm rise, where as the same frames last years all came with 40mm or more rise whether you liked it or not. I am still a bit puzzled as to why us mortals are still being offered frames with 20mm rise and the pro frames don't have any ? So to cut a long story short I am going for the Control, but my wife says 'Zoo Pitbull, its a cooler name'. Duane.

You might find some comments about early base frames cracking where the seat stays join the seat tube, but this effected the 04 year model. The frame you are looking at is two models later and doesn't suffer from this. The only difference from a long, low and silver bike is that the head angle is a little steeper so the wheelbase is a little shorter, otherwise all the bits that matter, BB, headtube, chainstays etc are where you would like them to be. I am more or less the same height as you and I get on great with this frame. To give you some idea how the built bike looks have a search in the bike pictures section. Duane.

Why is everyone so down on this frame ? for 129 quid its a great frame, the geometry is similar to short Pitbulls and Controls, unless I am missing something. Its also crazy that no one has asked how tall you are, if you are over 2 meters it will be way too short (or very streety) however if you are around 175 cm its a pretty good length frame. Regarding shipping, I have had tarty send goods to Dubai, postage cost is always reasonable and it arrives quickly too. Duane.

Hi, I would stick to what you sold in university, theres much more mark up and you don't have to tie up your capital for two months while you wait for stock delivery, if duff stock turns up, you can always sell it to some mug in a club that doesnt know any better and will never see you again and you dont have a brand name for any one to rubbish either. Also look at your competition, Base TA 26, well known and liked streety trials frame with a seat and gears if you want, frame 129 quid. The commencal Max looks like a good deal too, I would go for either of these long before I looked at something from a man on the street with a few quid to throw at a far eastern factory and no form of warranty or track record. You would also need to factor tax into your calculations, the inland revenue have access to your bank details and would quickly notice money going to the far east and any cheques you cash, not sure what tax rate you would pay but recon on somewhere around 30% of any money you make, if you don't declare it they will send you to prison. Then there is the cost of your own time, if I said I will pay you 1 pound an hour not to ride your bike would this sound like a good deal ? its probably better than what you would be signing up for i.e. time spent chasing your stock, time spent chasing your shipment, time spent finding someone to distribute your stock and worst of all time spent thinking I have paid up front for a whole load of frames no one wants to sell, no one wants to buy and I haven't even seen yet. As you can tell I dont think its a very good idea. Do you really have 20 grand ? if so keep doing whatever it is your doing. Duane.

Hi, I ride tri

Its getting hot in Dubai too, last weekend when I went for a great XC ride, it was 38 degrees. Its hard as hell, the air gets much thinner, so you breath less oxygen, this year people are saying we might go as high as 54 degrees. All you can do is accept that things are going to get harder and try not to give into it, although it probably doesnt matter that much in the UK, but out here it isnt going to get any cooler till november. Gatorade in a half frozen camelback helps a bit. The humidity has an effect too, after its been really hot, as soon as the sun goes down the humidity shoots up and anything colder than the air gets soaked with condensation. So if you keep your bike in the house the second you take it outside, your rims get soaked and your in for brake trouble. I will have to get the ginder out this weekend ! Anyway I am way old and can still ride right through the Dubai summer so stop whingeing about 20 degrees ! Duane

Come on, where are all the Base riders ? Base TA26 129 Quid for the frame from tarty, it has a seat tube if you like seats, if not you can do like me and cut a two inch section of seat tube and stick some liquid metal on the top, drop that in inplace of a seat and forget you ever had one, saves about two pound of useless weight. I will post a picture of my set up tomorrow. Duane.

Hi, I have had the MX Pro ETA's fitted for a couple of weeks now, they have really transformed my XC bike, so much so I am wondering if the frame wasn't originally designed for 100mm travel and then fitted with 80mm forks due to budget. The bike always used to feel tippy on steep technical descents, but now it feels much more laid back. While the new fork has a longer travel, the dropouts are also offset further forward than the old forks. These two factors taken together make the bike feel a thousand times better. The lockout works as advertised, and with full travel the forks smooth out 40mph stutter bumps and 10mph rocks equally well. the only thing I don't like about them is that V-Brakes seem to have been a bit of an after thought. The optional V-Brake posts screw into thier mounts on the forks this seems like a potential weakness given trials forces, also the V-Brake spring is mounted in a plastic sleeve which is part of the optional V-Brake post, on one of my posts the sleeve occasional moves until the brake rubs, I will secure this with a drop of super glue, but it doesnt give a lot of confidence in the thought that has gone into accomodating V-Brakes. With a Front Disc these forks would be perfect, and with a front brake booster to share the stress, they may yet be perfect with V-Brakes too. On the whole very happy and really enjoying some very technical XC riding in the Hajar mountains on the Dubai/Oman border. Not my pictures and havent been to these exact spots, but to give you some idea, have a look at this guys pictures. If I can talk the wife into camping I will take the trials bike next time.

Hi, Thanks to your recommendations I have ordered the MX Forks, everywhere I have looked says great things about them. When I get around to fixing the Rockshox I will use them to upgrade the wifes bike. Since I have been figuring out how best to convert the XC bike to be more trials or the trials bike to be a bit more XC, its become very obvious that whatever I do to whichever bike, the other one will still be a lot better at its job, so much so that the whole exercise looks like a waste of time, to put it another way I have two perfectly good bikes, why make one of them a half assed compromise. So the latest and greatest plan is to convert the 9 Speed XC bike to 8 Speed, in order to run a KMC Kool chain. In addition I will change the hub for a hope mono and leave it at that, theres nothing thats going to compromise the bikes current performance plus whenever I get the opportunity to hop around a bit I will have complete confidence in the drive train. I have a K710 on my trials bike with a spaced out rear mech for a tensioner, the split link would catch on the other cogs if It wasnt a single speed set up, does the KMC K810 Kool come with the split link, and if so is it narrow enough not to interfere with a standard 8speed cassette ? (I want to use the split link) Thanks Duane.

Hi, Thanks again, I have hardly been in a bike shop or picked up a MTB magazine in 15 years so I really have no idea about forks. The last response makes a lot of sense, I have burst something in my current RockShox Judy forks, I suspect it is to do with damping as the forks pogo and after agressive riding liquid oozes out of the one fork leg. I have just looked at the Marzocchi forks, the price is right and a recommendation from someone who has used them also helps, but can you tell me is the 30mm of travel the very last 30mm i.e. will my BB be too low with the stiffer setting ? its not very clear from the CRC comments "As you climb, simply flick a switch and the suspension will compress to the ideal height (depending on the riders weight)" I am just concerned that mr Marzocchi didnt have 13 and a half stone in mind when he was designing the fork. Any other suggestions welcome too, Duane. PS I have just been out on the XC bike and the wife was faster than me, so its 'plan B' for now.

Hi All, Thanks for the responses, I am stuck between taking this approach or 'plan B' which is to put some forks with lockout on the XC bike, an 8 speed set up with a decent chain and a hope mono rear hub. Right now this seems to make more sense, theres nothing thats going to downgrade the bikes XC potential where as 'plan A' seems like a step backwards for the trials bike. Backwheel moves with 17inch chainstays and a short top tube must be great training. Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced 100-200 GBP suspension fork with lockout, my XC frame is quite light and hates droping more than four steps so a dirt jump fork would be complete overkill, I just want something that will get me around fast rocky corners and can be locked out for long climbs and trials. I currently have rockshox judy forks on the bike with lots of preload but they pogo way too much for trials. Thanks Duane.

Hi, The summer is coming to Dubai which means 50+ Degrees. Obviously a single speed bike with no seat is about as much fun as a weekend in Guantanamo bay, so my plan is to make my Base TA26 a bit more rideable during the summer months with a usable seat, eight speeds and lighter wheels and tyres. Ideally I would like the base to be rideable enough to take out on the occasional XC ride with some of the local clubs as an alternative to my XC Bike which is great at going up hills, but c5ap at everything else. I can see the steep head angle being a real irritation after 2 and half hours of gravel single track, other than that the only other draw back I can see is the weight. On the up side I can have more fun in the 'Wadi's' they are dried out river beds that criss cross the UAE. Has anyone tried this, is it workable or doomed to fail ? Thanks Duane.

Hi, To add to what everyone else has already said I suggest you do the following 1) Get a cheap grinder and a 'metal cutting disc' its not a metal disc, but a disc for cutting metal. 2) Take your wheels off the bike, take the tyres off and put the bare wheels back in your frame 3) Get some gloves and glasses on 4) turn the bike upside down making sure its well balanced 5) Stand over the wheel your going to grind, start the grinder and move it towards the rim, holding the cutting disc at about a 60 degree angle to the braking surface 6) with your other gloved hand, grip the rim and turn it smoothly away from you as you bring the cutting disc against the rim 7) as the disc touches the rim and you are turning it, you will be able to closley monitor the grind that is being left by the disc as you are turning the wheel, if you find yourself getting off center, just lift the disc away and gently start back where you went off course. 8) by using the upturned bike frame to steady the wheels and turning the wheel away from the grinder in a direction that allows you to see the path of the grinder, you can watch the results as they are happening and won't go far wrong. 9) I just use enough pressure to leave a visibly roughed up surface, you dont want to go mad or stay in one spot too long. Easy, Duane.

Hi, I trawled Trials Forum looking for the best v-brake options and the most recommended set up by far is XTR Levers, Avid Ultimate V-Brakes and Nokon or Avid Flack Jacket Cables. I have a base TA26 with this set up (nokon cables) and an Echo Booster and as long as I keep the standard pads clean, I can lock up a smooth DX32 rim with no trouble. I am sure that if you wanted to you could save stacks of cash and get close to this performance by using XTR Brake Cables which for standard cables are awesome and something like Deore V-Brakes which are as stiff as they get. Don't skimp on the levers though, XTR levers really are that good. Happy New Year Duane.

Hi, I can second Argos, I got a road bike stripped, sprayed and renovated at Argos in Bristol. It was a steel road frame so the cost included realignment on a jig and re brazing all the welds and even putting genuine Renolds 653 Race renovated stikers on the bike which meant a lot back in the day. With an aluminium bike they cant realign it or re braze the weld (not flexible like steel) so explain that all you want is a stripping and spraying and the cost could come down a lot. For what its worth, the paint on my bike looks like new after more than 10 years. Regards Duane.

Hi, How about a bargain Base TA 26, tarty have the frames in for 129 GBP, tilt your bars back a bit and its a not far off a big wheeled BMX that will sit on the back wheel all day. Duane.

I like that last one, I am 200 points better off now.

Hi All, This fella http://sheldonbrown.com/chain-life.html seems to be suggesting that a chain only stretches between outer plates although to be honest from reading his article I can't see where he gets this from. Anyway if he is right and you use an even chain ring with an even sproket you should be able to wear down the set of teeth between the inner links but when you change your chain you can fit the new chain (outerlinks) to use the unworn teeth that were previously between the inner links. Does it make any sense to anyone and does anyone think it would work ? Duane.