Mark W

That's a "2.6" and a "2.0" on the bottom tyre, if that's what you mean? Basically, they created the 26" tyres and called them the "V2", then just switched those graphics onto the mod tyres too. Kind of weird, but Monty move in mysterious ways.

Super good Couldn't predict what would happen next which is always a good thing.

I'm reliably informed that one of the riders testing the brakes used water for a bit before switching to TT fluid. The pistons are made from an engineering grade plastic specifically chosen because it has significantly lower fluid absorption levels than the normal nylon material use for pistons.

According to Monty the only change is a different logo. The sidewalls are the same as they were before - Trial-Bikes were using that description for the old tyres too. EDIT: To quote the message they sent to dealers: "Monty is glad to launch the new ProRACE tyres 19" & 20". The main difference with previous ones is the new design: ProRACE orange graphics with a bolder look."

Trialtech fluid is water-based, so theoretically water would work fine with it. As usual we'd recommend running a water/antifreeze mix or TT fluid as they generally seem to help keep everything conditioned a little better, but either way it should be fine with it. Due to them being forged rather than CNC'd, it means the price of making the body itself is way, way cheaper, despite forging arguably being better (similar deal to CNC machined stems vs. forged stems). I don't think final prices have been nailed down yet, but the Sport lever should be under £50, and the baller spec Carthy lever should be under £100.

They've been tested using the Trialtech Rim Brake Fluid and there haven't been any leaking issues with any of the ones out and about to date.

The bushings are fully replaceable - there's just a grub screw and some O-rings holding the pivot in place, and once that's out you can replace the bushings easily. Carthy has been using the prototype with those IGUS bushings in for a reasonable amount of time now and they're still super smooth with virtually no play.

If you mean the Trialtech ones Dave, we're not 100% sure sorry. They shouldn't be too far off now. Speaking of a comparison to Racing Line though, Cap got himself a pre-production Sport lever so took his Racing Line lever off it, and I put it next to the Carthy lever to see what it was like. It's weird to think the Racing Line bodies used to look sleek and minimal, but then you compare them to this...

Yeah, it seems they have plans to. There's this rim brake, and we saw some Trial Zone pedals a while back.

Good shit Mine's defo not going through with the sills as they are at the moment... EDIT: As a thought, are you doing all the engine work before or after the respray? Was just thinking whether it'd be worht putting off the respray until after the engine shit's sorted just so you don't run the risk of the finish up front getting a bit messed up from all the work going on in there?

Ah, sweet. There is hope then

Out of interest, did your premium go down at all? Hitting Level 3 in December but all my renewals are coming in this 2-3 month period. Still getting generally raped, so it'd be good to know if that would plateau at all in future

Most brakes you'll need to do that even if your pads aren't particularly worn. With Shimano brakes with ServoWave the pads naturally sit pretty far out so it's not a problem, but with brakes where the pads typically sit nearer the rotor (in particular Magura MT-series brakes - my MT7 pads are a really, really tight fit) it's more of an issue. After a few pulls they always sit further out of the caliper as you can see in this video: As for the brake in question, it'd probably be worth stripping the lever down and making sure everything's fine (it's relatively easy to do), then re-assemble and re-bleed it. If you bleed it following Magura's guide it should be straight forward. As an alternative, you can 'top up' the brake - if you remove the EBT plug from the lever and attach a syringe with some fluid in to the bleed port, once you pull the lever a few times if there's any air in the system you'll see it rise up through the fluid and out of the brake. If nothing comes out after doing that you can give it a proper bleed, and again if you don't get much out from that then it could be that something's now damaged somewhere. I'd be surprised if it was, but you never know. If it was all fine before and the only difference is that it's been bled then it would suggest it's a bleed related issue rather than anything else. I don't suppose you've hit the lever recently? I've seen a case before where someone managed to hit the lever, and even though it didn't really mark the body it seemed to fracture something on the inside of the reservoir in the lever and it meant that there was no brake pressure at all despite a perfect bleed.

Jack's had a set on his bike since we posted up the original photos on our FB page ages ago and they're still sealing perfectly. Joe Prattley's been running them too, again with no issues. They've invested a lot of time and money into them, and they've even had to get custom wiper seals made. Serious business - it's not just some budget clone lever, basically. For the Hope brakes I'm not so sure about that. By chance, I happened to have a chat with someone on the phone about them earlier today and it sounds like they're still very much in the R&D phase.

Thought there was a Trialtech lever topic but possibly not... anyway, we just got these in the post to fit to Jack Carthy's bike later on today. These are sweeeeeeet. Not quite the finished item (they'll have a couple of minor tweaks before they're released), but very close.

We'll never know... Full details are up here in case anyone's interested.

The 26" tyres are way closer to the 19/20" tyres than the Try-All versions were/are

Nah, he's officially signed with Monty to exclusively use Pro Race tyres. I think a couple of other of the UCI guys have too. There's a similar thread on OTN about them. Main positive is super good grip, main negative is a relatively fast wear life compared to other, more heavily treaded tyres (so the same deal as the 19"/20" Pro Race tyres). Seen mixed reports about how 'bouncy' they are.

"Extra hiding power". Sinister.

"Behind the scenes" outro that's as long as the actual riding quotient of the video. What. That peaked at the moment that can hit that kid in the face.

This is pretty cool:

35mm diameters, 31mm offset. Should be able to switch them over, it'd only work out as less than 1mm of difference for the random 26" wheel I just worked out then.

Usually you'd use M5x45 with most booster setups, but drop down to M5x40 with washerless clamps. The overall clamp thickness of the Neon ones should be pretty similar - if they end up bottoming out you can always a thin spacer under the bolt head (or between the main spacer and booster itself). I'd rather bottom out and work out rather than have bolts that are too short and risk stripping threads that way. If it's all fairly fresh stuff then just cleaning everything and greasing the bolts up should help out a lot. If the bolts are fairly dry going in they'll bind up and feel tighter before they really are.

Taking everything apart and giving it a really good clean, then greasing the shit out of your bolts and reinstalling everything is usually the best way. Are the frame/clamps/brakes old or are they a mix of new and old parts? M5x40 should do you for the bolts too.

Also, last week, the newly created “Under Secretary of State for NHS Productivity" has called for an inquiry into the possibility of running the NHS using funds from insurance or charges, rather than using the current tax-based system. That's being run by members of the House of Lords, a bunch of whom are all fairly staunchly pro-privatisation of the NHS. I can imagine that will be fair and unbiased. EDIT: Also, I imagine that the reduction of austerity measures by our government had nothing to do with this coming out whatsoever.