Mark W

Yeah, I had a Schwalbe tube with a standard car type (can't remember name :">) valve on it up front. Best tube ever (Y)

Pads: Green Koxx Bloxx Time used: About 5-6 hours Rim used: Drilled Megamo trials rim Grind: Yes, but only a light one Ceraminc: N/a Brake used: Magura, with RB booster and a water bleed What is your opinion of a working brake: Good lock, bite and hold, and doesn't wear super fast Previous pads: Monty X-Hydras, Koolstop reds, Heatsink Batch B's (yellow and green pads), Magura Blacks How do they compare to previous pads you have used: Well... They seem to work OK as long as you ride well, almost. They lock OK, but don't have the proper bite and hold of the X-Hydras or the Heatsinks. Plus, as well as that, they come ultra thin :) This was a bit of a surprise for me as I thought they were relatively thick pads, but no - only about 3mm or so of material, which is a bit arse. Review: They bedded in pretty quickly, and seem to work fine, really. I was a bit disappointed by how thin the pads are just 'cos it means they won't last as long, but there we go. For £18.50 (well, £15 to me (Y)), you'd have hoped for more really. They're generic backings that don't cost too much, and I can't imagine that the pad material would cost that much, so it wouldn't break the bank for them to put another 2-3mm on. Considering the shoddy finish on them too, it's a bit poop (there was a really rough bit on the edge of one of the pads where it just hadn't really been cut super cleanly, or just hadn't been finished nicely). Anyway, performance wise it felt OK. Brake felt fairly spongey at first, but went OK pretty quickly. They're pretty quiet pads unless you land hard on an edge, when they'll give a Monty-like "EEEEERK" sort of screech. They haven't really failed me at all, but they don't inspire caonfidence just 'cos they don't have the same sort of bite as the X-Hydras/Heatsinks. Overall, my next pads will probably be X-Hydras if Steve's not got some new batchs on the go by then. I can't really justify spending this much money on a pair of pads, especially ones as thin as these. I couldn't see any visible signs of wear, but I'd not expect to this soon after putting them on.

Why not just run a standard one? I've had a £3.50 tube in my back tyre since forever, and it's always run fine, really (Y) Even back in the Luna days it was OK? I think I've had about... 1 or maybe 2 punctures with it, at most. How much is the Monty one you're getting, and how much was the Maxxis?

Hey Matt, I didn't really let the wheelbase thing affect me 'cos it doesn't mean a huge amount anyway. If you think about the way that stuff like head-tube angles affect the length of a bike but not the length of the cockpit sort of bit (well, only by the way that the stem would be at a different angle 'cos of the steerer tube being angled different). Argh! That came out wrong. Basically, a 1000mm WB bike with a steep steerer would have to have a longer top-tube, so the cockpit would feel longer. So yeah, WB isn't the be-all and end-all. I've never really had a light bike either, so that wouldn't worry me :) I can imagine going from the T-Lite to anything might feel funny though. My T-Lite frame was ultra light, but it had some heavy forks on so it rode a bit...weirdly. Thanks for the reply though (Y) Mark.

Er, I think you'll find the main problem with communism is that it's based on a flawed premise - that humans are innately good. It will never work, no matter who's in charge, just 'cos of human nature. I wouldn't really say he was anything special. He did barely any of the work because there's a huge, huge team of people who actually do all the real work that helps keep the wheels of the church turning. Seriously, the Vatican has a lot of people who do the work that theoretically is "the Pope's" - he was just the sort of front man, as it were. In fairness, I think him forgiving his would-be assassin was kinda... 'good' in a way, but I think it's more impressive that he forgave his staff who let it happen in the first place (they knew it was going to happen but didn't do anything to stop it, warn him, or let him know in time so he could wear body armour just in case). His complete disregard for the modern world hugely limited the amount of 'good' he could do in the world anyway, so he didn't help himself. To put it another way, I've heard just as much bad about him as I have good. Was quite interesting though reading about him when he was younger; when you see how he'd been for the last years of his life, then see pictures of him when he was younger going skiing and being full of life and vitality, it makes you realise just how bad he'd become, health-wise. Still, it sucks that his life ended in the way that it did. Mark

That's a standard Magura pad backing, from a Plazmatic CRM, by way of comparison.

Looks sexy, when my T-Pro dies I might go for one if I hear good stuff about 'em... I'm guessing the stays look over-built there 'cos it's got a bikesworth of innertube zip-tied to it (Y) Wouldn't really say it looked like a Python/Pitbull at all, but I guess we're all entitled to an opinion. How heavy is the full bike there?

Yeah, Craig Lee nailed that sidehop onto the flatbed seemingly pretty easily. He'd have had it first time, but either Benito Ros or Cesar Canas hopped off the pipe on the flat-bed and landed where Craig would've been landing, so he hopped to chainstay. Got it sweet as a moose second time though (Y) I don't know if that's the 54"er, but it could've been... Kudos to Andy P. too :)

Why not try making one for a crank with a stripped extractor thread? I know I'd love one (Y) With my cranks, if I strip the extractor thread it generally requires me riding it without a bolt in just to make it drop off, but it'd be a lot easier if there was a tool out there that used the same principal as a normal crank extractor, but the main body of the extractor (the bit that usually gets screwed into the crank extractor threads) had some kind of clamping system to clamp it to the crank arm?

Could it be something to do with the seemingly shallow recess into the pad backing meaning there's not that much support? Or does that picture not show it accurately?

Bearing in mind his history of the trick, the way that it's still considered fairly 'new' for dirt jumpers (who are people who do this stuff for a living...), the bike he was riding and the way he whipped it out of nowhere, it is pretty impressive. Didn't get to see him do it today, so thanks to 'cleanbikes' for the footage!

I didn't think Ot Pi and Co. would look so out-classed though... I think the main thing is is that they got the crowd going a bit, then they'd go for a move. Then, later on, someone else would just do it straight without really bothering to do it (Think: CLS sidehopping to two wheels up the side of the lorry trailer bit :D). It was cool seeing the last demo-jam though; I was at the 4X race and so bored I almost died, and saw Chris R walking past and started speaking to him. Anyway, he told me to go so I scampered off over there and got to see some really cool riding. It was basically "Everyone goes for something burly time". They were going for the gap from the sleepers on top of the lorry onto the top of the high pipe of the "Devil's Stair-case", which was mental. Hermance went first, ballsed it up, then Gilles Coust, Benito and that Spanish Monty 221 rider (it wasn't Cesar Canas, was it?) tried going at it. I think G. Coust got it to bash, then they all pretty much got it to bash, then Gilles nailed it to two wheels. Proper 'shout yourself silly'. Was awesome. Benito also front-hooked up to two wheels (nearly got it to back wheel) up the high pipe near the bit where all the riders were gathered before they did their runs (was like 6ft-ish high). It was a good experience though just 'cos you got to see the top riders actually properly pushing themselves! Kudos to all the riders who went for abubaca on the steps by the skip-stack to fakie pedal grind type thing down the rail. That was pretty special... Hop Idol was sorta interesting, but seemed a bit drawn out in a way. I think 15 mintues might have been a bit too long, 'cos a lot of the riders seemed pretty pooped by the end, apart from Shrewsbury when he was going for the "Devil's Staircase" gap line. Interesting seeing the new frames too; Danny Butler's bike looks a lot nicer in the flesh; the new ZOO! frames on the Selectbikes stand looked pretty rinky dink; was... well... "interesting" seeing Akkers and Hawziee's new bikes - just that sorta stuff. Simon Tabron was doing some big ol' airs on Vert, which made up for the guy who just did about 2 minutes of doing back-to-back double peg grinds on the coping. Didn't get to see much "BMX Park" (I hate that name...), more's the pity. I walked past after we blagged getting into the side entrance there, and it looked pretty cool, but I had to scoot off 'cos someone I was with was waiting for me somewhere, and the tool didn't answer his phone (Y) All in all, it was different, I suppose. I wouldn't say bad 'cos I came away having had a pretty good time, and with about £250s-worth of stuff; most of which has been attached to my bike apart from the Control booster (it was me talking to you about fitting the Control booster onto a mod Phil, and it was my friend Simon who got the Team stem and blagged those grips...), which is being a b*****d. I don't really want to file it, but it's taking the piss, as well as nearly stripping the threads on my top bolts of my 4-bolt mounts, but that's another funtastic story. Built my first wheel tonight with my brand spank-me new Try-All front rim, avec Try-All front tyre. The front end of my bike is pretty damn light now; with some Echo Team's it'd be well floaty, although I like my proto's too much to let 'em go, but again, that's not for this thread. As for people I saw from here - most of the James Porter, etc. group who went, Ali C (who couldn't :P), and some other forum randomers, especially the awesome Ben Lee who swapped his 4X ticket with me so I could go in at 3 with my friends :) Top marks to him :D Stoneleigh was a cool venue in that parking and getting around was fairly OK, but the Show lacked the sort of cohesion it had at the NEC. The 4X track was whack too; we were in the standing bit near the last berm, and could see the 4X just about OK, but the dirt comp was a bit of a mystery to us 'cos we couldn't see through the rafters :D Either way, that King of Dirt was shite to be fair. The riders were doing naff all, and doing it pretty sketchy at the same time. Kudos to them :D Ah well, c'est la vie I guess. Was a cool day though, if only for the journey there. When you come from the M42 to Stoneleigh, you turn off at 3A to go onto the M40. I told Simon how to do it, but he stuck in the left hand lane, so it was M42 to Birmingham we went. I guided us down this back-road sorta route (the A3400, for those who care :P) so we rejoined the M40 further down. Unfortunately, we joined it the wrong way, so 10 minutes later we were on the M42 to Birmingham. Got there in the end though, but only after we'd stopped at some services. Bill Field bought one of those cereal and milk pot things, and when I opened my Pepsi it scared him so much he spazzed out and got milk all over his face, but refused to believe it was milk and thought it was me with my coke :P Haven't laughed so hard in a while B) Mark

f**king hell, get over it...

If they were posted by a member of the Echo company or it's parent company though, it's technically libel?

Either way though, it seems a bit shit that they're giving %'s for how much 'weaker' the Koxx XTP frame is, which in actual fact a false and misleading one? Surely there's some kind of law that prevents that from happening, otherwise in car adverts (for example), they'd start spouting stuff along those lines (i.e. "Buy our car; it's 75% better than the rest")?

The question is Aust, is whether you'll remember who I am tomorrow :angry:

Seeing as the tyre's only 0.02 of an inch wider than the rim, isn't it going to be Pop-off-the-rim Central as soon as you do anything remotely at an angle? :angry:

Koxx Days has been annual so far, yeah. It's open to anyone who stumps up the cash/forms to go there :-

They bought him that house? You do mean his kick-ass ranch, yeah? Shit me! :-

Yeah, but you've got to go into one of their 16 "Cyber pods" and order it over the interweb, as opposed to getting it there (it's delivered to your house at a later date). Still, 10%'s 10% I guess.

Shouldn't someone show them the pics of that guy's Vinco from OTN that snapped around the holes in the frame for the internal routing of the cable (and the fact that it now has hose guides)?

Well, I'm guessing it sans sus forks 'cos he's either realised that there's no need for them, or that that frame would ride like a dog if it had 4" of travel up front. Equally, you can't run narrow rims on the back of Koxx's's's'ss's''s's's''s''s's's's's's's''s's's's' so I'm assuming he HAD to change.

Not necessarily long? I think I'd change 'burly' to 'rough', maybe. Not such a huge fan of his style, but there we go.

I'm guessing he's not using rim-tape or something? Tubes always seem to bulge a bit round the valve?