Mark W

Oi, guitarists. This is Alan's new guitar to go with his Jem. This is one seriously f**kin' pimp guitar. Bone inlays around the neck (the creamy white bits you can see). The "Jackson" on the headstock is Mother of pearl. The top of the knobs are mother of pearl too. Gold hardware. through-neck solid mahogany body/neck with a flamed maple cap (the guy who chose the maple top had a choice of 40-45 maple to choose from to put on the top of the body). Custom radius-ed neck so it feels like a Jem. Retail price: £2,300 Alan's "jammy b*****d price": £800 (although he nearly died 'cos of a tard Welsh farmer) What a fanny. Anyway, here are the pics taken just now. Next post down (Y) Made a boob of myself.

Yamaha is the main bass, acoustic needs restringing, I made the one on the right (has signatures from all my friends in my old year 11 class back in the day on the back). The one I made plays really nicely too (Y) The double bass The last pic is my amp, with 4x10 speaker cab. The pedal is the sub-harmonizer and SHAPE footswitch. I've also got a Line6 DL4 which I couldn't find a picture of... Mark. PS. Nice bass Haz!

I've heard mixed stuff about the Woodman, but there we go... I'd forgotten about the Woodstock. The one I rode was beautiful, and that was like version 2 or 3 or about 1 billion from the ammount of testing they did. It's a f**kin' dialled frame. It's been in the pipeline for years, so yeah, it's only like £259 or something? Anyway, the T-Rex would most definitely shaft your wb<1050mm thing. Mark.

Well, in answer to your last question: Turban Base TA26 LB1040 The Onza T-Pro The Monty 231 maybe? PX Zebdi Mk.6 PX Ghost or whatever the Hell they like to call it PX Pitbull (dunno why you'd bother though) Short versions of the Echo frames, maybe the Urban? So yeah, it's pretty varied. Just under £400 seems to the target for most manufacturers. Anyway, you're positive it's a crack and not an aesthetic mistake? It seems a little naive that there's no warranty info on their website, unless it's on the inaccessible pages relating to the frame and forks. Mark.

I think the fact you said "I was just going for a tap..." would suggest you've been giving it some beans :lol: Just check the warranty on the Ashton site, and honestly evaluate your frame. If it's the embodiment of the word "Dent-o-rific" then you might be screwed, but if it's in fairly good nick - who knows? Just call Ashton on Monday and say what's happened. They'll probably ask to see the frame, then go from there. Good luck! Mark.

Right. You have a brake. It either doesn't work properly, or doesn't work as well as you'd like. Basically, your brake system can be split into several different areas so you can find the problem and solve it. These are: Lever Hoses (or Cables for you phillistines) Pads Rim Setup First things first: Rims "What is a rim for?" To brake, the fundamental action is getting a block to rub on the wheel rim to slow it down. If said wheel rim is covered in shit/mud/crap/spuff, then it's not really going to work, is it? We're aiming here for maximum friction. This means a non-contaminated rim. "How do I get a nice, clean rim?" Basically, use a cleaner. Water works, but it won't work all that well, especially if you've been using tar. If you want to get a nice clean rim, use Muck-Off to get the main part of the crap off. What we're talking here is moistening a piece of kitchen towel with Muck-Off, then wiping the rim, leave for a minute, then rinse. If you've been using tar, you'll basically need to use metholated spirits to get that off. White spirit will generally do the job. If, however, you don't want to have a clean, silver rim, you can grind your rim to get it clean. This involves taking off the top layer of rim and getting into the surface beneath. This obviously cleans the rim perfectly. However, when grinding over an old grind, you might notice a deterioration in performance. The best thing to do is get the rim as smooth as possible, THEN re-grind it. This means you start from a fresh surface, which will always be better. After doing this, your rim should be ready to lovingly accept your Magura/V-brake with open arms. You can tar or grind the rim, or leave it clean, and I'm not going to go into this. Well, I will - a bit. With tar, simple angled stripes across the rim work best. Do about 8 stripes or so at even spacings, then ride down a hill and brush the brakes. It'll spread it out and hey - we're groovy. Grinding's a personal thing, and personally, it's my favourite method to get good working brakes. Do a search for grinding to understand how to do it. Pads There are several factors to consider here. If your pads have a lot of life left in them, then simply sanding down/rubbing the pads against a brick wall will rub off any of the surface glaze that brakes accumulate do to the rubber getting messed up with dust, water, etc. This will almost always improve braking, and getting them clean is just a good idea anyway and is good practise. I'm not going to go into detail here because there are a shitload of decent pads out there. Koxx Bloxx, Monty X-Hydras, Plazmatic CRMs, Koolstop Reds - you've just got to experiment. I metaphorically and literally swear by Monty X-Hydras. I love them. My last set lasted through a whole year of roadtrips, street, natural, comps, tar and grinds. They're dandy. Others seem to like Koxx Bloxx. What do I know. A simple method to improve braking can also be to pour water over the braking surface and then ride with the brake on down a long hill 'til it squeals like a new-born. This also aids bedding in pads. Hoses (and what to put in them) The hose itself isn't really that crucial. You can basically use standard Magura hosing and it'll be fine, or you can go tech and get something like braided hosing. It won't make much difference, apart from aesthetically, in the same way as wearing lycra won't make much difference - trials brakes don't operate at the same temperatures as DH brakes (Which braided cables are meant for). I mean, by all means try them, but standard Magura hosing is cheap and works effectively. If you've got a crimp in whatever cable you use, you'll be wanting to get rid of it by cutting your cable shorter or actually getting a new hose. Now we move onto the contentious issue of brake fluids. People seem quite happy to waste their time moving onto whichever fad is going on at the time. Before it was water, then it was WD-40, and it just seems to change regularly as brakes people used to swear by which had almost mythical instant-returning feel and a nice snappy feeling when you used it lost it's novelty value and basically went shit. Magura Blood is good. It is, after all, the fluid Magura recommend, and quite frankly, they know their braking systems pretty damn well. It might not be as experimental and you won't get people going "ooh" and "aah" when you tell them what liquid you managed to pump into your hoses, but quick frankly - it works! That's the main thing! Mine's stayed in their happily for the last two years without a bleed, and it's not happily corroding my seals or whatever. Screw worrying about whether your brake is snappy enough - you can change that simply by using the TPA properly anyway. It is a good, simple fluid that works. If you can remember the name of the cheap, bulk version of Magura Blood (unlike me), then go for it. Lots of cheap fluid is always a good thing. Levers RB or standard - it doesn't make much difference. Some people prefer the feel of the RB levers, but you have to remember the seals die and make the brake piss with the shocking frequency of an old man with poor bladder control. After-market seals are theoretically available, but the words "Blood" and "Stone" spring to mind. If using a standard Magura lever, make sure the lever pivot bolt is neither too tight nor too loose. Just get it so the lever can move freely, really. If your TPA is sheared (spins with no effect), or you just want a bomb-proof alternaitve, read my other FAQ about changing TPA bolts. It's worth it. Lastly, and most crucially: Setup You could have all the after-market parts in the world, but if you simply bolt your Magura onto your bike and expect it to work you're going to be bitterly disappointed. "Setup" itself is pretty varied, so here's the deal: Pad alignment You want the pads to be fairly close to the rim for maximum power, hitting square and true. Getting it so they hit at the same time, parallel to the rim is the ultimate aim. Just keep fettling and get it sorted. Then, tighten up the clamp bolts and that's that part sorted. Equally, check out the pads section above to make sure they're clean, etc. Rim treatments This part of the setup is just involving putting tar on the rims or grinding them - or even leaving them clean. It's really up to you. Tar application and removal is spelled out above. Bleed If you have air in the hydraulic system, "Bad shit will go down". Not sure if you've got air in your system? Well, if you can pull the lever and it feels spongy - and it's NOT the seat-stays flexing - then it'd tend to suggest you did. If you CAN pull the lever and it DOESN'T feel spongy, then the bleed isn't at fault, so don't just re-bleed for the hell of it. Check out other FAQs for bleeding tips, 'cos it's 1:49am and I'm tired. Levers Make sure the lever is at a comfortable angle for best braking. It'll also mean you don't get RSI or something stupid like that. For comps, I generally find that having the lever pull back parallel with the bar reduces the strain of braking and staves off arm pump for long enough, generally. However, this is your call. It is usually best to have the TPA so it is set "softer", i.e. set so that it is set nearest the stopping point where the brake should feel spongiest. Shit, that sounded crappy. Basically, if you turn the TPA one way, it'll make the brake feel stiffer. You want the TPA away from this, so you can dip into those "Stiff feeling brake" reserves later. That described it better, and you should by now get the picture. This is basically it. Setting up a 4-bolt Magura is beautifully easy. You mainly only have to worry about pad alignment, and loosening two bolts, pushing the brake into the right place, then doing them up isn't a challenge, is it? If you do it right, you can basically forget about the brakes. Other things to remember are boosters, but there are gashazamillions of topics of them. You will need one, so buy one. A good one. Like I said, it's now 1:53am, and I AM tired, so I'm going to leave it at this. It's a simple mechanical (well, hydraulic, but y'know) system. Break it down into it's seperate parts and you'll always be able to work out what the problem is, simply because it'll be staring you in the face. There should be no reason for any more "My Magura's shit" posts or anything like that from now on. Consider yourselves warned (Y) Mark.

Oh yeah, talking of gigs, that second just before the first chord is played when it's all silent and you don't know what the hell's going to happen in the next hour (but not in a Stingray way)...

The guitar thing is true. However, it's way better when you and your band are just jamming something and it sounds amazing, and you're playing and thinking "This freakin' rules". Happened to me a few weeks back, and it whole-sale ruled. It was just great. It was this weird tapping bassline thing with some chordal stuff, and Alan was using his G-Force to do weird effects and... well... it's just way good. It's so nice when you start playing with a band and everything just feels right. Mark. PS. Oh, and getting a huge round of applause after a gig is cool (Y)

Heroine. It's just so more-ish.

Yeah, I find with my brake it'll stop me, but it doesn't have the instant "oomph" that my Magura gives me. It'll haul me to a stop, but it's just not got that much modulation for manuals. It's either hardly any effect then suddenly stopping the wheel. I'm using the crappy Tektro "soft compound" V-pads that came with it, and I guess they might be the problem. Might go for Bongo's Plaz suggestion... Mark. EDIT: Well, sort my Hombre when it gets here first. Getting the Hombre with Fiesta pack, so we'll see how that goes.

'lo, I'm in need of some new forks and bars, and I was just wondering if ye people had any suggestions? Someone's offered to swap my OEM Federals with them for their WTP Everlasts with AD990 mounts (I want a GOOD front brake...), so is that a good deal? The Everlasts are a bit old, but not really bent or owt. So yeah, forks, bars, and I just remembered I need a seat-post too... I don't really want a super-trick seatpost, just a standard, boring, micro-adjust. Any suggestions would be good! It's a 25.4mm seat-tube, btw. So yeah, thanks for any help :huh: Mark.

Wow, aren't bitching sessions fun. Locked. Sort it out between yourselves, not just going "You're gay." "No, you're gayer." "No, you're the gayest."

We don't care. If nothing gets sorted, or doesn't get sorted fairly, the Admins are the people who can help you. No-one gives a shit about who other people think are telling the truth, and equally, why the hell did you post this in trials chat? Locked. Mark.

Ah, that'd be me not giving a shit about stock gear-able chains and not bothering to read that thread then :rolleyes: Gently put all the same though Ad :-

But if you're using the standard KMC Kool (not the Thin) already, it should be OK I guess.

D'you mean the Odyssey one you can barspin with and not foul the cable? Or is this something else? Either way, I'd rather spend £3 every now and again on some Clarks cables than bang down £30 for a friggin' outer... Mark.

Not aaaaalways. Mine did 'cos it was a 1/8 in a 3/32 chain or something... Anyhoo, they've tested it loads according to wherever the f**k I read it in a BMX mag, and it seems to be holding up to be grindedededed on and stuff, so it can't be too bad. Mark.

'lo. Right, new chain, Shadow Conspiracy, not the usual type of links, might be of interest, http://www.theshadowconspiracy.com. Mission: complete. Mark.

Looks like an early-ish K2 ali.

Hey, Was just thinking of semi-resurrecting the infamous "bike pics" thread, but for BMX's? Seeing as some other people have just got some BMXs (incl. me!), and I know a lot of people already have them. Go nuts! Mark.

See other thread...