Ashton 2010

[T.McMillan]

Right i got abit bored of the Ashton's weight and thought i would give it a diet. Started off at 10.8kg

Bike Spec

Ashton Diamondback Justice - Stripped, drilled, milled, ground and brushed raw finish

Koxx Forks - Stripped, ground and brushed raw finish

Hope Stem 110 x 10 deg

Trialtech High Rise Bars

Trialtech Grips

Carbon Spacer and Carbon Top Cap

Hope Trials Calipers with new Tech Levers

Front Hope Pro2 Straight Pull on Stans ZTR 355 Rim with tubeless kitted Continental Mountain King Supersonic 2.2

Rear Hope Pro2 Trials Straight Pull on Trialtech SL Rim with Continental Der Kaiser 2.5

Reset Ti BB

Try all Cranks

Wellgo Mag Ti Axle Pedals

Custom Bashring

Custon Carbon Seat

Custom Tensioner

Custom 180mm Rotors "Burst your football, Ride a Bike" with Ti Bolts

Trialtech cogs front and rear

Ti bolts all round and alloy lockring.

Weighing in at 9.120kg

A big thanks to Hope and Cyclexperience for their support and supplying of parts through 2010 and Terry Wilkinson for making the Carbon seat!

Comments welcome

Tom

Some gentle clips as requested before a proper video soon

Cheers

Tom

Edited March 6, 2011 by T.McMillan

[Laurence--Trials]

That... is.. so nice!

Request: pic's of your custom bash please.

[Andrew C]

This is f**king sexual

And that top tube looks shweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet

[bikeperson45]

Looks so amazing, first time I've lvoed the looks of a drilled frame

[Dan Clark]

Looks f**king awesome, nice job.

[Mikee]

Looks sweet! I was gunna make a carbon seat a year or so ago for my old ashton but I never got around to it. Wish I did now. Good work.

[Guy Guy]

WOW !!!

looks like charm !!!

Unbelievable !!!

i've never seen this type of frame !

[Mark W]

Pity you didn't mod the seat shape a bit - I hate the way the random hose mounting hole at the front sits proud of the frame like that! Could've kept the same overall shape but made it lighter/neater.

Still, looks pretty cool. Top tube holes are definitely... different, but appear to have at least been finished well

[ZeroMatt]

Looks pretty awesome.

More info on that hope hub please, we going to be seeing it released any time soon?

[Otacon]

Probs gonna' get slated as f**k for this lol, but i really don't like it, at all. Holes in the top tube look, kinda retarded and just un-neccesary ?

I know all the weight weenies are about to pounce on me, but really, where is the need for all this extra drilling and cutting things ? Wouldn't you feel it more of an achievement to do everything everyone else is doing on these light bikes, but on a heavy bike ?

I dunno, I'm just old school i guess, heavy bike and get on with it like. Not a fan of dual disc on a stock either.

Sorry bud.

[Mark W]

Wouldn't you feel it more of an achievement to do everything everyone else is doing on these light bikes, but on a heavy bike ?

Wouldn't you feel it more of an achievement to do everything everyone else is doing on these heavy bikes, but on a non-trials specific bike?

Wouldn't you feel it more of an achievement to do everything everyone else is doing on their trials bikes, but on a penny farthing?

But seriously - he's obviously done it just as something to do. I'd rather he put his time into something reasonably constructive like this rather than a "hilarious" video for the forum.

Anyways, here's hoping Hope don't make all future Pro 2 Ts with straight pull spokes...

[Otacon]

I know all the weight weenies are about to pounce on me,

Wouldn't you feel it more of an achievement to do everything everyone else is doing on these heavy bikes, but on a non-trials specific bike?

Wouldn't you feel it more of an achievement to do everything everyone else is doing on their trials bikes, but on a penny farthing?

But seriously - he's obviously done it just as something to do. I'd rather he put his time into something reasonably constructive like this rather than a "hilarious" video for the forum.

Anyways, here's hoping Hope don't make all future Pro 2 Ts with straight pull spokes...

I rest my case

[anusthegreat]

Uber bike. Best custom bike I've seen in years. <3

[Mark W]

I rest my case

What's "Weight weenie" about a 23t bashring, a 23t screw-on sprocket, a Pro 2 T rear hub, an NS Bikes Rotary 10 front hub, and a bike without brakes that weighs half a kilo more than this guy's?

All I mean is that it seems weird to arbitrarily draw a line where a bike is 'good enough' and that people don't need to try and improve their setups more. The 'heavy' bike you ride now is still light years ahead of the bike that, for example, I started on, so what makes it 'the' bike that people should use as a benchmark?

The only reason I "pounced" on you was because your post was completely flawed.

[Otacon]

What's "Weight weenie" about a 23t bashring, a 23t screw-on sprocket, a Pro 2 T rear hub, an NS Bikes Rotary 10 front hub, and a bike without brakes that weighs half a kilo more than this guy's?

All I mean is that it seems weird to arbitrarily draw a line where a bike is 'good enough' and that people don't need to try and improve their setups more. The 'heavy' bike you ride now is still light years ahead of the bike that, for example, I started on, so what makes it 'the' bike that people should use as a benchmark?

The only reason I "pounced" on you was because your post was completely flawed.

You're in with it all though Mark, i wasn't specifying that you have a bag of suagr bike, but i KNEW straight away you'd take there side over a TGS bashers, its just obvious.

And Hardly, You give me a GOOD reason where it makes ANY sense to go cutting and drilling holes in your frame ? There isn't, the frame was manufactured without them, so why due feel the need to go taking drills to it ? Id be pritty tits'd off as a company owner, if i go selling a product that ive spent months designing, then people still arn't happy so they feel they need to take a drill to it, pure madness.

Go back 4 or 5 years Mark, CLS, Tunni, set the limits for what trials is now, they didn't go attacking there bikes with all sort of power tools.

Don't go saying "but yeah, thats street". The comp scene is of no interest to me. Ive rode Natural, heck im not very good, but i don't feel i need a different/lighter bike to ride it put it that way.

I don't want an arguement or a debate, but no-one has EVER give me a decent and acceptable reason why they do it, so therfor, i can not get my head round it.

Sorry

[Ben John - Hynes]

He wanted it to be something that differs from the norm. I see what you're saying but each to their own really.

I'm personally not a fan of its looks, but it's daring and unusual so in that respect it's kinda cool.

How long did the frame take?

EDIT: Please tell Hope to really really not produce/sell those hubs!!

Edited September 7, 2010 by Ben John - Hynes

[anzo]

And Hardly, You give me a GOOD reason where it makes ANY sense to go cutting and drilling holes in your frame ? There isn't, the frame was manufactured without them, so why due feel the need to go taking drills to it ? Id be pritty tits'd off as a company owner, if i go selling a product that ive spent months designing, then people still arn't happy so they feel they need to take a drill to it, pure madness.

Surely innovation and adapting is a good thing?

And I'm pretty certain bike manufactures couldn't give two shits what you do with their product as long as you've paid for it.

[Ali C]

Go back 4 or 5 years Mark, CLS, Tunni, set the limits for what trials is now,

News to me

[Krisboats]

And Hardly, You give me a GOOD reason where it makes ANY sense to go cutting and drilling holes in your frame ? There isn't, the frame was manufactured without them, so why due feel the need to go taking drills to it ? Id be pritty tits'd off as a company owner, if i go selling a product that ive spent months designing, then people still arn't happy so they feel they need to take a drill to it, pure madness.

Taking the role of devils advocate here, but where do you think holes in the headtubes actually came from? Someone got a bike, cut a hole in it a few years ago and people followed suit. Myself included. Now bikes are readily available with holes in the front from a variety of companies. It's just simple progression and the good thing about progression is it's open for everyone to try.

To be fair if i were a manufacturer i wouldn't mind someone doing R&D for me completely free. Especially if it does fail and the guy is nice enough to send pictures or even the frame off to them. That's testing for new design ideas they've had to put no effort into.

I quite like it, but i think the main reason it works is aesthetically. You can tell effort has been put into getting it looking like that, not just using an 8mm bit anywhere you can.

[Ross McArthur]

Just about dribbled out when I seen the FB photos at the weekend. Love the black wheels on the silver frame with green components.

Good job man. That HD video you're working on should look 78.987% better now.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Ross McArthur

[monkeyseemonkeydo]

Go back 4 or 5 years Mark, CLS, Tunni, set the limits for what trials is now

Don't forget that CLS was (and I imagine still is) a top level comp rider back in the day. I remember him kicking my ass at Hook Woods anyway...

Tunni also bears a resemblance to Dougie Lampkin so I dare say he could quite easily lend his machine like skills to natural if he ever wanted.

[Rusevelt]

Simply stunning

[Matt Burrows]

Don't forget that CLS was (and I imagine still is) a top level comp rider back in the day. I remember him kicking my ass at Hook Woods anyway...

Tunni also bears a resemblance to Dougie Lampkin so I dare say he could quite easily lend his machine like skills to natural if he ever wanted.

The first comp I ever went to, back in about 2002 (The Section 7 sponsored YMSA) was the first time I saw Neil ride. He and Phil Williams cleaned the entire comp in red route, I think I scored about 70! He was riding a blue Pashley back then and was the smoothest rider I had ever seen. So yeah he was a pretty damn good technical rider before he ever became a power house.

Back to the bike... I think it looks awesome Tom! So tempted to try something similar on my 2.1kg Adamant now

I do like the look of straight pull Hopes, but they are still a pretty pointless design in my eyes! Hardly any lighter than the standard hubs, which are pretty heavy in the first place...

[Mark W]

And Hardly, You give me a GOOD reason where it makes ANY sense to go cutting and drilling holes in your frame ?

He clearly wanted something to do, so he did that? I'm sure he was aware of the potential consequences of doing it, so who gives a shit?

Don't go saying "but yeah, thats street". The comp scene is of no interest to me. Ive rode Natural, heck im not very good, but i don't feel i need a different/lighter bike to ride it put it that way.

There's a difference between riding a section for 2mins 30secs and just doing a sidehop a couple of times. If you're riding a comp, you're riding hard shit for up to 2mins 30secs (think that's the upper limit of any category), and you're going to be doing that at least 10 times and quite often a lot more than that. Having a lighter bike helps in that instance in that it's less effort to ride so instead of dragging a heavier bike around for longer and tiring yourself out un-necessarily. As a result, people who ride comps want a light bike, and there's therefore a race to try and get an edge over your competitors by getting the lightest bike possible. That's why frames now start coming with holes in the headtube, BB shell, etc. to try and shave weight where they can, and that's why we have drilled rims, lighter trials specific parts and so on. If you're riding street and doing lines and so on it's also nice not to have to lug extra weight around, so I also don't really see any problem - within reason - of people trying to lighten their bikes. Similarly, I'm pretty 'into' trials and spend most of my time either in work dealing with it or talking to people about it after work. I also like tweaking my bike, trying to make it work better and so on so I also don't see why it's any issue whatsoever if people want to put more time into a hobby of theirs.

The point I was trying to make before is that 4-5 years before CLS/Tunni 4-5 years ago, bikes were substantially different. Bikes and products are changing super quickly, so what I meant before was why are you arbitrarily drawing a line under the development of products at some fictional point 4-5 years ago just because CLS did a 50" sidehop up a wall then? That doesn't make sense to me...

[Ross McArthur]

Similarly, I'm pretty 'into' trials and spend most of my time either in work dealing with it or talking to people about it after work. I also like tweaking my bike, trying to make it work better and so on so I also don't see why it's any issue whatsoever if people want to put more time into a hobby of theirs.

AMEN!