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Birmingham Oldie Getting Back Into It.


Jez

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OK, so I s'pose I aint' THAT old, but I feel it. Just spent the last few days downloading vids and I gotta say I nearly shat myself. Everyone's immensely good these days. Scarily so. Back in my day, Ashton, Hawyes and Rey were the only guys anyone had ever heard of. I think Akrigg and the Tongues had just debuted in MBUK when I quit...damn, I sound like an old bloke already.

5 years ago I gave up trials because' I was breaking too many of the parts on my Monty X-Lite and couldn't afford it any more; now I'm getting back into it. A cheapass Saracen 2.Zero is on it's way already (hey, it's cheap, and more importantly it's local if it breaks), and I have more pallettes than I can shake a stick at at work ;) Just gotta learn to ride again - I can still get my work bike up on the back wheel and get over the odd small log or two, so it looks like I ain't completely lost it :)

Anyway, is anyone still riding in Birmingham? Around '99 there was a growing contingent in Solihull I used to ride with, but they seem to have vanished off the face of the earth. Anyone riding in central Brum? I live in Erdington, but work in Nechells, so I'm pretty central.

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You never forgot to ride a bike, maybe its a sign. I was the same as you but I only stopped riding for a year. I did have the odd ride hear and there but nothing major. but hopefully i'll be starting comps soon if i can be bothered to phone up and get a licence form ill be starting comps soon and hopefully it will beter my skills :)

Damo

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OK, so I s'pose I aint' THAT old, but I feel it. Just spent the last few days downloading vids and I gotta say I nearly shat myself. Everyone's immensely good these days. Scarily so. Back in my day, Ashton, Hawyes and Rey were the only guys anyone had ever heard of. I think Akrigg and the Tongues had just debuted in MBUK when I quit...damn, I sound like an old bloke already.

5 years ago I gave up trials because' I was breaking too many of the parts on my Monty X-Lite and couldn't afford it any more; now I'm getting back into it. A cheapass Saracen 2.Zero is on it's way already (hey, it's cheap, and more importantly it's local if it breaks), and I have more pallettes than I can shake a stick at at work ;) Just gotta learn to ride again - I can still get my work bike up on the back wheel and get over the odd small log or two, so it looks like I ain't completely lost it :)

Anyway, is anyone still riding in Birmingham? Around '99 there was a growing contingent in Solihull I used to ride with, but they seem to have vanished off the face of the earth. Anyone riding in central Brum? I live in Erdington, but work in Nechells, so I'm pretty central.

I live in chelmsley wood, i work at halfords in erdington so feel free to pop down for a chat.

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welcome to trials, i hadnt started ridin when u stopped lol, thats a while ago.

U obviously have noticed the level is seriously higher than 5yrs ago, it keeps on going

loads of things, like more shops, more riders, better components (god bless echo)

T-F, best place to stay so grab a sofa and a cuppa tea,

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Dude me and my mate are 26/27 and have only just started riding trials. He keeps thinking he's old - I don't give a shit I could be 40, so long as I'm healthy, fit and enjoying it. OK so at present I'm overweight as I hadn't ridden anything for a few years, but now getting into it I love it.

Keep going, we'll all be old one day, why give up cause you're "old". Have Metallica EtAl given up cause they've got on a bit?

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Hi Jez

I live in south Birmingham (Selly Oak) about 10km from you.

Been riding 3 years now, although only ridden about 5 times in the past 5 months due to large amounts of work.

Going to start riding more again though. Also getting my house mate into too.

If you want to go for a ride, drop me a PM.

Those pallets sound good... (Y)

Thanks,

Seb

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Trials has seriously changed since you quit 5 years ago. There are new bikes, more riders, a much higher standard and more trials shops dotted around. Everyone is riding either 24" or long low and silver bikes with high bb's. People are also focusing more on power moves, such as huge drop gaps, sidehops and taps. The 24" riders are seriously ripping it up with techy moves and people are sidehopping, tapping and hooking up stupidly high walls UCI stylee. Back then trials was all about creativity and style, now its a bit of both plus going big at the same time. :)

Welcome back to trials. (Y)

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Hey man i Used to ride with the lads from solihull and brum 5 years ago.

I have rode forever :blink:

I'm pretty sure the solihull scene is pretty dead now i still see moz now and again though....

There are loads of trials riders around birmingham still, but some of them dont ride much any more like me and aust as we are riding bmx.

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Scunny: Hey, I never said I was old, I said I *felt* old :) And ye're right, a lot has changed - so much so I'm worried my meagre skills will embarass me somewhat :P I won't respond to the Metallica comment because I'll just end up in a rant...;P

Spangler: What the hell is Moz up to these days? If he's still riding he must uber shit-hot by now...him & Paul Henley were bloody good when I was riding with them. And yeah I noticed people defecting to bmx a lot towards the end of my trials days :)

Seb: when I get back into the swing of things I'll give ye a shout :)

Anyone wanna explain this UCI thing to me? I keep seeing these initials everywhere and somehow I doubt that cinema car parks have THAT much to offer in the way of decent trials territory...;)

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Right, UCI is basically a new rule set that came in. The main difference between UCI and BIU (the older Monty endorsed/run one) is that in UCI using your bashguard or pedals counts as a dab in competitions. This has lead to loads of new bikes with very high BBs to give you more clearance over obstacles, and because high BBs make the bike feel shorter than normal BBs, most high BB frames are pretty long as well (1075 at least).

Hope that helps :)

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Right, UCI is basically a new rule set that came in. The main difference between UCI and BIU (the older Monty endorsed/run one) is that in UCI using your bashguard or pedals counts as a dab in competitions. This has lead to loads of new bikes with very high BBs to give you more clearance over obstacles, and because high BBs make the bike feel shorter than normal BBs, most high BB frames are pretty long as well (1075 at least).

Hope that helps :)

Ah, that explains a lot :) Personally I couldn't care less. I've never done comp nor really wanted to, I ride for fun more than anything, so bashguarding stuff was just a step on the way to making it without bashguarding it if you see what I mean. I think ignorance is bliss sometimes :) It does explain why most of the recent vidz I've seen seem to have some sort of bashguard allergy, though...

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The Tongue brothers appeared in MBUK (their first major article) this month 7 years ago!! Lots has changed then. Your best bet is to look at the bikes currently available and download some videos to see the techniques and skill level people are at now.

I've known several people get back into, ignoring advice, and buying out-dated frames and components because that's what they remembered. Stuff is strong and cheap now, so you're bound to find components that suit you.

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hey there i live in tamworth only about 20 mins awsy from birmingham i ride there alot proberly once every 2 weeks or more most of the locals include seb, some lads from stourbrige, dan ko well hes not local but he rides it alot), jon, aust and the lads from his end (but he is in a bmx stage at the mo) bigman comes down quite alot now and tunni

theres a few others but i cant remeber off the top of my head if you want to add me to msn its paulytrials@gmail.com and irl let you know when im comeing up

Pauly

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Alrite,

i'm up solihull every now n then if the weather is ok, but mianly night riddin due to workin hours!

Sorry Spangler! :(

I think Moz still rides occassionaly but spangler can proberbly tell you more and as for Henley i do belive he has stoped all together!

Cheers,

Dave

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Yeah Henley stopped completely ages ago and now just rides his motorbike and works.

I've been on a few rides with moz, he rode epic alot last year too, but i don't think he has ridden for a long time now anyway.

From all the riders from my group there was Austin wright, Sam The legend allen, Micky bromwich, Adam brown, George marjerison, Antony lee And me Andrew lovell.

Antony-(quit) is now a builder

George-(quit) was a stoner for ages don't know what he is doing now

Adam-(quit) worked in halfords for a bit then went on to be an electrician

Micky-(quit) Is a roofer

Sam(the legend)-(quit) works for british gas

Aust- got sponsored by base, jb, then onza he now works fixing trains and rides bmx with me

Me Andy- I work at birmingham airport I still ride trials during the summer sometimes but Bmx mostly.

Edited by spangler
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Dude me and my mate are 26/27 and have only just started riding trials. He keeps thinking he's old - I don't give a shit I could be 40, so long as I'm healthy, fit and enjoying it. OK so at present I'm overweight as I hadn't ridden anything for a few years, but now getting into it I love it.

Keep going, we'll all be old one day, why give up cause you're "old". Have Metallica EtAl given up cause they've got on a bit?

yay! you're as old as me and you only just started. Do people take the piss and call you childish ?

just to make everybody of our vintage feel good...

Julien of trashzen fame first started at 25-26 so it's possible to get good even at our sort of age.

but please - metallica - the moment the michael bolton haircut came off they shouldve stopped :P

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but please - metallica - the moment the michael bolton haircut came off they shouldve stopped :P

Oh yeah...I'm a Puppets-era fan ;) (but you really should check out Testament to see how it's done properly)

Anyway, the new bike came today. And after 5 hours riding over flightcases at work my back is now in agony. I guess I'm not in the shape I used to be :S Looks like I might have to take it easy for a bit and work up to longer rides. Damnit, I was hoping to be out every other night. AND to add insult to injury half the pallets at work have vanished. Ah well.

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Oh yeah...I'm a Puppets-era fan ;) (but you really should check out Testament to see how it's done properly)

Anyway, the new bike came today. And after 5 hours riding over flightcases at work my back is now in agony. I guess I'm not in the shape I used to be :S Looks like I might have to take it easy for a bit and work up to longer rides. Damnit, I was hoping to be out every other night. AND to add insult to injury half the pallets at work have vanished. Ah well.

I got my new bike today and snap! my back is killingme. In one way its a good feeling becuase I havnt used them muscles since I stopped and the sensations of those muscles being used is aomething exciting, but the god damn pain afterwards is gay. It's time for a smoke and bed I think.

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