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Weeks 2 & 3 combined and still shorter than the previous one as I've been nursing an injured hand. As such, a lot of clips were from pre-lockdown, but there's some new ones in there too. Seem to be fixed now, so I'm excited to get back on it.

Just testing the waters: Would anyone in here be interested in buying my lightly used Makita 10" table saw? I thought I really wanted one, but it turns out I don't really like using it, and I make things that involve using it far less than I thought I would. I'd be better off with a decent band saw (open to swaps for one if anyone miraculously is in the opposite position). It's a good unit. Only downside is that it's not got soft-start and is a non-induction motor. It's this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Makita-MLT100N-Table-Saw-240/dp/B07TGKVYQR/ref=asc_df_B07TGKVYQR/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=480823740401&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2195862332224502768&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006832&hvtargid=pla-931154176939&psc=1&th=1&psc=1 Obviously I'll grab proper pictures if there's any interest.

Yeah - what your "do it all" bike is is very much influenced by what all the things you want to do on it are. I wouldn't dream of riding my fun-bike to the shops, both for the practicality of the ride and the fear of locking it up. I also wouldn't habitually take it 'round a trail. I have done and it was really fun, but it's not what I want. If I did, I have no doubt my choice would be something more like James Barton's current bike. I do want some TGS, some natural style, some BMX influence on street, to be able to enjoy-but-not-necessarily-excel-at skateparks and pump tracks, and to generally be able to ride any sort of terrain in what would largely be considered an "extreme sports" style (ie, not XC, Enduro, Road etc.). For these things my choice would immediately be an Alias, or as others have rightly pointed out, something like a Hex. Being that I'm a little shorter than average, but more importantly just have a diminutive posture, I suck at moving big bikes around, so 20" all the way for me. I understand the saddle concern of the for some people, but I've ridden without one for 15 years now. Putting it back on would be the weird thing for me It would also just be annoying, given the way I like to ride. I feel like it would feel much more in-the-way on a 20" bike than a 26", because it kind of tucks around the back wheel on a big bike anyway. Also, bikes with a goose-neck stem and a saddle look like absolute dogshit, to my eyes. BMX/DJ style front end with saddle, or stereotypical "trials" looking front end without.

No. I've had 2.5"s in there and there was loads of room. I know Tom Mitchell ran some ridiculous 20"x2.6"s too. I can't see that you'd ever want a tyre bigger than these! Edit: He said there was loads of room left over, too.

Depends what kind of riding you want to do. The tyre availabily really focusses you in one one stream or the other. 20" street, 19" rocks/comp.

Alias 20.1/2

As some of you may have noticed, I'm now in the social media scene. I'm posting daily clips over on Instagram and Facebook (@________flipp & Fl Ipp respectively, if you're so inclined), and plan on doing weekly clip-dumps of everything I film during a given week. At the end of each month, I will make a proper video containing my favourite clips, with music and actual editing etc. I know some of you on here still hold true and abstain from the horrors that are social media, so I'll post the actual videos on here. They will contain all of the clips I post on a daily basis, so you're not missing out on anything by being a generally decent human. I thought there might be quite a lot of threads otherwise, so I made one that I'll re-use over and over, a la Ali/Scott. I'm not vlogging, as such. No talking, just a summary of riding. This first week is mostly at Shipley, with a few clips in Leeds and Guiseley. In the name of full transparency, it features a few clips from slightly before this week as I started filming a little early.

As above. Horizontals are just a way of tensioning the chain without needing a separate component hanging down there. Bit more faff, but very compact and cheap-to-manufacture solution.

Just to put my foot in, here: I've never broken one. As far as I'm aware, no-one has. At least, I was told there hadn't been a single warranty claim a while back. I like that.

If they're both the brand new ones there's not much in it but I would possibly suggest the GU. I'm 5'8" too and a friend has the Echo Mk6+ and with the standard bar and stem it feels a very big bike. It's important to note that I've been riding small bikes for a long time though. If they're second hand, it all depends on the set up. A GU 24 with a long stem and big bars can feel longer than an Echo 26 with the front end reigned in.

Less important. Just whatever. I used to get mine from Wilkos

Just be sure to get a decent cable. It really makes the difference - most noticeably on the rear. Normal cables outers are a coil, which can obviously compress. Over a longer length like a rear brake, that can make it feel a bit spongey. Get some SP51 cables and set the springs to as low a tension as possible but the pads still return, with some Trialtech/Jitsie pads and you're laughing. I'm not really the authority on brakes, but I hate hydraulics. Sure, they work when they work, but damn... the fuss. BB7 and vees rule the roost in my mind. The SD7 lever is possibly the comfiest going too.

5:00? With extreme frustration. DAMN that one took a while. It's right next to a bus stop so people just stopped and stared all the time, which I know you know how much I don't like I think I peaked super early with that tap section. I've been doing tap-moto-frenchies for years, but upping that to tap-moto-nosebonk was pure greif. The 19" tyre has all but killed bunnyhop-related stuff because it rolls so slow, so sadly they're being put by until it's dry again and I can switch back to streety tyres. They're United Indirects, and are just ace. Almost the same as the MTTs, but a bit more lively feeling, at the expense of not quite as good puncture resistance. The less said about 6:17 the better. Haha. Thanks Edit: Oh. Another thing that doesn't look as hard as it is is making back-to-back videos every second day. It's pretty clear we were both getting tired

I think answering that will muddy understandings, so I'll make this as unambiguous as possible. In THEORY, possibly, depending on how it was done. It almost certainly wouldn't be done that way, because it would be expensive to manufacture something different like that, and most people want as many engagements as possible so they wouldn't sell anyway. In REALITY, today's 108/135 click freewheels are infinitely more reliable than the sub-30 click freewheels of yore. If you're looking at buying a freewheel, do NOT base your decision on it having fewer engagements. Go for whichever seems to have the best reputation at the time. What that is right now, I'll let other people discuss as the last time I looked at freewheels is was the Echo SL 108, but that was a long time ago. I've never tried one of the 135 clicks, or if the quality of the Echo has dropped or whatever. If you can't reach a decision, give Tarty a ring and ask which seems the most reliable at present.

Jamie and I were talking on New Year's Eve about motivation for riding. We thought of the video competitions of old, but whenever either of us have tried to do something similar in recent times, people just don't engage. So we had our own little private one. But without the competition aspect. We settled a list of "themes", and since I'm Covid-induced-redundant and he is on university coursework with no strict timetable, we set extremely tight deadlines to keep us on our toes. Tight meaning two days per theme. We disallowed filming for any one theme until the previous one was done, otherwise the later videos would obviously be better than the early ones. These rules and prescribed topics felt like school, so we ran with the analogy and started calling it the curriculum. Filming began the next day. Filming was cut short by weather and real-life getting in the way, so unfortunately the videos we expected to be the bigger and wilder ones never actually came to pass. Anyway - here we go. A collection of mini-videos. Enjoy

I had something not dissimilar when I ordered a couple of frames and stems from there too. It was called biketrialsseller.com or something? Pretty sure it's all a tax-dodge method or something slightly shady like that, rather than an outright scam. Still turned up quicker than the one thing I ever ordered from Trials-UK in the end

That's the 20.2. He's specifically asking about the 20.1, which was sadly 116mm. My originals were 135 so I could run a Hope, but the bosses at Alias felt there would be a larger appeal to 20" riders if they didn't also have to change their hub/back wheel to experiment with a new geometry, so they made the production model 116mm spaced. My DIY frames and the black prototypes were spaced at 135mm, if they're the videos you watched. The production 20.1 (dark green and grey) frames were spaced at 116mm. I had a Hope custom modified by a friend to fit this spacing. The 20.2 is spaced at 135mm, specifically because of so many people wanting to run Hopes. If you have a 20.1, to run a Hope you will either need: A talented friend to customise a 135 hub for you (from what he told me, it's doable but not a particularly simple task, especially if you want the disc tabs to still be functional) To miraculously find one of the handful of hubs that have already been modified (I only know of about 5 that have been done, including mine, and I suspect people will be wanting to hold on to the ones they got done!) Or find an alternative - a front freewheel setup, or a different freehub that comes in 116mm. I've never investigated other freehubs so I'm afraid I can't advise on likely candidates.

It's a shame that you can't take advantage of it now given that you'll have to isolate, but Vitamin D is one of the freebies in the goodie bag you get given every time you get out on the bike

A bunnytap is a normal tap - roll in, hit front wheel on face of wall whilst back wheel is still on the floor to transform horizontal momentum into vertical - but by using a bunnyhop in the process rather than pedalling through it. All of the jump and vertical-force-making has already been done in that clip. The front wheel is just a cheeky little gain on the end.

Frenchie. But the French call them "bam-bams", according to Hermance when we had that trip

That's so cool So far out of my remit that I can't really understand the challenges, but doing anything high-tech from scratch is a big thumbs up from me!

Did you?

He turned up with a fresh bottle of oil anyway, so we sorted it. I'll mention that to him, as I thought it still felt a bit spongy even after a good bleed. Ta

Three watches in and keeping that hop to manual at the weird sloped cross spot still makes no sense to me. (Plus, that spot looks ace.) Loved the tree-tap tyre-tap. Send those types of lines all day long!

Got to be honest - I'm not convinced they did I asked after he'd already done the damage and he mentioned that the rear felt spongey and the front wasn't returning. I'll push a water bleed through them tomorrow. If it leaks out, it's no worse than it currently is!