aener

Nice You've done some pretty serious travelling!

Yes - I get your reasoning and it's perfectly sound, but it's just when I'm on a ride with someone and they're learning (e.g.) 180s, or up-to-fronts, they never make any progress because they're so obsessed with what it looks like that they can't permit themselves to learn how to do it first and THEN make it look nice. I used to be a bit more fussy about things looking nice, but toning down perfectionism levels has led to me enjoying things more. Obviously everyone has different levels of enjoyment for different things, but I can't help but feel pretty much everyone who rides bikes would like to be able to do better stuff than they're currently able, but trying to attain that without allowing practice versions to not look pretty seems a fairly major obstacle. (Which bugs me, because I want more videos to watch! )

Pretty much. I mean, I'll often take a few extra goes afterwards if I'm confident I can do it significantly nicer if all the parts just line up right, but it's not an objective for every line. Particularly on ones that have already taken a lot of tries to manage even sketchily.

I'm not really sure what you mean... The two actual crashes don't really fit the description - one was just a foot slipping off a wall, and the other one, if I'd let go it probably would've hurt me more at the same time as firing the bike into a group of fellow riders If you mean the almost-crashes, I think it's reflex I've developed. Quite a lot of the time people jump off when staying on would actually be beneficial, like letting go of the bike when learning backflips. The closest thing I can think you're talking about is the super ragged roll-down in Darlo. That is a full-blooded case of the above. About 80% of steep roll-downs that feel like they've gone wrong actually can be ridden away from by gritting teeth and sticking through to the end (from my experience). The other 20% hurt like hell, but it's worth it I took the time to learn opposite spins and found they added nothing to riding for me. It's nice being able to go both ways, but I don't see the point in fighting instinct for no benefit. Also don't really care about using the cranks. It's mostly on edges where I wouldn't have enough oomph to get clear of the wall without one so I'm firmly in the "meh" camp. I'd rather do a line with a crank and move on to the next. Find it pretty frustrating when people are on a ride and filming something, but will spend three times longer doing it over and over because their knee was a bit wobbly on that one, or they didn't tuck quite stylishly enough. Edit: To clarify - I love it when people are keen enough to keep trying until they've done it. Just not when they're more worried about the appearance than the achievement, which seems increasingly common. Call me a slob if you must, but that's my thought on the matter TGS for life. Haha.

I think a few videos will answer this more effectively than words. I personally hate them - they're far too big and bulky for me, but if they're your "thing" they seem to be pretty versatile. Iolo: Iolo 2: (P.S. - Pretty much the only video that can get me excited about riding rocks.) Aaron Browne: Aaron Browne 2: There's obviously other people that ride them but these two feel like the Hex Ambassadors in my world. I guess it's partly to do with your spec, and partly to do with your mindset, but they're certainly capable.

Some recent clips. There's a couple that have already been published because I was in a mood when I did and deeply regret not saving them for a proper video. Sorry if that upsets you, but it is what it is. Ali, if you see this - apologies. I filmed the bench thing the week before you uploaded your vlog with it in, but only saw it yesterday. I was intending to copy Simone Barraco, not you Didn't realise quite how many hooks I've been doing until watching this back.

That was fun! Super jealous of how many people seem to ride in your area.

Most excellent. Love his style/line choice.

You most likely don't need to change anything about the bike. If it's got really forwards bars, I'd recommend pulling them back a bit (I found the goldilocks zone to be TT High Rise bars with the "rise" perpendicular to the floor, but that'll likely be for my tastes, on my frame/stem combo, so take that with an armful of salt), and do yourself a favour by keeping the chain nicely tensioned. Other than that, your balance point is always a bit more extreme than you expect. On the back wheel, you need to sit a bit further back than if you have a brake. On the front, you need to be a bit further forwards. Be prepared to spend quite a while back in the "fundamentals stage" before progressing again. It's weird because you know you can ride, and you know you can do certain things, but you have to do them all just slightly differently. I would advise: Learn to gap to 90 in both directions. I didn't, and it constantly limits my line choices. Spend a lot of time getting the feel of pedal pressure. Just face up a slope and try and stay on the back wheel without hopping. Squeeze the drive gently to move forwards a bit and let it roll back if you need. Waggling your knees can take care of a lot of balance issues. Obviously hops are pretty much essential sometimes, but they can be far less predictable than just correcting your centre of gravity if you can. Not necessarily, but I found everything improved with firmer tyres. I like the direct feeling. This is personal preference, with the exception of larger gap to 90s. With low pressures the tyre can tear off the rim. Knowing where you are is very beneficial, so removing squidge can help with that. Without wanting to sound too touchy-feely, brakeless is far more intimate than riding with brakes. I think that's part of why firm tyres feel better - the bike really starts to feel like an extra limb, and having soft balloon tyres makes it feel like riding with big squishy gloves on. You can never really tell what's going on, and when the lump you're using as a stopper might only be the crack between two slabs on the floor it's really useful to have that feedback. Ask anything specific, should you have questions. But be sure to quote or PM me so I get a notification. I'm not here so much any more so will probably miss standalone comments.

From a strictly mechanical point of view, could having the stem mounted there result in a stiffness increase between stem and bike? (Assuming both were using the same bar/stem combination - for argument's sake let's say a regular 165x35 stem and carbon riser bars. The platform (steerer) being held fast on both sides of the lever (stem), rather than it having one end loose, with a bloody great stem/bar combo as leverage feels like maybe it would?? I appreciate they mount pretty much touching the top bearing these days, and that the steerer is probably stiffer than the stem clamp anyway, but still. I don't know engineering well enough but in my head it seems like that could reduce some small amount of flex. ...And if it does, would it be an actual, measurable amount, or technically true but of negligible value? Just curious.

I personally don't like footplant stuff, but putting that aside that was the first Triboulat video I've ever enjoyed. Just... actually... good!

If it's any consolation they have deer in woodlands on the bits hidden by shoe.

I was going to start filming again, but I don't really care anymore so here are four clips from Bradford.

Just awesome. Loved every second of it. Such a beast of a rider

I'm pretty sure it was the same except for 5mm in the BB? Can't remember if it was higher or lower though Something around 1035, 380, 72, +30 I think. I loved mine at the time, but on hindsight it was horrible. Haha.

Edit: Riding-wise, that was really cool.

"What a lot of things I don't need... to land." - Socrates, 2017.

The rock clips, yes

If turquoise and purple turtles aren't compensation enough, this isn't a world I want to live in. I mean... I already knew it isn't, but that really slams it home

I was going to make a video of the "festival season" (namely the Tarty Weekender, Dressler Camp and a few rides around the time), but I accidentally filmed ridiculous amounts in the past couple of weeks or so and filled the time of the song I wanted to use. Decided to make this one, and then another one for the events. Mega thanks to Tarty, Trialtech, Alias, Industry and Aaron!

Last line...

Crash picture is just awesome. Haha. Not a personal fan of the saddle on long, low-standover frames, but the front end arrangement is cool.

...Just FYI: that's not a Hex

It's not that you can't bunnyhop them, it's the WAY they bunnyhop. On a compy bike its a very slow process - pull the front up, manual for a bit and then hop. And doing them anything but up to the rear wheel feels awful because you're positioned do far forwards over the bike. A 'streetier' set up sacrifices some of the benefits of a comp setup in favour of snappier bunnyhops, and because you're in a more upright position you can do them to two wheels and not feel like you're going over the bars. I imagine it's a similar difference to riding a Harley Davidson and sports motorbike at very high speeds. Both can do it, but one can only do it in a straight line where the other is quite versatile whilst doing so. Does that make sense? People bunnyhop compy stocks, but I notice you got an Inspired... Same thing. It's just the feel.