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The increasing struggle between life and leisure... Yup, recognise that one. If you are not aware of the pump track in Ingleton that looks like it'd be fun for an hour of an evening. It looks tight but big enough in distance, but that was from a fleeting glimpse going past in the work van. With the 'rona it might even be locked up & verboten at the minute, I dunno. Still, looks good on maps 54.1500438,-2.4726677,17

That's ever so pretty. Kinda thing you just stare at for days, beverage in hand.

In another not unusual friday night in LA13 some paraletic darwin took significant exception to being ushered home by his party of absolutely slaughtered drunkards, resulting in an almighty scrap in the gutter opposite our front door, turning our front street into a scene akin to a yates' or 'spoons in the 10mins between boot out time and the slobbering 'tards finding a chips cheese & gravy to pass out face down into. We live on what has become a corridor between two sinkholes, so sadly this has become the sorta thing that invokes a jaded "Meh". However this time this rat-arsed f**kwit decided to have a full nuclear sand-in-his-fanny tantrum, a mere part of which was lobbing what must have been his "tek it home wit cha" unopened bottle of desparado end over end and BOOM! Feckn bullseyed the poor caddy. Now everything within a 5ft radius is covered is sticky chav lager shite to boot. That screens' only done ~5000miles since some urchin put a brick through the last one. Dickheads.

A certain magura clara lever from the early '00's works for a deffo, I've seen pre servo wave shimano master for 2 piston, Deore, Altus etc work with mixed results. Never messed with the idea personally, never had too & I'd really have to be up a creek to bother to be honest.

Some of those t-birds came with those plastic '05 HS11's FWIW, I know I nearly owned one. The T-bird of the same style that did end up being my 1st bike came with the '05 style HS33, and that rear/left hand master lasted me 7+yrs constant use from new, and I never cracked it along the wings (I did the bleed screw up "a little nip" on the spanner check one night C 1am in the bitter cold and the alu split round the port - goodnight Vienna). Doing the cut mod is desirable, and you should probably do it, but it isn't absolute. Attentive lever placement, especially lever angle, and keeping the pivot bolt nipped promptly when they back out will/did in my case keep them alive loooong after their detractors say "they're shit dem, the' just break..." Ditto the plastic TPA balls, never broke one yet - I had a TPA rod bend once, but never killed a ball to date and still have the one from ^ that master in the inspired some ~ 14yrs later. @Karlos28 Regarding your TPA problem, a mate of mine takes the TPA rod out of the lever, (if your's is snapped you'll have to work that bit out) grinds the flats of a m6 nyloc nut on a bench grinder so it fits snuggly in the backside of lever blade (IIRC the end result looks oblong/rectangular), with the nyloc part facing away from the handlebar and the nut being retained by the lever blade. Make it a "poverty" fit that requires a tappy tap tap with a small hammer. Now you thread in an m6 x 25/30mm bolt (choice is yours) from the front of the lever blade. The bolt will now butt up against the linkage like the TPA rod did factory and you'll now have a working TPA.

Morecambe prom would be your best bet in terms of riding pal. At the skill level you say you're at I'd park in the pay and display at The Battery and take in the fountains (right next door) then have a bod down to the midland and where I understand the eden project is gonna go. There is a spot at the lifeboat station (still heading eastwards), and a bunch of new stuff heading for bolton-le-sands but that is a fair trek and is prob of limited interest to you. Now might be the time to head for the train station through the cut through next to B&M and take in the skatepark if you feel so inclined. Then I'd suggest you double back to the battery, grab a different water bottle/snack/whatever from the car and head west down the prom towards Heysham and take in the spots known as "second levels" and "the climbing wall" so named because of the council climbing wall affixed to the retaining wall keeping the grass at bay that flipp rode up then gapped off of to one of the thin ledges. Session using the three thin ledges as one balance line 'til your eyes bleed, tek a drink & repeat... This spot is probably of most value to you as no one's gonna cry if you do slip to bashring. But remember that tyres only is the objective on every object. Leaving scars down every ledge like you're a scooter kid will just ruin it for everyone else. EDIT: This old topic probably explains better, I laid it all out in grid references and it took fooking ages so I am not doing it again Linkleton Ciaran.

I've got two sets of Nukeproof Warhead (now called horizon I think) on bikes, one being the inspired. They were listed 38mm rise, 6 up 9 back 760mm width, double butted alu, 280g uncut. Mine are cut 730 & 735mm and rolled so the backsweep verges on upsweep and I think at that they'd be about the 60mm 'tip to tip' total rise you are quoting. Both sets bought new in 2013 and 2014, no qualms. Anodizing doesn't like cable rub or stuff fretting against it is 'bout all that comes to mind. My Answer DH 780 are worse. Did you have something like Trialtech standards /not the TT high rise before? The Nukeproofs feel 'flatter' thus lower compared to TT std. I have some quite scratty raw'd V!Z PRO 720's being an ornament. They are like TT std but 20mm narrower and 11 up 10 back opposed to 10 by 10. You wan' em?

F**k. No. Ask the lad I've been mates with since school 'bout the time his chain snapped and he could poke his knee exposed tendons with his finger... Whether you use 3/32, 1/8 or 3/16 width is preference but tensile strength above 1100kg or on your head be it. And your face. And your teeth. And your knee cartilage... Quick rules of thumb is that drilled pins, slotted plates or half link chains are death. A single half link may be unavoidable at times but :shudder: KMC K710 kool and Z510HX has saved me thus far (15yrs) with a good stint on KHE collapse's in the middle of those too. Z610HX and moped based chains like gusset tank and YBN 415H have their plaudits round these parts too. KMC seem to have had a revamp recently so now you are looking for K1 Wide and Z1eHX Wide silver or Z1eHX Wide EPT https://www.kmcchain.eu/chain-bmx_track_fixie-bmx-wide and Z1eHX narrow silver and EPT variants https://www.kmcchain.eu/chain-bmx_track_fixie-bmx-narrow

[Forgive me If end up 'teaching' you stuff you already know] For clarification, those DMR simple tension seeker's and there type copies IME are only good for commuting, where they'll do a fine job: Put one on a trials bike and they slip constantly though. You need a double wheel tensioner for sprockets 16tooth and below for safe amounts of chain wrap. I highly recommend you get one regardless of sprocket size. On that note a the style of sprocket commonly included in single speed kits are not up to it in a trials context as it is too narrow and will dig in like lower end cassettes w/o the aluminum spider do on a alu freehub/driver body, but much much worse and come maintenance time the struggle will be real... Not worth it. Needs to be 4.5mm or wider IIRC. The wider base the better. If you feel the tires are a bit old & dead/hard & ungrippy I'd suggest cutting ~ 2mm vertical sipes across (riders left/right axis) the middle of each side knobble with a hacksaw blade. Takes ~ 30mins a tire or about 3 cold ones per set. Revives dead old tires no end. http://www.offroaders.com/technical/what-are-sipes-in-a-tire/ Finally it is imperative that the brakes work as best as can be - sharp biting with vice like hold and no slip when torque is applied from a dead stop/static position. A 180mm or 203mm rotor with proper caliper alignment at a minimum w/ some new pads (my preference @ the moment are EBC greens and reds depending on application) would be a smart move. The beefiest post mount to IS adapter you can get your hands on and 4x 12.9 grade Hi tensile M6 bolts would be on my list. High braking force + Flex = bad caliper alignment = NFG. Whether doing training exercises on flat ground or progressing to going up a bus curb, for instance, good brakes (read; pretty fckin epic by XC/road/bmx standards) are never a problem and shit brakes are a constant barrier and make the learning process needlessly difficult. At least half the battle with trials is won in the workshop.

The old man had a couple rounds of acupuncture to ease his sciatica/former slipped disc/feked shoulder/feked neck/general construction industry related breakage, administered by his GP some 10+yrs ago and when the muscles in his lower back released from spasm he said it was mint ('til he'd have to do something daft @ work like work fetal in a crawlspace etc. or hump gear about then it'd 'wear off'). He still rates it highly. That doctor retired soon after but his parting words were "get yerself a tens ma-sheen, not quite as good as this (getting stabbed w/ pins) but y'can use it way more regular...") and pointed him in the way of this https://tensmachineuk.com/choosing-the-right-tens I'm sure it's as application specific as everything else in life but might be a shout as much as anything else.

Christ that's a bit of a heinz 57 int'it? God knows what the brand was, but the tubeset is fairly generic taiwan/china from 15 to 10 years ago ie. much used and well proven. For example the majority of the overall silhouette is onza T-rex/ onza limey 1/less so the limey 2, but BB is too high to be a t-rex (got one in a box in the attic) & the T-rex does not have a disc mount or V-brake mount but dedicated 4 bolt mounts and most, if not damn near all onza's use an internal/semi integrated/zero stack/ZS44 headset. A M.A.D. phase does have those dropouts with that disc mount and the lowest in the range, the phase 1.3, had those style v-brake mounts just like that, and all were external/ec34 headset but despite the geometry looking pretty similar, the BB appears too high & the silhouette in nothing like what you've got there. I've owned a 1.3 & 1.2 in my time. The 1.2 snapped the BB yoke and I still have it as a trophy or a someday TIG welding practice project. The Forks look Onza Tuf Guy or spyrogyra, but again these tubesets were available to resticker and rebrand from a far east bike factory catalog. It happens all the time. My Mod is a zona zip which was well known to be a 05 zoo! python with bashplate mounts and cheaper fit and finish (holes in the brake mounts were drilled off & tapped wonky as frig, in a brand new NOS frame) The M.A.D. phase's were "based" on the 04 Koxx levelboss, my T-rex resembles a 05 zoo! pitbull in shape and geometry but weighs 400g more due to the cost savings in tubing and design used. My '09 Commencial Normal was another generic and resembled a giant STP front triangle with a Marin back end and so and so forth. IMO with generics what stickers are on the tubes becomes immaterial, to a point. I know in your situation it'd be nice to know but honestly mate, get it put together, set it up well (you want a double wheel sprung tensioner or modified short cage rear mech and some run of the mill riser bars in ~740mm width & 35mm+ rise for starters, then maintenance jobs like you said) and then go ride the crap out it. EDIT: Changing the chain to something trials capable should be considered obligatory. Trials + chain you have no prior knowledge with and therefore should not trust because it could be hammered dogshit = smells of hospital. Personally wouldn't bother spending on tires for a while yet - Tensioner mods, chain, bars, a good surgical clean n service, 20-25psi in the tyres (2psi per stone you way is a good starter rule of thumb) and crack on with riding it.

I wanna see a hanging hook/batman to lawnmower to footjam fakie. Get it done Flipp. Also, video or it didn't happen haha

As you say, arbitrary. On that front, I'm going to turn it around & get you to describe what you think a beginner is - by logic, when you stop being those things the term beginner has stopped being accurate? It's not just a case of ...because 1st bike nor is it noobery or just being the FNK in a riding group nor it physical age - just because most peeps find trials @ 14 doesn't mean a chubby middle aged person can't impulse buy a 14th hand bike of ebay et al and have a go for craic. Describing yourself as a beginner to others to be self deprocating and cover over that you're just a bit shit isn't accurate either... The afternoon after I got furloughed t'other week I was a bit lost and pretty f**ked off so I dug the inspired out & it turns out that infrequency of riding trials the last couple years means all bar the most basic skills had to be re-familiarised, and my 1st. trials bike was bought for me in 2006. I found re learning stuff I once knew inside out, all using my local-est spots that I've rinsed to death to the very near point of boredom, gave me purpose and, rather than spitting the dummy, quite carthartic in that context. In that regard, what trials will do (or did through my formative years) is mold the rider as a person, it will shape their mental outlook, influence their maturity, their work ethic, their will to sacrifice, their want & ability to set (an) objective(s) - and stubbornly stick to it (them) - but also when to pack it in - where is & is not ok to ride (street, countryside, whatever). It will teach them to be a good enough judge of character to relise they're about to get jumped for their bike in 30secs (acute life lesson nearly learned to hard way that one was), it'll form who they do and don't hang around/think is or isn't an absolute c unit and it teach them there is bugger all reason besides self imposed mental block/nonsensical BS you can't learn anything you feel like. in short, my impulsive answer to your, I s'pose philosophy(???), question stems alot from how you carry yourself. There is alot of skill level to be found in keeping bad attitudes n tantrums etc. in check. I found that was the foundations of getting better at anything. I feel skills wise Julien @ trashzen has got that pretty well licked in the basics section www.trashzen.com/trashzen.php

(For the benefit of future searches) I have a set of '09 - '12 26in urbans, bought new by me circa 2010/11, to hand, as it happens. Non tapered/straight 1 1/8 steerer, non integrated crown race; Measure up @ 402x45mm, After 2012 echo went new geo, 45deg ICR to fit SL external H/S & bearing in frame headsets (2011 pure, mk1 SL etc.) and subsequently tapered steerer but by that point I'd got the inspired up to snuff/life sh1t got in the way and stopped taking notice of new innovations. The Urban SL's were in this period also. The only thing that snapped faster than them were DOB's and 4bolt Echo lite's in a Rimjam-big booster-4 finger lever blade-07 spec urban rim w/BFO grind-norvun TGS basher aboard-combo haha. I am 99% certain the only changes prior up to 2012 re-do was when they went from the 06 spec (strong legs, good steerer/crown connection, thin steerer that snapped instead) to 07's weight saving diet but thick steerer wall (that pulled out of /cracked at the crown, legs snapped in usual places, v brake mounts that pulled off). These anecdotes (the v brake one happened in my presence) made me wary of urbans but a combo of the 09 spec steerer being welded, & a redesigned v brake/leg connection with more weld contact swayed me; well that, a (lack of) budget and messrs Read/Shaw giving me a warranty upgrade on some Because forks that opened up like a John West tin of salmon after 4 weekends use... EDIT Because spelling and typos

I second this, must be the HX version. Used to be a Z710 Kool man but they stretch soo much by comparison and have an unnecessary weight penalty to boot. The 510HX is just a better made thing. I needn't look anywhere else.

"(Ah) Idt'sir hoenly a [old/ageing] Van, wotsitmaddurgh??" If me or the old boy had a £ for every time we'd heard a variation on that theme... See also; one from the archive: This is what parental absenteeism looks like. Note the bend in that front roof bar - t'wasn't us, and I know how much (Kg) we've had strapped to them bars, so f**k knows what they did. I do know the screen was dented from above i.e. some c11nt stood up there and brayed f'ck out'et screen till it splintered then did one. They were that f kin bored and without structure/resulting morality that that seemed like good craic...

Bearing Fit is a threadlock, thread sealer and gap filler that has an anaerobic reaction and lightly glues the bearing/bolt/stud into place - google loc tite 638 for an example. To your hub question, provided I understand correctly, I'd just pull the spoke through (have done so many times on my hubs and wheels I've built for other people), trials gear can sometimes have er, "less than satisfactory" machining tolerances. The Clean stuff I've dealt with has always been on the better end on the scale, however. My because hub had the same problem on the Lo flange (Hi-Lo flange disc hub); Was a right bitch to rag the spokes through but that same hub has been in my inspired since 2012 with the only problems thus far being a snapped axle due to me being a tool and the OE china bearings being slightly turd around the 2yr mark.

From my research at the time I was under the impression that my 60D was a merge of the gubbins from 7D & 600D/T3i with some concessions to fit a 600D case, with the 70D that followed being a significant step forward from that thanks to a raft of trickle down tech & then the 80D's advancements' had diminishing returns (price vs. gain). Don't hold me as gospel on that, but I'd swear black is white I read that somewhere. If true I'd say the 70D may be the better 2nd hand buy - I'd have had one but as I said I was buying the package, and my purchase filled the criteria i'd set myself.

I ended up picking between these two earlier this year and plumbed for the 60D (flick back to page 49 in here and have a speedread) Given I wanted the full set up (body, lens, batteries, bag, yada yada) as a 1st DSLR a 7D was a bit pricey at that point; a body only on sniped on auction at sparrows fart o'clock might now be a different story. The 7d sounds like it would be a better photo taker but I too wanted the fold out screen of the 600D that was handed to me back when and I use the live mode loads when on a 3ft tall tripod instead of kneeling and craning my neck, setting up the bike/car/other and taking the shot hands off on remote 2sec timer with an ebay IR remote, meaning my rickety Asda tripod still has some life left in it yet. I find Live mode also means in other applications I can kneel instead if sitting, sit instead of lying down and so on. Another instance would be the batch of shots I did for my mate's daughter's christening by hiding slumped down in the back row of pews and sneakily holding the cam overhead looking at the tilted screen in live view and the drive mode on low key dugga dugga. Doing skateboard vid tracking shots ont end of a handle or inverted tripod is guesswork with a fixed screen too.

Would this do you? ebay.co.uk/itm/Monty-219-Alp-Trials-Bike-Unique-Custom-Spec-Upgraded-Throughout

Here is an extract of my day. You lot might like it. ...Ring Ring, Ring Ring...Ring Ring...Ring Ring...some more f***ing Ring Ring... (sounds tired as all hell) "Hurrr-low?" "Hello it's [multinational DIY chain I represent] store deliveries, I'm trying to trace a Mrs ******" "Yer?" "We have a delivery today going to [customers address], is that correct? (sounds indecisive) "Yur." Great. We are on the way with your [insignificant pissy part order of what is likely to be a kitchen order worth £££££] and are going to be approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Is that OK and are you available to accept delivery?" "Well i'm 4000 miles away in Canada, so, er, no." For. F**k. Sake.

Well it weren't @Tony Harrison's special friend. Landed on a canon 60D as it retains the movable screen of xx0D canons and has some of gubbinsm weather sealing and features of the 7D DrEvil recommended, making what I believe to be a nice middle ground and all rounder. Got a 17-85USM lens, charger, a spare battery, all the booklets/discs and a lowepro bag to boot. Hopefully that'll do until I work out what I want next - actually it'll have to as that's all my spending pennys gone til the 25th!