Decade Ago

About a week ago I bought Max's (Quackers) Czar frame from him. Tonight it was finished being built! Its made up of second hand parts, my old parts and most of all brand new parts... The full spec... Czar 07 frame Cannondale Fatty R forks Echo tough bars TMS welded stem Echo headset Echo Bottom Bracket Middleburn RS7 cranks Middleburn 20T Chainring Avid SD7 08 levers Avid 203mm BB7 Avid Ultimate Heatsink Vee Adaptors Coust pads in Heatsink backings DMR V8 pedals Hope XC hub laced to a Try-All rim Hope Pro II also on a Try-All rim Heres some pictures...taken on my crap camera phone... So yea, there it is! Im over the moon with it and cant wait for the brakes to fully bed in. Its worlds apart from my original trials bike but its stunning to ride. I want to say a huuuuuge thanks to Max for selling me his beloved frame and wheels to me, and putting up with my phonecalls and texts asking for product info! Steve @ Heatsink deserves a massive thanks for having faith in Royal Mail and getting what I needed to me on next day delivery! Ive spent many hours researching stuff on this very forum that I should buy, the search tool is a gem! Hopefully this will be the start of me riding (and hurting myself) again. Ta, Alex

Any joy with that song??

Yea I did some hefty spending of cash yesterday. Im almost cleaned out! I have everything bar Heatsink Vee convertors and Coust Vee pads. Tyres and tubes are also on the way. Everything else arrived today! Bristol sounds like a laugh, I need to regain some skills and stamina again before I properly go for it. But yea I dont mind driving around, I have my old winter tank which will carry bikes and people easily enough! Im hoping I can get round Max's tomorrow eve (I think thats when he said he was free) so he can help me build it. I have zero tools and parts back in Southampton, my folks chucked them and just bought my trials bike with them when they moved house. I wasnt pleased. I have my Rocket trials frame in the boot of the car so you can all have a laugh at how heavy it is. Haha!

The Czar will be making quite a comeback. Loads of parts arrived today and Ive just been unpacking them at work and dribbling! Haha. The orange is a bit lairy fairy for me but the spec will easily make up for it Max. Cant wait to have a proper look!

Im awake, had an argument with the GF till 3am last night. Felt like shat all day with a huge headache. I went to bed early to get some kip and Im well awake overthinking stuff. I need a bat to the head, or some drugs.

Thaaaaaank you for that!

Indeed I did! :D

...Im halfway to 50. Still, I treated myself to a frame and wheels to ride soon. Its my only hope of feeling 16 again!

Its to do with toast and butter... ...***?

Im still at work and dont finish till the 22.25 BBC news bulletin is done. Whoop.

My word, this has really taken my breath away. Terribly sad news, my thoughts are with his family and friends. I never met you Oli but you sound like a top bloke and also share my passion of cars. Ive only been on here a short while, but I know what its like to lose a friend. RIP.

That would be awesome, Ive been after it for yeeears! You could get it on CD?!?! What was the CD called??

In the legendary bike film 'Chainspotting', on Martin Hawyes' section what is the track playing on it?? I already know its Garbage - Milk, Witzy (sp?) remix. Ive looked for that track for nearly ten years and Ive never fheard that remix ever again! Someone put an end to this long quest please!

Ouch! thats got to hurt a bit! good luck to you dude. Just take it easy and get your confidence back... Mean while, heres a pic of four of the old STB guys riding many moons ago.. Left to right, Mike Cole, Tom Currie, Paul Holloway, EJ Holden. Im not in it cos I took it!

I was thinking about this the last few days, Im not overly concerned if I hurt myself anymore. Im sure its linked to the whole proving yourself thing. When I was young I wanted sponsership and wanted to be the best trials rider in the world. I was always practising the smaller more technical moves rather than leaping off 12 ft drops and riding huge gaps like my mates and hated the thought of any major injury. Now Im older and have been out of riding for years. I know Ill have the basics but by todays standards Ill be shit. Im not bothered though, I have nothing to prove anymore, this is all about having a laugh with my mates again and being able to forget about worries at work and life in general. Just like the old days when my main concerns were if I was going to snap my bars or how I would afford a new Hs33. No women, cars, money or jobs to worry about! Bliss. In the same respect, to make any progress with my slow fat arse Im going to hurt myself. That is a fact that Ive happily accepted to be honest. Bring the pain!

Cheers Scott, Any chance you could email me his number? alexchiari@hotmail.com It would be great to catch up with him and chat about the old days, thats great news he's hitched up and has a sprog! Wont be long till hes teaching them to ride.

What ever happened to XStreet and Shaun that ran it?

Thats great news to hear Mike is still riding, he must be pretty good by now! I studied with him at college, that seems like a lifetime ago now! He drove down to Bournemouth to do a small photoshoot with me a few years later when I was at Uni there. Ill dig out the pictures when I get back to Southampton... None of the mobile numbers I have for him work now. Actually while Im thinking about it, do any of you oldies reading this remember the old Yahoo! Trials club?? http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/modan...cktrialsriding/ It looks to be all still there but no one has posted for a looooong time. I was a mod on there, Alex (Shift_6_6_6) along with four others. Those were the days! There must be someone out there that remember this! Sorry to bore you all with this kind of crap but Im desperate to go back six or so years and ride again.

Yea, the first one I had was a Rocket FAB Stage One duel Slalom frame in red. The only colour and frame Rocket made at the time. The code on the bottom said it was number 8 made! I learnt everything on that bike and rode it very hard. Many months later I cracked it, by then Rocket had produced a trials specific frame so I bought that. Im liking the look of the Echo and Zoo! bikes, I might have to transfer all my old parts onto a new frame....

Hey, Im just passing through as I am bored at work. Im 25 in a couple of weeks time and Ive been sat here thinking how god damn old I feel. When I was 15 I started riding a new sport called bike trials, headed up by the two Martins and Rob Warner. We are talking 'Dirt' and 'Chainspotting' video days here. I loved it, me and a group of friends spent practically everyday after school riding without a care in the world. Exploring the streets of Southampton at all times of the day, and night, for new places to ride. I can easily say these were the best years of my life (so far). I remember going to Bike 97 and meeting the Martins and seeing them do things I could only dream of doing on a bike! I turned 18 during college and by then I had all but stopped riding, my biggest mistake. Now ten years on and another few stone in weight Im sat here still wishing I had the time and telent I had back then. Im so jealous of all the videos and pictures Ive seen on here and sites like YouTube. Kids are doing some unreal stuff these days, riding sections and things we would just ride by and think nothing of. So keep up the good work lads (and lasses), progress the sport and make it bigger and bigger. I still have my 'Rocket' bike buried deep in my garage, maybe Ill dig it out and give all the old lads a call. If anyones interested I live in Oxford during the week and was a freelance photographer for a few years, I work very odd hours but I could be up for shooting some trials shots of any talented locals... Oh yea, does anyone know Mike Graves from the Hampshire scene, I havnt ridden with him for years! It would be good to catch up. Ta, Alex