jonnyyork

1. My first trials bike was an Onza Woodstock. Easy to throw around for spins and streety moves, but flimsy and flexy to ride. 2. I sold it because I moved onto better frames. 3. Never wish I still had it. Would never go back to it. Looks too old school for me, and would feel too restrictive after using long wheelbase frame.

I feel the same as Mrkoxx about landing on the pedal if you don't quite make your sidehop. It feels alot safer landing on your back pedal than your forward one. I side hop mainly to my left with right foot forward. The hub bolt head or bare chainstay on the non drive side appreciates the abuse much more than the tensioner on a stock bike if you dont quite make it.

I haven't heard the term 'pinch gap' before. Phil mentioned this also. What is the difference from this to a normal pedal kick? This is a vid of some of my riding, some is a bit old footage where I try gapping to a rail. I don't have anything newer at the moment, I will have to get out and do more filming. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuyXr7adETM To my knowledge I still feel as though I still kick off the edge the same way. Jon

I have always run front disc (Magura Louise FR) and its always reliable. You would have to have a fairly hard smash on a wall or rock etc to bend a front rotor. I have hit the front rotor plenty of times and never put a serious enough bend in it to have to stop riding. I have tacoed a rear rotor though! I have ridden a mates bike with a front hs33 and it didn't do much for me. At the end of the day it is personal preference really.

Thanks to everyone for the ideas and tips. I would spend the time on the bike before a weight bench anyday! I do tend to gap with the bike angled slighly toward my good (right) foot as all the flat spots are on the left side of the rim! Pulling upwards as well as forwards does seem to help too. Does any one else find stem length affects how far you can gap? I run a Zhi 120mm x 20deg and was thinking to get a 130 x 15deg Echo but now I'm not so sure.

I bought rock pad greens recently and they worked awesome on my smooth echo rim. Even more awesome after roughing the walls up with a wire brush wheel in the grinder

How is it that so many of the top riders can gap 8+ feet? Anyone who can gap that far can you please tell me if you could gap close to this distance soon after learning a basic lurch or is it something more progressive developing the strength and maybe better technique to do this? I have been riding trials for two years now and can only gap just short of 7ft, and dont seem to be getting any further! I believe my bike has the right setup... 26' A1 (long frame) 18/16 gear ratio and 11.2kg. Once the tecnique is mastered I can only assume it is brute strength pushing bikes across these gaps? Especially after seeing videos of TRA doing heavy weight training! Are all these guys that strong even though they may not look it?