Berrybike

I feel like ive had some kind of ilness with these breaks but not known whats wrong with me. Ive just taken my bike to Evans, where it was scheduled to have the front mounts faced, but the Hope Spot facing tool does not line up with the bold mounts! The bloody disc mount is out of cock, that why! All this time i have been so quick to presume that its all hopes fault, whereas the root cause is a pair of 80 quid echo urban forks, and some back street welding lol! I shall be sorting something out with the warrenty in due course hopefully! But what a bloody mission eh! 2 pairs of discs, a lengthly discussion on here, 5 bleeds and a 15 quid consultation, and ive finally figured out the problem! I think cancer would have been easier to diagnose! Maybe if someone has the same squidgy lever problem, they may read this and find out alot cheaper and quicker than i did!

Ive just been examining the caliper on the disc, and I have come to the conclusion that facing the forks really will make a difference. Its quite difficult to explain my observations but i shall try: For the purposes of this explanation "100% lever" pull is when the lever touches the bar, therefore 50% is half way from relaxed. Imagine that when i pull the lever 30% i feel and see the pads touch the disc, but the pad does not have 100% contact with the disc. If i look closely i can see a slight gap between the left pad and the disc in a diaganal orientation. As I pull to 60% the pad pulls in where the gap is and bites the disc. This movement between 30-60% pull is due to the misalignment of the faces on the fork. Should the faces be perfect, the disc should grab at 30% pull. This is further proven as unequal forces are distrubuted on the left hand pad resulting in quite obvious accelerated ware on one side of the pad. I have also googled the problem and found this review of a tool hope make, called the SPOT. Old link but the tool is still for sale for aproximatley 65 quid. If i cant get this done in my LBS i shall buy one and report back to you guys on the difference it makes (if any). http://biketrials.com/review/2003_Hope_Dis..._Tool_L315.html

I used to work in a bike shop, so ive bled many a pair of hopes before with success. These trials ones just dont seem to be working well at all for me. In response to the previous post, the allen key bolt adjusts the reach of the lever positioning. This does not get to the crux of the problem, which is that the lever is really "spongy". What difference will getting the forks faced make? Ive never done this before. The forks are Echo Urbans, and the caliper fits ok without any need for washers, so does it really require facing? If so, any idea where I can get this done in the North West? Alex

Ive just got the Mono Mini Tials as the standard hope Mini was not powerful enough. I got the bloke in the shop to set it up, but it felt rubbish and spungy, so I got him to re bleed a further 2 times, but no luck, the lever is still really spungy. Been on a few rides now and no signs of improvement. Tonight i spent 3 hours re bleeding 4 times, riding, adding fluid, trying everything to improve the bite of the brake. Even tapping the braided hosing in the hope that some random air bubble rises up through the system. As it stands the lever only really bites hard when the blade is about 1cm from the grip, but when pulled hard, the levr can actually touch the grips. I do do rock climbig and have a strong grip, but i swear this kind of performance is not correct. I went into my LBS today to feel a set of mini's and M4's and the response i get from them is amazing compared to my crap brake! Can anyone help, I love the feel of a tight brake setup. al

Enjoy your night, but gonna give that one a miss, Blackburn is about 40 mile from S Manchester, and I cant deal with rushour traffic!

Im up for it, but where?

BUMP Lets go riding this sunday? URBIS @ 12? Alex

Anyone fancy a ride around Manchester area tonight? Im based in S Manchester, I have a car so I can meet pretty much anywhere within reason. Alex

Hi guys, Ive just been validated so I may as well respond to some of your comments on my new toy! 1.) Cheers for the positive comments, it was a bit of a last minute impulse so im happy with the outcome; 2.) The brake cable is a little on the long side but its tidies up now; 3.) The front hope mono is now changed to a trials mono mini....bit is quite spongy regardless of 3 bleeds (not happy); 4.) The mech was tied back with 3" of gear cable in 4th gear, by passing the nipple through the mech guide and fastning the cable to the fretaining bolt in the position of 4th gear; 5.) This is irrelivant now, as i am running the bike on an 8speed XT RH shifter, however gearing is such that i only use the 12t cog, hence its quite pointless. Im toying with running a monty 22t on the front to achieve an improved range of gearing. As Dan rightly pointed out I ride to work, and travel significant distances to ride spots, so a compromise must be achieved. 6.) Bars work well for me, I have not tried many trials bars so wouldnt know or appreciate the differance. I last did trials 6 years ago, as such much has changed. 7.) Cant think of anything else, let me know if you have any comments. Just need to ride it now, and find some people to ride with in Manchester. Cheers Alex p.s Cheers for the validation, as ive not been here long.

Thanks very much, you answered my question perfectly! Ill be bookmarking that site and getting one as soon as ive paid my ebay fees. Cheers Alex

The reason I would like to go bigger on the front is because then i can use a range of all 8 gears. Thereby using the lower (12-15) ones for cruising to spots, and the higher ones (16-26) for hopping about etc! I appreciate alot of people here ride fixed rear and front free, but this does not suit my riding preferances and want to ride with my gears (due to distances involved to travel to spots) To reiterate, I dont want to run a cassette where i only use one cog. So the option is: upgrade the front sprocket to a 20t or 22t. My question is therefore; What make and model bashring and sprockket (22t) will fit the adament cranks (link outlined in previous post), and where can i purchase this? Alex

Just got my new set up, and im running a 16:12 ratio. I have Adament bashring, with 16t sprocket on the front, with a roadie casette (12-26) on the rear. I think i can actually walk faster than i can ride this thing! What gear ratio will get me to my ride spots without being so tired that i can ride them! I used to ride 22T front chainring with rear roadie cassette, I know i can fit an 18T sprocket onto my Adament crancks, but is there a bashring that will fit on these cranks, and a screw on 22t sprocket avaliable from anywhere? Crancks are: http://www.trials-uk.co.uk/product.aspx?productid=281 Bashring is: http://www.trials-uk.co.uk/product.aspx?productid=47 I nead bigger gearing, my ride spots are just too far apart! Cheers in advance for your help. Alex

We dont have Chav's so much in Manchester, there more "scallies". Thank god there not riding trials- im not even going to attempt a justification! Check out this link of a scally in manchester and youll know what im talking about! al

It would be cheaper for me to fly to spain than drive 253miles down there! Likewise if you like natural come up north!

Nice to see there are Mancs out there! Im living in Northenden at the moment, just past withington. I used to ride street in manchester a while back, and i remember it being very good. I work in town, so would be well up for some after work evening rides. Buxton is not too far from me either, ive done a fair bit of climbing down your end, the Peak district limestone and grit rocks! Id be totally up for a sesh some time, just been out riding for half an hour here in northenden and already got my bike perved on by scallies dressd in black nike caps! And i cant pedal that fast enough to outrun them using a 16t chainring haha! Safety in numbers i say, although city centre is fine! If you have MSN messenger, feel free to add me, its"berrybike@hotmail.com" Oh and since you asked, i have a Zoo Pitbull. I collected it today from Dan the Man at Trials UK in Cheltnham! That man rocks! Its thouroughly pimped up....pictures to follow. I did have a Giant team frame which i was going to build up, but when i went to trials uk today, the 46mm Viz rim on CK didnt fit, so i ended up buying a new frame forks and crancks. Im quite skint now! Alex

First off, Hello! Its my first post on here despite mooching round the forum for hints, tips and advice over the last couple of weeks. Ive got to hand it to all the contributers that there is wealth of quality info out there, so cheers for all your time in writing on here! Primaraly im writing to see if there are any people who ride in trials in Manchester, having been out ofthe scene for about 6 years now, ive decided its time to get back involved. I used to ride the Pace RC250 trials bike in silver, the chris akrigg one.....untill the rubbish thing snapped! I have just got a new bike and now its time to start again, not getting usd to the lack of saddle but i sure am getting it all back! I appreciate alot has changed over the last 6 years, so im looking for some local manc riders to show me whats what in the new world of trials. Look foreward to hearing from anyone! Alex