LEON

I think Travis beats everyone.

You can snap any caliper if you use a weak adapter, or the wrong washers, even having rock hard tyres will contribute to it. In my 5 or 6 years on a 24" I never broke a single caliper, and that was always a 203mm rear rotor. Always used the fattest adapters and nice wide washers.

Which Saint though? The M820 were supposed to have much weaker calipers than the M810, also, show us what adapter you're using, I bet it's a skinny one!

That'll look excellent, I just don't have anywhere near the patience needed for that.

Head angle is horrendous on Zeros, the longer you go, the more of a chopper it becomes. Go as short and straight as you can. Didn't matter too much 20 years ago as no one did front wheel moves, I went back and rode one about 15 years ago and fell violently ill. I can't imagine how they feel now that geometry is a recognised factor. It'll be fun, just don't expect ANY front wheel stuff. Also the tyre clearance is terrible, I'm not sure how Brettoll has fitted what he's got in there (in the first pic) but I'm pretty sure that won't work.

Ben Walsh has Plazmatics................................................................................................................................................................................................. That's what I use, and that's on a bubbly Trialtech rim surface, they'll be even grippier on a proper smooth rim. Never used Heatsink but Tarty recommends them for a medium grind.

Is it really worth it? They don't look bad at all. The boosters all look like crap but it's not like you can use them on modern frames anyway.

I bought these, they're excellent. Feels better than a Larsen to me.

Disc levers won't work. Your lever needs no mod, that's for the 05> version.

Fattys are iconic and all that, but in hindsight, 20 years on they have a big offset, which is not what you want when you're trying to make a trials bike ride well, the offset didn't seem entirely consistent, I had one white pair that seemed really straight, but maybe they were actually bent backwards? Who knows, but just look at pics of Pashleys from that era as a guide, as long as you don't try and give it a Hex front end you'll be be ok.

Short, but also a small offset, good luck!

Yeah it's a shame how fragile the adjusters are, you can only try and find used ones. Whenever I get one I wire wool the threads and grease them up, if it has any excuse to snap it will. Surely someone out there can make a small batch of aftermarket ones?

The '98>'04 you have is the best lever, needed no mods, you could have the lever a good distance from the bar unlike the '05, which also snapped if you didn't cut part of it off, the levers since then are almost good enough to be used as toilet paper.

My steerer cutting is very novice and half arsed, I cut down my threaded steel Marino steerer with a hacksaw, expecting to lose the thread, somehow it worked, so it can be done.

Yeah I did see that ta, I had a really nice build a couple of years ago but bikes have moved on so much I just couldn't get into it. The long stays were the main thing. They're one of the best frames from back in the day though.

I've seen a Pashley 26MHZ with essentially an Arcade front end, I can't imagine how badly that rides. A Hex bb is virtually 30mm higher, the standard back then was Fattys, 90 x 10 stem and 2" double walls, that's basically what gets the best out of a 20 year old frame, give or take a small amount.

Probably my two best bikes ever, can't decide.

Nice! My best Zebdi ever had short forks like that. Most people who are building up old retro frames are treating the front end like a Hex, it's not a Hex, it'll never ride like one, bikes like this need the short forks they were built for, usually low/short stems but that can depend on height etc. My most recent one rode like crap with Inspired forks on.

Very nice, sold one very similar a couple.of yeats ago, same colour. What's the bb height and chainstay length? I remember those being about 393mm.

Yea I thought that, sounds like absolute shit on anything but full lock. Google says Hope and Shimano rotors are both 1.80mm new so I should be ok. Cheers.

Also, what other brands are best with a Hope Tech Trial brake? Thickness etc.

Got this on the front, any kind of stoppie or dragging the brake results in a horrible grinding noise. Got Trialtech pads and power is no problem but is the amount of sheer surface area missing from this rotor causing all the noise? Never had an issue on any other rotor.

I heard that, but I also heard a few stories of the pads coming away from the backings. But yeah, when I was testing the plazmatics the other day it started to rain lightly, brake was instantly gone lol.

It's not strictly smooth...it has a pimply braking surface which does hold tar well but a perfectly smooth finish would actually be better. I use Koolstops in metal backings, but I just got some Plazmatics, they're really sticky but I don't know how long they'll last. The disappointing thing about the rim his how pads flex the braking surface inwards, it's quite noticeable. In general just use softer pads for smooth rims.

Chain and sprocket the same chain pitch? There's 1/32, 1/8 and a couple of others, I bought a ss sprocket once which was one of the others, it was incompatible with the chain, it had really tall teeth. Is it a worn sprocket and a new chain? Clears the tensioner at all points?