Matt Burrows

Lol I think you're putting a bit too much emphasis on the bike! Years before that video Ed Tongue was a master of front wheel moves as were the Trialskings, all on old skool bikes. I get what you're saying about the Simtra, it's quite long and I don't think i'd enjoy it for my riding style (I like bunnyhops and spins.) But then on the other hand I have a friend who can dirt jump, ride skateparks and even backflip on his 1100mm wheelbase trials bike. Some people can jump on just about any bike and ride well! It makes you realise just how unimportant your equipment is unless you ride at a very high level.

Inspired bars with a 110mm Hope stem is what I use on my 26," feels great for manuals. My head angle is slacker than an Inspired though, so I'd go for a 90-100mm stem if I was you

I'm trying to get into the Marines now, hopefully I am nuts enough Its definitely a good idea to get down to the careers office. If your local office is anything like mine then there will be no pressure if you're undecided, just good and honest advice

As hes bought a Bulb, that is actually the kit he needs. But personally I'd sell the hub on and buy the right one instead, will probably work out cheaper

Yep. Give the brake a good clean and dry first so its easier to spot any leaks. Make sure all the hose connections are tight enough as that can cause leaking.

Only difference is the noodle provided, front has a 90degree and rear has a 135degree i think.

Same, I've been super impressed with mine, has been perfect so far.

But they aren't proper Continentals, they are basic and cheap copies made in the far east with Conti's name on. They may resist punctures, but the compound is rubbish for trials! They don't have black chilli compound, which on the Mountain Kings still isn't very good anyway! (Its an XC compound designed for fast rolling rather than grip) If you want a light continental, I don't see whats wrong with the Rubber Queen? Its grippier than any version of the mountain King and is fairly puncture resistant considering its made from feathers? Well you seem to know what you are talking about so I will keep my eye on mine, but so far so good. I took it off the other day to grind my rim and didn't notice any issues. Infact I don't think I've managed to pinch it yet, although I am getting smoother (or maybe weaker) in my old age

There is a pocket in the lever that can trap air because of the flip-flop design. You need to keep them pointing down at a 45 degree angle when bleeding which makes things a bit tricky. Even when bled perfectly they are still a spongey lever compared to the old one.

If it's anywhere near as tight as it should be, then you will damage it if you try to hammer it out. Mole grips might work if its well greased and not too tight, but again you will probably damage the cups. Is it not worth asking on here for any local riders with the tool? Or even going to your LBS and ask nicely, they might do it for a small fee. Got any friends that work at Halfords? It really is worth doing things properly sometimes. If you damage the cups too much then you will have to throw it away and buy a new BB, false economy at its finest.

People seem to have forgotten the difference between light tyres and good tyres. Most of the XC tyres mentioned in this thread are rubbish for trials, but then you didn't say what sort of riding you do. If you want light and cheap then the tyres are gonna pinch easy and have rubbish grip. I think you must have been unlucky and got a dodgy tyre? What version was it? Four locals including me are using Big Betty with the gooey gluey compound (not that grippy, but the best Schwalbe do) and have had no problems. Infact I know two guys who have used the same tyre for at least a year and they are still fine. Personally, its the lightest tyre I would ever use and I think anything lighter is useless unless your as smooth as Stan Shaw.

I'm glad somebody is using one of those, they do seem to address both issues I talked about. I considered getting one, but it was a bit of an unknown and very expensive at £60. And at the end of the day if you land on it regularly it's still going to break. Again this is only really a big issue if you crash a lot or like to do a lot of rail lines, so it really depends on your riding style

Horizontal dropouts are the only way in my eyes! After switching to horizontal last year for the the first time, I wouldn't want to go back. I've had so much trouble in the past with snapped tensioners and mech hangers. Its great to be able to practice balance lines and hopping onto rails etc without any worry of bike damage. Not to mention it gets rid of any chain wrap issues, and now I have confidence to really crank the pedals on short run ups instead of holding back for fear of slipping. With vertical dropouts you can never quite cure these two problems. With modern 18:15 ratios you can pretty much ignore all fixed tensioners as they won't give enough chain wrap, which leaves you with sprung tensioners. OK so you can get some decent ones that give plenty of tension and are strong enough to take some knocks, but what about the mech hanger? The only tensioners that support the mech hanger are fixed ones, but they will only work with 16t rear cogs or bigger, so you can't use a FFW set-up. Now for a lot of riders there is nothing wrong with a 22t front chainring and a rear freehub. I ran that set-up for years and it never held me back in the slightest. But for top level UCI comps (which is what pushes component trends/development the most) a FFW set-up IS better, and so are horizontal dropouts. There are plenty of disadvantages to horizontal dropouts, which may well outweigh the minor advantages for the average street rider. Hopefully a lot of the disadvantages will be cured in the future. I know lots of people have trouble getting the right tension with snail cams. The Echo TR snail cams have this issue solved in my eye, I've had mine for 6 months and they are so easy to use. The main issue for me with my set-up is tight spots in the chain tension. Hopefully more manufacturers will move to a splined freewheel and cog fitting instead of threads which should help.

If it rides as good as it looks then Rockman may have a winner

Photos don't even do those gurns justice, when you see the pros ride (especially Benito) they pull some rediculous faces on takeoff. Its like there's a direct link between the extremeness of the gurn and the power produced.

You need to use proper cable cutters to give a clean cut. Using sub standard tools for even the simplest of jobs will make things difficult and frustrating. They cost about £20, if you don't want to spend that you could try and find a local rider with some, or go to your LBS and hope that they are a friendly bunch.

You've got an old Kraken, which was originally designed for 100mm travel? Putting anymore then 120-130 will no doubt ruin the handling. It may have been rude for the bike shop to laugh at you but it is a pretty silly idea, like a boy racer putting shiny wheels and a spoiler on a 1.1 Saxo. The main thing is deciding what you want from the bike, and getting it specced to suit with componants that will actually improve the ride and not just the looks.

Koxx days was always run to BIU rules before

That might work actually, if you just wanted to use the bash on threaded cranks with a FFW. The bash might need milling down to fit though, both in terms of thickness and the splined fitting. Plus if you did want to use threaded cranks, you could sell your RS7s with the bash and buy a new one for about the same money... Don't hold your breath! From what I hear, unless Middleburn want to replace all the tooling for the forging process, threaded cranks just won't happen. The current forging process doesn't leave enough metal to machine the threads. Tarty had a proto set but it didn't have many threads, and apparantly they stripped really quickly. As much as I love Middleburns, there are lots of decent alternatives now. I've got try-alls at the moment, which in terms of stiffness and weight they are very close to 'burns

No

I wouldn't say its common, less likely than forks snapping, but it does happen. Do you hook? They stress the front end loads and even things like gaps to front can stress the bike a lot when you have a good front brake

Yep, seen loads go like that. Trials is quite hard on parts, whoever would have thought it?

Its much thinner and makes the brake quicker

That's a really good price for the UST version, even CRC are selling them for £49. The sidewalls are quite a bit thicker compared to the non UST version that Tarty sell and everyone else uses. Feels like it should be more puncture resistant, but obviously is heavier. People looking to buy a RQ to save weight might be a bit disappointed if they bought that model!

no it won't work, but feel free to try it and find out for yourself.