Matt Burrows

A sensible idea, but the 2.2" UST doesn't have the black chilli compound. Its made in the far east and will be no grippier than your average XC tyre. Also the weight is listed as 1000g on Contis website! I think you just have to accept that a rear stock tyre can only be so light before the performance drops significantly, and 850g is already pushing it to the limit in my eyes!

Like others have said, learning on a sloped wall or pallets is the first step. Its alot easier than hooking a vertical wall and shouldn't be too hard to learn. I think it took me at least a year to go from hooking pallets to hooking vertical walls, although bikes ride a bit better now than they did then!

It doesn't have the Apex reinforced sidewall like the 2.4" does. It's lightweight for a reason, it will be unstable and extremely easy to puncture. What tyre are you using now? Maybe try losing some wheel weight instead or get the 2.4" RQ if you don't use it already.

Seriously?! Haha this guy has to be the coolest trials rider ever, ultimate respect!

Yeah I saw that on the Tarty blog, easily the biggest rail lines I've ever seen! I was shocked to see those forks survive a hook, and then laughed when they snapped at the end. Sus forks really aren't built for hooks! But yeah I loved the guys style, one of the most interesting riders I've seen in a long time

If its set up perfectly square and its still spongey, then you have some air in the system. If its just pulling to the bar because of lever flex then try bleeding it with the pistons slightly out (1 or 2mm each side should do it).

What bash and BB is it? You can usually mount half bashes inbetween the frame and BB. Doesn't give quite as much protection as a bash on the cranks but is a lot better than nothing!

Not sure on the Al mighty, but me and most people I know have switched to Big Betty for street. Its nearest rival is the Rubber Queen. Compared to which it is not as grippy (definitely not as grippy as a maxxis). But it does have a thicker and more uniform carcass, its more resistant to punctures and stable at low pressures. Coupled with which it is THE bounciest tyre I have ever used. Even at high pressure it is good, but at low pressure it is rediculous and does actually make you go higher/further. If you love the way a Rubber Queen rides but find them too flimsy and easy to puncture then Big Betty is a good choice. Plus being slightly smaller it will actually fit in your frame without rubbing! Don't even bother on natural though as the decrease in grip is much more noticable than when riding street.

Shocked at how low your labour rates are! We charge £32-40 for a wheel build where I work, and I think thats pretty good value. We could charge more and probably not lose any custom. Granted we do sometimes discount that, if a customer was spending over £200 on parts we might do it for free, but most people are happy to pay the full rate.

Yeah they're both good, SLX is the more proven and is only a few pounds more

Shimano cassettes shift great, and the Hg-61 is light for the money. As light as a sram pg-970. SLX rear mech is good, if you want to save some money the new deore shadow mech shifts just as well. As for chains, Sram PC-951 or 971 if you have the cash

Aww you guys I'm not sure i'm old school anymore, just old now

It's Kranked 8, noob . There was a version circling with the song 'Shiny Toy Guns - Ghost Town' over the top, that was even better. But yeah if you like that then buy the DVD its really good

Dot 5 is not the same as Dot 5.1! Hope brakes use 4 or 5.1 like Ryan said. 5.1 is the higher grade, with higher boiling point which helps when coming down the side of a mountain. For trials it won't matter what you use between the two, it won't make any difference to lever feel

They have a terrible reputation for being weak, although I don't think they are anywhere near as bad as people make out. I built one up which lasted for 9 months or more last year and it didn't seem any worse than a DX32. Just shows how much difference a good wheelbuild makes

Why, because a powerful and sketchy TGS rider who crashes a lot snapped a set of bars? To answer the original question, you really need to be more specific! There are so many factors to a components strength, but the biggest thing is buying the right parts for the right style/rider. I know riders who use light comp frames for a whole season without issue. Frames which my fat arse would probably break in a few months, and which would probably last a TGS basher a matter of weeks... Lightweight parts are definitely more popular than a few years ago though, and it is harder to get really strong parts if you need them.

Hermance tapped 58" in one of Andy T's american vids, that was 4 years ago now! I'm pretty sure Hermance believed his taps weren't very good at the time because the Coust bros could go bigger... The pic below is from august 2008. That was Hermance getting in some practice after being at the gym for a few hours, and he cruised it! Not sure exactly how big it was, but I didn't think I could hook which makes it around 60+"

Sounds like rubbish to me, Trialtechs are stronger than some other bars out there! Looking at the bars that Tarty sell, I'd say the only stronger bars would be either Inspired or maybe Renthal. 7075 aluminium is the strongest material used for trials bars, and all decent bars will use a similar design with a triple butted profile. There will be small differences in wall thickness and obviously shape/width which will account for the different weights. What I'm saying is because bars are so simple the weight is a good guide to the potential strength, if they are the same material and width. Take for instance Viz bars (10% lighter) and Echo SLs (20% lighter), I'd be very surprised if these were as strong as Trialtechs... For the record my Trialtech bars snapped after 6 months, but I am a hard rider with a history of snapping bars. The only bars that have lasted me were heavy DH bars or '05 zoo bars (over 2 years without failure, they weighed about 330g). I've now switched to Inspired bars which are a bit heavier than Trialtechs, no problems so far. I made a topic about them which you can read here

Pretty beasty riding from you both! What Adamant is that? I like the style and no fear approach. Where are you living?

Almost all modern MTB chainsets (including raceface) use the 4 arm compact design, which is 64mm inner ring and 104mm middle/outer ring. 5 arm is an old design now which hasn't been used for many years. Standard 5 arm is 110/74mm and compact is 94/58mm. Check out Sheldon Brown for more info.

Yeah, completely agree. If its leaking from the bleed bolt then put some plumbing tape around the thread. Its a common problem with a rediculously easy fix, hardly takes a genius to solve

I spent a lot of time researching iPod headunits, my biggest concern was being able to find music quickly. I was fed up of CDs and the difficulty that comes with changing them, and wanted a safer option, After a while it became clear that only 2 units answer the issues raised above, and these are both Alpine units with the CD player removed. You can search though lists one by one like normal, you can search by letter of the alphabet, or just simply jump through your artists/albums 10% at a time. See for a quick video guide. That model (x305) is £250 and quite flashy, they do cheaper versions (x313 or x311) without the fancy screen for about £150. Works with iPhone and charges as well. I was in the same boat as you and didn't wan't anything too flash, but ended up going for the expensive version for ease of searching. Its nice to have 5 artists/albums displayed in the list when searching, makes things easier See above! I have about 40gb of music on my iPod, 300+ artists and its easy to find the song I want on the move

I've been caught 3 times in as many months since converting to FFW for the first time ever, and that's with a full bashring (Echo Urban). I just tuck the inside half of my jeans into my sock, outer half stays outside and looks fine.

This thread will make me feel old, I remember when that was released! Mine is a bit of classic UB40 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg1iEBWxVeQ