stirlingpowers

Got to resurrect the thread: My XT rear caliper started leaking after half a year of light pensioner use and room temperature storage. Also has a really loud knock that never got better, so I want something else. Mr. Clarkson@Ali C recently said that the Lewis is silent. What about the Avid, is it silent?

If this refers to gapping: Some say that it's about moving forward and upward, not kicking the drivetrain. I improved my width a lot when I made that change decades ago. Friend of mine (>300 cm, unlike my measly hops) says that he only adjusts the pedal position forward during the jump, to retain a good platform to push against. Squatting on the rear wheel also helped me.

Pressing the front tire against something fixed, then steer. Standing really steep, or with an obstacle wedged between the wheels or even hooking makes it a lot easier, to the point where you can do it on flat walls. Put the front wheel on a wall of 30 to 70 cm, wheels straight, use the front brake to stop again when you roll forward, back brake open. Stand straight but relaxed, and correct your balance by steering a little.

I enjoyed watching that, really good battle.

> 7 weeks So it's the sitting, not the biking? Other than that, I can only advise to actively relax on the bike and get more range. Makes movements more fluid and impacts soft.

When I still rode single speed, I just cleaned the factory-lubricated chain with a dry cloth, and ran it mostly dry.

I appreciate the Shin Dig work for the sport very much, watched several of their world cup streams already. Regarding popularity and sponsor moneys, Trials can not leave its niche without regular-looking MTBs, riders pedaling normally in the sections, doing bunny hops and rolling gaps.

That helps, a lot. THANK YOU! So your effective stack should be slightly above 710 mm. With this abomination https://www.ergotec.de/en/products/vorbauten/sub/ahead-vorbau/produkt/high-charisma-31-8.html, I have 720 mm, but I can lower to 710. Feels a lot better than the 680 I previously had.

I feel every centimeter in effective stack, a lot. Once you can back hop somewhat, have a go on a modern comp bike, those with the really flat long handlebar stem combos. It's astonishing what you can do on the backwheel on them. I once struggled going over ten small wooden posts set up in a circle. I switched to a friend's comp bike, immediately nailed it, and with ease. On the other hand, these bikes are painful to bunnyhop, at least if you don't want to land on the front wheel somewhere high up. It's a combination of reach & stack, of course, but stack is certainly doing its part in the different feel.

All true, but I want to decide on the stem for a given frame and fork. It feels too low for me now, but I don't know much about street riding, I'd rather learn with the tried & tested geometry. If you measure, could you tell me whether it's the Hex of https://youtu.be/watch?v=JouWWKuBNbw? That would help nailing down the stack to a centimeter.

Sidehop preload: Does your bottom move slightly to the obstacle side while you crouch for preload? Can you drop down to touch the rear tire with your bottom, hold it for a moment, and go up again, without struggling for balance? Bunnyhop preload: Bend your arms and knees, go forward over the bars a bit to preload your shoulders, then push the handlebars down by straightening your arms and yourself back with your shoulder muscles. You should feel some pressure against the handlebars and your shoulder muscles working. Simultaneously lower your bottom a bit over the rear tire, to preload for the main jump towards the bars. In your mind, you want to make a 6 to 8 or 9 o'clock quarter circle with your front wheel, and a 12 to 2 or 3 circle with your bottom. Try to not straighten your limbs fully, and try to keep your body flexible, don't stiff up, just feel a bit of "spring tensioning" during preloading. Bending the knees more before going backwards softens the movement, you need less momentum from the arms, and you can better correct lateral imbalance with your knees while going back.

Second that. 20 Euro pallets are a very good investment for learning.

I got me the Shimano XT Trekking variant levers BL-T8100, they are modern and don't have the Servowave, so no wandering bite point. I have not much experience with disc brakes, only ran some Hopes a decade ago, but they feel OK for me, immediately got some stoppie success. I tried a Servowave XT MT7 Shigura in a shop, Trekking XT has way less flex.

Effective stack = vertical distance hands to feet, or in other words: bar end height - BB height I get values of 680 to 750 mm filling in the manufacturers' missing values, but that's a bit vague. https://madscientistmtb.com/bike-geometry-compare/ says approximately 735 mm for a Hex Team. Unfortunately, I can't get my hands on a bike where I live. Thanks in advance, and I will post several cat pictures as compensation.

I'd like to try that combo of 20" + 180? mm stem + high rise bars. Should give a nice hang-in feeling for manuals. Up-to-fronts might require lifting the handlebar right up to the chin, though. That rodent in the pic surely would be happy about a little patch of grass plate in there, BTW. Anyways, Jitsie comp bikes seem to be the best in value for money nowadays.