PeterH

What part of western NC? I love it there and if the world cooperates hope to visit a cousin in Boone next summer.

I am doing well Tonkery, and riding about as well as I have in a long time. That is indeed my daughter in the background, what a far cry from OTN this is in that I can put this pic up of her and not fear horrible responses. I think she was just a year or two old the last time we hung out.

Certainly not the UK, but here's a quick edit I made over the weekend in the Pacific Northwest. I was short on time to get clips so they are a lot less polished than I would like, but I think you get the idea of what a wild area it is for trials.

The old Montys had silly little notches cut in them that were stress risers and lead to lots of cracking, eventually the try-alls would do similar things. That said looks like pad contact is a little high, is that a 200 and it should be a 203 or something?

Different setup up but there are enough bar to hangfives in here to keep one busy. The fakie, 360, and skinny version are pretty interesting:

I've definitely lost a couple before and still ran it. Didn't mess things up too much, but in theory there could be a little more slop which would cause slightly faster wear and skipping/failure sooner. It might be too late, but tips I have learned are do freewheel work in a box (shoebox works great) and have a magnet there to catch them. If you have another freewheel that is dead you can steal from it, or the balls should be cheap at a hardware store (if you can go to one these days).

First the on topic part. Grips and pedals are the only rider contact points on a trials bike so they really matter (along with shoes and gloves if you use them). That said grips are a personal preference, some folks like big squishy grips, some like thin hard, some foam, some grip tape, some lock on some regular rubber. What you need to do is try some out. As far as things to change go they are pretty cheap. Try one kind for a bit, then try another. My preferences have changed over time and probably will continue to do so. Now to the less on topic part which aener was getting at. In today's day and age it seems to me lots of newer folks think they need the EXACT right part to be able to ride. I would like to thank the mountain bike marketing world for this philosophy, but it is also human nature. We are gear dorks. So someone posts a thread about "which chain is best for their stem length for 1/4 pedal ups starting on mild uphill approaches?" and get some answers. And then some old timer like myself grouchily says "back in my day we rode bmx motorcycles with seized engines and tires made from old bricks and did just fine thank you very much" which doesn't help either. One thing will help progression more than anything else. Ride your bike. Ride it with the wrong parts, ride it with the right parts. Ride it with a fox, ride it in a box. Just put the time in. Yes you can get all the right stuff and that will help, but not as much as just riding and trying different things and then doing it again.

Mark is right, don't meet your heros/dream frames. I finally got a Crescent and it was perfect, but couldn't hold a candle to a modern bike. Sold it for a loss not that long ago. That said the Bianchi colorway always blew me away And I was fortunate to own one of these (but with real tires) and it rode as good as it looked:

This thread struck a chord with me, but not in the right way. I know this is going to be my first post on here other than a for sale, but here goes. Who cares! We ride trials, the least popular form of cycling ever invented (yes I know its bigger on that side of the Atlantic), non of us will ever live up to the standard set by Danny (or the many greats that came before that I grew up on), but to me at its heart trials is about you doing your thing. Go out and fail over and over again, it is the most basic prerequisite for this silly sport. If others laugh offer them a go on your bike. It takes forever to get good at this stuff and you have to earn it. I actually love having a few spectacular crashes in front of folks, gets the conversations going. Lots of times I will do a pretty big move in front of people and in todays world no one looks up from their phone and doesn't even hear stupid loud brakes with their ear things in, but let me tell you when you explode on the ground in front of someone they might talk to you a little. I know Ali has done a good job talking about mental health and there is more to think about, but I find the opposite as I age, closing on 40 I couldn't care less what some teen on some new app I have never heard of thinks of my riding, I'm out there for me and thats it. Blocking out distractions and focusing are a big part of trials, get after it. If your concern is your ability, guess what, not riding or riding sheepishly sure isn't going to help.