Sponge

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Me and Hodges will be there! Pray that trains are running....

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Hehe, this set up would be stronger : XTP II / Triton Sponge frame Pit Fighter II post 24 cockring clamp Try-All Street undrilled rim Koxx Reinforced cranks Odyssey JCs (pedals are endless ) Koxx Reinforced hub But that's way too hardcore. You lurrrve your light and minimalist bits Pete

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Set your pads out further?... Or if they're too chunky, just drag your brake down a hill to wear them down a bit?

Ah the original Echo Lite, I used to 'have' one a long time ago, never used it and sold it on. But they are so much nicer than the horrid new 2008 hs33 Lites... too damn cramped and the dropouts look like full-size battleships.

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Watched the first vid, is that Marco Groesnik (sp?) on the Hydroxx? He simply floats. The skatepark scenes are very impressive, and the bunnys up stairs are very impressive, I doubt most BMXers could even do that, even though it's more their thing? Sidehops were awesome, no real tuck at all, and I some of them looked bigger than what Damon were sidehopping, perhaps it's just the angle. But yeah, dead impressed, with so much fluidity and style. Awesome stuff, i'll watch the 2nd vid later on

Reminds me of when i first got my short 05 python. Wonky funny coloured bits off an Onza that made it look like a rainbow. Looks fine, you have a firm base for upgrading on now though

Known about this for a while, but postage from USA just kills its worth.

its all personal preference. 07 rides different to 06 for sure. But a lot of 06's have broken . Craig, Abdab and Biff, just to name 3, have killed them. The chainstays have been bent on one of them too. Just a few examples: 04 and 05 ones were way stronger. Early days were the glory days. Can't wait for 2008 zoos! coming sometime next month according to Deng

Thanks dude, , i've been waiting for this. Will edit once watched.

I'm going to china this year. the shopkeeper of the trials shop in my gran's town knows deng and yao zhi personally, shame we are several thousand miles apart. There is one part of china, i think Guangzhou..? it's where zhi is headquartered, and tons of riders are around there, maybe i can go there, convince the family to go there perhaps... Anyone know where the Echo factory is based? or what city in china deng lives in?

It has hasn't it? Meh, here's mine anyways.

As I said on MSN, but i'll repeat it here. Things have changed so much. I first started riding back in late 04, my first group ride was a London one, where I could barely even hop. But they were still the best times. Socially speaking, they were so enjoyable, I mean the atmosphere in London rides is totally, totally different. Back then, riders from all over used to flock to London to ride, and the majority were really awesome people. That's when I first met people like Chai, Hardman brothers, Matt Staples, Ben Cox, Stephen Morris, Adrian Jordan, just to name a few off the top of my head. I remember my first ride well, and I wish things could go back to the way things were. Things were chilled, and none of that overkill TGS-2007/8 stuff. As for components, lots of come and gone. I must say I preferred Deng's smaller but neater range back when I first knew about trials bikes. The beginnings of the CNC rims, the first few prototype shots of the 'revolutionary' 2005 python without a bashplate which stirred up much controversy on all the forums. mmm, those were the days. I'll send Deng some emails about old parts. To be honest, it'd be so much better if he concentrated his energy into doing this for example: -in terms of headsets, don't make 5 brand versions in colours, just release ONE super high-quality and well-thought out headset under the main Echo brand. We're talking Tensile Ace headset-esque quality and research. Just like a nice clean black headset by Echo with top-grade quality and materials, maybe CNC'd scoops around the cups to give a nice finish, but yeah that'd be heaps better than pouring the money into 5-brand headsets which are all identical in performance. Quality rather than quanitity please. If you appreciated the simplicity and subtle quality of the older components, then do email him as well. The more emails the better. Do you remember how outrage from OTN pretty much FORCED Deng into bringing back 135mm stock frames instead of having just 116mm modstocks for 07? Pressure has worked in the past, and it sure can do now.

So true, he told me exactly that too. There are massive differences between the old zoo bars and the new ones, same with the Echo tyres, which he claims are the same too. He also complains that he isn't doing CNCing anymore for the rims because it doesn't reduce as much weight as drilling according to him, and he wants to keep wide rims which is fair enough. To be honest, i'd rather he'd CNC the rims and keep them wide at the same time. All this coloured nonsense spread across 23 brands is a bit ridiculous to be honest,

Upload it to the forum's Trialstube then. They offer a download option

Awesome! thanks very much do you have the full downloadable version though? could you upload it to tv.isg or eengoedidee so we can download it? thanks

Deng can be a right goon about these things. Fixing things that aren't broken, metaphorically speaking Example: his 08 Echo Lite frames (magura, super low standover) are horrendously ugly compared to the 06 and 07 Lites for starters, but also the rear dropouts are angled so the wheel clamping is awkward and doesn't hold all that tight (Echo rear hub, this is), it's a huge problem on Chai's bike for one. Same for GU, the 06 frames were fine, and the 07 ones were very very neat indeed (smoothed off welds), and now the 08 line looks so overdone and the weld quality is highly criticisable. Sure, it's the ride that matters, but aesthetics and build quality is important too. Then we go on to his Zoo 07 frames... simply, 'What a shame'. They ride stale compared to previous years, look nearly identical to all of Deng's other frames, horrid geometry. I hope deng fixes what he messed up in 07. Something tells me going back into a time machine to take back all of Deng's 04/05 parts would be a great idea. So much popular stuff from back then -Zoo mod stem -Echo CNC rims -original Echo Team stem geo -Zoo pads -white stripe Supatrial tyres -04 python frames -04/05 pure frames -old silver Echo cranks with steel/brass thread -original geo Zoo bars -the list goes on. Perhaps I could copy and paste that into an email to Deng. Feel free to do so, and perhaps we'll see rider-inspired changes to his 08 range. EMAIL: Deng@Echobike.com

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Not from what he said Bike looks fine, I'm not a huge fan of the new 2008 DOB frames, i much preferred the older ones that looked like the Neon frames. But how it rides is what counts!

yeah someone must have the 06 pics? from that old topic craig made?

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