guineasmithpig

cool. cheers guys! thats somethin to think about then still wish i had £75 for a pair o octopus' :lol: might give the conti a rinse smithy

sorry, but that title is reserved for the octopus. ultimo tyre. hehe smithy

i'm pretty set on gettin a super tacky 2.5 minion for the rear, but just wanted to know peeps opinions on front tyres. whats a good un for wet street surfaces? had my eye on maxxis bling bling or high roller, but am open to suggestions, preferably sub £25 and sub 900g marks. and experiences please! not ' that looks nice' or 'my mates 2nd cousin twice removed might have one but i'm not sure'. keep it real guys not used anythin other than my octopus for a couple o years, but can't afford £37 for a front tyre! smithy

don't they normally braze Ti frames? also, some o the stuff i read on tinterweb tonight suggests that Ti is usually reserved for road a cyclocross bikes, because high impacts and stress cause major fatigue in Ti tubes. is this true of all Ti tubes? or just the 3/4 grades they generally use for such applications? some even say they don't do large frames in SL (superlight) versions, because the extra weight associated with larger riders induces much more flex and strain on tubes, which could be detrimental to the life of the frame! so how dya make a trials frame strong enough, yet still reap the lightweight benefits of the material? surely the tubes have to be a fair thicker gauge? so really, the question is, does the benefit/cost ratio outweigh that of aluminium alloys? smithy

as in ductile? why would you want a bike frame to bend easily!? during forming its good, but then heat treatment is required to harden/stiffen it up again. as far as i'm aware, titanium, in treated 'useable' form is very hard, and therefore brittle. is this the case with tubing for frames as well? smithy

lucky git i snapped a bb in may off a 7ft drop. put me out for bout 4 moths gettin me ankle sorted out. just ridin again now (or tryin to). i kinda went off doin big drops a while back. far to damaging to both ur bike and ur health. good effort though smithy

i've got a mk1 levelboss. how old is that now? still goin strong. don't see the point in buyin a new frame unless you snap one. and if it snaps in 18 months, sounds like a pretty crappy frame to me (unless its taken some major abuse) anyways, what properties of titanium makes it worth the expenditure for a trials frame? and i mean apart from being light. does it outweigh the benefits of aluminium alloys in many areas? smithy

if u ride puerly street, i'd recommend stickin to ur giant. i had one before i had my levelboss, and though i can touch higher n stuff, i miss bein able to bunny hop everythin. i know a lot o guys can bunnyhop longer bikes, but i 'm considerin buildin ma giant again, just to see how it compares now that my 'pure' trials skills have developed. giants rule if u want a nice light street bike smithy

erm, y do u need to remove the axle to tap it? i just lay the wheel down on a vice with the bottom end of the axle held in the jaws. easy as pie. as for takin it out, just remove the freehub assembly, and bang it out from the non-drive side. but u shudn't need to, just to tap the axle smithy

as he said ^^^ ask hope to make u a 203mm rotor with 'I have the most beasty brake in the world' machined round the brake surface, and roberts ur dads brother. on the subject of big brakes, anyone looked into whether anythin bigger than 8in is impractical for trials? (and no penis puns, thanks very much!) not that it needs anymore power, just wondering how bonkers a 10in rotor would look! hehe. would it still work, or do u start adding more flex and masses of weight for no performance gain at that sort of size? smithy

avid mechanical with 203mm disc. may i recommend using an SD... (single digit) lever also, as these have adjustment to set the ferocity of the disc, making them almost infinitely adjustable for modulation and power (which is supplied in abundance with the 203mm!) just make sure u got some strong-ass forks! love my avid to bits. just hope it doesn't tear my fattys in half again! smithy

i have my student home contents insurance with Endsleigh, but they won't cover my bike, which is stored in my bedroom. And to insure it seperately will cost a new lock of specified requirements (min £80!!!!) and then still quoted £195 a year for insurance cover!? anyone know of a company that'll insure for theft, upto £1500 in or out of house, for a reasonable amount? smithy

i take my bike on the train ALL the time. u can get a reservation ticket upto about 10mins before the train arrives, but best to get it about a day in advance (i think virgin are changing there rules). anyways, the reservation has never cost me anything, provides no extra hassle, and then ur bike is guaranteed on the train. and if anyone has filled the bike area with luggage, tell the train manager to f**k em off! hehe. just remember, if u don't have a reservation, and someone else needs the space YOU WILL BE KICKED OFF THE TRAIN! no matter where you are, you have to make way for other cycle users with reservations, and train manager won't (usually) let more than 4 bikes on (max. racking space). having said that, i got on a virgin pendalino (posh first and business class train) without a reservation once. managed to blag my bike into the catering area for the first class passengers, and get a first class seat, dressed in all my sweaty bike gear! thats about £50 worth of blaggage, i think. maybe my record to date...... smithy

anyone else gettin fed up with this topic being repeated over and over? its like smokin. everyone knows its bad and it might/will kill you, but people will always smoke, regardless. and so it goes that EVERYONE knows you SHOULD wear a helmet, because falling off and smashing ur head is a lot more fun with one on (still not a great laugh though) i wouldn't like to say peeps who ride without helmets need a good stack on to their head and a hefty concussion for their troubles. but it seems it might be the only way to change their minds (hopefully not in a negative way). but meh, i've always worn a helmet, no matter what. even riding to work/uni. have stacked heavily on numerous occassions, resulting in being KO'd twice and a concussion. seen people seriously injured due to crashing without a helmet. my cousins been hit by a car twice, both times his head was saved by his helmet. but all the warnings in the world won't make some people change their minds. to conclude, my only hope is that we don't see a post on this forum one day, paying tribute to a fellow rider, who dies from head injuries due to lack of adequate head protection. amen

get an avid (Y) what happened to the love of avids neway? people get pissed off with em poppin apart? smithy

oh yeah, can see it now; 'old black zoo bars. wanting swap for nice shiny sexy colourful ones. you pay P&P' hehe. just use the black uns dude. they'll be retro cool now! colour does jack sh*t for ur bike. obviously if they were an odd colour n looked totally gash, u'd have a point. but as sed before, black goes with everything! smithy

i maybe wrong, but i don't think they've fitted all the coping (well, angle iron anyways) so grinding some of the ledges will wreck the concrete. if any o the locals could keep us posted on this, would be good. i'll re-post when i know more. as far as i gather, its awesome. especially for people who live close! not so many kickers n stuff, but good for a days worth o riding. my mates (BMX/skaters) have been goin there all weekend every week since it opened! and evenings, as its fully flood lit. smithy

he's in bacon mobile OE52 TLO. proper hard man he was! usin his big words, then speedin off because he realised how macho peddy is! smithy

bb shells and bb's are in standardised sizes. ie, you can get any bb for any frame as long as you can get the correct shell and axle widths. same goes for ISIS system. any cranks fit any bb axle. the only problem with echo bb's and they're outboard bearing cups is that you can't run a front freewheel, due to the cups stickin out from the frame too far. this seems a bit strange to me, as a lot of echo's prospective customers run front freewheels. odd to say the least (Y) also, out of interest, could anyone shed any light on the exact benefits of outboard bearings in bbs? just checked tarty bikes, n all the benefits are there. lookin swish. smithy

aye. he looked like a 7ft tall clown on one o them mini bikes when he came to oxford

yeah, whats the deal with these 'mech hanger savers'? their whole point in life is to bend, to save your frame and mech. i know its and arse if u bend ur mech when u bend the hanger, but the idea is that the hanger goes first, which it usually does. the hanger savers are ok for little knocks, but i wouldn't wanna see the results of a proper heavey slam. tear the end off your QR or axle at best! i like your idea for these little 'get home' devices, but it'd be easier to carry a spare mech hanger, as you'd have to buy one after anyway. why spend, say a quid on one o these, when you gotta spend a fiver or more on a new mech hanger anyways? why not just buy a spare hanger in the first place? smithy

ok, beaten into submission. wish i'd never opened me gob now! haha. wait til y'all see ma 20T front freewheel with 13 bazillion EPs!!!! to quote phil williams: 'f**kin stupid monkey bikes!' smithy

send me some then :lol: one o them bb's would look well swish with ma new cranks (Y) smithy xxx

sorry mark, meant rear freewheel, as in a dinky ACS on the back (Y) not a new cassette type hub and i figured, if the guy is lookin at nearly £60 for a bb, then maybe he's after lightweight and price int so much an issue? ah well, just my penny in the pot

why not go fixed cog front, with a rear freewheel? not really gaining any weight. if anythin, probs save some by usin a smaller rear freewheel, and using the echo bb. oh, and they look pwetty in there shiny, anodised lovelyness (Y) smiff