guineasmithpig

If you're going for skate style trainers, pick up some Vans with the waffle sole. The Old Skools are a bit to thin, and hurt my feet when i'm riding. I'm riding TNTs at the moment, but craving for an old pair of Vans Knu Skools!!! By far the best riding trainers I've ever used. Went through three pairs of the buggers riding DH, dirt, street, and trials, with each pair lasting about 2-3 years of ridng almost everyday when i was at high school and college Smithy

uh oh, best add a reply! cool piccies, looked like everyone was havin a ball! why does Ready have to pull silly faces ALL the time?! Smithy

Super Pro Trials 16t bash/sprocket has been out for a while now?

Parcels2Go did me a whole bike to Amsterdam for £30. am guessing a frame would be a bit less. also take it packaged to the Post Office and get a quote. Recorded and insured of course! also make sure its well packed with plenty of bubblewrap. International parcels get a fair beating in my experience! even with couriers Smithy

judging by his response, i'm guessing he has read the thread, and i don't think it was an unreasonable comment to start the post with. no need to have a stab Smithy

all looks like decent starter kit, and for £31 you got a bargain there! i nearly paid that much for a similar sale just to strip the brakes and bars off it! anyways, i'd just look at gettin yourself a 22t bashquard for a little more clearance and better gearing. and fit those spare forks that come with it! they're pretty good. look like the old handsome dog rigids. i ran them on my Koxx for sometime and they were pretty good. the sidekicks on there will make the front too high, and also weigh a ton! as for frames, you can bike up the Base TA26 or Giant Team Trials frames pretty cheap at the moment. and they'd suit the style of componentry better than a UCI style frame give us a shout when you're eyeing up frames and we'll let you know whether its worth the wonga best of luck! Smithy

-Raceface turbines are very stiff. available in square taper, and ISIS -off the top of my head, i think they are a little lighter than Middleburns? forged and CNC construction -they are/were available in usual sizes of 165mm, 170mm, and 175mm. possibly 180mm, but thats not ideally suited for trials -they're comparable in price to Middleburns bought new. but Turbines are out of production now, so you can pick up some bargain ones these days -by 'can you use them on mods?' i'm guessing you mean, are they compatible with front freewheels. if so, then no. but i've never seen them used on mods ever anyways. more the domain of old skool/streety trials riders. though there's no reason you couldn't run them on any bike with a 20t or 22t chainring. i know the thread is about tensiles snapping, but i feel i need to stick up for the Raceface stuff after mindless brand bashing by a bunch of people who seem to know very little about what they are actually commenting on. if you think you know different, give us some facts. if you are puzzled as to why someone is recommending a product you don't think is suitable, then ask for them to back up their points and enlighten you. don't jusy say somethings crap because it isn't sold by a trials specific brand. there's a whole world of kit out there that is just as suitable to individuals needs if they were to look a little outside the box. Magura HS33s started life as the brake of choice for World Cup DH racing about 15 years back Middleburn released the RS range before most of you were born as xc and dh cranks KMC Kools are BMX chains most peoples freewheels were designed for BMX all these parts weren't designed for trials but fit the bill perfectly. then as the designs for other disciplines move on, these parts remain suitable for trials, and so have become thought of as trials specific by many people. if the newer riders among us want advice on 'different' parts, you're best asking some of the old farts on here for opinions as they/we have seen parts tested to destruction and know what works and what doesn't. hell, i remember seeing Deng's Echo prototype frames on biketrials.com some 6 or 7 years ago, and the following 3 variants all snapped. i only saw maybe 3 that ran for more than 12 months! now the guy dominates the market with multiple variants of the same parts, which are all proving to have shunned most other equipment out of the equation when selecting kit. funny how you see the whole market do a turn around over a few years. Smithy

nah. you're just greedy

not sure if Titters was in Dirt? Definitely in Chainspotting though! Jumping off the roof of the hotel into the pool after his bike fell off the back of the van. He wqas royally batered at the time, though so would I be if my Snata Cruz had just taken a 70mph ghost ride! Smithy

eventually. think it took about 2-3 weeks of nagging. but without any stem bolts. contacted him immediately, and was told 'oh, i didn't notice that. will post some in the morning.' 1. How do you not notice theres no bolts in a stem (i KNEW he was hiding something when all 3 pics were from the same side!) 2. Bolts have never been sent. have had the stem a couple of weeks now (though its going on the xc bike which is still awaiting a frame) and never expect to recive any. i should have some spares, but thats not the point really Smithy

Some of the better RST forks are pretty good for the money, or whatever bike they came on. Had some Omega Combo's, with external travel adjust and push-button lockout. Where sound! And the bike looks nice mate. Can't really see anything worth upgrading to be honest! Are they Shimano mech discs? Perhaps look at going to a Mono Mini or Juicy 5 on the rear at some point. And a matching front if you're running both brakes. Smithy

do it! go on an eBay rampage like me. get as much old skool kit as possible. i've built a 2001 dream spec for about £200! (excludes the frame and front wheel which i already had) Smithy

22:18/17/15/14/13/12 only got a 5spd shifter, but ran out of cassette spacers I used to run 22:18 for trials, but have give myself a selection to play around with, as the new old bike is a streety setup, so keeping my options open! Smithy

There's been a few posts about Tom since his sales posts appeared at the end of feb. He needs a wee bit of encouragement to send stuff. Dunno if he's in a bit of dept or something, but when I enquired about my stem not being sent, he said he'd already spent the money I sent him, and hadn't got any to pay for postage. Not the right way to go about business Mr Tom! As soon as payments have cleared, items should be sent before spending any of what you made. If I see him on MSN I'll have a word (though he appears to be offline almost always these days) Smithy

sorry its off topic, but Raceface cranks aren't generally used anymore because there are more trials specific parts are available. go back 4 or 5 years, and Raceface Turbines or Middleburn's were the daddy's! No idea why Middleburn's are still going as 'trials' cranks, though i'm guessing most people on here don't know they're amazing all-rounders, just with a bash guard on for trials. exactly the same concept as the Turbines. middleburn have refined their range over the years to provide freeride cranks (which are 'too heavy' for trials (if you're a fairy)) and xc cranks (which aren't really strong enough). If you ride street on stock, with a conventional 22t ring up front, you could do far worse than pick up a set of Turbines. Like me! will let you all know how crap they are and how soon they snap and the fact they aren't anodised green means they're rubbish for trials anyways, tensile's have a limited warranty. not sure on time period, but unless its an obvious manufacturing fault (which the set in question at the start of thread don't look to have. to just some mega trials abuse!) they will do a replacement set for half price Smithy

got it on video at home somewhere. should give the kiddies on here an idea of where a lot of us have come from! and Part 5 gives a good insight of how far trials has come! gonna find ma box with the vid in over easter. i believe i have Chainspotting, Mud Cows, and Burning Calves in the same box. Smithy

just watched it. loved it! Smithy

yeah, because it wasn't battered to death!? anyways, this is the dream spec from those days, surely? proper Horsey replica! Smithy

get the D900 if you can. Mine's been nice. Can't stand the touch buttons on my cousins E900!

best of luck Bongo! Had my ATFL done using non-evasive surgery. really glad i got it done and did all the rehab properly as per Simon Lord (physio on the forum). It's like a brand new ankle now. Make sure you do the rehab properly, and I'd suggest maybe getting in touch with Simon (pm me for MSN details). He's been doing really well in helping trials riders on the mend, and knows a bit more about the needs of more extreme sports type than the NHS. They suck. The physio I saw at the hospital tried getting me walking, without even checking that everything was ok. Good job Si had already picked up on the ATFL and PTFL being totally seperated, so I could tell her to f*** off! Smithy

Best thing you can do is go round asking places with a bit of private land space if you can use a bit of square footage of that, and sign an insurance waiver. Sorry to sound negative, but trials parks very rarely, if ever, get anywhere near happening. Loads of forum members have pushed for them. But as there isn't specifically designed, EU approved kit available (like there is with bmx ramps for making skateparks) the insurance goes through the roof. Back home a few years ago, me and a number other local riders got as far as council committee meetings. We'd got petitions from local businesses and sports centres and police forces, all giving their approval. We'd knocked up park designs, as asked, and got letters from various suppliers donating obstacles and equipment (ballets, logs, pipes, skips, benches). But when it came to the crunch, the council refused to just put up a sign saying 'Ride here at your own risk' or what not (signs can get nicked or vandalised, leaving them liable), and wanted it fully insured. Which was going to be upwards of £1.5 million. And with that, they could make a dozen kids playgrounds, and insure them. So it was never gonna happen (short of an uber-rich investor). By all means, best of luck if you decide to push for it. But my advice would be, don't even bother starting anything or getting your hopes up! Smithy

use the other hand you'll be ambidextrous by the time the others fixed, and then you can bash away for hours! Smithy

keep a look out for oxford rides in the rides section. and hopefully i'll be meeting up with sam for a lil sesh one night next week (my first trials riding in about 2 years, but sam is mint) Smithy

also worth noting is that adding too much can cause the pads to stick to the rim. not good when you go to pusho off of a 6ft drop! its hell of a lot worse when it's hot as well Smithy

fair play we've seen no proof. and if he is bullcrapping us all, it should be known not to post crap on the forum. but there is absolutely no need to start throwing abusive comments about (i refer to calling him tubby and stuff. yes it was he who admitted to it, but i still view the following comments as unfair abuse). if you're a validated member already, what kind of image are you putting forward of the forum to new members, and what is acceptable behaviour? and if you're a new member, do you think thats the kind of thing the mods wanna see, even in NMC? again, this puts up a bad image, and the lad has probably gone and told everyone he knows what a bunch of knobbers the trials-forum guys are. and if its affected him, then his parents may have found out, and they'll tell other adults, and then trials in general gets a bad rep. cheers guys Smithy