F-Stop Junkie

Here enter'th the problem. People know what trials is, they know Hans Rey and Martyn Ashton. The problem is that 'proper' trials is at such a high level that people can't equate riding over a small log with trials where they see people hop onto postboxes. Equally competitions don't cater for people on normal bikes, so people don't enter on them, so competitions don't cater for them... A lot of people use trials skills, they just don't realise. To be a good trials riders though takes a lot of time, effort, patience and specialist equipment. Same way as some flatland BMX tricks can be done on any BMX, but to be good at flat land takes many, many, *many* hours of practise. Between cheaper and cheaper trials bikes/parts and the amount of Internet resources, all we need is a magazine to give good quality coverage pitched at normal riders, and we're good to go.

Don't forget, this isn't about old school videos, riding or bikes, but about *fun*....

That would be a lot of dusting

I'd be happy to judge along with my follow mods, SMs and admins. I think that the old videos had a lot of riders being inventive, editors who were being inventive, and not making things too long because we'd happily leave the PC running all night to try and get the 25MB spectacular that was in danger of turning the modem into a smoking heap. I don't think it's suprising that the same names keep coming up again and again with videos... James Hyland, Jonny Jones, even the old Adam Read ones... We live in an it_will_do culture, especially on-line. Horrible pirate copies of films off cinema screens, camera phone pictures that sort of look like something described in the text if you squint a bit, and videos that feature the move. Look, here it is, here's the move. No context, no feel, just The Move. As Jenny put it so eloquently, no one can edit for shit, because few take pride in the editing. The editing is there to cut out the crap and slap some music on the top. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong... Riding footage is the raw material. It's the difference between a few odd planks of wood nailed together that you can sit on, and a well crafted chair. Dammit, now I want to enter this competition! Can anyone lend me a camera? And help me edit it? I'll give you a producer credit, and co-edited by credit

You can buy Chainspotting on DVD, as well as a single Tricks n Stunts/Bi-King disc. The second one also has a fun "When Martyn Met Lance" featurette from the old Chilli show. Short of getting Getta Grip, that'd be the most complete Ashton record from back in the day... Martyn Ashton - Should be the first inductee to the UK Trials Hall of Fame.

Thanks Fred Heck, I'd visit a shop that had a bashring I'd never seen before in real life. The scene is much, much bigger than anyone could have imaged back in '96, let alone in the MBUK heyday of 2000ish. I think with it has brought a lot of variety in riding styles. Some are strictly comp - like Ben Savage - while others are really innovative street riders like John Shrewsbury or Tim Stedman. There's a lot of grey in between, but I see where OBM is coming from in that a lot of riders fall into the TGS group, measuring inches and 'tuckage' (urgh...). They should go to a skate park, do a natural comp, get back to what trials is about and find some individuality. Heck, if they do a comp, they might possibly enjoy it!

Imagine if Bike magazine had cover to cover trials coverage, instead of the occasional half page in Dirt Rag. Of course more people would get into trials. At the same time though, you need riders (or companies who promote riders) who are clever and keen enough to promote themselves. Hans Rey is the perfect example of this. You need riders who are out there, supported by media (online, print, video...) who can reinforce the trials message to the public. This is doubley difficult in the US, where a lot of the big magazines demand advertising spend before they'll feature your products. Trials is a very small sport. Cannondale never put a specific trials frame into production because the costs of machine testing and certification, design, production and distribution couldn't be recovered through the number of frames they expected to sell. This probably tells you something about how many of each model they expect to sell, and the lifespan of the frame. The other problem with Internet forums is that fashions can turn very quickly. Imagine all the shops buying in cheap, short cage road mechs to sell to trials riders when they all suddenly want specific tensioners? Plus a lot of trials suppliers are smaller companies who don't operate through the big suppliers and wholesalers most shops use. As a result, Mr Shopkeeper has to contact a number of small companies, set up accounts, pay bills up front... Do many want that hassle for the sake of a couple of riders spending a couple of hundred quid? Also how many bike shops have the knowledge to support trials riders properly? Not many, unless they have a bouncing spanner monkey out back... The Internet has really helped keep trials alive. I remember pouring over the latest photocopied Essex Club newsletter to fall on my door step, and now I can get trials news updated 24 hours a day from all over the world. It's now easier than ever to find other riders, talk trials and go out on rides. That's A Good Thing. I WAS trials doesn't quite have the same ring to it Plus, there are many who have made a much bigger contribution to trials than I ever could...

Doesn't work, but you can already buy 4-bolt to V-brake adapters.

Know it? I lived it...

For many years trials riders were very limited, and always compared to Hans Rey as he had videos, Bula hats and a purple Zaskar. That all changed in May 1994 when 'Martin' Ashton and Martin Hawyes had a multipage spread in MBUK on a pair of Specialized Rockhoppers. What followed was really an explosion in trials coverage. Instead of pouring over a couple of pages on Libor Karas in MBi or an odd feature in MTB Pro, we suddenly had a lot of coverage in MBUK and that launched trials. A lot of people don't realise just how much of an influence MBUK had in the pre-Internet days. When they featured Club Roost bars on riders bikes, everyone went out and bought them. When MBUK shifted it's focus towards what's now 'freeriding' and they started pushing longer forks and fatter tyres, that's what bikes looked like suddenly. The Malverns festival was just that. As the Martins progressed, riding over Steve Behr's grannie's house I think, then into videos and so on, more riders got more and more coverage. MBUK even toured trials with the Urban Tour in 99 and 2000! On top of this trials was really centre stage from Bike 2006 onwards when Martin and Martyn had a series of concrete pipes to take them from the floor of Olympia to the upper level. It also launched a number of riders, as well as giving multi-page spreads to those who no longer ride... At the same time the rise of the Internet - modandstocktrialsriding, bashguard.com, Section7.co.uk, trialskings.com - put more information to the riders and spread the word about events, components and stockists. '99 also saw the start of HipHop in MBUK, a regular double page news spread covering events, riders and in-depth information. A number of bike shops got burned during this time, buying in parts which never sold. MBUK refocussed, trials coverage dropped, and the hardcore of riders left supported the trials stockists and increasingly specific frames and components supplied direct to riders cut out the local bike shop for 90% of trials components. X-Street came and went, Trialsin.com got replaced by local equivalents, and finally specialist dealers came in to fill the gap. As the media coverage dropped - though not disappeared - the resulting Internet communities have fed off themselves though a mix of rumour, misinformaton, and misplaced enthusiasm. This growing community has also helped build a number of trials companies upto the level they're at now.

The Spelling Bee is like the Stig. Practically Perfect in Every Way, yet no-one knows who he (she?) is.

Having suddenly had a hankering to watch Chainspotting, I was wondering if Getta Grip was available anywhere on DVD?

No, she wasn't in Rad, she was in BMX Bandits...

That's a point... We should ban bumps and 'Good luck selling it mate ' posts used just to keep it on the front page. If we see any, mods & admins should delete them, questions made via PM, and any additional info added to the listing with edit. Thoughts?

No it isn't...

See? I don't just talk non-sense about cameras...

We do have a lot of rules, it's true. I think we also have a lot of younger members (and I include teenagers in this) and some rules are really in place to stop them being ripped off. Also the rules stop the decline of the forum where idiots come on, spam, take up lots of mod and admin time and drive the good members out and only leave a wrecked forum. If the forum was mainly 25-40 year olds, there wouldn't be half as many rules. I also suspect it wouldn't half as much fun.

Look under your avatar, it says Group: and then what sort of member you are (Pre-member, mod, admin...)

And for this sort of reason, I'm very glad it's closed.

Because all the mods and admins try and let the forums develop and see what happens. Sometimes it's obvious when something should go, and other times it degenerates. Once it was raised as a concern, it was discussed by the mods and then removed. It also took about two months before anyone noticed. I'm sure if you want to look at pictures of underage girls (or boys) then there are plenty of other places to do it than tf.

Can't take a joke? We had a thread full of horny teenagers posting pictures of girls in various states of undress, possibly underage, possibly without their consent, punctuated with comments of "Oooh, I'd tap that" and "I'd do her up the wrong'un". That's not a good thread to have, and entirely inappropriate on a public forum.

It was more the misogyny that got it removed... As this post beautifully demonstrates.

Call them, check their website, write them a letter. Any of these would get you a better than answer than posting on a cycling forum.

Are we talking scores specifically written for film and TV, or just classical music used in them?

I had a set of CRMs in 1999, and killed them in a day. Just check MBUK