Phatmike

Yeah, anything below minus 15 I'd really consider staying inside. We've tested it to minus 10 and I know riders using it below minus 12. The theory indicates that the actual freezing point of it is about minus 12 (we will conduct further testing to find this out exactly) and for the reasons MK999 mentioned, it should be ridable at even lower temperatures. How cold is it out in Ukraine?

Actually there is an industry standard that's been in use for decades! Both Heatsink and Phatworks' pads, along with most other manufacturers' fit in to it.

Aftermarket product idea there Shaun?

Wow, freaky..

You've got it right, although the drive ring and driven ring have teeth on them - 72 in fact. In this video you can see the drive ring going on first, then the driven ring (with the male spline, which intersects with the female spline on the inside of the hub body). http://chrisking.com/files/tech_movies/hshell_r_assy.mov Then the drive shell going in, the splines on that twist the drive ring into the driven ring, engaging it. http://chrisking.com/files/tech_movies/hub_r_fin_assy.mov

I was half way through watching the original Tron when Tic sent me this. Couldn't have been a more beautiful flip from the cold, digital world to the warm, real world of bikes & nature! Such an epic film, anyone know who the narrator was and who wrote it? Simply stunning production work.. I want to see more of the metallurgy clips from the start!

Be thankful they don't make a noise, it's just wasted energy anyways.

Looking good on the stock Ryan, definitely the way to go imo. Tidy tune too.. Although now we need to find a new mod rider.

On the back brake off thing - I'm not so sure. To make small corrections, yeah, but I much prefer leaving it on until releasing it at the last moment, just to get that little bit of pop. I really hate to imagine how much force goes through the forks and frame when just hanging aimlessly hopping without the back brake on!

Static hook In that case, it'll always feel comfier to do it with the pedals as flat as possible, but as you do it on steeper obstacles you won't really have a choice but to keep the pedals more vertical: One of those things you'll just need to learn! On really steep lines it can help to put your feet further back so the very front of your foot is on the pedal - then you can stand with your feet more flat without toes hitting!

Wodge - the opposite of a wedge. Where you're wheels are positioned either side of an obstacle less than the wheelbase of your bike, usually followed by a hop onto the back wheel. (Or front if you're feeling creative?) I find them much easier to nail right when done immediately after landing on the object, but that's assuming you've landed on the object right in the first place. Always do what feels natural. If your pedals are too high when you do the move, it could be because you're pedaling up to it and landing with your weight back and low which will put your cranks back. Try it on a lower obstacle or from a gap to front and your pedals will probably be more horizontal. If they're a bit high when you're going for the move, the best way is to just do the wodge anyways and reposition your cranks whilst your wheels are free! Failing that you could do a small correction hop and rotate your cranks forward a bit before going for it.

Do the stem too!

I'm a big fan of the Trial Queen for an all round tyre and would recommend it. It's by far the grippiest thing I've ever used. Pinch protection's pretty average for an 850g tyre, but much better than the Rubber Queen. Pair that up with a 650g Trial King on the front and you're laughing. Conti have done very well!

Nice Mark, definitely the best riding I've seen from you. Really dialed in style, looks saweet!

The idea might not even make it to market Al. So you probably won't be able to even if you wanted to! It's all purely conceptual at the moment.

Dave, they sure are leading somewhere. It's got to be done right, so I'm taking my time. We should be seeing phase frame prototypes early next year, most of the design spec got written up at a meeting several months ago. I'm working on themes independent to mad and will be able to spend much more time on the Phrame . I'd like to collate as much rider opinion as possible, though that's got to be filtered through to get anything tangible!

I've joined the group, if it'll help.

Not necessarily, see below, Flex does usually play a part in the strength of a material, but the main issue with frames is fatigue. Aluminium is very poor compared to steel, which is worse than Ti. To put numbers on it you could bend a piece of alu once, bend it back and it would snap. Steel would last 20 bends and Ti around 1000! That's what makes Steel & Ti such tough materials. Have you seen the dents put in Stedman's steel bikes over the years? I remember when we'd throw massive rocks at each others bikes trying to dent them! I wouldn't imagine a Sky being so tough, even if it was much heavier. Stress is a measure of internal stresses in a deformable body (thanks wiki), "internal forces are distributed continuously within the volume of the material body". That is to say that an optimum design would really distribute stress evenly throughout a frame rather than let stress areas build up. Even if we ignore stress risers such as welds or design flaws (which just make an area more likely to break) then flex won't always lead to snappage, even repeated, cyclic stress. Providing the stresses that are cyclically applied don't exceed the endurance limit then theoretically the part will never break. The endurance limit is the level of stress that can be applied cyclically, indefinitely before a part breaks - essentially a type of elastic limit. A factor of safety could even be calculated and built in for big moves and crashes - as in the graph above the uts is 4 times the endurance limit. If you wanted to be really technical you could measure the forces put on a bike and their frequency. Over a set time the stresses could be used to calculate exactly how long a part would last given an individual rider's usual riding! Seriously geeky stuff The bottom of the curve would be close to the endurance limit. (In this case around 70Mpa for an alu of 320Mpa Ultimate Tensile Strength) So if you want flex and spring and you can calculate it, where would it be? Up and down in the back end, but not torsional? Edit: Hmm, this all sounds very german. I'll try and keep the visuals a bit more organic at least!

I'm taking cracking and breaking out of the equation here Jake. Purely about the feel of the frame when it's still alive.

See graph.

T'is what makes the move so juicy! That wasn't Nick btw.

I'm after feedback from those who believe they can properly comment on the 'feel' of a frame - I'm looking at people like Matt Burrows, Ali C, Tarty Ad and Stedman etc; guys that really think about the products they're using when riding. In the mtb & road world, guys talk about the feel of frames, just as much as they do weight, geometry & size. What I'm asking is your opinions on how frames feel when they're ridden. Koxx talk a lot about the stiffness of their frames, which makes sense for things like optimum power transmission and a sharp ride. Is there a flip side to this (such as Ali C's global Ti, and the Triton frames) that can be discussed in any more detail than 'they just feel better'? Do you think frames should be designed to be as stiff as possible to the upmost? Or can flex benefit? Thanks in advance for your thoughts..

Whilst waiting for the updated title sequence for a lil' vid coming out, I thought I'd post a few stills from the vid in the meantime. I hit up London one evening a couple of weeks ago with Nick Manning. Joel B came out for a bit of a cameo role - had a mental crash. The vid should be out Monday/Tuesday. If you didn't see the last one, check it here; http://store.phatworks.co.uk/index.php/blog/single_post/michael_singleton_rides_london/

Ah yes, I forgot to add, I actually joined in with Kris in the taste testing. He says strawberry I say cherry. Again I must stress: Don't drink it, it is dangerous!

Ride trials on the moon. This is all. And it's gonna happen, too.