Phatmike

Caption comp - me, mid air in bristol. :bunny: Mike. Edit: Why doesn't the thumbnail work? Edited by The Mark:

Price wise came to this; Mavic Rims from Chainreactions, 2 @ £25 each - £50 Bolts, 2 packs @ £1.50 each - £3 So £53, which is what, a measly £15 over a koxx rim?! I know what I'd rather spend my money on. And, like I said, to stop it denting, I would either put the 517 side on the right, as I land a lot less on that side, and/or use 2 519 rims. And it wasn't a tremendous amount of hassle. If this rim decided to collapse (which I certainly doubt it will), then I'll simply be replacing it. And I think it is needed, all of the trials rims out there just aren't as strong as this, and simply don't grind as well. If you think a stronger rim, and better grinds aren't needed in trials then... Mike. :S

I really don't see how you can get pissed off with calluses! They're simply doing an important job of protecting your hands. If the skin where they are, gets abused, the body will naturally toughen that area, so it is less weak - so it will hurt and blister less. They're usefull, and don't pick 'em off. Back to the old grips question, I'm stuck on Richley WCS foam grips, they seem perfect, and with decent (large) bar ends, they're not tearing at all. :S Brilliant with or without gloves. I usually ride with gloves, as it's just a bit more comfortable, but sometimes I'm equally happy riding gloveless. Mike. :)

Not from the non driveside, I prefer not to take photos from that side, as it's a lot less pretty. Ali C (who had the frame before me) decided to use nitromors to remove the sticker residue!! :S Urr, to be fair Adam, it's a LONG way from f**ked! Yes, there's quite a few dents (as I explained in the 2nd paragraph of my 1st post - see above), but all of them are very small, and due to the design of the rim, they're all only dented just a few mm "into" the edge of the rim, so it's not like all the sidewalls have gone. And besides, I folded the rim back out now, so it's not even noticable. And I've not trued my rim in well over a month, and everyone who I was riding with today can vouch for A ) how true it is and B ) how big I was going today! I can fully guarantee to you that no other wide trials rim out there will withstand that abuse. So if you think you're ronnie's any better than - well that's your opinion. :) The inner tube's fine, like I said, I've used tape and paper to cover it up, so a nice big DH tube does it brilliantly. :) Mike.

Respect to the guy - how old actually is he? I thought Deng was a lot younger, (presuming that is actually deng...). Fair play to him. Although when I went onto properties for the image; :S Mike.

Urr, yeah. I don't really see why not. It does take a fair amount of time, but it could be done. ;) :- Cheers Mark, once I've got my new rear tyre (been waiting over a month - stupid American bikeshops :sick:), I'll be getting tubeless on the go F+R, expect a post as detailed as the one above. I've also spent many hours playing about with tubeless, and I think I've finally got the knowhow + equipment to get it going perfectly - especially with winter coming up. :( Mike.

Hey guys, just a quick post about the Mavic rim I've been running for the past 2 months. Inspired by Ali C's "bob", It's simply a Mavic X517/XC717 and a Mavic F519/XM719 bolted together with 16 X M3 bolts + nuts, giving a total width of 46.2mm. 2X X517's would give a 43.2mm wide rim, and a weight of 840g and 2 F519's would give a 49.2mm wide rim, and a weight of ~920g. The rim as it stands is a little under 900g, which, with a bit of light drilling (If you really wanted to...) would bring it down past the 781g weight of a 32h ronnie. However, the main purpose of this rim is to be strong, the type of people that would use it probably wouldn't really care about the odd 100g. I've found the side which the X517 is on is denting a little more than I'd hoped, but this was because when I was lacing it, I failed to anticipate the fact that I normally kick out to the left, so if I did it again, using the same combo of rims, I'd put it on the right. The 519 side only has one small dent, and I do regularly kick out + land to the right, so it seems very dent resistant - a lot more so than any previous rims! I purchased the bolts + nuts I needed from Focus, which was the only place I could find that stocked M3 bolts + nuts! They were £1.50 for 10 bolts and nuts, so a few quid's worth had me sorted. :( When making it, obviously a metal drill bit is needed, and an electric drill, I think that using a 4mm drill bit (+ 3mm bolts and nuts) would be easier, so you have a larger scope for accuracy when marking them to drill the other rim (see below). You need to judge where to drill the 1st hole, as to have it centered between the vertical "inside" face of the rim, so the nut has a good place to sit; It's not brain surgery to get it in the right place, and using the CNC'd lines that run around the braking surface of the rim, it's easy to judge the next drilling, so they mantain the right height. Where it is in proportion to the circumference of the rim isn't that important at all - so long as you drill the hole every 2 spoke holes, roughly in the middle, and the right level of up + down. Once you've drilled the 16 holes, take the other rim, and drill one hole in that one, using the same guidelines as for the previous rim. Then, take one of the bolts and nuts, and do it up, doesn't need to be tight. Then, using a scriber, something sharp + solid, or a decent pen, mark a point through another hole, on the other end of the rim. Whilst keeping the bolt in place, move the rim over, so you can drill where you've marked, then put a bolt through that hole aswell. Then, using your marker, mark a point through each of the remaining 14 holes, unbolt one of the existing bolts you've put in there, and drill the rest of the 14 holes. Then just put all of the rest of the bolts back in. Do them up, and if you want (reccomended), put some araldite/epoxy resin over all of them, so they won't shake loose. :) If some of the holes don't quite line up, simply take a narrow file, and make the hole a bit wider, then re-insert the bolt. Now you've got the rim bolted together, and something to stop the bolts coming loose, it's ready to lace. I decided to cross the spokes, so the spokes coming out of the left hand side of the hub go to the right hand side of the rim + vice versa. Spoke lengths can be a bit difficult, but can be sorted easily using the advanced spoke calculater, simply do it one side at a time (Left hand side = non drive side of the hub :sick:) and where it says rim offset, just put in (in mm obviously, half the width of the rim that it's being laced to), and it will take the offset into account. Or, if that's a bit too complicated for you, I'm sure if you're buying the spokes from tartybikes.co.uk, Adam will be happy to help. :) Once you've got the rim laced up, (remembering to use every other spoke hole in each rim, and to do the left hand side of the hub go to the right hand side of the rim + vice versa), true it up. It confused me at 1st, when I wasn't paying any attention, but you have to look which side of the hub the spoke goes to to see whether it will pull it to the left or right. Just watch out. ;) Another awesome benefit of the rim is the fact that, being a Mavic, it grind's bloody well. I'm not sure if it's my heatsink blau pads, or the rim, but my brake's been immense since I've had it, and in the 2 months I've had it, I've not reground it since the 1st day I built it up! Also, apart from the initial bedding in, letting it all mesh together, I've not had to true it, and it's bloody strong. I've been doing some pretty big lines recently, some of them NOT smooth, and with a low tyre pressure, but the rim simply takes it in it's stride, it's so stiff and strong! To cover the bolt, i used a small square of folded paper over each one + some parcel tape all the way around, it's now completely smooth, and at the outside edges of the rim, still provides a perfectly normal tyre seating. :- A DH tube, (and a Maxxis single ply tyre B)) is reccomended, to cover it all. I couldn't imagine a standard tube in any wide rim, especially with the 2.5+ tyres that are being used these days! A lesson which I learned from Ali C is that welding it is not a good idea, the heat distorts the shape, and the strength/hardness of the rim, so it is hard to build, and becomes soft. Bolting it is definately the best way forward. So, if like me, you're tired of the crappy quality, shit grinds, and weakness associated with nearly all of the wide trials rims out today, try something different, and improve the strength, looks, brake, and individuality of your bike! I hope some of you (at least have read the post!) are interested in trying this project, as it really is awesome, if at any stage you need any help - I'll be more than happy to help. Pic1 Pic2 Pic3 Pic4 Pic5 (Note; pics of the rim are when I did it with only 8 bolts. This is not enough!) More pics of the rim build up + my bike here. Mike. :)

Pics have been a little bit delayed, but here's my booster. ;) Link to more pics of my ride Really impressed with this booster, my brake's so much stiffer than when I had my Echo Control booster, looks better, lighter etc, and I've missed having a booster (sold my booster with my '04 frame), as it's so much nicer having the cross over hose covered up. :sick: Mike. :-

Yeah man, I'm really looking forward to this one, gonna be sweet, need to get some lines done too. :sick: Will see you lot all there at Temple Meads at whatever time we arrive. ;) I'll be there sporting my new pimped out echo. :- Mike.

My new Heatsink booster, absolutely awesome, best booster out there without a doubt. My RB lever blade, with a fantastic knurled alu TPA adjuster. (Made by Edd Potts. :sick:) My ride - officially pimped. The bloke I got to do them is a legend, did all those parts (- hubs + headset obviously) for £20, can do them any colour. Give me a shout if you want anything doing, to get in contact with him. Mike. :- (Cheers for the mint photos Ian. ;))

Cheers for the reply Andy, but Simon's post managed to sort me out pretty well - cheers guys. :S Should've moved to XP years ago! Mike. :P

Yeah, as I said in my original post. (Y) :- I tried what Tomm posted (I found it whilst I was searching), but every time I tried to "Start" some of the options, it came up with various errors, consisting of being denied access, and various other ones. (Which I can't remember now - as I'm at 6th form) I've copied all my files over to Sam's laptop (thanks a million sam! :P), and am going to be formatting it and installing XP on it tonight. Ah well. Mike.

Hey guys, installed XP today - got it all working. :huh: When I set it up, I made 2 partitions in my hard disk, a 30gb one, (Which I installed XP onto), and a ~45gb one. Now, in my computer, it's only coming up with the 30gb one, and not the other. Can I find + gain access to the other without reinstalling again? Also, I much prefer having lots of windows, (like on <windows 2000), but on XP, it comes up with the groups. Is there any way of disabling the groups? Thanks, Mike.

I was running a 118mm ISIS truvative in my '04 control, with Middleburn 22t and 16t chainrings, they both fitted. Now with my '05 control, and 16t Middleburn Ti, and the same 118mm bb, there's more room than there was in the '04. :( Go for a 118mm Truvative Gigapipe DH bb, for around £40, it really is the best ISIS bb out there. :) Mike.

I received mine today - thanks a million Steve. :( My first impressions of the booster were great, had an awesome shape, noticabely lighter than my echo control booster, and (which I know Steve has been adamant about), has brilliant attention to detail, it's all perfectly finished, and beautifully machined - hats off to the guy who produces them, and Steve for spending so long designing and perfecting them! After fitting it, and going for a brief ride today, I'm amazed how stiff it actually is, certainley more so than my previous Echo Control and Shimano XTR boosters, as well as looking great. :) Certainly can't fault it, (apart from the colour, but that's being solved soon :)), nice one Steve. :P I'll grab some pics of it tomorrow in daylight. :P Mike.

He didn't say he was a brilliant photographer though... As quoting a previously used analogy; I might not be a director or producer of movies, but I sure know a crappy film when I see one. Anyway, (no win) Nohpee: some reasoning would be nice, and you must have bloody high standards of photographs to be able to say that; considering nearly everyone that posts photographs on the forum is an amateur, surely it's a bit much to expect an overwhelmingly large majority of the photos posted to be of such a high calibre? Maybe post some examples of some photos you do and don't like, with reasoning? I'm sure it would contribute nicely to the thread, as Chris posted this aiming at inspring confidence, and help people take better photos, rather than to bring people down with such pesamistic comments as your's... If anyone's interested in any of the techniques I used to acheive any of the B+W shots I recently posted, please ask, and I'll do my best to explain here. :P Mike.

Beats those rapists. :P

Or maybe one of the official importers, such as Selectbikes, or Bikedock. :D

Yeah, like James, I'm using a 100mm * 10 degree thompson stem with zoo bars, feels brilliant. Remember that the angle the bars is at makes a massive difference, just a small tilt forwards or backwards can make my bike feel terrible! Mike. :D

Hope you enjoy them all. :D Mike.

Hey guys - I've just been experimenting recently with my SLR film camera with some B+W films. :D (Scanned in btw) Let me know what you think, if there's an image you really like, I can send you the full sized original. Taken using a Canon EOS 500, Ilford XP2 films, and a 35-80, and 80-300mm lenses. Mike; (Steve-a) (Matt Burrows) More to come. (Y)

Or for a little more money, a far stronger, and lighter UN73. :) Mike. :S

Divx videos play fine in WMP mark. :) Just ensure you've got the codec, you don't even have to install Divx player (there's an option to choose...) Sweet video Dave, nice one, good editing, song worked well, and some sweet riding - nice one! :lol: Mike.

Those are most of the decent ones. :unsure: Thanks to Janek for taking them - hopefully we'll meet up soon with some better light! It was pretty dark at this point.

Janek sent me all the photos, I'll upload them all tomorrow - some of them are pretty cool. :unsure: Mike.