duane

Hi, He gets a short mention in todays Telegraph (online edition) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...-in-a-week.html Not sure if its in the print edition, and lets be honest only a family member would buy the paper for that breif mention. Good on the fella anyway. Duane.

What do Joe Maher, Blackwater Security and Ban Ki Moon the UN Cheif have in Common ? Unbeleivable, but they are all on the cover of todays Gulf News. Joe is the only one that get his picture on the front page though. Nuts but true. Duane.

I met Joe Maher for a ride yesterday, I hadn't been on my bike in a long time and was never any good anyway. But we were riding in a park when some kids came over to watch. Joe was doing his thing, side hopping onto benches and tables etc and I was struggling around trying to side hop from one bit of grass to the next. So the kids are obviously impressed with Joe and they are asking all the usual questions - are you in the x-games, whats your name, how do you do that etc. Then Joe is lining up for one more go at a big gap, one of the kids turns around, looks at me doing my geriatric side hop on the grass and asks - 'Are you his dad ?'. Duane.

Hi, To reply to the original question - Get up on the back wheel with the bike in an upright position, I think I have the bike more upright than normal, this is because you don't need to get the front of the bike low to compensate for the torque that you would get with a pedal kick. With the bike more upright it also takes less effort to stay on the back wheel which is very important when you are "booning" into position before using your energy for something else. You then need to crouch back and down slightly, and then pop your hips up and FORWARD, the crouch is just that, a little sit back with the hips before rapidly popping them up and forward - lift the bike with your arms and feet, as the bike is in the air push your legs out forward to advance the rear wheel and pull the bars in slightly to align the bike for landing, as you land relax your arms back out again ready for another boon or to get into a stable back wheel position. For me the key to getting it is that while I am in the air i think of pulling the bars in and pushing out with the feet in order to pivot back wheel out and forward with my feet acting as the pivot point. If you do this without first popping you hips forward you will just reposition the rear wheel ahead of your center of gravity in which case you will need to immediatley hop back to where you started to keep balance, so if you are not going forward its all about the hips to shift your center of gravity forward and then the push on the pedals/pull on the bars to rotate the bike forward under you before you land. Hope it helps, Duane.

Hi, I did look at that and trashzen. I completley get how using the front wheel to lever the back up and over works, however right now I just want to go to back wheel. There are loads standalone rocks near my house and none of them are big enough to get two wheels on and most of them are too far apart to bridge one wheel at a time. Thanks Duane.

Hi, I have tried sidehopping on my last few rides and basically I can go straight up or forwards, but never more than six or seven inches sideways. I try looking to the side before I pre load, I have even tried turning the bars in the direction I want to go, but nothing has worked so far. Assuming I am stable on the back wheel and can pedal kick forwards and upwards no problem, how do I get going sideways ? Thanks Duane

even more random films well worth seeing - "Last King of Scotland" for some more African madness if Blood Diamond isn't enough "City of God" some South American madness "Twin Town" for anyone going to Swansea or that has ever spent anytime in Swansea "dogtown" skateboarding classic "joe kid on a stingray" history of BMX

Its completley off topic, but here are a few classics - 1) The original "Roller Ball" 2) The original "Get Carter" and for a bit of light entertainment - 3) Flash Gordon - can't be beaten middle of the day boxing day. For trials - Tricks and Stunts is pretty unique. Duane.

Congratulations Steve on the first non lame respray. Why does everyone post so many topics and put so much effort into stripping and polishing frames and then just paint them one colour ? Back in the day black and white Zebra stripes used to look the part, they can be much easier to do than camo, just don't make the stripes too uniform. Something I have been considering is an idea copied from 'pimp my ride' where they used some net curtain as a mask, basically you put down your main colour, then apply the mask and spray a very similar colour to get a subtle pattern. If there is too much contrast, I think the effect would turn out horrible, but a light coat of gold over a silver frame should look pretty good, you just need to find some curtains that are too girly. Another simple but effective paint job is the one on the koxx bealey frame http://biketrialsaustralia.com/Pages/koxx/photos/bealey.jpg I used to have a dawes rough trade XC bike that had a similar effect only the top coat was sprayed through a fishnet mask (probably dawes used someones old tights) so the paint had a snake scale effect in the center of the top and down tubes. It was subtle enough not to look c5ap. If anyone has seen or produced any other alternatives to the single colour scheme, lets see them, Duane.

Hi, As an old buffer that likes to lecture the young un's at every opportunity, if your not putting your savings in a high interest account, you are probably loosing money on them. A lot of current accounts pay very little interest, with inflation at around 2-4% depending on who you ask you need to be earning at least 4% interest for your money to hold its value - i.e. inflation means that something that costs 100 quid today will cost 104 quid next year - if your money didn't earn any interest you need to find another 4 quid to buy the same thing. On a deposit for a flat of 20,000 thats 800 quid you will need to find, if it takes you five years to save 20,000, that 4,000 pounds (800 per year) you will need to find - thats without even taking into account any rises in house prices. Luckily banks have recently changed thier focus from trying to loan you more money to now competing for your savings. This account - "http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/savings/index.asp?page=prem-regular-saver&exp=30&cm_mmc=moneysupe-_-sup-_-ec20416000190020premregsaver-_-bestbuys" pays 12% interest - thats way ahead of inflation. Its only an introductory offer for the first year, but look out for more introductory offers like this and keep moving your money around to get the best rates, if you have more money than the introductory offer will let you deposit open a few similar high interest accounts with different banks. We all work hard for our money, so to let inflation eat away at its value is madness - actually the bank invests it but keeps the profits because most people are too lazy to move thier money into high interest accounts - some of the interest paid on the 12% account is probably the banks profit from investing peoples money held in oridinary low interest current accounts - don't be a mug and let your money be used to finance other peoples profits. Lecture over - and I know that you could argue with the maths, but the long and the short of it is inflation = bad, 12% interest = amazing! money for nothing! 120 quid on every 1000 invested! Duane.

Hi Bertrand, Are you still in Dublin, did you find anywhere to ride or any decent shops for trials bits ? I am in Dublin for the week, let me know if you will be around. Duane.

Hi, I have recently built a wheel with 26" try all rim on a Pro 2 hub, its nice and straight etc, but I am not sure what final tension I should be aiming for. Is there a rule of thumb I can use - something like by squezzing the spokes I should only be able to deflect the outer cross by 5,10,15,20 mm ? - currently I recon I get 12mm deflection. Thanks Duane.

Thanks for the replies, will try squeezing the beads into the center of the rim tonight - off to the beach now. Duane.

Hi, I am having a really rotten couple of days so please forgive the lame question. I spent most of yesterday trying to fit a maxxis hi-roller then a maxxis bling bling onto a try all rim, the only tyre levers that didn't bend were the ones that snapped. The hi-roller wasn't having any of it, but I managed to get the bling bling on, I dont like the bling bling on the rear because the sidewalls are too thin and I get pinches as soon as I look at a rock, but anyway I wasnt going to be beaten so I got it on there. Started pumping it up and staight away the hissing started where I had put the tyre lever through the tube - I repeated this twice before giving up and putting my old wheel back on and going for a ride. Today I was just messing around on a narrow curb, got the back wheel on then the brake slipped and I landed back first on the edges of the curb, got really bad whip lash and saw stars for a while. So help me fix my day and recommed a reasonably light tyre that I can get on and off a Try All rim and will fit in an 07 Control frame - if it helps I was really happy with the performance of the hi-roller on my old rim. On the off chance, does tyre width have any relation to the bead, i.e. does the bead on a 2.5 hi-roller have a slightly larger circumference than a 2.2, cant see why it would, but it would fix my problem if it did ? Thanks Duane.