Mark W

The Flow is 200g lighter in the claimed weights, but worth noting that the Flow 24" was built with discs and the Alias with V-Brakes. The disc brake spec adds a fairly significant amount of weight. Just one 180mm Avid rotor is pretty much the same weight as the V-Brake calipers/pads/noodle/fixing bolts, so that skews things quite a bit. In terms of the Ion vs. the Flow Plus, the Flow Plus has some hidden benefits. As an example, the new Flow Plus bikes come with screw-in top caps on the forks so you can easily route the front brake hose through the steerer tube. You can't do that with the Ion unless you're able to find a hollow star nut kit that's the right size. Believe that's a tricky one due to the wall thickness of the forks fitted to that bike. The tensioners on the Czar bikes aren't incredible, so being able to just use a pretty conventional set of chain tugs is a win as far as I'm concerned. The other point is the compatibility for future upgrades that Swoofty mentioned before. It's easier to make little upgrades here and the to the Flow Plus than it is on the Czar bikes. The Czars use quite a bit of proprietary fitment parts, whereas the Inspired (and Alias) bikes are much more standardised so you've got a bigger pool of bits to go to. Overall though, both bikes are good. You could realistically get either bike straight out of the box and have a good time on it, which is kind of the main thing really. The Czars are a little shorter than I'd like personally, but everyone's different on that front.

lol You are dreaming, or just slugging back that disinformation. Republicans were/are doing all they could to keep Trump in power, made voting as difficult as possible for as many people likely to vote Democrat, purged hundreds of thousands of people from electoral rolls, deliberately set things up to make it appear that there had been impropriety (e.g. they knew Pennsylvania would be a key state, so made sure that they weren't allowed to count mail in ballots early - as other states did - so that it would seem like Trump won on the day then mysterious dumps of ballots would appear later that they could cast doubt on. They set that play up, and then claimed exactly that as it all unfolded)... There's nothing to suggest that there was widespread fraud of any kind. The Republicans have spent literally hundreds of millions of $s investigating it, and in many cases controlled how the elections were handled in various counties so would be positioned perfectly to find out. Even Bill Barr has said that the justice department haven't found anything that would suggest that there was fraud at any level that could have affected the outcome, and bearing in mind how subservient he's been to Trump since Trump installed him to protect him during the Mueller probe I'm sure he'd have said something if there was anything. Everyone connected to Trump - including the Republican party - stood to profit massively off a Trump second term, so there's no reason for them to suppress it. Believing that Biden somehow 'out-cheated' Trump is pure fiction. Just bandying that kind of shit around is what subverts this kind of process everywhere, and is exactly what c**ts who are trying to retain power everywhere want people to believe. Don't feed in to it. EDIT: Just to add - surely if you did any kind of critical thinking about this it'd be clear that Trump had done everything he could to lose this election? He's absolutely f**ked handling this pandemic in so many different ways, and it's clear from his popularity/approval ratings that since it all kicked off he's just continued to drive down his own support. When George Floyd's killing happened, his inner-racist came out again and he turned off a large swath of the electorate that put him in power in the first place. That comes on the back of generally being a divisive piece of shit for the past 4 years that people are tired of. It even comes down to him not even bothering to keep on message for the election campaign, and just displaying even more of the traits that swing voters disliked in him. For quite a large period early in the campaign, Biden's team didn't even need to do anything because Trump was torpedoing his own credibility by talking about injecting bleach into people and using sunlight inside them to cure the virus...

Yep - George in at Mercedes, Jack Aitken in at Williams, a giant middle finger emoji delivered to Kubica's hotel room. Other random driver info, Schumacher is in at Haas for 2021, along with Nikita Mazepin.

Alright TF: Hamilton's out due to Covid-19. Places your bets now on who takes his seat. - Waffle Vonbadger has been at the circuit, and is their reserve driver so is probably good to go and the 'safe' option. - Kubica was there driving for Williams, so could jump in George's car again and George could get the bump up to the big boy team. - Hulkenberg has some sharpies and can cross out the 'Racing Point' on those overhauls from a few weeks ago. - Stroll has wheelbarrows of cash on standby at all times. Side bet: will they beat Bottas in the race? Dude seems to have totally checked out over the past few weeks so you never know.

Yeah, I know what you mean. There was some straight up cheese in there, but it was more palatable (to stretch the metaphor). It felt like it was a bit more along the lines/vibe of something like Wee Day Out rather than the typical 'race'/'chase' themed videos people churn out. So many good clips in there too riding wise - I genuinely didn't realise how good he was/is.

So, it's a themed video, but stick around because there's some really impressive riding in this:

You're not alone, haha. I know my current bike technically rides better than that one did (saved 0.5kg from the crankset, saved a chunk from the wheels, think the Contis are technically better than the Holy Rollers, tubeless4lyf), but I think that was peak 'My bike' time. The knowledge of how much I liked riding that bike still makes me want to take my brakes off again, but then the lack of fun brakeless spots where I am now knocks things back... Think that's the closest photo I have to what it was like around 002. We weren't really allowed to show anyone photos of it so I don't really have any unfortunately. Still remember the first ride with prototype Arcade bars on it from Trialtech High Rise bars. That was a good day.

He's been in politics in some form for something like 45 years. Think his son's dying wish was that he ran for president or something like that. Part of it is no doubt the power side of it, but he does just seem to be one of those people who have that draw to some form of public service. The lives of he and his family would have been a lot easier if he'd just retired after being Obama's VP, so it seems they're all on board with it. I guess removing Donald Trump from office was quite a big draw too... More on topic: something that baffles me every time I see them at the supermarket are the magazines that seem to pretend soaps are real life. It's just insane.

Think part of that is due to riding techniques changing quite a lot. The riders people tend to emulate these days are usually the UCI guys like Carthy and co., and they're all pushing more on ups to front and moves like that so I guess taps have just fallen out of favour. For the moves that those riders are still pushing on, heights are still progressing. There are some unknown/random riders on Instagram doing some massive ups to front these days, kind of similar to how a lot of people were going out and trying to do bigger taps back in the day.

He was/is such a dude. The riding in his videos still really stands up well today. I'm glad he was about in that pre-"Everything goes on Instagram" period, it really makes what he put out that much better. Thanks for the Clean 002 shoutout @Herbertlemon102! So many good memories from filming that. Still clearly remember the trips Ali and I had to Dunkirk and Rotterdam for it. Those were the days... Couldn't find the Rowan video I was looking for, but one I used to have on heavy repeat was this: Not necessarily my 'favourite trials video' as such so not really sticking to the rules, but just an example of a really good level of riding and 'fee' from a video. @manuel always seemed to put a lot of thought into his videos and it was always a treat when they popped up. Re-watching that now, now that I'm more familiar with those spots, makes it all the more ridiculous.

Do what you've got to do

He can certainly ride a bike... Felt like a return to the good old Akrigg videos, was into that. Doing that really tech pedal-timing based trials stuff must be so weird on an ebike!

I had the option to buy a front to match the rear, but I just didn't see the point. Firstly, I had a perfectly functional Pro 4 so I didn't really need it. Secondly, no front hub should ever be that price, and I don't want to make it seem like it's acceptable by buying one I'm generally pretty fussy about setup, things matching and so on, but they priced themselves out of it on that for me.

+1 for the Industry Nine hype train. Lockdown's meant I haven't really been able to do a huge amount on mine, but when I have been using it it's been totally solid. It's really shit going to other hubs afterwards as the engagement never feels as good, so it may be an expensive habit... As far as I know, Danny and Duncan have been using the same hubs for a long old time now with no issues. Knowing that they were machine gunning through hubs was one of the reasons I ended up getting one. 135x10 singlespeed hubs are pretty unusual so I'd imagine they'll need to special order it in for you. I believe that I9 also do machining work for a few other MTB brands, and I seem to remember hearing they're snowed under with keeping up with that contracted work as well as fulfilling orders for their own product so it's likely you'll have a bit of a delay. When Ben and I got our hubs we'd been sent one with the wrong axle by accident, and it took a long time for them to sort things out simply because they were so busy.

The hassle/looks the OG Munter used to get were bad enough! Can imagine there'd be some sourpusses at a lot of places you'd take it in too in Mad Max mode... Good to see it coming along in any case

From memory, the production model is pretty much what the single ply tyres were as far as I can remember. We're going back a long way now I might be way off, but I seem to remember the dual ply version was over a kilo per tyre. @Ali C may know? We both tried a couple of different sets out from the very initial test tyres. I don't know if they're doing frame only, sorry. I imagine it'll be a case that if they do, it'll be next year some time.

Fun fact, when they originally tested them they had them in both single ply and dual ply options. They also had some in the super soft Der Kaiser style Black Chilli compound and they felt f**king awful. I got a set of those to try out and they felt so bad I was put off the Conti tyres for ages as I thought it was a fundamental issue with the tyre rather than compound-specific. When I tried a production pair in their normal compound they were sweet. Those Alias bikes are being sent out to dealers already so I don't think that shop posting them up early really changed anything. That shop just jumped the gun a bit after the teaser photo was posted on social media by the looks of it. EDIT: On the 24.1 - worth noting the frame is really nice. It's basically the 20.2, but scaled up. The only thing that's really different is that it's got a plain head tube and BB shell to keep costs down, but the material and design is a lot better than that kind of price point would suggest, if that makes sense. It's not like with something like the Zoot where the frame wasn't exactly great...

My tyre inserts on my tubeless setup on my Arcade show that they've helped me out a good few times. There are quite a few cuts in them where I would have rimmed out and probably caused some damage, but the insert kept things sweet. I like to do bumps, stair rides and other generally tyre-abusing moves like that, and in the 4-5 years I've been tubeless I've had 1 puncture, ever. That was due to too little pressure, too much speed and too much pump on a set of steps with metal edging. Couldn't really complain about that as I'd really ballsed it up, and I managed to fix it by using a couple of tyre plugs. Tubeless has been a game changer as far as not really ever worrying about getting flats from anything. That includes going gaps and stuff too. They make your bike feel quite a bit nicer too as you basically can't rim out unless you are running low pressures and/or really giving it some. Even on some fairly brutal stair rides it smoothes things out a lot, but it's definitely noticeable on gaps. Most of the people I've filmed over the past couple of years have all been tubeless, and the two rides I went filming on with Ali and Ben when they had switched back to running tubes they got flats on the first move of the day. I'd become used to that just not being a part of rides, so to see Ben do a gap to instant pinch flat, and Ali get a pinch flat then some punctures on some nails (again, don't have to worry about that tubeless) was a reminder of how shit things used to be... I run the Rimpact tubeless inserts as they seem to be a decent foam density, don't weigh much (26" inserts are 85g per insert, for context), help keep my tyre in place well (and avoid squirming at lower pressures, a bonus) and come with some valves that work better than others I've used in the past. Muc-Off or Peatys sealant works well too. You need to use about 75-90ml per tyre, so it's not like that weighs much anyway. If you're planning on sticking with tubes, I wouldn't bother with an insert like the one you've shown above. The foam seems to compress/deform if you run higher pressures, so with the impacts you'll be giving it through trials use I imagine it'll be close to useless pretty quickly. As far as tubes go, I found the Kenda ones to be really hit and miss quality wise. Some I had didn't inflate properly in some parts because the material was so inconsistent in terms of how supple/flexible it was, so I ended up with random bulges/dips in my tyres. Thanks to the material not being particularly supple, they also seemed to pinch more easily for me as the tubes would just tear. The Maxxis tubes performed best for me. I used some cheap tubes but a lot of them had similar issues to the Kendas in terms of pinches, and ultimately worked out being a bit of a false economy.

Yep, totally - they're the reason I got into trials in the first place as I could afford a T-Bird, but everything else was way out of my price range. The first 6-7 years I rode trials 'properly' (i.e. not just on a rigid MTB), I was only on Onzas of various types!

Due to how that design works, and with the dropout/disc mount being a chunky boi, I don't think there's any real issue with the caliper taking any load in that kind of way. It's a similar deal to what Koxx used to do on some of their frames, as well as the Brisa B26D way back in the day. It does have some advantages, but as Cap says it's got some real disadvantages too. Getting an adaptor in there as well would be tricky, especially if you were running a larger cast/forged style adaptor. I'd assume that if you could, with the new position the caliper would be in that hose guide is going to be just for show rather than having anything to do with the brake hose.

As you've found already, with the HC3 blade that's just a blanking plug. You can replace it with a countersunk bolt and nut if you want to - think it's M4 that fits, but can't remember for sure. As Swoofty said, the MT5 bodies are a bit tougher in my experience although they are still made of the same carbotecture material. You technically can't fit HC3 blades to them, but you can. There's a small amount of play in the lever blade (in the direction it travels, if that makes sense - think of it as a bit of free movement at the start of the stroke), but if you ride covering your brakes the whole time it's not noticeable in my experience. As far as levers go, it's worth tweaking your bar clamp tension to allow the brake to shift in situations like that. One of the bar clamp bolts will be bottomed out fully if you've got the clamps set up properly, so just loosen the other bolt off a touch until you can make the lever shift if you apply a decent amount of force to the lever body. It's good practise with any brake lever, but especially so with the carbotecture Magura levers.

New pads should help out. The standard pads are a bit more 'durability' rather than 'performance' focussed. The Trialtech or Jitsie disc pads would be a good option to upgrade. The MT2 brakes aren't bad to be fair. The lever blades feel a bit sucky just because they're not a stiffer, stronger alloy blade. You can technically fit the HC1 blades or the Magura alloy blades to them which should help lever feel a bit, but you'll probably get a more noticeable improvement in performance from changing pads.

I snapped 3 or 4 of them (technically the K710 SL) on my BMX. I found I broke more of the regular K-series chains than Z-series HX chains, so a drilled out, lighter version doesn't give me a huge amount of confidence in them. TartyBikes seem to sell a fair amount of them so there are obviously people out there who get on with them, but chains aren't really something I'd like to roll the dice with.

Is there any point in particular you seem to be getting the pain in/through? Where it is in your hand/wrist can usually help identify which part of your setup is causing you grief.

Fair play, that sounds like ballache. Kudos for getting it sorted!