Mark W

That makes a little more sense in terms of asking for discount Do you know if they've received the frame kits yet, but just haven't put them on the site? Or are they still waiting to receive them? If they're still waiting, it's possible they're waiting for the customs invoice so they know how much they have to factor in from that. From memory, there's a huge anti-dumping tax that companies in the EU have to pay for importing goods from China - it was 50% when we used to pay for orders from Echo, which as you can imagine adds a significant cost increase to a shop placing an order. That was on top of the VAT and the normal customs duties. A lot of brands we dealt with in China aren't exactly great at entering customs information correctly, so you never really know what you're going to get in that regard. Most Chinese brands will also want to be paid in USD, so the timing of that payment for retailers located in countries that don't use USD can impact the price of things too once the exchange rate is factored in. On that note, some of the brands we made contact with but ended up not working with charge much more than you'd expect for products. They don't appear to factor in the shipping costs, customs duties/import taxes or VAT/TVA, so often set some super unrealistic retail prices compared to their trade prices. They will simply add X% to the trade price and assume that that means the retailer will make that as a margin on the product, but that isn't how business actually works if you operate legally. This has the result that a brand with no reputation can wind up costing - at retail - similar to a brand with an established reputation once a shop adds a more realistic margin. By that I don't mean price gouging - that really doesn't happen in the trials world at the retailer end - but just making it so you're more than just barely breaking even. Not saying that that's exactly what's happening with Xox and Trial-Bikes here, but it wouldn't surprise me if some of that is at play. In terms of retailers/manufacturers raising prices to take advantage of customers, I think on the whole that's not really possible in the cycling industry in general. Most brands are at the mercy of their factories and OE partners when it comes to pricing, so while there might be some price gouging from material suppliers and/or factories (who are suddenly finding themselves turning down work they're so busy), there's more competition among brands to not inflate prices much, and to absorb varying degrees of the increased production costs everyone is facing. For some brands who have more direct links or ties to their production they can manage that more easily, but for most trials brands they'll be getting a factory to make stuff for them and will just have to pay whatever they want them to pay. OE costs have also jumped up massively, so brands are getting hit by that as well. The huge increase in shipping costs is also well documented but will be at play as well. Overall, I just don't think there's the scope for many brands to really be doing people over that much. We'll see how things shake out over the next 6-12 months though... I didn't mean tailoring the specific frame to a customer's needs, just knowing that most of their customers may not be as harsh on their bikes as the more mainstream manufacturers might have to factor in. Just to use a basic example, if you lab test your carbon frame and it passes all the relevant tests you set, you may add a % more carbon to certain areas to give yourself a little extra margin. If you know your customers are likely to be experienced riders who are investing a lot in a really niche frame to suit their specific riding, you probably won't need to add much. If you're a mainstream brand and you have to factor in both those experienced riders but also riders who are less experienced/have less mechanical sympathy/are total bashers, you might want to add an extra % of carbon in key areas to increase that safety margin. As noted below, Santa Cruz have a reputation for strong frames and offer a long warranty. For them, it'll make sense to make sure that there's a good safety margin because it saves them a lot of hassle in the long run (although that said, a friend of mine is now on his tenth warranty replacement frame from Santa Cruz). Trials puts way more stress on the seat stays and disc mounts than people expect, even basic moves. MTB frames are designed around the idea of the brake mount essentially pushing down into the frame when under heavy braking, whereas even basic trials moves will put a good amount of force in the total opposite direction to that. As before, SC thought that they could get away with really skinny seat stays on Danny's bike, but they snapped on the very first ride. Just on the Crewkerz, I think it's not as 'exotic' just because some elements of the frame are surprisingly basic. Things like the downtube are nicely shaped, but the BB shell just looks like a really basic bit of pipe, and the way it's designed to be so hugely offset just makes the frame look a little odd from certain angles. That mix of some nicely formed parts and some 'basic' parts means that as a whole it's not as cohesive, whereas the shapes of a carbon frame can often look a little more sculpted (for want of a better word). The silhouette of the frame has barely changed in about 6 years or more too so I think it's seen as boring just because it's so familiar now. That's the price of making a good product in a way though, if there's no need to update it because it all works fine, you don't want to make a dramatic update just to make it look 'new' but risk it failing. You can look again at Inspired and some of their frames! The Arcade is basically the same as it's been for 7-8 years now, and the silhouette is near identical to the prototype I first had 10 years ago, but it just works so there's no sense in trying to reinvent the wheel.

I think it's a little different with the lack of standards for trials because it basically locks in profit for the company further down the line. Looking at Jitsie, their Varial Race bike is a classic example of it. You have to use their fork because they've gone for a 1 1/4" lower not a 1.5" lower headset bearing. You have to use their front hub because they went for a non-standard hub spacing. It means that if you or anyone you sell the bike on to in future needs to replace anything on it (with those forks, you will), you're locked in to Jitsie's parts. It also worked out well for Jitsie because they didn't have to change the frame tubing at all, and didn't really have to change their hubs much either. Next to zero outlay to guarantee onward profitability is the dream for most companies, even though in this instance it comes at a cost for the end user. Just on the weights of the more boutique carbon frames, I imagine a chunk of that will just be because the more mainstream brands are probably factoring in a larger reliability margin for their frames vs. the boutique brands? There's a much broader demographic who might be out there on a Canyon Spectral CF with a much broader range of possible levels of bike abuse, whereas someone buying an Unno is probably easier for them to define, and is less likely to be a bike abuser/destroyer. For the big brands it's probably worth having a slightly higher frame weight to not have to get as many back in warranty form, especially as the chunkier frame weight will be more or less obscured by the spec choice on the complete bike in any case. I do agree with you in general though, nobody has really made the most out of the properties of carbon in the trials world IMO. If trials brands are as blasé about standards as they appear to be then you could go even further with the design of them, similar-ish to how Hope initially decided to create new standards on their own carbon bike. The street trials world is even more noticeable for the lack of real innovation with carbon frames. The frames are more or less inspired by the Santa Cruz frame for Danny, and that itself was fundamentally flawed - as they've openly acknowledged. There's a lot more that could be done if you went at it with a blank canvas (and real world knowledge of the forces put through a trials frame, unlike Santa Cruz). The clearly unsuitable parts that Canyon have specced on their complete bike don't fill me with confidence about their understanding of trials either.

Speaking as someone who used to work in a trials shop, the reason they probably haven't replied to your request for discount is because those kinds of emails are really annoying Dealing with new brands, especially "less established" brands like XOX (or whatever they're called) is almost always hassle and is probably why it's taken so long for them to get any kind of realistic pricing for you. Without naming names, a few 'new' brands tried getting TartyBikes to be their exclusive UK distros while I was there, and getting solid pricing information from them was almost impossible, especially if you're operating as a reputable shop (i.e. pay VAT to your government, properly declare imports, don't want to rely on someone flying into the country with the products you've ordered in a suitcase, etc.). It takes a long time because often their communication is insanely slow - with one brand I was trying to start stocking at TartyBikes, it took repeated emails over months just to get a mega basic price list sent over - and it seems that most of the newer brands are quite inconsistent for want of a better word. One week you think the price is X, then next it happens to be Y because there's been some arbitrary change. Most "established" trials brands have a lot to learn as it is, but these newer brands don't really have any kind of transparency or consistency so from a retailers perspective they're a nightmare to deal with. Admittedly that is part and parcel of being a shop, and part of the margin that shops make is to factor in that they have dealt with those stresses and saved the customer having to deal with them. That said, Trial-Bikes will have gone through all of that, communicating with you about it and presumably answering questions you may have had, and then when things are potentially coming to a head you've asked for discount on a brand new product. From a shop's POV it is just frustrating to get that kind of thing, and no matter how "kindly" you word it it still comes across as a 'f**k you' whether you want it to or not. We had it a lot at TartyBikes where we'd spend ages talking a customer through their options, answering loads of questions, helping them make an informed choice, then when it'd come time to buy they'd ask for discount and if they didn't get it would go elsewhere. That was especially the case with so many brands selling direct as most of them seem to give customers a deal if they go to them and ask for anything, but naturally it's a lot easier for a brand to offer a customer money off when they're selling them direct compared to a shop selling a product they've already paid for. All of that aside, I'd go Crewkerz every time. They're strong and the geo is reasonable. The proprietary aspects of the Jealousy suck, but that's the same for almost all of the bikes out there now. At least they use a more standard-y axle standard, whereas for the Clean you're stuck only ever using their hubs. I don't know what that XOX brand use so it may be less of an issue for them. The strength thing would be the biggest concern for me with them though. Making moulds for carbon stuff is pricey, so basically whatever their initial prototype was will be whatever is sold to the customer, just with more or less carbon laid up in it. The vast majority of trials brands do zero R&D, so you're rolling the dice with them. Although everyone seems to ride a Crewkerz these days, there are reasons for that, and them being a reliable choice is one of them. It's similar to Inspired in many ways. Again, while I was at TartyBikes we used to get customers who refused to buy an Inspired because they didn't want the bike that everyone else had, and ended up spending money on bikes that weren't as good just because they didn't say Inspired on the downtube. Most of them ultimately wound up getting an Inspired further down the line. The Crewkerz isn't as exotic as whatever the latest carbon bike is that's everywhere on Instagram, but they're tried and tested and ride well which is what's really important.

I'd say you were somewhat unlikely to find a big sidehop in a section for blue, I don't remember there being many that often. That's typically more along the lines of red from memory. As before, I'd really recommend taking a trip either up to the Moon Rocks or across to Shipley. There's a pretty decent range of sizes of move to go at there, but they're all that bit awkward so they'll give you an indication of where you're at. They're not particularly representative of what comps are these days just because they aren't trials-park-y, but they're both hard to ride so they'll level you up faster than just riding the same combo of walls or pallets.

Yeah, that'll definitely be the M6 bolts vs. M10. They just don't allow you to tighten them up enough before you get enough tension. Loads of grease can help out a bit, but ultimately it's just a limitation of them.

From my experience with comps, it's not so much the size of moves you can do but just being able to handle really awkward, fiddly stuff. It's been ages since I've done a comp, but when I did some the 'big' moves in each section on blue were fine for me, but it was the awkward janky wheel swappy stuff that always cost me dabs. Some of that has been diluted by the switch to trials park venues rather than quarries and natural setups where you might find more awkward stuff, but realistically trying to find some natural spots that'll force you to link multiple moves together will probably be more beneficial for your comp riding rather than just trying to do bigger one-off moves. That'll also hopefully give you some resilience to arm pump! That was a big factor for me in sections. I was always pretty tense in them, so I'd be holding onto the bars harder and pulling the brakes harder than I'd need to, then 1:30 in I'd barely be able to hold on... Learning to do stuff off off camber/sketchy run ups is good too, and is something that a place like Shipley Glen is really good for. Shipley has some fairly street-ish kind of setups there, but what makes them hard is that the run in/run out will be on undulating rock, long grass or a combination of the two. As before, in the blue routes I did on street I could comfortably do the size of moves required, but even though they were relatively small for me the run ups (and my inability to work them out/deal with them) really limited me. EDIT: Just to add, learning to do wheel swaps on to awkward shaped stuff and off awkward shaped stuff will be a big help if you're riding blue! Plenty of setups like that to play on at Shipley too, so I'd suggest having a trip over there for a ride some time if you haven't gone already.

Yeah, thought you meant that from the little lip thing. I know the style you mean. It just reminded me of what he and Charlie are doing with those hanging ones. Sorry for not being clearer!

The height he can get on those "hanging hooks" is insane. Seeing him cruise up the massive spool on its side at Barrow Farm was quite something.

Cheers for the interest dude! That video was on the TartyBikes Vimeo, but when we cancelled the Plus membership it wiped the majority of videos from there. I've got them backed up here, I think the guys at TB may be reupping them to YouTube at some point... Forgot to say, but I think the video you're thinking of there is "Mark and Stan - Summer 2010" or something along those lines. Stan was on the yellow brakeless Echo, from memory. That summer was so good...

Yeah, unless you're in the Echo ecosystem fully I'd be inclined to step away from those cranks. The Trialtech Race Forged or Jitsie Forged cranks are both decent options. Not the lightest, but also fairly cheap and strong. You would need a new bashring to go with them though as the profile of the Echo bashring means that they don't sit flat on them properly (the bashring contacts the 'shoulder' of the crank arm, so it sits at an angle). New bashrings aren't super expensive though, so possibly not a deal breaker...

The Trialtech splines are the same HG spline as the 135-click freewheels, but they're not compatible as the Trialtech cranks have a shorter spline interface and use a different style of lockring compared to the interface the 135-click freewheels use.

Lubing them is tricky - basically, if it's too thick then it'll potentially reduce the effectiveness of the springs, plus it tends to attract dust, dirt and grit. When I worked at TartyBikes we got a few "faulty" Echo freewheels returned to us that were chock full of sand, mud and everything else where riders had ridden natural and not really taken great care of their bikes. They only really need a very light lube to keep them going and minimise corrosion. Echo freestyled their BB 'standard' a bit, so you may need to double check the measurements on the Xox match the Echo BB. If the Xox BB is a little wider/thicker for whatever reason, it would mean your drive-side crank will sit further out on the splines. With ISIS BBs having a very slight taper to them it might not really be ideal if it's sitting a reasonable amount further outboard. Aside from that, the sealed bearing 135-click freewheels seem to generally be pretty decent these days so could be worth a look. They're all basically the same thing so I don't think you'll really find performance difference from brand to brand.

Can you isolate roughly where the creaking is coming from? There's a lot of front end related stuff that could cause a creak like loose rotor bolts, pad knock, contaminated pads (if you're only hearing the noise when you're braking), loose headset, tight headset, etc... If you're getting the noise when you just rock the bike backwards and forwards on the ground with the front brake on, turn the forks 90° and see if it still does it. That should isolate whether it's more to do with the brakes/your front wheel or the headset. With the bar clamp bolts, it's worth making sure they're evenly tightened up. Backing them so they're almost fully out then counting the turns as you go for each bolt should help keep them even. Plenty of grease on the bolt threads (and potentially a dab under the bolt head if you want, although I think they have washers on those bolts) will help too. Tightening the bolts in a cross pattern is the way to go too, so for example doing the top left - bottom right - bottom left - top right. Go bit by bit. In general though, taking parts off, cleaning them, adding grease and reassembling is the best solution to creaking. The front end of the Fourplay is fairly simple so it shouldn't take long to do

I'd say that is basically the case now. It's the same as the peak of any other sport I guess, you don't just get there by doing the one thing but by doing other things that help supplement it. I imagine doing some kind of gym work would also help out a lot for preventing injuries too. It's not really about just getting 'big' though - as an example, Carthy does gym work alongside riding and he's not exactly body builder physique. It seems like a lot of WCs now are somewhat static power moves, but generally to front or to hook. The level of tech in them now is crazy. The last World Cup was livestreamed and can still be viewed on YouTube, so it'd probably be worth just watching that to get an idea of the level of it.

The piston is made from a material that has lower moisture absorption compared to something like a standard Magura piston. This means it's less susceptible to the swollen pistons you can get on standard Magura levers when used with water, but it's generally best to avoid using 'just' water as it isn't the best thing for your brake. Most antifreezes (as an example) contain some corrosion inhibitors and lubricants which will keep your brake in better condition, so it's worth picking some up if you can. Obviously it helps for stopping your brake freezing, but the lube/anti-corrosion properties are the thing you're after.

I think that lack of the fundamentals is certainly true for plenty of newer street trials riders, but then it was also pretty apparent back in the TGS heyday too. The whole 'TGS' moniker came about as a derogatory name from more comp-focussed riders towards the guys who were basically just sidehopping everything and trying to get more and more contorted with their tucks. Trying to +1 your footjam whip count is just the modern equivalent of that with street. I think it's generally going to be what happens with these sub-genres though. Most riders will get into it because it seems fun, they'll develop tastes within the style of riding they like, start mimicking the best riders in that niche and then just do the things they do. That's true for street trials, it was/is true for TGS, for early 24" street riders, BMX street riders and so on. From my perspective I think some of the bigger name riders are adding more overtly trials lines to their riding (when Langlois started posting clips of huge ups to front and hooks there was suddenly a load of riders trying to learn them too, so some will follow down that path at least), but ultimately it's only ever to really serve the ability to do their usual moves on more tech setups. I think that's probably true for more general non-comp trials riders too though. It's clear to see the influence that Charlie has had on how some riders ride street these days! In terms of the more comp specific moves like vibrating up muddy banks, when I first rode a comp I could do the usual trialsy moves to a decent size, but I lost so many dabs to really basic/awkward/fiddly classic blue route nibbly stuff. From the comps I've been to more recently as a filmer/helper, I think that's still the thing that catches out most riders who aren't used to riding comps. Unless you go out to do that style of riding it'll inevitably catch you out, and I suspect that a lot of people just don't really enjoy doing that aspect of trials too much. Even comps themselves appear to be moving away from that to an extent - a lot of the most popular venues now are largely man-made trials parks, and although some of them feature awkward janky kinda stuff it's no old school BIU comp. The World Cups and World Champs seem to have switched to generic, interchangeable sections of pipes, sleepers and random chunky boulders, and as the top riders start to focus more on riding those style of sections it's inevitable that that will filter down to other comps too. As a side note, can still remember a lot of sourpusses when there was a long balance beam in a World Cup or World Champs section ages ago that claimed a lot of top names - times have changed... It'll be interesting to see if there is much of a swing back to that style of riding/comp. There did seem to be a bit of a backlash to the way UCI sections were coming down almost to whoever could make the ridiculous hook or up to front mid-section, but I do wonder if things have gone so far in the direction of new school UCI comps that they'll never really go all the way back to what used to pass for sections. Even the few clips I've seen of BIU comps seem to have a lot more of the new school style stuff in them rather than being pure natural. You know more about that side of trials than me though! EDIT: One thing I forgot to point out is that I'm definitely in favour of riders getting more of a well-rounded base of skills, that's why I'm into the way that Inspired (as an example) support riders like Ali, Ben Travis, Joacim Lundgren and to an extent guys like Duncan Shaw as well. When trying to find riders to sponsor, it's something I look for as well. I get a lot of recommendations for riders to watch as possible people to hook up, but so often they can do some really cool streety stuff, but they tend to look like so many other riders simply because they don't have that extra dimension to their riding. As before, some street guys are upping their trials skills now, but with that being the hard part I think there's always going to be a limit to how many get involved with that.

Yeah, it's certainly analogous. On that note, a non-rider I happened to be speaking to once was saying that Danny was so "inconsistent" that he thought he could have got the ghost-bounce-front-flip thing Danny did in Gymnasium within the same amount of tries (which from memory Danny had said in a video was something like 700 or so). That same guy was also quick to point out that Alex Honnold was shit at climbing when I happened to bring his name up. From interviews with him, Honnold is quick to point out that he's by no means the best climber out there. Regardless of that though, the things he's done speak for themselves, both in terms of his free solo stuff as well as his more traditional climbing. The 'problem' is that the level of popularity he's achieved will always mean some people will turn against him, in the same way that there are plenty of people in the trials world who really dislike Danny because he's so successful. What may be helping turn the tide a bit is that some of the newer generation of comp riders are starting to embrace social media a bit more, and put themselves out there more. It really wasn't that long ago that most of the top comp riders would seemingly vanish off the face of the earth over winter so they could train without anyone seeing, so when the season started any new techniques or things they'd come up with would give them the advantage. There was definitely also an attitude (that I think remains in some ways) that to earn a living riding, they shouldn't need to do anything other than ride comps and win. Even without the fact we live in a social media age there are gaping holes in that mindset, but now especially it really doesn't help themselves or 'The Sport'. Guys like Carthy, Charlie, Sergi and to an extent people like Eloi Palau putting more clips out has definitely boosted their profile, and I imagine will be pleasing their sponsors too. The fountain gap clip Sergi posted a while back went fully viral as an example, even ending up on the news in Spain. It just goes to show you never really know what might break through for people, and get more people inspired to give it a go. Just to touch on something in this, to an extent growing either discipline of trials will usually wind up benefiting 'your everyday rider'. On the most basic level, part of the reason that costs are higher for trials bikes compared to other bikes is simply economies of scale. Trials bikes are made in miniscule numbers, and that drives costs up. If companies start to do better and manage to produce more bikes, this could lead to a reduction in costs. The other side is the human side of it - if more people get into riding then that inherently reduces the "most riders ride alone" thing simply because if there are more people riding, there's more of a chance of someone starting to ride near you. Aside from that though, I'm not sure comps/comp attendance has much of a meaning. I know when I was first getting into comps, I'd been riding for a few years but I was on the fence about doing one because they were such a black box at the time. There was basically no media from them, and so from a new rider perspective there was no idea of what you might have to do save for some photos or videos of the Elite riders doing stuff I could never dream of doing. Fast forward nearly 20 years and we're still in almost exactly the same position. When I was in a customer facing role at TartyBikes, people would often ask about comps as they had no idea what to expect or how they worked. That aspect will generally put people off on its own, but IMO comps also don't really give a great value proposition to riders in terms of having a day out riding. I've entered an enduro race later this year, and with that I'm going to get to ride a 45km loop, including 7 fun stages that are each about 5-7 minutes long. As a brand new rider to that type of riding, even if I make a lot of mistakes I still get to ride all those stages and have a lot of time out riding my bike. If I was a brand new rider to comps, if I make a lot of mistakes - especially early in sections - I could wind up only getting to actually ride my bike in that competition for a combined total of a minute or two. I can see how that, combined with the fear of the unknown, the pressure of a competition situation, the inaccessibility of a lot of comp venues and so on would lead to not wanting to ride them. When you factor in clips of guys like Charlie making riding street look really fun, there's not really much of an incentive to do comps, and I don't really think that that is going to really be a factor in how big trials as a whole gets.

I'm sure you've already been told this by plenty of people, but use plenty of grease on your axle bolts! Your axle bolts should be the things keeping your wheel in place when you're riding, so if things are potentially shifting then they're a good place to start looking. If they're fitted either dry or with only a token amount of grease/lube they can bind and feel like they're tight whereas in reality they're not anywhere near close to the torque they could be at with grease involved. Make sure the threads are all good on your bolts and axle too. One thing you could do to check is to use something like a marker to mark a line across the edge of your cams and snail cam bolts. That way if the cam slips or rotates, it'll appear out of alignment with the line on the bolts. As Ali said, new chains do stretch much more than people expect, so it could simply be that if it's a brand new chain. New chain to used chain on my Arcade equates to about 2mm of movement back in the dropouts, so that 2mm via clicks on a snail cam will be quite a lot of clicks.

I'd say mid-2000's was probably the case to an extent for TGS stuff, and possibly also for comp trials in terms of the size of entries for local and club comps. In the UK, the number of clubs/comps now compared to when I rode comps back in the early 2000's is quite starkly different. Street had a following back then, but I'd say that April 2009 definitely got more people involved, especially in Europe it seems. I'd say street trials itself is doing pretty well over there - there are plenty of younger riders posting clips of rides and so on on Instagram, as an example. The trials industry has become leaner, but part of that is because back then some brands were a little... 'unrealistic' with how they operated. Echo producing 14 different colours of rim for example, or having 5 sub-brands producing largely the same parts. Koxx getting multiple bailouts/investments and making bigger and bigger plans before going bankrupt (although there was a lot more going on with that). Even to an extent Onza having a large range of bikes, but packing them in way too tightly at different price points. I think there was just a general bloat, whereas now with margins getting tighter it's whittled down the number of companies out there from the larger spread there was before to a tighter group now. As for Danny, he still rides Inspired and Trialtech parts, but I don't think Santa Cruz really want him broadcasting that seeing as they're the ones paying serious cash to be associated with him. He wasn't required to black out their logos in the same way Fabio was with Canyon, for example.

Yeah, but Carthy was talking about questionable comp rider outfits in his podcast with Ashton so that seems like fair game...

Can still remember hearing about Randy Taylor. That sucked. Used to love watching all the V-Club videos, and then the Mutiny ones too... Speaking of, also really enjoyed that new video James! That tree line around the 4:40 mark was sweet, and was interesting to hear you highlight how much effort it is to get that style of line with no hops. Also, that barspin after the gap at 6:30 was f**king crisp. Such a nice style on those. It was just an enjoyable video overall - you did a good job in getting across that you were stoked on riding, and that always helps carry that vlog style of video well. It seemed a lot more genuine than some other attempts at vlogs I've seen people do, even if I'm sure it doesn't really feel it at times when you're having to do pieces-to-camera walking around on your own

The only thing really is that they use their own unique bleed hose, but if you bought that lever new you should have received one with it.

A very brief look on Instagram will tell you that this attitude is still very much alive and kicking, although now opened up to other big name riders too. It's always seemed like a weird split in a way, I don't really know of many (or any, to be fair) street riders who think negatively of comp riders, but the other way round that's definitely not the case. Some of it certainly appears to be motivated by what is essentially jealousy that street riders appear to be able to make a living through riding more easily than comp-focussed riders. Some of it seems to come from the idea that street riders fundamentally aren't 'as good' as comp riders. The most common example I've read/heard of this is that the way that guys like Danny are open about taking hundreds of goes to do a trick means that they're "not very good" and are "inconsistent". That's more of a fundamental misunderstanding of how making videos works, but is still one of the ways that people seem to want to knock down street riders. I suppose it's probably always seemed odd to me because I've been lucky enough to film and ride with guys like Jack Carthy, Vincent Hermance, Abel Mustieles and Charlie Rolls, but also with Danny, Fabio, John Langlois, you/Ali, etc. The thing that stands out as soon as you see any of them ride in person is that they're all really, really good at what they do. You don't get to the level that any of those riders are at without having that ability. Seeing it in video never does it justice, and often the things that happen off camera are as impressive as the things that happen on camera. The first time I filmed with Charlie at the Academy his 'warm up' was mental to me, in much the same way that the first time I rode street in Glasgow with Danny I couldn't believe how high his standard level of riding is. I think a lot of people would be surprised to see how good at trials John Langlois is too. Not that it's ever explicitly come up, but I think there's generally a level of respect each way from those riders regarding what the other type of riders are doing. For me it comes down to the phrase "A rising tide lifts all ships". From first hand experience at TartyBikes, just because someone's gateway into the trials world may have been the April 2009 video, they can still then get interested in comp style riding and choose something like an Echo Lite for their first trials bike rather than an Inspired. It isn't a zero-sum game. Although in the trials world the gap between street and comp seems vast, for the outside world trials in general is just a tiny little niche discipline, and whether the bike has a seat or not it's still a funny little bike with a super spinny gear ratio. It's easier than ever now to find out more about each different type of trials, so having riders who are capable of putting any form of trials in front of millions of people will only really help get more people involved in either type.

Track surface looks pretty abrasive - that combined with a load of slow, offcamber awkward corners in cars that seem to be plagued with understeer = all the pit stops, potentially. Feel for the drivers a bit as those cars are going to feel like dick to drive around a lot of that track. Just a little taster for how much they're going to massively suck at Monaco. Either way, hoping for a Leclerc/Ferrari win purely as they seem to be the only ones capable of challenging Red Bull.

I assume it's a similar exercise to the Santa Cruz one, in a "Look what we're capable of!" sense. The cost of creating it will be a drop in the ocean to them (€416m in sales in 2020/21...), but getting their big name team rider on a unique bike is a pretty good branding exercise. I imagine the intended market are the same people who are happy to pay €50 for a Sick Series long sleeve T. There are plenty of kids out there with parents with deep wallets it seems. His signature Canyon Torque sold out pretty quickly so I expect there'll be a decent uptake for this from that same crowd, but there possibly won't be quite as much appeal beyond that group just because of the price of it, and how focused a trials bike is in comparison to something like a Torque.