Mark W

I got to do mine for 2 weeks in a recording studio for year 10, and then at Supercycles for year 12. Recording studio one was fun. First week was tame work-wise as they had a rock masterclass on there and so there was relatively little 'work' to do, but I got to sit in on the bass tuition and learnt a shitload of stuff that really helped me. Got free tickets to the finale concert too, which I then used the that audio to produce a CD in the second week (sorting out compression, levels, editing and so on, and then designing the cover and everything). I'm interested in a career in music, so it was good. The Supercycles work placement utterly dominated. Got to stay at someone who works at Onza's house for the week (which was pretty kind of him, considering I was supposed to be staying with Tart until 3 or 4 days before I left, so it was short notice for him), and we rode to work every day - apart from when we went in by bus. First day was: Woken up, and given a cup of tea. Shower 'n' stuff. Leave for work. Ride the 15-20 minutes to work. Get there, meet people. Say hi to everyone. Check out some of the funny warranty returns (e.g. a T-Raptor that "has only been used for natural" with a shitload of brickdust in the chainstay gouges, etc.). Have a quick play on some of the prototype bikes. Check out all the cool bikes in stock. Look at some fancy-ass components. Put up some info on the 2004 Onza range on trials-forum. Go to Co-Op for some bread. Come back and have some soup. Interview the mail-room staff, and check out the running of the shop. Go for dinner at Subway. Come back and eat the foot-long sub. Check out trials-forum for a bit, and start writing up case study. Have a quick play on the Woodstock prototype. Mess about a bit. Ride home. Go out for a meal. Meet some random friend of the guy who I was staying with, who was constantly high on medicinal cannabis. Go home. Read for a bit. Go to sleep. In the week that I was there: Got my second T-Bone prototype frame. Got a cheap T-Lite frame. Got some free "cookie cutter" stem stackers. Got to see a demo in the shop floor on the sleepers and spools by Gilles Coustellier, who happened to be there. Got to get the news on Gilles being signed up to Onza before anyone else in the world ('cept for those present, obviously (Y)). Developed a taste for Czech absynth. Got to meet all the cool people at SuperCycles. Wrote a 50 page long Case Study that got me an A at AS Level, which is carried over into my A2 level. Learnt a lot about running a business. Learnt a lot about how to 'work', and still have a good time. It was a really good time. If you actually plan out where you're going to go (and try and go somewhere away from home), it's properly good. Before you all start asking Onza for work placements though, I'm apparently the first person to get a work placement there, and from what I can remember, probably the last one they'll let go there...

No shit, Sherlock. I'm guessing if they didn't have the car they probably wouldn't be driving around either. *cue dramatic music...* I'm noticing no-one was really picking on them though, yet you claim they were scared - just proved your signature wrong again?

Hallo all, I'm bored. Really bored. So much so, I'm actually not just gonna roll into town and do the same walls over and over again :) The train station here basically goes from here to Shrewsbury, or from here to Swansea. In that Shrewsbury is a hole, and Swansea seems to have some decent riding in it, I decided to go South this Thursday. I was hoping I might be able to get some Swansea info from someone on here/some other people to meet up there? I know there's a ride on in Abergavenny, but I really wanna head to Swansea :S So yeah, where are the 'best' spots? I know there's that fancy fountain shiz there, but where is that in relation to the station? Do you get chucked off there quickly? Is the place festering with chav scum? Thanks for any help (Y) Mark

It's also known as the "Not opening the thread" option :) As someone said though, the volume doesn't dictate "good"ness. There's a cheap-ass BMX in the bike shop here with some kinda random 54 engagement point freewheel (it's fifty something, at least). It's hella loud, and hella sketchy. One pawl engagement, anyone?

My Eno's about right (freewheel, that is...). Not silent, but not annoyingly (read: King) loud...

Keeps you fit, means you're outside in the fresh air, develops "people skills", develops personal qualities, etc. :huh:

FWD would mean no tricks though, due to the lack of power to the rear wheel, so it'd be uber hard to kickhop or anything with a sodding great motor over the front :huh: If you could attach it so you have the motor in the bottom bit of the front triangle, and have it have a sprocket which drives the chain as well, you might be in business I guess, but other than that I suspect will be waffer.

Mine froze over-night 3 times. That was when it was at about -9 to -10. Also, that was when it was stored in a thin-walled caravan, so it got uber cold anyway. It's not like it's a major drama, seeing as I don't usually ride over-night anyway. Most times, by about 9-10am it's thawed, and then it's dandy. It did freeze riding home once actually, but that was 'cos it was 11pm, and the wind chill factor was a bit savage...

He offered people the pads if they wanted them? There was no obligation from anyone to buy them, so I don't see how he's done anything wrong at all? By "the 2005" pads, do you mean the Batch C clears? If so, people are still running them 'cos they worked really well. The Konigs are now moulded and so on, so they are a better pad, but would you rather trials companies didn't sell frames 'cos they'd update them the year after or whatever? Go to Heatsinkpads.com and check the pic out there.

From what I could tell, he was referring to Jonny Jones?

Bolt freewheel remover to crank arm/freewheel. Clamp either the crank arm (the Mark prefered choice <-) or the tool in the vice. Use an extension bar (31.8mm seat-post if you're using most adjustables seems to do the job, or the hella long bar at our lbs) or just a long big ol' tube to slip round the crank arm to twist it off. Seriously, it will work, just keep trying. Soak it in GT-85 if you want, but yeah - just put a loada effort in. Rememeber: the longer the extension bar the easier the job (Y)

Logo on T-shirt = 2D designing covered. Point-of-sale Unit for selling T-Shirts in a shop = 3D designing covered.

Bit of a waste of money though? Shit pads are shit pads - if they only last for a few days, what's the point in buying them if they're only going to last a tiny amount of time? Plaz CRMs and Koxx Bloxx seem to last for eternity on a grind. This experience is shared by many people. If people impart this information, he won't go and do something stupid like buy Planet-X Sticky pads. Narrowing down the choice of a huge array of after-market pads to ones that aren't shit is a good thing. Obviously people have different experiences, but the trends are pretty obvious: Home-made pads are yet to last a decent length of time, and brown Koxx Bloxx are yet to wear down in 3 rides...

Er, how can it be random if you click on the link for the random thread, then click "reply", then write it down, then press "Add Reply"? (Y)

When they work, my Heatsink pads feel like I'm running tar when I'm not. Fortunately, by not pulling brake lever as hard, I am able to modulate my brake?

Short backings being the X-Hydra style ones? How much are they, d'you know?

2 years unconditional (unless you've been a twat) half-price replacement, with a years warranty for manufacturing defects, as opposed to 3 months on new frames and forks, and none on the actual components? Value for money parts, as opposed to hideously over-priced frames and parts (I don't give a shit what spiel you wanna repeat from the Monty site, the 221 is NOT worth £530, neither is the "Monty" *cough*ACS Claw*cough* freewheel worth the £40-ish that Monty want you to pay for it, etc.)? Helping people get into trials by making decent quality bikes that actually have good components and geometry as opposed to just making crappy bikes with low quality parts and inflating the price just because it says "Monty" on the side? I don't really want to get into some kinda company war because, to put it bluntly, Cleanbikes are f**king amazing. I really appreciate the work that Barbara does both in Cleanbikes with their excellent customer service and for the Biketrial UK stuff and so on, but you're talking complete dick here Chris.

Site looks OK, but the vid was a bit sorta... well... it just seemed to be you doing drops? A bit more variety would be cool, but I guess that's the whole point of another teaser/the DVD...

At last, someone else on here who thinks the same - I've always prefered a higher front end, yet constantly get told that it'll be shit and hold me back and I'll get cursed by it and stuff... I just prefer it, really. Janson's right though - for the current generation of higher rise BB's, it'll give you a more "OTB" feel, so a higher stem's needed to compensate. If you imagine you pivot near your waist, if you raise your feet you'll need to raise your hands to compensate. I don't think Clive said he wanted to go much longer than the frames currently are. I think I heard Berridge murmur that Curtis were thinking of making a longer frame, but I'm not 100% on that. What's the beef with alu?

Yeah, that's the one I was thinking of. It's funny how people keep coming back and buying new ones for the ones they snap. Lambs: slaughter.

Just so I know, the Sram ones ARE the ones which you put together, then they like slide outwards to lock together?

That's bollocks, really. All the top UCI riders have a style; it's generally just uber clean, precise riding. Even if you don't like it, it's still their style, and again I'd rather watch some super clean riding done like that than some haggard, sketchy street stuff. Saying that, I'd rather watch clean street riding than haggard, sketchy UCI stuff too...

Nah, in comps it usually is, sadly. Well, amongst the shit-style full-on comp riders with their "Lock the brakes and rock the bike through the section" brigade. Anyway, like I said before - comparing that bash to a standard bash, it's definitely been raped a lot, and the bending isn't from the small movement of the front mount. I've seen bashguards bent like that before without raped frames, so it's not the frame that did it. Equally, judging from the totally levelled off serations on the bottom of the guard, it does look mashed. Either way though, it is poop the frame died so quickly...

You can call that "ZOO! rider" 'Neil', if you want. Or 'Tunni' if you think you're his friend :P

Koxx? Copying products? Whatever next :P I thought they were pretty similar to my Orchid's too*. Mark. *From memory...