Mark W

Enough to maybe alter the outcome of a trial, if it happens again :)"

There was a Welsh UK round before, but to be honest Div, just deal with it? I've got to go international by going to England too, so why make such a big deal out of it? The "muddy banks" thing was the one thing that put me off doing trials competitions, and to some extent it's still true. The last YMSA I went to was about 80-90% rock and boulder section, but there were still some "Ride down this slippery bit of mud" sections, and I feel that kinda ruins trials. Trials CAN be a really nice, flowing, dynamic sport, but slow, sluggish sections like that are no fun to ride, and just don't really add anything to a competition. I'm aware that that's all that can be done in some places, but still, it's the stereotype that's putting people off. I've forgotten what else I was going to say, but I'll edit when I've remember :"> Mark

I can eengoedidee.nl it if it's desperate...

I guess it's more just that typically it'll be 70 on a motorway or something, where there's a greatly reduced chance of some pedestrian pottering about. Typically, 30mph limits are in residential areas though, where there's a greater chance of unpredictable people walking out in front of you, or something like that.

Erm, I wouldn't, if I were you. I've got a T-Master stem and a ZOO! stem; the ZOO! being significantly lower. Good bye manuals, good bye bunnyhops, good bye everything. As soon as I put the T-Master back on everything's sexy (N) Saying that, I prefer higher rise bars on my BMX too, so maybe that's just me... But yeah, super low front end would ride like a dog for street.

Nah, I was just meaning everyone's a little cranky. But yeah, if I could afford to have lessons, buy a car, tax and insure it, then afford the petrol costs, I'd be there (N) My Mum came last time even though she didn't take me though, so I think she enjoys going to them anyway, so it's not so bad...

I'm guessing that Bongo meant that DJ got hit by something who was speeding. They didn't know he was going to be there and couldn't stop in time. Joe might not've been able to see someone and equally wouldn't have been able to stop in time. Anyway...

I don't drive there though :) Hence the transport problem (N)

It was done by Tart, so he might be the one to ask. The thread title was done in the same way; a typo but done with the first and last letters the same so you could read it. However, it's probably been pruned...

Steve-A's videos. But haven't we gone over this tediously before? If I had a decent video camera I'd happily take pics of it, but frankly, whether you "believe it" or not doesn't really mean dick all.

You found the T-Pro long? (N) Bloody hell! Mine's only 1000mm! That's the only side-on pic I could find of my bike, but you can see I've got straight-blade forks on, so I guess that might have something to do with it...

The ones I go to are typically around 130+ miles away, which leads to sucky-sucky drives home afterwards when I'm tired...

Re: #2 I've only ever seen that sorta thing happen about twice at the YMSA comps, and that was just The Butlers®. If it's not a national, I don't think the majority are going to care as much. I know that even the Elite riders at the YMSA comps were all laughing and joking as they were riding sections, so it's really chilled (Y) Plus, the sections are always on nice rocks, and they're almost always well laid out. Top banana :) EDIT: Wayne - I don't know about the compensation thing from YMSA, just 'cos I'd never really thought about it; I just thought that if I fell off and, say, broke my leg, it would've been my fault and I wouldn't have even considered compensation because it would've been down to me, but also I wouldn't want to potentially financially cripple the organisation that had been putting the comp on.

The titles line up properly for me, using IE. Nice site, Craig! Some of the pics are a bit worrying though (Y) Mark. P.S. If I were you, I think I'd probably make it so the "Links" section website links were real links, if you get me? Just so they're clickable basically, 'cos it'll make it easier for people visiting your site so you're more likely to get people going to the other sites too (N)

1) Yeah, I like doing them, but only through the YMSA almost purely down to the fact that to do a YMSA comp it costs me the entry fee because they don't have all the BIU/ACU licenses and so on required for you to participate. For me, that means a lot, because I don't know how many trials I can commit to a year, so it doesn't make sense for me to spend a lot of money on ACU or BIU membership which I'm only going to make use of once or twice. Also, the YMSA comps are solely held on rocks, which is another selling point for me. Coupled to that the ultra friendly atmosphere from the YMSA admin and from every other rider at the comps (apart from the dickheads), it's great. 2) Generally, I can't get to the ones I don't go to because of a lack of transport. I really want to go to this first YMSA round, seeing as a lot of people from here are going who I'd like to meet, but I've got no way of getting up there, which sucks. This is the same reason for most of the comps I go to, too. 3) I didn't think that at all, to be honest with you. I was nervous before my first ever trial, just because I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't feel like I'd be an outcast or anything. I knew a few people who were going (such as Chris R from Section7.co.uk), so it made it a bit easier 'cos there were a few friendly faces there. For every trial after that, I've seen more people I know from here and from previous comps, so it's pretty cool. I'm guessing though that the 2 over-riding factors as to whether people go to comps or not is if they actually want to do them as they are, or if they can get there (either because of transport reasons or because of the date). The meeting the "top" riders is pretty good just from watching them ride, really. Like when Gilles Coust went to the YMSA round last year (or the year before?), it was pretty fly just 'cos it was good to see someone who was that good riding there. But yeah, just seeing all the mix of riders is pretty interesting; you learn a hell of a lot really quickly (N)

Or get clear ones, and then have a water bleed with food colouring/dye in it (N) I think the main colours are just red, black or blue; maybe the new Hope's come in some kind of green? Check out TartyBikes.co.uk for them; but bear in mind they're not too far off £40...

For all street apart from grinds (which I hate and haven't really learnt on street anyway), I feel way happier on my T-Pro than my Federal, for some reason. Especially with hops to manual; I think it's just the reassurance of a slightly grabbier back brake. As soon as we go to trails or a skatepark though, there's no question (N)

There's being pedantic, then there's being a dick. A glider would technically go slower, so you'd have to take that? Or maybe a Sopwith Camel or something? Either way, it didn't really do it for me, but it's about as 'pointless' as trials is, I guess.

Cheers for the info, Mike (N) I'll see how it goes for the next couple of days and see if it's any worse. Just one more shitty thing that's happened to my body as a result of riding trials (can't smell/taste very well from when I caved my face in after faceplanting which also gave me a scar above my eye; scar on my chin; properly, properly raped knees; etc.). Still, trials is pretty much worth it (Y) Mark

I've got a busy coupla days coming up, so minimal riding (apart from to places, and then a bit of street on the way home from Somerfield). Should have a bit of time to heal ;)

I freakin' love my T-Pro for street. I used to hate street, but then I suddenly got well into it. For fufanus and tyre taps, it's really nice for kinda landing it then scooping it up; for tyre taps up walls (so you like do the 180 spin up the wall, touch the back tyre on the wall then 180 spin off the top of the wall back to the floor), it's super nice; bunnyhops ultra well (got 50" to back wheel); manuals pretty damn nice with a higher rise bar and stem. It's a super nice frame for everything, really. Plus it's only about £170 for the frame only, which isn't really bad, to be fair. If you're riding street you're going to be putting a lot of strain through it, so it'll be around £80 for the crash replacement, which isn't too shabby ;) Mark

'lo all, A few weeks back, I was upping some pallets in my back garden, and stepped off the back and kinda tweaked my ankle. Basically, the tendons running up the front of my ankle on to the top of my foot kinda hurt. It hurt for a little bit, and if I did drops to two wheels but not landing them ultra smooth it hurt. Anyway, it kinda went away for the most part, or I just forgot about it, but tonight I was going for a 360 tyre-tap up and then down a wall, and I landed the last bit properly flat. Right ankle (the one I'd hurt) on the pedal, with the left off the pedal, so the right took all my weight and kinda bent down the back of the pedal spindle, if you see what I mean? Anyway, owwy owwy. Has anyone else here got/had a similar sorta injury, and if so, how long did it take to clear up? Thanks for any help, Mark

lol It was only a matter of time 'til the "cut 'n' paste a wheel" game was on ;) Savage drop anyway James; and Ben - nice pics!

If you're running front freewheel, it'll almost definitely be a 127.5mm spindle length. I'd imagine it'd be 68mm shell width, but if you buy a 73mm shell width BB, you can always either use a thin spacer to sort it out? Or just take your BB out and measure the shell (if you can't get an accurate measurement with your cranks/bashguard and gubbins all in place)?

My Uncle was doing well over 100mph on the motorway, with points already on his license, and he got nailed by someone. He had a really nice pair of cars, but then he had to sell his fastest car and buy and then drive a Smart car just to get a reduced sentence ;)