Mark W

That's one of the best things you've written/I've read, John, sums it up perfectly. ----------------------- It was weird earlier. I was in SM Chat looking at the G/F Pics thread, and DJ was joking with Nic about an "experience" he'd had with his gf in a jacuzzi or something like that. The thing that struck me was the post time: 3:02pm, 13th May 2004. It's weird to think that just 24 hours later, it would be the last 8 minutes that we would have DJ alive and well in the world. I don't know what he did the day he died, but one thing I do know was that he was heading to a trials spot and helping someone find it (or something like that, from what I read earlier) when that 16-year-old made a bad mistake. I think that's a telling thing about DJ really - he always seemed to be super friendly and put other people first. He might have had a "dark side", but I seriously doubt it, and if me and other people who've left nearly half a thousand messages of rememberance and consolation have all only seen his good side, then if he does have a bad side it must be infintesimally small. He was an awesome guy, and I'm saddened by the fact that his family and close friends have lost him, and that I never had a chance to meet the guy who made this forum and the world around him a better place.

Bearing in mind the context, that mistake made me giggle. Anyhoo, seeing as £9-ish a pair X-Hydras are making me spuff to this very day, I don't really see the need to spend £15+ on a pair of pads :(

So what if he doesn't know of some American guy's name? He rides, he does what he wants, he has fun. He now knows Jeremy Van Schoonhoven's name - and...?

Savage or Slinger won something last year. Martyn Ashton won in...er...95, I think.

Why does anyone care who rides for what team?

Hmm, that could be because it's not a FAQ? :(\ It should fit, because the Koxx is a wider rim and the tyre will have a squarer profile which should fit in nicely. I'd have thought...

I'm still laughing literally out loud now (Y) That was awesome, and exactly what I was thinking... Sam, if this Magura-pad-person has had a bank statement saying the money's gone out of his account, it doesn't matter shit what you say. The money has gone out of his account, and the only place it could've gone is your bank account. Just send him the pads you foo'! To be fair, it sounds like you are just being a knobhead. You don't e-mail a company if you want a real answer. Most people who check the e-mails are probably going to be bored and not give a shit. Just phone them up. Alternatively, quote Chris the number on the receipt you were given so he can ask, that way he might actually hear the truth 'cos to be fair, you've been a bit of a lying fanny in the past.

It would only corrode if there was water and oxygen in there. That means a bad bleed. If you're scared, boil the water first or something. Magura blood does and still do it for me. It does all I need to. When I'm actually riding, I don't notice the lever reaction too much as I'm usually busier caring about whether I'm riding right, not whether my lever is "springy" or whether my stickers line up properly or anything.

How can you say "hop crap" is "taking over" trials? That's what trials was and for the large part is?

Er, Nick, a little contradictory there? Well, I think we officially have the first member to get some bad reviews on the new section of For Sale (coming soon (Y)). Well done Future Orange, nicely done. You pulled it off pretty well too! Even made sure you got all the parts from the other guy before "losing" the wheel "in the post". Score (Y) Nice judicial use of the Spelling Bee there too :P Let's at least get our insults spelt right :P

Sorry, but Vince, you're talking crap. There are more contradictions in your post than the f**king Bible, and that's saying something. For a start, you join in with DDave about Andrew making fun of Shaun's wife and <A TITLE="Click for more information about job" STYLE="text-decoration: none; border-bottom: medium solid green;" HREF="http://search.targetwords.com/u.search?x=5977|1||||job|AA1VDw">job</A>. Then you "degrade" Andrew's training to be a graphic designer. From just reading half of your posts I feel you are uninteligent. And try to be inteligent. Spelling "intelligent" and "unintelligent" wrong made me giggle. Really helped make your point. "No I have not met him, but if you don't have anything nice to say why bother, it just brings down other peoples opinions of YOU as well." Maybe you could of thought about that before your lovely tirade against Andrew earlier on? ""I could not release them if you want I really don't care." I sincerely doubt that, you like the attention." Several people here asked him to put that video up, so it's not just some self-promotion stuff. Anyway, you don't have to download the video or indeed look at threads he's written in, so why bother? ""He does the exact same thing, and he has the exact same opinions as I do but he doesn't express them." The maybe you could learn something from him. I'm sure his sponsors appreciate it." Sorry, but if his sponsors expect him to keep quiet and not speak his mind he should probably ditch them. One of the things I liked about my contract with Onza was that there was no "Don't say _______" orders given to me. "You can carry this on if you want, but maybe you can change your internet personna and not degrade the message boards." Wasn't it you before who did all the personal attacks after Andrew's comments about Shaun's wife? To be fair, I don't give a shit if you and Dave have issues with Andrew, but if they had any grounding it'd be better really. Using the kind of flimsy "I'm bigger than you" sorta shit you hear on playgrounds in schools is just a bit craptacular to be fair... Anyhoo, need to practise bass. Mark. P.S. Regarding the "degrading of message boards", this thread was chugging along fine right up until Dave came in and went off on one about this that and the other...

It's not so much that 'cos just making fun of people needlessly kinda sucks, but the whole: "you make fun of his job and his wife? do you even have a job or a wife?" is a bit craptacular.

Was going to be... Anyhoo Dave, Andy didn't once say he thought he was better than Shaun, just said he moaned a lot in comps and had a bad attitude. I've made fun of Tony Blair's wife before, but I don't have one. Is that allowed? Yes: so surely AndyT can make fun of someone else's wife if he wants?

Nice, factual post :P Well, I'm on my lunch-break from work (Y) Got me an XC bike too, so I'm in "let's not be a fat f**k" mode (He says as he eats his dinner of pizza & chips :"> ). To be fair, do rider line ups really mean anything? Only thing it really does is just help develop products, which is cool, but for the most part I'm not hugely fussed about whether _______ is riding for _______ or for -----------.

1.09am by my clock, and I've gotta be up and at 'them in 7 hours to go and fix punctures for weird old men who haven't ridden their bikes in 14 years and are "Thinking of getting back into it all." This is my "Try and learn something new on bass and download stuff off Kazaa" time. Note: Music off Kazaa, before you filth merchants chime in. well, mostly.

Mark's Word of the Week™

Good come-back :(

No, because the seat-stays and top-tube would form a reflex angle which would put a lot of stress on the seat-stay/tube/top-tube join. Equally, if it gets to 3 inches or less, where are the tubes going to fit together? More stand-over height means more room to move your body when you're pre-loading for sidehops and so on. Equally, it tends to mean less tubing, which generally means less weight. Also, when you're doing natural you can move your body over the bike more easily to balance and so on. (Koxx frames have 8" seat-tubes, I think) Onza T-Raptor is in the sub £200 band, might be worth a look. Try and give the bike you're considering a try-before-you-buy. It's worth it, especially seeing as the more specialist bikes tend to get pretty extreme across the geometry spectrum, where you get fairly short bikes like Leeson's, going to super long bikes like the Koxx Levelboss 1100. Don't forget not to get too wrapped up in the facts and figures - 1060, for example, may sound like a lot, but when you ride it it can feel super nice. Don't just think "It's a big number, I'll hate it." Just give stuff a try and be open minded.

Well, it's just that when I was on work experience there Mike produced a pair from his office, so I assume he didn't buy 'them from Gilles the day after (N) Mainly 'cos they were one of the pair they were looking at when they were thinking of making Onza trials boots...

"Made for Coustelliers by Ribo"? You sure that's the right order? Or are they just Ribo boots the Coustelliers use/sell?

If you want to get most bang for your buck, get a mod. A mod for, say, £400 is going to be better than a stock for £400. For example, if you get the £400 T-Raptor, you're going to be wanting to probably upgrade the back wheel pretty soon after getting it (well, the hub...). Also, the actual frames themselves won't be as good on the lower-end stock bikes. With the 2004 T-Pro (below), you're getting a copy of the Koxx Levelboss 20" frame (the frame that's won most Worlds comps since it was first made), with a pretty good spec for £399. Alright, you might wanna upgrade say the bar and stem in a coupla months or whatever, but the actual basic spec is still really good. Of course there is the Monty X-Hydra for about the same price, but personally I reckon you're getting a far better deal with the T-Pro. The Onza T-Pro. 'cos I'm a filthy dirty mandrake, I copied the "Big" picture URL, so...er...sorry. Mark.

Just opening it again for a sec - before you buy these bars, make sure your steerer tube is long enough. With my old stem, I had about 8-10mm worth of stem stackers in or summat like that, and now with this one the top clamp bolt is almost over the top of the steerer, which is odd... so yeah, take care before ye buy. Mark.

40psi for street? Pah, all you need is 0psi... I've got a puncture in that pic, but the back tyre is still lookin' manly. And free! Anyway, that's the T-Lite that I'm hopping about 'n' the like on at the moment. The T-Bone's down at present to have an ACS slapped on the ol' Tensiles (hub issues :D), so it's just down to me riding my weirdly colour-coded T-Lite now. Still, the minx rides nicely! Oh, and I got: New camera (hence even vaguely clear pic :-) New V8 pedals (Gusset pedals are wank :D) New front brake (thanks Tim :D) A new black Dicta freewheel (it's shit :D) A new right-side chain tug (to replace naff old Onza one I had on there :D) Anyway, yeah. Oh, and my lovely new bass. Plays like a dream now I've set it up to "Mark's liking" (basically so I can still double-handed tap moonlight sonata easily but still get enough resistance for some manly slappin'): Ugly knobs. Oh yeah, here's an example of the every day trials and tribulations I go through:

You can, but there'd not be much point as you're going to wear your drivetrain out a bit quicker. Now I'm back on front freewheel it's all pretty loose - it touches the chainstay if you force the chain up. But yeah, it feels OK, even with a Dicta. Gapping's hit or miss, but c'est la vie. Just gotta learn it better :- Mark.