Crappy Crank from Monty!

Last week while relearning the pedal up on the wooden pallets, I saw that the right pedal on my Monty Kamel  219 was a bit wobbly. Immediately, I proceed to tighten the pedal. To my dismay, I could not tighten the pedal. It appeared that the threads in the crank where the pedal was attached was damaged. It was a WTF moment. The crank looked brand new and was hardly damaged.

To make things worse, I could not find any replacement from the local bike shops. Even from the original Monty bike supplier. I called my friends in Singapore but it looked like they do not have any in stock either.

Now I am exploring a number of choices:

1. Order the right crank through one of the suppliers.
2. Order though an online shop.
3. Use an alternative non-Monty crank, which means I have to change the pair of them. And that's only if I can find compatible cranks.
4. Or try to fix it.

While waiting for my friends in Singapore to reply me, I decided to try option 4, which was to see if I could fix it.

My plan was to drill two holes in the crank and then insert a bolt each to lock the pedal from moving. Then cut of the excesses and weld the bolt down to prevent it from coming loose. That is the plan and it its still a work in progress.

Sold My Echo Pure

Recently, just after the Chinese New Year holiday, I sold my 26" Echo Pure. And now I do not have a trial bike... :-(

I had been trying to sell my ECHO Pure for a while now. I had advertised on several online classifieds and received many enquiries. More often than not, I replied too late as I did not check my email (that I used for classifieds) regularly.

Earlier, I had upgraded the rear wheel brakes to the Magura HS33 and a really nice rear Panaracer tire. The bike felt really good and nice to ride.


The Echo Pure ready to be shipped to its new owner via Kangaroo Courier.


The original Echo handle bar and rear brakes set were also shipped with the bike.

So why did I want to sell the 26"?

The main reason, I sold the 26" was that I wanted to get a 20". Maybe it was psychological, but somehow I felt that with the 20", I could learn faster and ride better. One thing for sure was that I wanted a smaller and lighter bike.

And so, now I am looking for a 20". I have not decided whether I would go for a Monty yet, but it seems the right choice, albeit the hefty price tag.

Bike Trial Restart on the 26" Echo

For more than two months after I sold my 20" Monty, I have not been riding. Last weekend, I managed to get back to trials again on my 26" Echo. It was extremely tiring and I felt really clumsy handling the 26". All this while, I have been training and riding the 20".

In fact, I was trying to sell my Echo 26" for a while now, thinking that I could then focused on riding the 20" Monty. After advertising on all the online classifieds, I received a couple of enquiries, but no takers. Part of the reason was that I did not budge on the price... LOL.

In the end, I decided to let fate choose for me... LOL. That is to let the next person who wanted to buy a second hand trial bike choose which one he wanted, the 20" or the 26". And I will just concentrate on riding whichever bike is left behind. Turns out that the next person that wanted a trial bike, wanted a 24"... LOL...

After a couple of emails, Daniel decided to go for the 20" Monty. I was sad to see the bike go, but it was necessary as it was the only way for me to focus.

And so, last Saturday I was back on trials, this time 100% on the 26" Echo. I decided to make a movie of my ride to motivate me... LOL. I spend two and a half hours shooting 30 minutes of video footage, which I later edited into a 2 minutes video... LOL. The whole process was a great workout :-)



After a while into riding I was starting to get a proper feel of the 26" bike. It was slightly heavier than the 20". The feel and size of the wheels made the ride surprising easy as I could easily roll over gaps... LOL.

Last night, I was back on the 26" again. Essentially, I had to almost relearn all the techniques again... re-adjusting and compensating for the differences. I should be able to get use to it in no time... Heheh.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video. My whole body is still aching from the rides, especially my shoulders and arms.

Feels great to be back on trials!

A Monty Sponsored BikeTrials Team in Malaysia?

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet up with the Malaysian distributor of Monty bikes, Humphrey of Guan Chow Sdn Bhd through Kevin of Tat Seng Bicycle Centre. Guan Chow Sdn Bhd is based in Ipoh, Perak. They are also the manufacturer of the widely available Exitway bicycles.

Coincidentally, before I even found out about the sports of BikeTrials, I bought an Exitway to ride cross-country in 2007... LOL. And in early 2008, I used the Exitway to learn the basic skills of BikeTrials like track-stands, pivoting and hopping.

In early 2009, I had heard that someone was bring in Monty trial bikes, but I had no idea who. And with an exception of a few, not many bicycle shops even dared to carry the Monty trial bikes (Monty Kamel 218 and 219) in their stores.

When I was at Tat Seng Bicycle Centre in Kota Kemuning looking for Ah Chun for a set of roller chain and to replace my Monty 221PR's rear wheel spokes, he mentioned to me that his boss (Kevin) knew the distributor of Monty bikes who was looking for a trial rider to sponsor. Basically, they wanted to promote BikeTrials in Malaysia through events and roadshows, and so he asked me if I knew of anyone whom might be interested.

Straight away Syarul and Aris came to mind, but they wanted someone who can perform BikeTrial tricks and feats... in the end, I suggested Wong Xu. Wong Xu has had the experience performing for TV shows in China, and locally in LimKokWing and UKM. So, taking that into account, Wong Xu should be the best candidate.

And so last Tuesday, I arranged for Wong Xu to meet up and demonstrate his BikeTrials skills to Kevin of Tat Seng Bicycle Centre and Humphrey of Guan Chow Sdn Bhd.


Tat Seng Bicycle HQ in Cheras.


Tat Seng Bicycle shop front.


A photo of Wong Xu in the shop.


I took a short video of Wong Xu demonstrating BikeTrials.

Humphrey was interested in promoting Monty for BikeTrials in Malaysia. He did mentioned that he was preparing to bring in riders from Monty, Spain, to conduct demos and roadshows. If he is, then I hope he will bring in Ot Pi or Dani Comas... LOL. Humphrey also said that he will let Wong Xu know if he will select him as part of the sponsored team.

In the meantime, he is also looking for riders to make a Malaysian BikeTrial Team. This team will be conducting roadshows throughout Malaysia to promote BikeTrials. Well, if he is, then I suggest he start off with Syarul and Wan Aris, and with Wong Xu as a guest star trial rider.

I hope to hear from Humphrey and Kevin again soon regarding BikeTrials. Maybe, they will be willing to set up a BikeTrial park... ah... if only... LOL.