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Manifesto (2004)

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Reviewed by 16 BikeTrials.com users - Write your review

Incredible Canadian pro rider Ryan Leech's new video. His manifesto: "Eliminate all set-up and recovery hops from trials"

Format: DVD NTSC

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Shop	Shop Rating	Location	Ships To	More Information
WebCyclery Shop info and reviews	16 Reviews	USA	World

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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Fri Feb 13 2004 Reviewed By: Ed Rosser (anon) Rider Level: Advanced
Strengths Incredible riding, great "watchability", good music mix, good editing, DVD bonus stuff, no unnecessary "run off by cops" scenes. Weaknesses er....er....er....no Charlize Theron? Review MANIFESTO Produced and edited by Ryan Leech Filmed on mini DV Edited with Apple G3 iBook / Final Cut Pro 3 I got my copy of Ryan Leech's Manifesto yesterday, and here are my thoughts... The "actual" movie is only about 18 minutes or so. But the other 90 minutes of content on the DVD makes this a great bargain. Right off the bat I'll say Ryan took the production of this video VERY seriously! The movie itself differs from just about everything else "freeride/trials" related that has been released lately, in that this is "straight up" trials, with surges & sidehops galore. Ryan selects lines that are complex, and raises the bar on balance and tire placement techniques for videos. He also takes 180's to a new level. Both natural and urban lines are addressed in this fine movie which also reminds me, the DVD scenes are categorized into demo, urban and natural. Nice touch. The filming is nicely done and if you are into learning moves by watching video, this DVD is a good choice. Excellent natural daytime lighting and angles give the scenes a great feel. I suspect only an experienced trials veteran can shoot/edit a film on this level. Good use is made of the wide-angle lens as well. The scene transitions flow with the music and were well thought out. The music is varied and not overpowering, reminding me of the assortment on Reed Merchat's Revolution/Evolve/Contact series. Commentary by Ryan is also an option of the DVD. The best part of the DVD is the bonus stuff. It's not just crashes, but there are deleted scenes that are better than the "trials riding" in most other videos. Why then were they deleted you might ask? Well, remember the manifesto is to eliminate all setup/correction hops on this vid. So many impressive moves that were awesome but not quite flawless can be found here. Also, look for the hippy, he a riot! Now here is my favorite part of the video. All of Ryan's past video segments including the clips on the Kranked series, Leaps and Bounds, Ride to the hills, Torque, Contact, Evolve AND Revolution are now at your fingertips. For me, this alone is worth 20 bucks. Another cool thing on the DVD are the Robin Coope interviews. If you've been on the list for a while, you know R.C. is a VERY knowledgeable trials guy who goes way back to the early days of trials in the BC area. He goes way back with Ryan and announces at a lot of Ryan's demos. I enjoy to read his posts very much. On the video, he talks kinda fast and sometimes low, so you REALLY have to listen to catch what he is saying. (Editor's note: The first run of DVDs had volume problems on this part, but the second run had this fixed) But it's all good, Robin does a good job though and provides some interesting contemporary commentary on the evolution of biketrials videos (That actually just sounded like something he would post, didn't it?). So pay close attention. There is also a short clip included titled "Keepin it pretty" which served as a test run for Ryan's editing techniques (I assume the title is a tribute to Lenosky's fine 1998 trials movie). His wife is the subject of this short, which shows off her bike handling skills on a Monty mod. She's pretty good too, but the interesting part is watching her style which is just like Ryan's but at a more Sport level. Yup, she's a keeper Ryan. Anyway, get the video. It has great "pump me up" playability before rides. "El Squirrelio"
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Mon Feb 09 2004 Reviewed By: shasta (anon) Rider Level: Intermediate
Used Product For 1 Month Strengths Ryan Leech is unreal. Weaknesses The main video is only 18 minutes Review This is a great video, it starts out with a natural section which is like nothing I have every seen before. Who knew you could flow natural this way? Footage was filmed in various locations across US and Canada, and looks great. I would recommned this video to anyone. My only complant is the length, but when he is pushing himself to this level of riding I imagine it is very hard to get footage.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Mon Mar 29 2004 Reviewed By: noel (anon) Rider Level: Intermediate
Used Product For 1 Month Strengths just him Weaknesses yeah ....right Similar Products Used contact, evolve, revolution, and tricks and stunts Review the BEST you will ever see!!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Wed Feb 18 2004 Reviewed By: Chris (anon) Rider Level: Advanced
Used Product For 1 Month Strengths Awesome riding, NOT hyped up with hard punk and silly stuff like in alot of the new vids, the awesome riding and Ryans good personality does the talking Weaknesses none really Similar Products Used all kinds of vids Review Yes this video definitely steps it up as far as the level of riding. Even though the main part is not long, the level of riding like I said is way up there. In the bonus section I really like the "milkman" clips, you'd swear Ryan used to ride bmx street the way he rides urban in the milkman clips. Like the other reviewer mentioned, it's a pretty good vid for pausing and learning how Ryan pulled the move off. Also the "video history" section gives you a look into ryans career in vid's from 97 all the way to 03 so thats also a really good section, especially if you wanted to buy that older vid just to see ryan in it :)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Tue Mar 09 2004 Reviewed By: Chris (anon) Rider Level: Intermediate
Used Product For 3 Months Review Excellent video if somewhat short. However, the extra footage makes nice long viewing. Style is sooooooooooooo smooth, we can all dream. Good Job Ryan
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Mon Mar 01 2004 Reviewed By: Alex (anon) Rider Level: Intermediate
Used Product For 3 Months Strengths lots of technical urban stuff, super smooth, super stylie Weaknesses maybe some lesson stuff on harder moves i.e. 360 static spin, j-hop maybe Similar Products Used Kanked 3,2,1, evolve, island style, stomping grounds Review definitely the best trials vid i've ever watched. ryan definitely took his time to edit this and it was well worth it. sound quality and resolution is excellent. many cool urban situations and lots of bloopers as well. that one fall with ryan denting his top tube with his butt looked pretty painful! lol the video history section was awesome -- shows ryan's evolution from the very start, i've still not watched it from beginning to end. its so cool! perhaps what its missing "could" b that it'd b nice to see desmond lee's riding or shawn denny or other norco guys,,, oh well, still an awesome flick!
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Mon Mar 22 2004 Reviewed By: Sato (anon) Rider Level: Beginner
Strengths Incredible riding and great music Weaknesses none Review I have found this vid in January but as I am Japanese and could not get it in Japan at that time. I have e-mailed to Ryan and he responded to me that I will be able to get it soon. Finally I got it and saw it without stopping 3 times. I like his spin tricks and he gives me very good image for my practice.
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1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Sat Apr 17 2004 Reviewed By: andrew gosline (anon) Rider Level: Intermediate
Used Product For 1 Month Strengths Pure Ryan, no waiting around for DH huckers to get offscreen Weaknesses only ~20 minutes for the movie Similar Products Used contact, Kranked Series Review Maaaaaaan, that guy has style. WOAH. A true inspiration. Excellent
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Wed Jun 02 2004 Reviewed By: Jeff Schultz (anon) Rider Level: Intermediate
Used Product For 1 Month Strengths Incredible Movie! Weaknesses NONE! Similar Products Used contact Review This is an awesome video. Ryan has really outdone himself. I've watched this about 20 times already in about half a month and I will probably watch it 20 more within the next month, in fact it hasnt left my dvd player since I got it. Excellent video, HIGHLY recommended to anyone who wants to see trials at its very best. Thanks Ryan!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Sat Oct 23 2004 Reviewed By: Chris Fairbrother (anon) Rider Level: Intermediate
Used Product For 3 Months Strengths some unbelievable moves, good music Weaknesses he's too good, makes you feel like you can't ride Similar Products Used evolve, Tricks & Stunts, Bi King Review if i ever get half as good as this kid i will be happy. he is by far the best rider at the moment and to see him ride so smoothly without any correction hops makes me jealous. liked the music and enjoyed listening.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Wed Jun 22 2005 Reviewed By: Derek (anon) Rider Level: Beginner
Used Product For 1 Month Strengths Ryan Leech Weaknesses Not long enough Similar Products Used Third down, Jib Review Wow, thats all I can say. This video is AMAZING!!! Still a little short and under 18 mins, but has a crap load of special features which makes the whole video almost 2hrs long. Nice. BUY IT NOW!!!
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Thu Apr 29 2004 Reviewed By: Ken (anon) Rider Level: Intermediate
Used Product For 3 Months Strengths Everything about this film. its unreal Weaknesses Not a thing. however I would have liked to see Robin ride a little bit Similar Products Used kranked 1-5, NWD 1234 Torque1234,jib Review Manifeso is unreal thats all I can really say about that. I have had it for about 5 months now and if you really love biking you can pop this video in over and over and not get bored. I have done just that. its pretty sad but I do watch it 4-7 times a week. the music is good. like the other reviewers said the extras are incredible. definitely worth checking out.
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Wed May 19 2004 Reviewed By: permanente1600 (anon) Rider Level: Intermediate
Used Product For 3 Months Strengths jaw dropping Weaknesses none Similar Products Used many videos Review from the first segment to the closing credits my jaw was wide open and there was a steady stream of drool coming out of my mouth. ever since i saw this video i have been trying to work on my "manifesto" style (rather unsuccesfully). awesome movie!!
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Sat Sep 18 2004 Reviewed By: Bobby (anon) Rider Level:
Strengths One of the best videos I have seen.. Weaknesses Makes me feel like I suck!! Too short Review Very Technical riding. The extras make it a good buy..
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Wed Feb 02 2005 Reviewed By: Eirik (anon) Rider Level:
Strengths Everything Weaknesses None Review Best trials vid ever! Elegance, fluid and control. It is just siiiick! Thumbs up, Ryan!
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Sun Aug 27 2006 Reviewed By: jon (anon) Rider Level: Intermediate
Used Product For 6 Months Strengths evrytin Weaknesses nuffin Review awsum film nuffin beta around!!!!!!!
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