LordOnOne

2011 Giant Anthem X 29er

2010-07-10T03:05:00.003+01:00

Singletrack has posted some photos and info on Giant’s 2011 line up. The Reign, Trance X and Anthem X will see significant frame updates for the next model year but I‘m only really interested in the Anthem X 29er. Final geometry, pricing and other models in the Anthem X 29er range remain to be seen. As far as looks go, I think the polished, black and blue colour combination looks stunning.

Features include:

- Giant’s excellent Maestro rear suspension

- 100mm (4in) travel front and rear

- Giant’s Overdrive tapered head tube

- A PowerCore press-fit bottom bracket

- Post Mount front and rear

- Space for a 2.3in rear tire

- 2395g claimed frame weight

- Fox fork with 15mm through axle and tapered steerer

- 3x10 Dyna-Sys Shimano XT

Fisher dreamed. Trek Unleashed.

2010-06-16T20:25:00.007+01:00

For the 2011 model year Gary Fisher Bikes will become the Gary Fisher Collection under the Trek brand name. The subtle graphics and outline/shadow “Trek” name on the down tube give me the sense that Trek are trying to ease the transition. I’m sure the frames will be back to looking like one big ad all too soon though. At first glance the frames look relatively unchanged for next year but look a little closer and there are quite a few differences. For instance, the Paragon gains a tapered head tube/steerer, 100mm travel fork, press-fit BB, quite a few odd little geometry changes like longer chain stays and a 30spd drivetrain. Several models also benefit from new lower spec levels and WSD variants. The only new MTB model appears to be the Sawyer, a steel frame cruiser not only with sliding dropouts but a split dropout for the fitting of a belt drive. Judging by the response on forums this model is going to be the one everybody wants but nobody can get!

Maxxis Aspen 2.1in 29er tires

2010-05-27T00:26:00.005+01:00

As I mentioned previously, my only real complaint about the KHS was the weight. Reducing the weight of rotational components like the wheels and tires is where it’s going to make the biggest difference to the ride. The wheels will be upgraded, but not until later in the year. At well over 800g each the WTB ExiWolf tires were the obvious choice for an upgrade. After looking around I found the new Maxxis Aspen 2.1in tires were arriving in the UK this month, are reasonably priced and around 530g. I’m not the kind of weight weenie that actually weighs components when they arrive. Just look up the claimed weight, check some sites to make sure it isn’t too far out and hope to appreciate the difference while out riding. Installing them was a bit of a pain, both tires required soapy water to get them to pop into place on the rim straight. Once they were mounted I took the bike for a quick test ride past the gold course. Right away the bike felt a lot quicker to accelerate with around 1.3lbs of rubber removed. It will be interesting to see if the Aspen can provide enough grip and puncture proofing for a front tire. If it doesn’t then I’ve got a backup plan involving the rear Ardent on the Swift.

One year on the Swift

2010-05-06T00:27:00.006+01:00

I’ve been riding my Singular Swift for over a year now. Hopefully I’ll still be riding it after another year. Last week it received a spring cleaning, having not been properly clean since last year. Phil Wood’s excellent EBB has kept the chain tight since new but it finally got too long recently. This posed a bit of a problem for me, having several chain rivet extractors, all of which were bent or broken. So I picked up a Super B one, only £8 and very smooth to operate. First ride after the spring cleaning and chain shortening was a bit hard on the bike. It rained for the first time in ages so conditions were muddy, then near the end of the ride I pulled what appeared to be some kind of stone age implement out of the rear tire. This left the bike requiring another cleaning and maintenance session. Tuesday’s ride was much better though, I even found the wood near Barns Green had developed a carpet of Bluebells.

Giant Anthem X 29er prototype

2010-04-17T14:01:00.004+01:00

There's been years of internet speculation and rumours surrounding this bike. A Giant Anthem X 29er prototype has been spotted at the Sea Otter Classic. Features include a tapered headtube and Giant’s Maestro rear suspension. This second generation prototype and the 2011 production models will be aluminium, with a carbon framed version set to join the range for 2012. Carl Decker (pictured) has already won a Super D race aboard the Anthem X 29er at the Sea Otter.

Norco Shinobi 29er prototype

2010-04-17T01:06:00.006+01:00

Pinkbike has uploaded some photos of a prototype 140mm travel Norco 29er seen on display at the Sea Otter Classic. It has a tapered headtube, front and rear through axles, 140mm travel Rock Shox Reba and is called the Shinobi. Very nice!

2011 Sram X0 and X9 groupsets

2010-04-13T20:37:00.009+01:00

This year's Sea Otter Classic starts on Thursday, 15th April in Monterey, California. We all know what that means…lots of new products being released this week. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing any new 29ers that are on display, perhaps something from Yeti, Giant, Salsa??? Also interested in what Shimano has to show. Today saw photos of Sram’s 2011 X0 and X9 groupsets get leaked. X0, X9 and X7 will all join XX in being 2x10 next year, a concept I‘m very interested in trying on a bike in real life. What I have tried is their current shifters, which left me desperately hoping Sram will soon sort out the mechanism problems that have plagued mine. So hopefully the new shifters haven’t just received a facelift and a different number of gears. It must be said that the new X0 looks much better than it did in images leaked earlier in the year. It’s also nice to see a larger range of colour options. Singletrack World has galleries of both the X9 and X0 component "families".

Lynskey Pro29

2010-04-09T00:08:00.005+01:00

Nirvana Cycles recently got in and built up a Ti Lynskey Pro29 for a customer. The frame is a size Large 2010 model and currently retails for £1499. Something rather unique about this year's Pro29 frame is the Helix shaped top and down tube. This is to add stiffness, especially around the head tube and bottom bracket, making handling more precise and increasing pedal efficiency. It's set up geared here but looks like a prime candidate for singlespeed with those beautiful sliding dropouts. 29ers aren’t something you see everyday in this particular shop, hopefully someday though. I must say the new Canon 550d is working a treat and the Pro29 looks stunning. More photos in this Flickr set.

KHS Flagstaff 29er

2010-03-31T22:22:00.005+01:00

After some time riding the Paragon, or not as the case may be, I decided that I don’t need two hardtails. So earlier in the year I started looking around at the various full sus 29er frame and whole bike options. Of which there’s a remarkable number that are either not available in the UK, out of stock for long periods, have quirky geometry, or are too expensive. That really only left the KHS Flagstaff, available here after a short wait with no quirky geometry for a very reasonable £1200. Some companies are charging more than that just for similar frames. Steve from KHS UK was great to deal with, answering all of my questions, keeping me up to date, getting the bike here on time, setting it up and even delivering it himself last Saturday. I believe this is one of only two in the country, and the only Large. First ride was Sunday morning up Leith Hill, after a few days of rain. Even with the minimal 80mm Rock Shox Reba and 3.5in Specialized licensed Horst Link driven Monarch 3.1, it still delivered a very smooth ride. Not only a smooth ride but a surprisingly efficient one from the rear suspension. I haven’t had a Rock Shox equipped bike in a very long time…and never anything but Fox rear shocks. So it’ll be interesting to see how they perform in the long term. A common complaint of full sus 29ers is frame stiffness, but the Flagstaff is far from a noodle. Sizing seems spot on and the ride position is nicely centred, just how I like it. It is a bit heavy though, I think with some lighter rotational components it has the potential to be a rocket. In the mean time I’m just going to install the non stock components I had on the Paragon. Hopefully I’ll take some better and up to date pics soon, the rest are in this Flickr set.

Sunday Leith Hill ride

2010-03-08T00:25:00.006Z

Today’s ride around Leith Hill was a surprisingly dry happening, considering all the rain we’ve had recently. Any mud left from the rain was frozen after last night’s frost and I even saw a few dust clouds whip up in the chilly wind. The sun provided stunning dawn till dusk cloud-free coverage. I usually stick to local rides with the Swift but the Paragon was being cleaned and readied for selling. The ride took less than an hour but I cut out a few bits like the lower section of Summer Lightning because it feels less and less suitable for a rigid bike every time I go down there. Possibly due to the slightly shorter ride I arrived back at the Tower for a tea and cake stop in time to finally meet a few of the Muddymoles before they headed off home. In particular Dave, a fellow 29er rider with an Intense Spider, now converted to 1x9. I've taken quite a few photos of the sun and none have ever come out looking as spectacular as this one...

A damp Sunday ride

2010-02-28T23:36:00.006Z

Ground conditions have been steadily getting more and more diabolical over the last couple of months. First it was the snow, then the ice, then the sticky mud of the thaw and nearly non stop rain since. Just to add to the mud fest a storm over Europe last night brushed passed Southern England and deposited yet more rain on the already sodden ground. This resulted in what I’m pretty sure was the wettest ride ever today. Potholes are popping up everywhere on the roads at the moment, 5 since last Sunday in just half a mile of relatively unused county lane. The trails aren’t any better, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the Swift isn’t setup for the job. Singlespeeds need very little cleaning and maintenance but inherently lack a low gear to get up soggy climbs or though deep mud. Maxxis Ardent tires are pretty useless in terms of rear wheel traction in these conditions, they do at least clear mud well enough. The Shimano Alfine gear hub and Hutchinson Toro tires I was running last year suited the UK better. At least the plague of punctures I had late last year has stopped. Due in no small part to me shouldering the bike over, or completely avoiding any sections with lots of hedge cuttings. The River Arun was today seen running amok wherever it liked. On any normal day the Arun should be over at the far side of the field, the ditch with the bridge over it should be empty (a good 6ft lower) and under the water there’s a nice farm track heading right at the footpath sign. I sure hope spring is both dry and just around the corner!

NAHBS

2010-02-27T23:51:00.003Z

Of all the bike shows around the world, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show is one of the most interesting for me. Sadly, I can’t go flying around the world to bike shows, so I have to wait for people that can go to post their findings. This thread on BMU contains a small selection of the interesting and beautifully made products on display. One of them being this Engin Cycles 29er, the bare parts of the frame, stem and seatpost are made of Reynolds 953. There's an excellent photo journal of the production of this bike on Engin Cycles' Flickr photostream.

11-speed Shimano Alfine SG-S700

2010-02-02T19:55:00.015Z

Readers may remember that I ran a Shimano Alfine 8spd hub through last winter. It was a very good Internal Gear Hub (IGH) but I wanted something lighter and with a bigger gear range. Well, Shimano have announced they will be producing a new SG-S700 version of the Alfine for 2011. News first seen on this German site and there's now an excellent article on road.cc. Better rethink my long term equipment procurement plan.

- Gear range goes up from 307% to 409%, the Rohloff is 526% for comparison

- 11 speeds

- 2 x 17% and 8 x 13% gear jumps

- Oil bath lubrication

- Rapidfire Plus shifter with Instant Release and 2-Way Release like Shimano's high-end mountain bike shifters

- Weight will be around 1600g

- Hub and shifter available in silver only to start with

- Available from September 2010

- Price will be around 300 Euros

2010 Lapierre X-Control 410

2010-01-25T18:05:00.008Z

Nirvana Cycles recently got in this 2010 Lapierre X-Control 410. For 2010 the X-Control got a complete redesign, including a slacker seat angle, longer chainstays, press fit BB and full carbon frame for the higher models. There's also a new X-Control Race range with 100mm travel forks in addition to the usual Marathon range with 120mm travel forks like this one. One thing that hasn't changed is the excellent 100mm travel FPS2 rear suspension. This one is a medium and destined to be a test bike when the weather clears up a bit. More photos in the Flickr set.

2011 Sram X0 and Shimano XTR

2010-01-19T14:12:00.017Z

January seems very early in the year to be seeing photos of next year’s products. Leaks like this seem to get earlier every year. The first image shows a redesigned Sram X0 groupset with many trickle down XX features including a double crankset and 10spd cassette. The second image shows a redesigned Shimano XTR groupset with double and triple crankset options and a 10spd cassette. It must be hard to make an already beautiful product even more beautiful, but the chrome XTR crankset looks stunning. There's also a Shimano parts list showing a number of new XT and SLX level 10spd components including rear derailleurs, chains and cassettes.

The white menace returns

2010-01-06T00:32:00.005Z

Only a few weeks after the last snowfall here, it’s snowing again! I took the Paragon out for an urban night ride through the town. The only cars on the roads were going very slowly and a couple didn’t appear to be going anywhere at all. Conditions aren’t too slippery riding through fresh snow though. Last time the snow turned into inch thick ice that stayed for days on the pavements and country roads. The snow seems deeper but it's warmer at the moment so hopefully that won't happen this time.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T00:20:00.002Z

2009 was a good year for me, much better than those before it. Hopefully 2010 will be even better. I’d like to still be here in another year but posting seems to be getting harder and harder. My last post took 10minutes to write and 2½hours to sort out major problems with the layout and photos. Thanks for all the comments over the last year, and for taking the time to visit this blog and Flickr (30,000 and 210,000 pageviews respectively). It will soon be time to set off on the first ride of the year...and decade!

Singular Swift and Niner Carbon fork

2009-12-28T23:46:00.012Z

The Swift recently received some long awaited attention after nine months of the same setup and very little maintenance:
- The Sun Ringle hubs are now as smooth as butter thanks to a cleaning, freehub greasing and new bearings. Makes a nice change after quite a few rides starting off with the hubs seized solid.
- The Eccentric Bottom Bracket also seized solid, requiring several taps with a hammer and a greasing before the chain could be tightened properly.
- Bash ring removed and shorter chainring bolts installed.
- Brake levers oiled to stop them creaking like crazy.
- Crank Brothers headset replaced with a Hope, see the review for reasons why.
- Singular fork replaced with a Niner Carbon for the 1.38lb weight loss and a slight increase in braking/steering stiffness. I think the “Nude Carbon” looks great even though it doesn’t match the frame too well. The weight difference is very noticable while riding. What hasn’t been particularly noticeable is the ride becoming any harsher than it was with the steel fork.

Next…well, the bottom bracket bearings are starting to get a little rough and the seatpost belongs on another bike.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T00:01:00.001Z

2010 Cube Stereo RX

2009-12-22T22:26:00.018Z

Earlier this month Nirvana Cycles took delivery of a 2010 Cube Stereo RX. Cube are a big brand in Europe and the Stereo is one of their most popular models. Costing a mere £2099, the RX offers outstanding value for money. This medium 18” Stereo is destined to be a test bike…I’ve been waiting years to take one of these for a spin. The rest of the photos can be found in this Flickr set, there’s a Cube Group too.

Cube employs a rather unique Dual Trail Control suspension system on the Sting, Stereo and Fritzz. The shock floats between the chainstay and rocker, compressing from both ends.

There’s no through axle up front but the rear end gets a Syntace X-12 for quick and simple wheel changing.

Sunringlé Ryde XMB DTC wheelset and Schwalbe Fat Albert 2.4in tires.

Crank Brothers Cobalt C Directset (headset) review

2009-12-01T19:20:00.011Z

The idea

Crank Brothers took a standard headset licensed from Cane Creek and removed the outer race. Instead they machined the cups to serve as the outer race. Running the 28 steel balls directly against the cups rather than having an outer race between the cups and ball bearings. This remarkably simple idea removes enough material to get the weight down to 65g and allows for a more compact design (22.56mm stack height).

Upon arrival

The packaging looked very nice, as does pretty much anything they do, from adverts to the products themselves. However, the box states a 5year warranty and yet the instructions state a 2year warranty with little info in what that covers.

Installation
Several reviews on other sites have suggested that it’s hard to stop the headset from turning sideways as it’s being pressed in. So I had a proper mechanic do it, sure enough it turned sideways during the first attempt. Even after giving the head tube an extra reaming, setting the cup with a mallet and pressing in one cup at a time, the upper cup still tried to turn sideways. But eventually it straightened out and went in properly. It seems this happens because Crank Brothers decided to manufacture their headsets with a slightly larger outer cup diameter than other companies like Chris King. Not by much…but enough to make it turn sideways sometimes, occasionally crack the cup or even in rare cases crack the head tube itself.

Out riding

- The fork steerer installed fine but was rattling in the headset by the end of the first ride. Tightening the star nut/top cap bolt enough to stop the fork rattling resulted in the bearings making a hissing sound and being hard to turn. It would appear that Crank Brothers Directsets are particularly susceptible to being squeezed by pressure from the top cap. The bolt can be cranked right up to breaking point on my other bikes without the slightest effect on the bearings. I think Crank Brothers needs to work on stopping the bearings from being so easily squeezed and also on a design that results in a lot less headset play.

- After the first slightly wet ride the bearings were creaking and squeaking with every movement and I could feel and hear dirt grinding around in them. One wet ride and the bearings felt and sounded like they had been through an entire winter of use. So the headset was stripped apart, cleaned, very well greased and put back together. There was very little grease in the bearings to start with…one of the dirty tricks that manufacturers seem to be trying to get away with these days. So giving the bearings a proper greasing allowed the top cap bolt to be tightened without stopping the bearings from turning freely. However, the bearings still weren’t amazingly free, nor was the headset play gone completely.

- The lower seal was ridiculously loose and actually dropped off the crown race several times. This was replaced with a much tighter lower seal that mostly stayed put. There’s nothing to actually hold the seal in position so it still dropped off sometimes and isn’t tight enough against the lower cup to be effective at its job.

- Specks of rust have been appearing on the outside of the cups. £80 headsets shouldn’t start developing specks of rust after the first outing in light rain. Both cups have rust just like this all over them. Looking closely reveals many more dark brown areas that might look like mud, but are actually more areas of rust developing. The back of the lower cup is completely covered in rust.

- A particularly wet ride last Sunday resulted in the poorly sealed bearings descending back to creaking, squeaking, grinding and crunching with every movement. I might have to grease the bearings again before funding for a new headset is available.

Final word

The majority of riders using Crank Brothers Directsets have had no problems, but far too many are reporting exactly the same ones as me. I won’t lay into Crank Brothers too much but their other products aren’t up to much either. At this price, it would be a long and hard search for a product any worse than the Cobalt C. 19/12/09: The Cobalt headset has been removed and replaced with a Hope headset, which has already proved to be much better in several ways.

Cube AMS Pro R1 Mag and Borders

2009-11-28T23:28:00.007Z

First Cube arrives

Nirvana Cycles received their first Cube this week…much earlier than Janurary, which is when I heard they were coming. Opening the box revealed a £2249 18” AMS Pro R1 Mag in Sid Blue. For those that don’t know Cube’s range, the AMS Pro is their 100mm travel XC bike featuring FSP 4 Link suspension (very similar to what Specialized uses). The R1 Mag is the top aluminium model and weighs 24.2lbs. More photos here.

"The most attractive bike we've ever had in the shop" - Simon

3D Link

Rear pivot

DT Swiss XPW1600 wheelset

Bad news for magazine readers

The UK bookstore chain Borders was recently put into administration. Borders has been in the UK since 1997 and currently has 45 stores and 1150 staff here. What does this have to do with Mountain Biking? Well, Borders may be best known for books and CDs but they have an excellent magazine selection. Amongst this excellent magazine selection are several American MTB mags that either aren’t stocked anywhere else, don’t turn up regularly in other shops or need to be specially ordered/subscribed to. So an already abysmal range of mags in the shops here is about to get worse with the loss of titles like BIKE and Dirt Rag. Unless someone wants to buy Borders and keep it going which is sounding very unlikely right now.

Ragley mmmbop

2009-11-25T22:38:00.006Z

Nirvana Cycles have built up one of their Ragley mmmbop frames as a test bike. The medium (18”) frame in “Quick Lime” green looks quite nice but check it out in real life before forming an opinion. As lovely as my photos are, they may not give a fully accurate representation of the colour. Components of interest include NC-17 flat pedals and a 2010 Marzocchi 44RC3 Ti...better be amazing for a fork approaching £700. Anyway, it seemed like a really nice bike during my short ride. More photos here.

7046 aluminium

"3 finger" left chainstay bridge for increased stiffness and chainring/tyre clearance. Bolt on cable guides are a nice detail too

Chainstay mounted brake calliper means lighter gauge seatstays can be used to improve the ride quality

A 3.7lb frame that passed the CEN tests - something Marin dreams about

Wednesday news and views

2009-11-17T23:20:00.005Z

Local bike shop news

Nirvana Cycles in Westcott are now stocking Ragley. I’m not sure if Nirvana Cycles are a proper dealer but it’s nice to see Ragley frames in a shop somewhere in the south of England. Right now they have the mmmbop in blue and “Quick Lime” green for a very reasonable £275.99. They are also stocking the steel Blue Pig frame seen bellow for an even more reasonable £259.99. Brant’s future 29er creations interest me far more but keep an eye on my Flickr for photos of the mmmbop and Blue Pig.

Nirvana Cycles have also recently signed up to become a Cube dealer. Some stunning Cubes on display at the London Cycle Show as well as some very good salesmen played a big role in the decision. The outrageously long wait for Giant’s 2010 bikes also had a hand in it. Many riders will be thinking about 2011 kit by February or March so the very late release isn’t doing Giant or their dealers any good. Indeed several 2010 models became 2011 models today due to “insurmountable production issues”. The good news is that Cube reckons they can have their bikes in store for early January...not too bad. Nirvana will be getting in the 160mm travel Fritzz for all mountain, 140mm Stereo for trail riding and the 100mm AMS for XC. I'm very much looking forward to trying a Cube after years of only seeing them in catalogues and at the Cycle Show. Again, keep an eye on Flickr for photos.

Downs Link

The Downs Link section between Christ’s Hospital and Slinfold is currently covered in hedge cuttings, along with several other bridleways and footpaths in the area. When I checked last week it was bad enough that riders should prepare for a significant walk carrying the bike or several hawthorn punctures. It would appear that a number of local farmers give very little consideration to public safety, punctures, thorns going through walkers shoes and the law in this county. Which not only covers roads but footpaths and bridleways as to clearing up or sweeping to one side all debris as soon after cutting as possible.

Sunday ride

2009-11-16T01:03:00.003Z

Conditions weren’t ideal for riding after three days and four nights of rain, wind, several thunderstorms and a few hailstorms. Every so often a new component gets installed on one of my bikes and I just have to try it out at the first opportunity. The new component on this occasion was a Shimano XT chainset for the Paragon. Allow me to list a few of the benefits:

- An XT chainset weighs 853g, so according to my calculations that’s 100g less than the FC-M542 that came on the bike, but add a little more back on because I went for the 180mm option.

- The look of the bike has been improved no end.

- 180mm crank arms give more leverage, a smoother crank rotation for my long legs, no knee pain and still leave plenty of toe/wheel clearance due to the excellent G2 geometry.

- A rather annoying knocking sound that happened with every left pedal rotation on the old chainset has vanished.

- Slightly better shifting and hopefully less chain suck, I’ll have to get back to you on that last one after more riding, though.

My only riding jacket suffered a serious zip failure moments before I set off which required immediate retrofitting of a newer and stronger zip from one of my other jackets. The ride itself was pretty good considering the amount of puddles on the trails, even after a surprisingly deep one that nearly reached the front hub. Eventually the water, mud and sand had the drivetrain making sounds rather like a vintage paint mixer. Quite a few fallen branches and rocks uncovered by the rain up Leith Hill this morning needed jumping or avoiding but that just adds to the fun. The clear sky and low but bright sun didn't really help photography up there today, the bikes ended up too bright and backgrounds too dark. So most of the photos were unusable, hence the above photos taken elsewhere later in the day. On my way back up to the Tower for tea and cakes I spotted the Muddymoles leaving. Somehow I never seem to arrive at the top while they‘re still there, timing needs to be improved. On the return journey the rear brake felt like it had lost a lot of its power. I really hope this doesn’t turn into a major brake pad problem like the 08 XTs on my Stumpjumper. Even two years later I have no idea what caused every set of pads I put in there to die and haven’t managed to replicate the problem on any other brakes…yet!

Tuesday news and views

2009-11-09T23:54:00.004Z

New Sram X9 derailleur

The 2009 and 2010 X9 derailleurs look pretty similar but taking a closer look reveals an almost complete redesign right down to the type of rivets used and how it shifts. The Direct Route cable entry now runs along the inner side of the parallelogram and clamps underneath rather than going around the outer side and clamping there. This moves the guide, cable and bolt further out of the way but makes setup more of a fiddle. For me the biggest improvement is the new jockey wheels. The new ones are already proving to be much smother and longer lasting than the old ones, which I had nothing but trouble with. On the whole the new X9 derailleur seems to be a massive improvement over the old model and finally brings it up to Shimano XT performance level…and for only £3 more than last year’s!

New X9

Old X9

Shimano

Following the news that Shimano’s sales figures have dropped considerably this year, they have now lowered prices. The price of an XT crankset has dropped by over 10% down to £180. So I will be paying £1 per millimetre of crank arm later this week when I pick up XT cranks for the Paragon. Now what should I upgrade next???

Singular

Sam recently took delivery of the first sample Pegasus Ti 29er frames made in Italy by Nevi. The Pegasus will be available with a Phil Wood half-link ebb or standard bb shell and a lifetime warranty for around £1500. The attention to detail and general frame quality looks fantastic. More photos and geometry here.

£4 buys power and silence?

2009-10-28T22:16:00.006Z

The rear Avid Elixir 5 brake on my Paragon has been vibrating so much its been almost unusable since I got the bike. The vibrating makes an awful sound and removes nearly all of the braking power. Only when riding very slowly or when the rear brake is really hot does it work correctly...so hardly ever. A few riders on Mtbr who were experiencing similar issues with their Avid brakes tried adding lead weights to the calliper and seemed to have some success with the idea. So I stuck four pounds on the calliper and went out for a ride to see if the idea works. The added weights have more or less fixed the problem. Hopefully the idea can be refined a bit, firstly because I want my money back and secondly because the rear brake still vibrated once or twice during the two rides so far. If added weights don't totally fix the problem then I will try some other ideas and if all else fails, return it to my LBS.

Tuesday news and views

2009-10-20T00:22:00.003+01:00

A 31.8mm Hope seat clamp finally turned up to replace the Bontrager one on my Paragon, the bolt was so crap I stripped it the first time I used it. Strangely the Hope seat clamp is much harder to fit even though it is only a fifth of a mm smaller than the one that was coming off. Next on my upgrade list is a lighter and longer armed crankset…

Apparently it’s Autumn but somehow the season seems more pleasant than last year, or perhaps the bad weather just hasn’t arrived yet. Bad weather is on the cards for tomorrow so I’m sure the trails will soon turn from dust to mud pie…and then onto resembling a WWII battlefield with the help of the local horse riders. Speaking of local horse riders, on yesterdays ride I wasn’t amused to see they had removed a perfectly good foot bridge and replaced it with a massive bridge specifically for horses. That would be fine if the horse traffic going over the new bridge hadn’t already made about 20m in either direction almost unrideable. I say “almost” because it’s just about possible going carefully in the granny gear with a 29er.

It was sunny and cold up Leith Hill on Sunday, just how I like it but now I’ve caught a cold.

Cycle Show 2009 part 7- the rest

2009-10-14T23:23:00.003+01:00

Whyte E120 with Sram XX

Sunn Kern - 140mm of travel and no through axle fork

Tioga Spyder saddle - I have yet to see anyone actually riding on one of these

Yeti ASR5 - also available in carbon

Ah yes, the company that pulled its only 29er model from Europe and has started copying Specialized by selling the nicer looking bikes in the US but not Europe. They have at least made some big improvements to the Moto for 2010

The full Cycle Show 2009 set can be found on Flickr. Come back for more next year :)

Cycle Show 2009 part 6 - Pace

2009-10-14T22:37:00.003+01:00

Pace could make such a great 29er, just look at their 26ers...

The new 104 Reynolds 853 steel hardtail with the Slideout system

The new 325-5 aluminium long travel hardtail with an ISCG mount and the Slideout system

Pace uses a rear suspension design they call FreeFloater which compresses the shock from both ends much like the DW Link Pivot Firebird. The 204 model appears to have picked up the pivot mud shields first seen on some of Niner’s full suspension models.

The new Slideout system is designed to offer wheelbase adjustment or a little bit of chain tensioning

Post mount brake mount

The full Cycle Show 2009 set can be found on Flickr.

Cycle Show 2009 part 5 - Sram

2009-10-14T21:04:00.004+01:00

Sram XX crankset and front mech

Sram XX rear mech and cassette

Sram XX brake lever

Sram XX hydraulic Poploc for Rock Shox forks - a little bit pointless but it operates very nicely

Single sided Sram I-Motion 9 internal gear hub - a special for the Cannondale ON bike

The full Cycle Show 2009 set can be found on Flickr.

Cycle Show 2009 part 4 - Cube and Bionicon

2009-10-14T18:17:00.004+01:00

The new Cube Hanzz FR bike with 180mm of travel

Tapered head tube and nice graphics

Post mount through axle replaceable dropouts

Bionicon’s new 160mm travel Tesla

Bionicon Edison in blue

The full Cycle Show 2009 set can be found on Flickr.

Cycle Show 2009 part 3 - Mavic and FSA

2009-10-13T23:05:00.006+01:00

Mavic had some really nice stuff on the display this year. The most impressive of the lot was the Crossmax Ultimate wheels with carbon spokes and tubular rims. If/when Mavic chooses to make them available to the public I’m sure they’ll cost an absolute fortune!

FSA were showing off a couple of their new 386 cranksets (3 chainring bolts and an 86mm bolt circle diameter). I believe they’re available with BB30 or the normal MegaExo style bottom bracket and either 27/40T or 27/42T chainring combinations for a 2x9 setup. I think the main idea is loosing weight and reducing the inner chainring size compared to other 2 speed cranksets. Without a 180mm option FSA won't see any of my money though.

K-Force Light 386

The full Cycle Show 2009 set can be found on Flickr.

Cycle Show 2009 part 2 - Hope and 650B

2009-10-13T14:37:00.005+01:00

The KHS SixFifty606 is the first 650B (27.5in wheels) bike I’ve seen, it was almost indistinguishable from the 26ers nearby. To be honest I don’t like 650B and I’m almost certain that riding one will only confirm that feeling.

Hope's new DH stem

Apparently Hope are getting close to the final production version of their long awaited seatpost

20th anniversary brown components from Hope

I really like this colour

The full Cycle Show 2009 set can be found on Flickr.

Cycle Show 2009 - 29ers and the writing

2009-10-12T20:11:00.004+01:00

Last year we went to the Cycle Show on a Friday, however this year we couldn’t do that which turned out to be a good thing because Saturday was the first day the trains were running smoothly all week. Upon arrival we found the exhibition hall at Earls Court already teaming with people. There seemed to be more people than last year but maybe that’s just because more people can get up there on a Saturday.

Who was there

Bionicon, Cannondale, Campagnolo, Cube, FSA, Focus, Fulcrum, Genesis, Hope, Haro, KCNC, KHS, Lapierre, Mavic, Norco, Pace, Pashley, Ragley, Saracen, Shimano & Pro, Scott, Specialized, Sram, Sunn, Schwalbe, Transition, Whyte and more. Every year different brands show up like Lapierre, Sunn and Whyte who weren’t there last year and Trek, GT and Mongoose who were there last year but not this year. No Trek was pretty disappointing actually.

A few things we noticed

- The Scott stand was so packed with people it was unbelievable.

- The Saracen stand was big, nicely designed and well staffed, but deserted. A few photos of new Saracen prototypes have started appearing today…if those prototypes were on display then the stand would have been brimming.

- Shimano must be making an absolute killing with the Alfine internal gear hub range. Loads of bikes fitted with them on various stands although not many mountain bikes.

- The price may be ridiculous but Sram XX was on quite a few bikes and my quick fiddle with one of those bikes revealed that shifting feels amazing and the parts look well made.

- Sunn has some nice bikes but somehow I don’t see them rolling in a taking over the world like Lapierre seems to have done over the last couple of years.

- Belt drive bikes appear to be catching on pretty quickly with everything from fixies to 29ers and folding bikes running them when there were none just a couple of years ago.

- 29ers on the other hand don’t seem to be taking off anywhere near as fast as they have in the US, only 3 there this year. Several brands including Cannondale have pulled their 29ers out of the UK for 2010 and the MD of Pace said “they’re dying here”. But the good news is that I’m seeing a slow increase in the number of them out on the trails so they can‘t be dying. And although some companies have ditched their 29er models in the UK, others have moved in with new distribution deals and new models like Norco and Santa Cruz.

The full Cycle Show 2009 set can be found on Flickr.

Singular Swift with Niner carbon rigid fork

IF 29er

Norco Judan 29er

Gates carbon belt drive

Gates carbon belt drive with sliding dropouts

Cycle Show 2009

2009-10-05T18:58:00.001+01:00

Finally, it’s that time of year again…the London Cycle Show is later this week in Earls Court. Among the many exhibitors this year are Cannondale, Cube, FSA, Genesis, Hope, Mavic, Ragley, Shimano & Pro and Scott. Should be very interesting and worth the trip up there!

Ergon slims down its packaging

2009-10-02T22:20:00.003+01:00

What Ergon says:

The comparison to the old packaging is testament to the leap forward that has been made. 90% of the grips are now packed using 40% less packing material in volume, yet the function allowing potential users to ‘trial’ the grips prior to purchase has been retained. The former packaging used 3 different materials, making up a total of 8 components. Although these could all be recycled, sorting them to do so was time consuming. By contrast, the new packaging uses only paper, making up its four components. Recycling is therefore extremely easy. The packaging is also in the majority made of recycled paper, and the three dimensional paper form as the box itself represents a worldwide first in the packaging industry.

The result of this new packaging quest is so innovative that it has already won the coveted German DesignPlus packaging prize.

My thoughts:

Both of my bikes are now fitted with Ergon GP1 Leichtbau grips and I couldn’t be happier with them. In fact the only negative mentioned in the review was the rather excessive packaging. So when the new greener and slimmer packaging starts rolling off the production lines it will be a perfect product.

2010 Lapierre Zesty 514

2009-09-29T23:24:00.002+01:00

In addition to the 214 in my last post, Nirvana Cycles has also just got in this 2010 Zesty 514. The carbon rear end seen on higher Zesty models last year has now made its way down to the 514 to increase stiffness and loose weight. Another welcome change is to a front tire suitable for the type of riding the Zesty is intended for. The 514 sells for £2799, the one in the photos is a large (50cm) and the rest of the photos can be found in this Flickr set.

New carbon rear end

Massive rear tire clearance, possibly a 650B conversion candidate…or a very good bike for muddy rides

Continental Mountain King 2.4 Tubeless

Fox's new FIT damping in the fork

2010 Lapierre Zesty 214

2009-09-27T23:15:00.006+01:00

Nirvana Cycles just got in this 2010 Lapierre Zesty 214 in a stunning Kit Kat red colour scheme. For 2010 Lapierre have tweaked the aluminium Zesty in several areas. Apparently the top tube is 5mm shorter although Lapierre’s own site doesn’t list any geometry changes. The top tube to seat tube junction is also slightly different, possibly to increase strength, standover height and join the upper swing link pivot directly to the top tube. In addition to frame changes the Zesty also gets a shorter stem, wider handlebar and a new 214 base model. The 214 sells for £1799, is a large (50cm) in my photos and there are more in this Flickr set.

New Formula RX brakes and Deore shifters

Formula RX calliper

A few rides later on the 2010 Gary Fisher Paragon

2009-09-15T23:13:00.009+01:00

That’s one ride on the South Downs, one ride around Leith Hill, one ride in St Leonard’s Forest and two local rides on the Paragon. I would have taken it out again today but rain meant the Swift went instead. It’s rarely a good idea to ride in the rain after weeks of dusty trails, all that dust turns into a sticky paste that doesn’t let go of anything. By the end the bike had to be washed in the river on the way back it was so muddy. The last few times I’ve had more than one main bike there has been one clear favourite for whatever reason, that meant the other didn’t get ridden much. The good news is that I still like the Swift, there’s no clear favourite in my mind.

Climbing

The Paragon is a very good climber, particularly on technical climbs where there are rocks and roots to get past. The 51mm offset fork is said to boost low speed steering quickness so that helps. A few things seem to hold the Paragon back in terms of accelerating, climbing and rolling compared to the Swift. Firstly the Paragon is quite a bit heavier, secondly it doesn’t have 180mm cranks and thirdly the brakes and hubs drag more. Lighter 180mm cranks will help the climbing, accelerating and weight.

Descending

Thanks to the Fox fork, high volume tires and 29in wheels this is a very smooth and stable descender. Actually this bike goes over rough sections that would send me over the bars on most bikes without anything more than a little chain rattle.

Stiffness

Fork and front end stiffness is much better than any other 29er I’ve ridden. The BB and chainstays seem really solid under pedal input. All that stiffness and yet the rear end doesn’t feel anywhere near as harsh as I was expecting given my experiences with other aluminium hardtails. It’s definitely not as springy or compliant as steel but still pleasant enough.

Tire/mud clearance

The hydroformed asymmetrical chainstays are built to take tires right up to 2.5in apparently. Also there’s no cross bridges on the chain/seatstays which helps stop mud from stacking up.

Grips

Before the ride I installed my second set of Ergon GP1 Leichtbau grips, they made a major improvement. Strangely I ordered and paid for the Team Green version, what turned up from Chain Reaction Cycles was the ordinary black version. It’s obvious where they went wrong because the packaging is mislabelled. Perhaps CRC or the UK Ergon distributor need someone to personally check orders are correct as they made multiple mistakes with my first Ergon order earlier in the year. CRC will get away with it this time because the black grips actually look better on the Paragon.

The way too narrow 640mm Bontrager handlebar

This has now been replaced by a 700mm Truvativ Stylo World Cup Single Speed Bar with 9dregrees of back sweep. When ordering the handlebar and grips from CRC I was going to get a shorter stem too but changing one thing at a time seemed like a good idea. In fact it was a very good idea because that extra 6cm in bar width made all the difference. Perhaps it has something to do with the G2 geometry fork but the steering feels just fine with the 105mm stem. That offset fork also has another advantage, the Paragon is the first 29er I’ve ridden where it’s impossible to hit my foot on the tire.

Avid brakes

The Elixir 5 rear brake was buzzing/vibrating so much there was no power at all. After tightening all the bolts I could find in the area most of the buzzing/vibrating disappeared. Perhaps the rest of the buzzing/vibrating will clear up with a little more break in time. The rear brake mount/dropout on the Paragon has to be one of the most heavily overbuilt one piece jobs I’ve seen so perhaps that has something to do with it.

Sram X.9 shifters

The main shift levers were pressing against my thumbs a lot so I moved the shifters onto the second clamp bolt. That’s a nice design feature, although Shimano shifters are in the right position to start with for me.

Bontrager wheels a tires

Just noticed they’re both tubeless ready…nice. So far the XDX 2.1in tires are fast rolling and grippy but the real test comes when the autumn mud arrives.

I’ll keep uploading photos to this set on Flickr.

First ride on the 2010 Gary Fisher Paragon

2009-09-08T23:20:00.003+01:00

I took the Paragon to the South Downs today for the first proper ride, just west of Findon to be exact. Weather conditions were about as perfect as they get, 27 degrees, no clouds, no wind, dusty trails.

Seeing as I’ve already ordered Ergon grips and wider bars I don’t really need to mention how bad the stock stuff is. But the steering really does wander and the rubber grips feel awful after a little while. Other than that the Paragon is a really sweet ride.

I have to say it’s amazing how smooth a suspension fork and 29in wheel makes the front end. Even with that really smooth ride the fork and head tube are still plenty stiff enough. This has to be one of the most effortless bikes to lift, keep stable and land smoothly I’ve ever come across for a XC bike. Not that I do much jumping but my last few bikes were pretty poor in that respect. The 185mm front rotor is a nice touch that helps deliver loads of braking power, even though the brakes aren’t fully bedded in yet. I don’t know exactly what Sram have done with the X.9 group over the last few years since my last Sram geared bike but this lot feels loads smoother and faster shifting. In the future I might have to change the tires but at the moment the large volume gives a comfortable ride and the XDX performs well enough on dust covered bone dry trails. On the whole I think this is a very fast and capable bike, can’t wait to try out the new bits this Sunday.

2010 Gary Fisher Paragon

2009-09-07T23:23:00.010+01:00

I looked at loads of bikes before buying this one, in the end it came down to what I could get now and at a reasonable price. Trek and Fisher seem be very quick with getting their new bikes out to the public this year. I won’t get a chance to properly ride it until tomorrow so I’ll just note a few things that don’t concern the ride today.

Pros:
- I have the last 2010 19in Paragon in the country.
- The Fisher site says the Paragon is £1500, that price sounds like it should be right but the Paragon is actually selling for £1400 at the moment.
- Bontrager XDX tires are wider and higher volume than I would expect from a 2.1in.
- The colour scheme looks really nice.
- It will be interesting to see if the new Sram X.9 gears and Elixir 5 brakes can make any improvement on my last Sram/Avid experience.

Cons:
- Some of the Bontrager bolts are soft and the wrong size.
- The welds aren’t amazingly neat.
- The front wheel isn’t dead straight.
- No through axle fork.

Things I will change:
- Ergon grips.
- My own pedals, just in time because the CB Candy pedals were already disintegrating before the bike was lifted out of the box.
- Wider bars, 640mm is way too narrow for me.
- My own Charge Spoon saddle.

The pics show it exactly as it comes, including unnecessary reflectors, stickers and other paraphernalia.

The 010 ride

2009-09-06T00:43:00.002+01:00

I arrived at Head For The Hills just in time to order the last 2010 model in the country, it should be in my hands sometime next week. This is the earliest I’ve ever bought a new model year bike. You’ll just have to wait and see what it is but gears, big wheels and a suspension fork will be involved.

In other news I finally got issue 144 of Dirt Rag today. Normally I don’t find enough of interest in there to make it worthwhile buying but this issue contains the Singular Swift review. It’s a very interesting read and I learned a few things I didn’t know before about the Swift.

KS Cobra i900 seatpost

2009-09-04T00:43:00.004+01:00

Nirvana Cycles just got in a load of these telescopic seatposts from Pure Racing. Before actually seeing and using one I assumed this must be cheap and rubbish because it’s so much cheaper than either the CB Joplin or Gravity Dropper. Now I can say that this is a solid, well made, smooth operating, good value alternative that holds the saddle dead straight. The i900 happens to be the only seatpost on the market that offers a full 5in adjustment too.

Fully extended

Low as it will go

Syncros Fixed AM Flat Top handlebar review

2009-08-25T23:08:00.004+01:00

Until a few years ago most flat bars only went up to around 640mm in width but now more and more component manufacturers are producing flat bars as wide as 780mm. This type of handlebar has been steadily gaining popularity over the last few years from riders who want wide bars and yet still have the benefits of a low cockpit height. Wide and flat bars go best with bikes that have a naturally high front end and need plenty of steering leverage like 29ers and DH rigs.

This particular bar was my third choice, took a month to get here and I ordered the white version, clearly the distributor decided I was getting black. I considered wider bars but having used this 690mm handlebar for a few months I think the width is perfect for my 29er. Anything 20+mm wider than this would start posing problems on the narrower parts of the local trails.

A flat bar lowers grip height by 20-40mm from most riser bars. By adjusting the angle of the bar there is enough back sweep to get a slight rise or drop depending on your preferred setup. I’ve angled the bars downward to give a slight up sweep. Many 29er riders use bars with massive amounts of back sweep but 10 degrees feels just right for the width.

Syncros has neatly marked the bars so getting the stem position perfect or cutting the bar is easy. It’s very hard to judge stiffness/compliance but there’s no noticeable flex or the harshness I’ve felt on some other bars. Initially I was a bit worried about the finish because there was a letter or two missing and after holding it my hands were covered in little black specks of paint. Since then the rest of the letters and paint has stayed put and seems more than tough enough. As far as aesthetics go, flat bars look much cleaner than riser bars. On the whole this handlebar performs very well for the price and the weight is reasonable.

Price: £39.99
Weight: 274g
Syncros FL stem review
Syncros website

2001 GT i-Drive Team

2009-08-17T20:52:00.005+01:00

Nearly nine years ago this was my dream bike, weighing 23lbs with 3.1in travel, Easton tubing and full XTR. This one almost looks brand new…

Sunday Swift ride

2009-08-11T00:25:00.002+01:00

I don’t usually take the Swift for rides around Leith Hill, preferring to take something with gears and suspension. But I seem to be a bit short on those so I loaded the Swift in the car and set off. Once at the car park I unloaded the bike and set off up to the tower. There always seems to be walkers or bikers up there, even at the crack of dawn or in the middle of a blizzard.

Yesterday was the first time I’ve taken the Swift down any of the more technical routes like Summer Lightning. The only thing better than doing it on a rigid SS is doing it at the same speed as I do on my 26er geared suspension bike because there was a group of riders on 6in AM rigs only a little way behind. Aside from a bit of fork rattle and running the tire pressure so low I felt the rims hit a few roots, the Swift handled Summer Lightning much better than I had expected. The short stem/wide bars and grippy tires did a great job through tight corners.

Somehow I managed to find some mud and very deep puddles in the middle of August so I hope there’s a refund coming for this summer…is it possible to sue the jet stream?

The photos on Flickr and this blog

2009-08-03T22:21:00.007+01:00

I had hoped I wouldn’t have to do this considering it’s only bike porn. However, some people seem to be misusing the photos so allow me to be clear:
- If you want to post my photos on other sites then please ask permission, let me know, or at least include a link back to Flickr or this blog.
- Do not use my photos to illustrate bikes or components you are selling on auction sites or classifieds. I have not and will not give permission for that, even if I know you own the bike or component photographed. If you see any of my photos being used for that purpose then I advise you to pass by that item and let me know, if possible. I have already been told about one and seen a couple more.

Otherwise, enjoy!

4 days later

2009-08-02T00:02:00.003+01:00

Seems like getting my local bike shop to sell my bike just when there’s a shortage of new bikes between model years is a pretty good idea. Exactly 4 days after I left it at the shop my Trance 1 has vanished, apparently for the price I wanted too. I hope the new owner likes it…

Giant Trance X Advanced SL 0

2009-07-31T23:44:00.003+01:00

The name is a bit of a mouthful but perhaps something this expensive deserves a long name. Obviously it’s full carbon but looking closer there’s a tapered head tube, the welcome reappearance of pivot covers and what looks like titanium bolts. The Anthem X and Trance X carbon models are better late than never, same goes for Giant's 29ers. The bike looks great with the blue details!

There are three things I want to see on future Maestro full suspension bikes:
- 29in wheels, starting with the Anthem X, which is already rumoured to be in the 2011 lineup.
- Pivots with grease ports like Turner and Santa Cruz bikes currently have.
- The chainstay to seatstay strut moved to one side, Santa Cruz has done this perfectly on the BLT.
I’ll leave the rest up to Giant…

Canfield Crampon flats

2009-07-30T00:18:00.007+01:00

This has to be one of the most interesting flat pedal designs I’ve come across. The Crampon only weighs 395g, is only 6mm thick in places and runs on a DU bushing and sealed bearing combination. Apparently this pedal design is not only more efficient but offers greater balance and stability. It looks good too…

Photo: Photo-John

Fleet cull

2009-07-28T21:22:00.004+01:00

Every so often the time is right to make space for new stuff. That time is now, although I’m not too sure what the new stuff will be yet. The lucky participants in this cull will be the 2008 Giant Trance X2 and 2008 Giant Trance 1. The Trance X2 will be sold exactly as it’s seen below, everything is working perfectly and looks great. This is my dads bike but he hasn't had the time to ride it much and the medium frame is too small for me so it hasn't been ridden a lot.

The Trance 1 is a size large and is mine so its had a bit more use, but still looks good and is in fine working order. It’s also 6months newer and the drivetrain, wheels and tires weren’t used through the winter. Look at this photo below and imagine the bike with a WTB Devo saddle and no pedals and you get the idea. I’ll sell the bike a bit cheaper if you want the wheels in the photo, otherwise it has the almost new Hope ProII wheels on there at the moment.

Questions about the bikes to me and questions about actually buying the bikes or trying them to Nirvana Cycles if anyone is interested.

The 2010 Kona Cadabra ad

2009-07-27T00:33:00.003+01:00

This week should see the launch of the 2010 Kona lineup. The reason I’m so interested is because they’re one of the rare manufacturers that sells their 29ers in the UK and they seem to make pretty good ones. On the 26er side of things, this is the new Cadabra trail bike with Magic Link suspension, a scandium frame and a tapered head tube…

2009 Magura Julie HP brake review

2009-07-14T20:40:00.007+01:00

By the name of this product it is clearly not the same as last years Julie, in fact the Julie received a full makeover for 2009. HP denotes the change from low pressure to high pressure hoses. My past experiences with Magura have been inconsistent, some good and some famously bad. As a result I’ve kept clear of Magura brakes for a few years, they should have had plenty of time to improve their brake lineup by now.

Installation
The discs were dead straight right out of the box and have stayed that way, unlike no fewer than four slightly bent discs I received from Shimano. For some reason Magura bleeds the brakes at the factory, I’m not too sure why they bother if they’re not going to do it properly. There was still some air in the system, with both levers occasionally pulling straight to the bars. Both the front and rear brakes come with 180cm hoses so they would need shortening and re-bleeding anyway. Perhaps Magura should consider bleeding them properly and offering front and rear hose length options or just send the brakes out as a kit with a bottle of oil like Shimano. The good news is the 2009 Julies have Easy Bleed Technology (EBT) and run on friendly mineral oil so bleeding is a breeze. The bolt heads aren’t as soft and easy to round as those on my Hayes Strokers. As of 2009 the various Marta, Louise and Julie HP brakes all use the same pads which are held back magnetically and with a single bolt through the tab. This makes the pads secure when riding and yet easy to change when they wear out. A very good way of holding the pads, one of the best around in my opinion.

Out riding
Bedding-in the organic(6.1) pads supplied with the brakes seems to take a little longer to get the power levels up than some others. I always try to make sure the first few bedding-in rides are in dry conditions, this takes longer than in muddy conditions but gets the job done properly. The lever body is made of plastic and looks rather bulky but is actually pretty light and feels every bit as stiff as a metal lever body. The smooth aluminium lever blade is broad and might not suite everyone but I like it and the joint is flex and rattle free. Much like other Magura brakes, the feel is slightly wooden but some riders like it that way.

Modulation feels similar to far more expensive brakes from Hope, Hayes and Magura...perhaps not quite up there with newer Avid and Shimano brakes though. The Julie isn’t far off being as powerful as the Louise now they share the same calliper, pads and hose for 2009. 29ers require more stopping power than 26ers and I’m running 160mm rotors...never needed more power than these offer. Another new feature handed down from the Louise is the Heater Eater angle adjustable hose fitting which helps to dissipate heat. So far I haven’t managed to replicate the heat and brake fade that I’ve noticed in other brakes even after long decents. Sometimes both the front and rear brakes have suffered from a very light form of the infamous turkey gobble noise/vibration, but this cleared up after the first muddy ride and hasn't come back. They have been completely smooth and silent apart from that.
Conclusion
Any complaints I’ve mentioned above have to be measured against the price. When the price is taken into consideration, these brakes are nothing short of brilliant.

Price: £74.99 each
Weight: 420g+ depending on the model

The new shop

2009-07-10T22:25:00.003+01:00

Nirvana Cycles have finally moved into their new premises a few doors down the road. The new shop is brighter, smarter, much bigger and has a changing room, separate office and upstairs bike workshop. Very nice...

Surly Singleator review

2009-06-29T23:13:00.005+01:00

The Surly Singleator is primarily designed for converting ordinary vertical dropout geared bikes to singlespeed without the need for horizontal sliding dropouts or an EBB. Most of the time it isn’t hard to get the chain length right and ride without a chain tensioner on a hardtail...especially with the use of a half link chain. However I was planning to put an internal gear hub on my Giant Trance full suspension bike and needed a chain tensioner to deal with the chain growth that occurs when the suspension compresses. Partly, the point of going for a SS or IGH setup is to make the bike as simple, reliable and easy to maintain as possible through the winter. Putting a chain tensioner on the bike somewhat defeats the purpose of that by adding another moving part to break or wear out. I’m very pleased to say that I didn’t so much as touch or even think about this tensioner from the moment I put it on to the moment I took it off. Nine months of doing nothing but occasionally cleaning the dirt off.

Spring tension and chain line adjustments are easily done and the floating pulley keeps the chainline perfect. The Singleator accommodates both 1/8in and 3/32in chains with an 11T pulley. Chain guides either side of the pulley stop the chain from dropping off which it never did in nine months of riding. The spring is triple-sealed and the pulley can easily be stripped apart and serviced, I did that but mine didn’t need so much as a greasing. The amount of spring tension is just right to stop the chain slapping and keep it tight. Whether pedalling quickly, slowly or whilst going over rough sections it was never anything but smooth and silent.

For £34.99 it’s getting close to the price of some pretty good derailleurs but I think it’s well worth it. Performance, reliability and looks are all excellent!

Sram chain vs. Truvativ bash ring

2009-06-29T00:49:00.006+01:00

It has taken me since my third ride on the Swift to track down this problem due to it being rather hard to replicate and not finding any noticeable damage. Wiping away the grime on the bash ring it became apparent that this is yet another product combination from Sram that isn’t as compatible as they would like us to believe. Sram and Truvativ are basically the same company and both of these products are specifically designed to work together. Yet the longer gold link pins on the PC-1 singlespeed chain scrape the bash ring on the Stylo singlespeed cranks. There isn’t enough space between the chainring and bash ring for the gold link pins to pass by without touching, or coming very close to doing so. Truvativ may have fixed this on the new OCT Stylo cranks but perhaps they should look into this issue if they haven’t. Then their customers can get on with riding rather than modifying components to work together properly…

2010 goodness

2009-06-26T23:57:00.003+01:00

The new Lapierre X-Control 710 with a carbon rear triangle and 120mm fork. There’s also a racier version with a 100mm fork to match the rear. Can't wait to ride one...
Scott’s new Scale 29er hardtail with minty looking graphics and a rather slack 69.5degree head angle.

XTC 29er news

2009-06-20T22:50:00.002+01:00

Guitar Ted has posted photos and info on the XTC 29er 1 and 2 over at The Cyclist. Looks like those Giant branded parts I spotted in this months What Mountain Bike will be appearing in Giant’s model range for 2010. This XTC 29er 1 has a few Giant branded components like a single bolt seatpost and reportedly tubeless ready wheels. Everything looks good so far but the most important thing for me is that they don’t follow some other stupid manufacturers in keeping the 29er range as a US only thing…

Morewood’s XC marathon bike

2009-06-19T22:09:00.010+01:00

I really like this small frame builder from South Africa for their strong and simple single pivot suspension bikes, much like those from Orange and Cannondale. They make the sort of bike that’s very popular here in the UK but until now they haven’t had a proper XC bike. This prototype doesn’t seem to have a name yet but the frame weighs 5.07lbs and has an integrated headset. Check it out…flats on a XC bike…I feel right at home!

Loads of photos here

Lapierre Zesty carbon spy shot

2009-06-09T22:36:00.004+01:00

Once upon a time all the Zesty models were aluminium, then the 2009 714 and 914 received a carbon rear triangle and now it seems there will be a full carbon frame for 2010. With a tapered head tube too...sweet!

Back to 27spd

2009-06-09T00:04:00.003+01:00

Many 29er riders say that once you get a big wheel bike you won’t like your other bikes anymore. I’ve found that’s completely true but like it or not I’ll have to keep the Trance for a while so I’m trying to improve a few things that don’t concern wheel size. Summer is here, the trails are drying out and the Swift is making the Trance seem rather slow and heavy. Taking the Alfine off and going back to ordinary 27spd gears looses some weight and putting Michelin Dry2 tires back on makes it a bit faster.

I’m a firm believer in products being ready to use as soon as I take them out of the box and needing as little break-in time as possible. The new Hope Pro2 rear hub has about the same amount of drag from the bearings and freehub as towing a sled which is going to take quite a while to smooth out. Also the Sun Ringle Disc Jockeys have six more engagement points, two more pawls, half the noise, cost half the price and I’ve yet to hear about any issues with running Sram cassettes on them. I had to choose a Hope rear hub because I already had the front one but I think more riding is in order before I make my mind up about these…

Syncros FL stem review

2009-05-26T23:22:00.008+01:00

This was my third choice, it took a month to get here and the distributor sent the wrong stem the first time but I think it‘s well worth the trouble. As far as aesthetics go I’m liking the bi-oval shape, minimalist face plate and white grunge artwork a lot. If you’re not happy with the colour then there’s also black grunge and plain white or black. The finish seems really tough, any wear and tear wouldn‘t show up on white anyway. In fact I’m starting to go off black frames and components because all the rub marks, scratches and dirt show up so clearly. The clamp bolts are deep, tight, solid and there isn’t any noticeable rust after a couple of washes and wet rides. That’s a big improvement over instantly rusting Race Face bolts and incredibly soft aluminium bolts from manufacturers like Hayes. There aren’t any sharp edges to cause problems with clamping on carbon steerers or handlebars…not that I’ve got any carbon components. Stiffness is impressive considering it weighs under 130g and there’s noticeable flex from much heavier Race Face stems that aren’t much longer, possibly due to a larger clamping area than with the Race Face stems. This is a really great product, for the money I don’t think there’s anything better.

Price - £54.99

Rise - 6 degree

Length tested - 90mm

Frame Friday

2009-05-22T22:42:00.003+01:00

Hanging in the window of Nirvana Cycles today was this Metallic Olive Green Titus El Guapo frame, might see it built up next week when I drop off the Trance for a few modifications…

Ergon GP1 Leichtbau review

2009-05-15T23:36:00.006+01:00

Why
There seems to be no end to the good things said about Ergon grips so I had to find out if there’s anything to all this raving. For years I was perfectly happy with my foamies but Bontrager seems to have stopped making the larger diameter version…one of the rare grips I like. Most ordinary diameter grips put too much pressure on my palms and cause my finger joints to start hurting after a few hours riding.

GP1 Leichtbau
These are the same shape as the ordinary GP1 but with carbon composite clamps and lighter Leichtbau rubber. This particular GP1 weighs 169.3g in Large, around 140g heavier than the foamies I have on my other bikes. The UK price is a rather steep £32.99, but well worth it if you ask me. Team Edition Green might not be for everyone but it’s a good alternative to boring old black and dirt doesn’t show up too badly.
Installation
I followed the instructions in cleaning my bars with alcohol, then slid the grips on and tightened the clamping screw until the grips couldn’t be twisted…they‘ve stayed that way so far. Finding a grip angle you’re comfortable with is really important with these. Angled upwards it felt like my hands were being pushed forwards and put too much pressure on my palms, flat still wasn’t great but tilted slightly downwards seems just right for me.

Out riding
Firstly I should mention that I don’t wear gloves unless it’s absolutely freezing. I rarely like the feel of rubber grips, however the smooth surface and Leichtbau rubber on the GP1 feels really nice. The wing took all the stress on my wrists away, you don’t really need wrist muscles with these. That support helps a lot on long rides or climbs where I need to stand because it holds my wrists in a set position…no tired wrists or struggling to find a good hand position. My palm pressure issues have gone, the pain in my finger joints has disappeared and apparently the ergonomic shape significantly increases blood circulation too. The rubber wing gives a reasonable amount of flex, almost like a bit of suspension which is great on a rigid bike. Some foamies or thick rubber grips feel a bit dead and slow but these feel responsive and have perfectly placed grippy sections to enhance control. The mark of comfortable grips and saddles is that you don’t notice them when riding, in this case the only thing I notice is how much more comfortable they are than my previous grips.

Negatives
The packaging could be slimmed down a bit but I’m very happy with this product and will probably fit out my other bikes with Ergon grips in the future whether the packaging gets slimmer or not.

Picture Friday 8-5-09

2009-05-08T23:11:00.006+01:00

If you’ve got no clue what’s going on then check out mtbr…these photos were taken on two rides this week, one along the banks of the River Arun and the other around Pitch Hill in Surrey.

Swift in Buttercup patch

Swift in some Wild Garlic

Pitch Hill Quarry

View from Pitch Hill looking towards Leith Hill

View from Pitch Hill looking out over West Sussex towards the South Downs

Freshly nuked components

2009-05-07T19:01:00.008+01:00

Recently reincarnated component manufacturer Nuke Proof has been steadily bringing out new products over the last couple of years. The latest are these Warhead Ti handlebars which are designed by Shedfire for Nuke Proof and made by Lynskey in the USA. Impressively they’re 710mm wide, only weigh 220g and yet still come with a lifetime guarantee. Nearly £200 seems a bit pricy just for some bars and I prefer one piece bars but the ‘cut off bmx bar’ style is certainly an eye catcher.

There’s also two new pedals called the Neutron and Proton. The Proton seems a bit smaller and lighter whereas the Neutron has a similar shape to Kona Wah Wah‘s. There are two versions of each, a standard one and one with a Ti axle and Magnesium body. I’m not sure why Nuke Proof didn’t use back loading pins like on the Wah Wah’s but pricing seems reasonable…at the moment.

Nuke Proof used to make some really cool components…including their famous carbon fibre hubs which I’ve still got laying around somewhere, it’s nice to see them still making desirable stuff.

Bike of the day

2009-05-01T23:01:00.004+01:00

Head For The Hills in Dorking had a 2009 Trek 69er SS in for a customer today. It looked so nice I just had to take a few photos. Trek likes to leave the 29er side of things to Gary Fisher. So Trek doesn't look too boring or opposed to alternative wheel sizes they make a range of 69er bikes. Personally I think 69er and 650B specific bikes are pointless, I can see why they would be good modifications to 26in bikes but otherwise definitely not. This particular 69er has some neat graphics and components that make it a really sweet bike. For some reason Trek 69ers are really popular here...I see loads of them out on the trails.

A rarely seen SS coasting chain that Shimano doesn't seem to want to sell aftermarket…

A new internal cam Bontrager skewer, similar to the excellent Campagnolo and Fulcrum ones…

Trance update

2009-04-30T00:23:00.002+01:00

There are a few things about my Singular Swift that stand out as being miles better than my Giant Trance, improvements are in order. Firstly the steering is faster, more responsive and easier to control…so much so I nearly fell off the Trance when I got back on it after riding the Swift for the first time. The Swift’s bars are 30mm wider and the stem is 30mm shorter, when I tried them on the Trance they made a good improvement so I think wider bars and a shorter stem are coming my way in the future. Flat bars like I’ve got on the Swift won’t work though, they lower the bar height too much and I can’t raise the stem any higher because I don’t have the fork that normally comes stock on the Trance. I’ve only recently noticed how much flex there is in the seat tube/post since I’ve been riding the Swift with a pretty solid 400mm seatpost. The Trance has a 350mm Race Face Evolve seatpost which is only inserted about 95mm, I’ve read it’s not particularly stiff anyway so I’m going to get a longer one with plenty of setback and a good clamp design. The Swift has also sold me on Ergon grips, I still don’t like the fact they’re rubber but the shape is noticeably more comfortable so I might get some grey ones for the Trance.

The first thing I’m going to do is get a new rear hub and ditch the Alfine in favour of a 1X9 setup. The Alfine’s still working great but I want the bike to be lighter and faster for Summer. I’m planning some other stuff but I need more money before I can do much bike stuff, especially since I have to kit out my new flue bunker…

Fresh produce

2009-04-21T00:31:00.007+01:00

I’m sure I’ll look back on this post in a few of years and think “What a pile of rubbish”...such is the speed of product development in the cycling industry but these are a few new bikes and components that have attracted my attention over the last few days, mostly from the Sea Otter Classic.
Firstly a prototype 2010 Giant Reign X
It has 6.7in rear travel, Maxle thru axle on the rear, loads of tube shaping, weighs under 30lbs with no carbon in sight and has a tapered head tube. It also has down tube cable routing, a rearward facing seat clamp, what looks like another very long head tube from Giant, a poorly placed strut between the seat and chain stays and a seat tube without a full range of height adjustment. In other words I can still see a lot of negatives that Giant could easily fix if they took a few ideas from others, namely Scott for the seat tube and Santa Cruz for the rear suspension strut. It doesn’t look much in a small size with a weird saddle but I’m sure it will look a lot better when we see the final product.

Rocky Mountain 2010
So far I’ve found photos of a new 29er Altitude, Vertex and a few prototype DH bikes. The 29er Altitude it pretty similar to the 26in version with the same Straight Up geometry but is yet another bike to get the tapered head tube treatment.

Sram
They won’t be showing off the final X.X stuff that has been spotted on a few racers bikes recently until May but their other new offerings were on display. All the new colour options and Stylo stems look very nice, the white one is calling to me…

FSA
They had some very smart new 2X9 BB30 and Mega Exo cranks on display with only three chainring bolts but do we really need another component standard like 3 bolt chainrings? Anyway, the rumours of new DH flat handlebars seem to be true, I’ve recently become a fan of bars like these so I'm very interested to hear more about them.
Race Face
They seem to be going to long lengths to get the shifting as good as Shimano, just check out the new rings...

I’m not sure I like the new black and gold graphics on most of their 2010 stuff yet but I suppose black and red was getting a bit old with far too many manufacturers using that combination. Also the new Altas crank colours do look very nice even if they did spark about 90 posts of Race Face hate on Mtbr…

Easter ride

2009-04-13T00:08:00.005+01:00

As you can see in the photo, the weather here over the Easter weekend has been an absolute joke. Thursday night a massive rain cloud swept into the UK, slowed down and eventually parked up over the south east, it literally stopped dead right over us and isn’t going to move until tomorrow afternoon. So all that wonderful dust that had been accumulating on the trails for weeks turned straight back to mud ready for the Easter weekend. The rain had pretty much stopped by today's ride but the cloud was still pretty low so visibility was poor up Leith Hill and I had to stop a couple of times to clear my glasses of water vapour from the fog. By coincidence the weather seems to be trying to put a few more nails in the coffin of my CB headset, now it’s creaking and squeaking with every movement and I think I can feel the occasional bit of sand grinding around in there from today’s ride. Before it was only feeling stiff and making a hissing sound when the wheel was turned, so stick around for the review, at this rate it should be coming very soon. Other than that the Singular still rides great and there was only two technical bits I couldn’t get it up(surprising around Leith Hill), one really was too steep but the other would have been fine without the mud. Even more surprising was the number of riders who came over to look and comment on the Singular while I was taking a tea and cake break at Leith Hill Tower. There seems to be loads of interest in the Swift, I’ve never had more than one rider come over to look before, let alone four in a ride.

Singular Swift initial thoughts

2009-04-08T00:24:00.005+01:00

It took about three months to get all the parts together but it’s finally built up and ready to ride, actually I‘ve taken it out twice now. The second time was up on the South Downs near Brighton so I got to test it out on some hills too. This is the only 29er I’ve ridden for more than a few minutes so I can only really compare it to my 26in Cannondale M600 rigid SS. As far as that goes it’s better in every way, but a tiny bit heavier. The biggest difference is obviously the wheel size, it doesn’t do much for the big bumps, they still chuck me around seeing as it’s a rigid but it’s really smooth over small bumps and there’s next to no vibration due to the steel frame and soft tires. The next biggest difference is ride position, I don’t know whether it’s just this one or all 29ers but it seems really well planted and the bigger wheels make it feel a load more confidence inspiring. The Swift feels more roomy than any large sized bike I’ve ridden before, even now I’ve got the 90mm stem on there. The short stem and wide 690mm 10degree sweep flat bars make the steering nicely fast yet controllable. I’m not sure if I’m getting more power from the 180mm cranks but they do feel like they’re giving a smoother pedal turn with my long legs. The Swift is easier on the climbs than I was expecting with a direct power transfer and good acceleration. It rolls and maintains speed very well too, people say 29in wheels give more momentum and the Maxxis Ardent tires roll well so it’s nice to see it lives up to that. Right now I’m thinking I may be spending a lot more time on this bike than I had planned….

Frame - Singular Swift SS (large)
Fork - Singular rigid
Tires - Maxxis Ardent 2.25 (around 20psi)
Tubes - Bontrager
Rims - Mavic TN719
Hubs - Sun Ringle Disc Jockey
Brakes - 2009 Magura Julie’s
Cranks - Truvativ Stylo 180mm
Pedals - Shimano DX flat
Chain - Sram PC-1 Nickel
Cog - Surly 18T with DMR spacers
Headset - Crank Brothers Cobalt C
Stem - Syncros FL 90mm white grunge
Handlebars - Syncros AM Flat Top 690mm
Grips - Ergon GP1 Leichtbau
Saddle - SDG Bel-Air
Seat post - borrowed from my Slayer

Any negatives?
The Crank Brothers headset is the only one. At the moment if I tighten the star nut enough to stop the fork rattling the headset feels stiff and makes a sound like the bearings are dry. If I undo the star nut just enough for the headset to feel free and be silent it makes the fork loose enough to rattle quite a lot on rough sections. When I do tighten the star nut up enough to hold the fork properly it’s still nowhere near as tight as I have it on any of my other bikes so I’m going to let the bike shop take a look at that. Also the lower seal is ridiculously loose and actually dropped off the crown race a couple of times so I’m not overly impressed with my first CB product yet.

Progress report

2009-04-03T21:44:00.002+01:00

Well, Syncros’s UK distributor finally got the stem and handlebars I ordered two months ago to me…after they sent the wrong item twice and showed a lack of communication and lack of knowledge about the products they sell. My LBS tells me that most of the bike/parts distributors in the UK are pretty useless, and other distributors have sent the wrong stuff to me before so it’s not just this distributor. So here we have a 90mm white grunge Syncros FL stem and 690mm black AM Flat Top handlebars.

The white grunge looks really nice with some moss on top…

Magura, it’s your turn in the toaster!
I could have had my Singular Swift built up and been riding it yesterday but some ridiculously long brake hoses put a stop to that. Seriously, why did Magura bother to bleed the brakes and fit them together when whoever gets them will just have to cut the hoses and re-bleed them? The rear brake hose is so long it would probably still need cutting if it were going on an extra large 36er. The front one is the same size due to Magura being a German company and Germans run their brake levers the other way around so they just send out front and rear brake hoses the same length for every country to simplify things. They didn’t even bleed them that well, the rear brake lever pulled straight to the bars so there’s clearly some air in the system. Just send the brakes out in kits or do the job properly for each country…
More new kit
Sram PC-1 Nickel singlespeed chain and Surly 18tooth cog, hopefully this 18/32 combo with 180mm crank arms will work for me…

I should be able to ride the bike very soon but until then I’m gonna sit here and expect the unexpected, that way I’ll be able to predict any unforeseen problems with getting this bike finished and devise a way of getting around that problem before it actually happens for a change. I’m also going to take the new handlebar and stem out for a spin on my Trance, I’ve always wondered what a shorter stem and wider handlebars would do to the ride.

Ergon Greenery

2009-03-26T23:28:00.000Z

After a computer malfunction caused the distributor to send out several black sets I’ve finally received my green Ergon GP1 Leichtbau grips. Bontrager seems to have stopped making the larger diameter Race X Lite foamies I had originally planned on getting and I’ve been wanting to try Ergon’s for a while. These are the same shape as the ordinary GP1 grips but they use the lighter Leichtubau rubber and carbon composite clamps. Seeing as they’ll be going on a rigid bike they should be worth the weight and price, I’ll do a review later on once I’ve tried them out.

They really are that green!

German packaging…

Sunday ride on the South Downs

2009-03-23T00:17:00.005Z

Today’s ride was along a section of the South Downs Way between Washington and the River Adur, it’s about 6miles excluding any detours. The photos were taken near the Chanctonbury Ring, I stopped a few times on the way up. Chanctonbury is the second highest point around here, the highest is Leith Hill on the North Downs. It’s a pretty hard and long climb up to Chanctonbury ring, usually it’s best not to start the ride off with that climb, it’s well worth it on the way back down though. Next time I do this ride I think I’ll take the Trance X for added fun on the decent and an actual granny gear. I’m told today was probably the last good day before the weather takes a dive tomorrow afternoon. For some reason I don’t see that many mountain bikers on the South Downs but they’re everywhere on the North Downs, perhaps there’s more space to spread out???

When did that airstrip arrive???

South Downs Way…

Chanctonbury Ring…

Spring…

2009-03-19T23:52:00.004Z

…according to my calendar started just a few minutes ago and for once it actually feels like it, there was snow right into April last year. This year there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky for a week and we’ve been enjoying temperatures up to a balmy 17degrees with more good weather coming over the weekend. The trails are drying out nicely, greenery is starting to grow and farmers are busy repairing all the farm tracks that have been washed away by dumping huge loads of rubble all along them. Today’s ride was pretty good, only got slowed down by mud once and I actually managed to find some dust on the trails under the sun. The trees are doing a good job of sucking up all the rain too…

I was reading Mountain Biking by 198 today and was surprised they’d only been there for a year. Then I was even more surprised to notice that on March 25th my blog will be a whole year old and contain 119 posts…or more. At the moment I’m just waiting on a few parts from Syncros and Ergon before I can build up my Singular, hopefully I’ll not only receive them soon but they’ll be exactly what I ordered. Nirvana Cycles has just got the 2009 Titus El Guapo and FTM frames, hopefully the FTM will also be built up as a test bike but so far just the El Guapo is ready for people to take for a spin. I’ll report back on how the El Guapo rides once I’ve ridden it.

Warp speed
This is the bike you’ll be needing if you’re planning on riding up Leith Hill so fast it looks like there is no hill there at all…

Fresh merchandise

2009-03-13T22:02:00.005Z

This batch contains some boring but hopefully functional Bontrager 29in tubes, new tires to go with the tubes and a headset...

The headset is a Crank Brothers Cobalt C Directset. I’m paying exactly £1 per gram of headset and it weighs 33g less than a Chris King just in case you‘re wondering. Disturbingly the box is quite a bit bigger and heavier than the headset itself but Crank Brothers make such nice boxes I’ll let them off for this lack of consideration for the environment. I read on another site that it’s hard to stop the Directset from turning sideways in the headtube during instillation so I had my LBS do it, sure enough it turned sideways on their first attempt. The box states it has a 5year warranty and yet the instructions state a 2year warranty and it's not particularly clear on what it covers which isn‘t too helpful. Like quite a lot of components for the Swift this is an experiment, I’ll be back to post on how it performs.
The tires are Maxxis Ardent 2.25in which I’ll be back to review later on, hopefully they’ll be as good as the 29er gurus say they are.

Blog news
You may have noticed I’ve ditched the cycling news section and put up a bunch of my favourite blogs. The only problem is I’ve stumbled across a few really great blogs and can’t find them again so if you know any really good blogs feel free to comment them to me. I like the ones with bikes, components, reviews, news and loads of photos! :)

New wheels

2009-03-06T20:08:00.002Z

It would require a minor miracle to get my Singular rolling without some wheels so here they are...

I was going to use my spare set of DT370 hubs but most unfortunately they have a few less spoke holes than any 29er rims I could find. It took me a while to search out a set of reasonably priced hubs that had good specs and good reviews, in the end I went with Sun Ringle Disc Jockey’s. All I can tell so far is that they have 30 points of engagement from 6pawls which feels solid and gives a sound remarkably similar to the famously loud Hope ProII hub. The cartridge bearings also feel considerably smoother and easier to turn than any unused hub I’ve felt before.

Weird hub shape...

The rims are Mavic TN 719’s, they're easily available here in the UK and made in France. I was a bit surprised by how much DT spokes have gone up in price, they’re now over a pound each for black ones so I used the cheaper silver spokes that my LBS had in stock.

Giant 29er sneak peak

2009-02-28T00:22:00.002Z

Finally we have someone from Giant on Mtbr and more importantly they’ve confirmed the rumours that there will indeed be a Giant 29er for 2010. All I can tell so far is that it has some nice tube profiles and a tapered head tube from these sketches of the XTC 29er. Looks promising…

Take note Specialized

2009-02-25T23:59:00.005Z

People who visit Mtbr may have read my various posts on down tube cable routing, I hate it. If it was just the front derailleur cable it would be more direct but if it’s all three cables then it’s considerably less direct so there are no advantages to DT routing what so ever. When it gets dusty or muddy the DT looks a real mess, it makes the bike harder to clean and eventually the dust and mud scratches the cables and DT. In addition to that it puts cables directly in the line of fire from rocks, roots and grounding the bike...I’m sure no one wants to loose a hydraulic brake line in the middle of an all day ride. Some manufacturers are still doing really stupid things like using unsealed open gear cables under the DT. Specialized uses DT cable routing on nearly all of their bikes and I can tell you it was a real pain on my Stumpjumper, apart from the unreliability of the bike that was the second most important reason to ditch it. I still dislike DT routing but this post is aimed to show how it’s done properly. Lapierre are known for attention to detail so here are some neat improvements to cable routing for 2009. For a start the cables don’t go under the BB, they’re wrapped tightly over the BB. Secondly a clear sticky film now covers the DT to make sure it doesn’t get scratched badly like older Zesty’s. Thirdly Lapierre have used some seriously cool cable guides that don’t pinch the cables like the ones found on Specialized bikes.

Note the washing instructions…

The value of a properly prepared bike

2009-02-22T23:52:00.004Z

Previously I have always used my ordinary Trance for my usual local routes and taken the Trance X out for rides further away, this meant that the Trance X got more use in areas with faster draining, sandier soil and the ordinary Trance got more use in the waterlogged, slippery and sticky soil found locally. I recently had the opportunity to take the Trance X on a local ride and compare it directly with my ordinary Trance for mud riding. As you know my ordinary Trance is kitted out with a Shimano Alfine 8spd internal gear hub and Hutchinson Toro mud tires whereas the Trance X still has the Shimano XT 27spd drivetrain and Kenda dry weather tires that came on it.

The Trance X
Let me tell you, it’s like riding on trails recently hit by an ice storm with a bike fitted with slicks instead of studded tires. At first it was ok but then I hit some really slippery mud, the first thing that happened was the tires started to slide everywhere, in particular the rear one was whipping around in the mud and going wherever it liked with very little traction. Then the sticky mud started to clog the tires, once the tires were clogged the mud started piling up at the seat and chainstays which soon started to slow the rear wheel and eventually stopped it completely so I had to get off and pull the mud out from between the wheel and frame. All the while mud was busy filling in every place it could find in the drivetrain and before long the mud works away all the oil on the chain so that the whole show starts grinding like a vintage paint mixer. If I’m really unlucky like I was this time the mud and leaves get so thick and compacted into the gearing that the derailleurs stop shifting as they should. At this point I have to give up and start walking up the trails because pedalling is pointless, the wheel is jammed so the only gear low enough to keep the wheel rotating is the granny gear but the gears are jammed too so shifting isn’t particularly effective at getting into that gear and on a normal gearing system like this I need to be moving to shift in the first place, then of course I remember that walking is quicker than the granny gear anyway….even if I had enough traction from the rear tire to stop spinning and actually start moving. When I get home to clean the bike I have to spend longer cleaning it because the mud shows up brighter on black bikes and most of the drivetrain is external and covered in mud instead of sitting in a clean and well oiled internal gear hub.

After less than a mile of riding...

The ordinary Trance
The rear wheel with the 1.85in mud tire has only clogged up completely once all winter and even when the mud gets really bad there is no need to pedal to shift into a lower gear as shifting is instant, all the gears are internal and so won’t stop shifting in the mud and although it’s usually still faster and less effort to walk the mud tire keeps you moving rather than failing completely. When I get home on the ordinary Trance there is no need to do any more than hose the bike off and oil the chain as there is far less places for the mud to hide and it doesn’t show up on the blue and silver frame.

Next year I will go even further down the route to mud proof invincibility with my new Singular Swift. No gears to stop working and clean, no suspension deal with and big 29in wheels which give more traction in the mud due to more tire in contract with the ground. Riding with a properly kitted out bike for mud is much better, new tires and a change of gearing system is well worth it and has made a big difference, as you‘ve just read I only found out just how big the difference was this week.

Photo of the day

2009-02-20T21:29:00.003Z

A derailleur dying in the mud just south of Barns Green, West Sussex...

Niner’s carbon rigid fork

2009-02-20T19:40:00.002Z

Most carbon rigid forks look rather boring and a large number of them are exactly the same under the stickers. So props to Niner for designing a fork that is not only different but actually looks very nice. It’s full carbon all the way from the steerer to the dropouts, has post mount disc brake tabs and like all Niner products it’s for 29ers only. The whole fork only weighs 560g, my Fox F100 weighs 1600g and the steel fork on my Singular probably weighs around 1100g so that’s a very impressive weight for a fork intended for mountain biking. Did I mention it comes in a wide range of colours including “Atomic Blue” which I’m really hoping matches my Singular frame…

Here it is on a “Kermit Green” Niner Air9 weighing only 17.63pounds

Kenda Nevegal and Blue Groove review

2009-02-20T00:17:00.005Z

These tires came on my Trance X2, which was an early production model so the tires aren’t the ones that Giant normally specs. I doubt Giant puts tubeless sealant on one side of both tires and then puts tubes in on the later production models either, certainly made fixing punctures interesting when I first did it. Both tires are the 2.1in 120TPI DTC(Dual Tread Compound) folding bead versions which are just over 600g each and cost around £25...good value at the moment. They’re also available in a STICK-E compound that has even more grip but doesn’t last quite as long. The Nevegal also comes in a 1.95in size perfect for use through the muddier seasons.

Out riding
These tires are designed to be best for downhill riding, and sure enough the Nevegal is even named after a famous downhill track. That doesn’t mean they are useless for ordinary trail riding. The most immediately noticeable thing with these tires is grip, it's absolutely awesome. I was going down the east side of Leith Hill about to turn right at the bottom, I prepared to jam on the brakes ready for one of the tires to start washing out or even feeling like it was on the edge, but it never happened so I just kept leaning the bike over and the tires kept holding on without the slightest sign of getting close to their limits. They plough through loose gravel and sand and hold a straight line perfectly. They’re not the fastest rolling tires but they don’t suck power away like a Maxxis Ignitor 2.35 would, fortunately the Trance X is a fast bike so it’s barely noticeable and the power transfer feels direct. I normally run them around 30psi for the front and 40 for the back but I was pleasantly surprised that they are still stable and don’t fold over in the corners without warning at lower pressures like 10psi as other tires do. They don’t deliver the super smooth ride of Hutchinson Toro’s but they do better than Maxxis Ignitor’s. Puncture resistance is very good, I’ve only had a couple in over a year and tread life is excellent.

Mud riding
When these tires are applied to slippery or sticky mud they aren’t all that good which is not surprising as both tires are designed for dry conditions. Given that this winter has been one of the worst in a long time I thought it needed a mention. Both tires clog up easily in sticky mudand don't clear quikly. In slippery wet mud the Nevegal slides sideways in a fast and unpredictable way. Fortunately the Blue Groove doesn’t which is probably why it ends up on the front when these two tires get combined.

Happy Rohloff Day!

2009-02-15T23:59:00.007Z

When I saw 5 Rohloff’s during this mornings ride I naturally assumed there must be some kind of Rohloff festival happening in the area, or perhaps a Rohloff public holiday? But I checked the calendar and my leaflet of cycling events in the UK and couldn’t find anything. It must have been a freak Rohloff happening or maybe internal gear hubs are becoming more popular…finally!

Red Rohloff seen on a Cannondale Prophet today…

Stylo’s!!!

2009-02-13T19:56:00.002Z

A smart looking grey box arrived at the bike shop today, with custom Truvativ sticky tape keeping the contents from escaping. The contents were my new “mirror black” Truvativ Stylo cranks and Giga X Pipe bottom bracket for the Singular Swift build. I chose the 180mm option and they cost a reasonable £117, which if they are as reliable as my last set of Stylo’s will be a very good deal!

Our first new product news sharing of 2009

2009-02-11T18:20:00.009Z

Images of Shimano’s 2010 Deore groupset have appeared on a couple of German sites so I thought I’d put them up here since I love new Shimano offerings, unless they turn out not to work very well. Apparently the new brakes are going to be easier to bleed than SLX or XT because they have a new design for better oil flow, which should prevent bubbles from collecting in the calliper. Availability is around June 2009 and the colour scheme is called “galaxy black”. There’s also two new Shimano 29er specific products, a 12-36 cassette and a hub with higher torque to handle the larger cassettes used on 29ers with 32point engagement, I don’t know what level they’re but they look pretty ordinary. Well, now we just have to wait for Sram X.X and Shimano XTR 2010.

Full groupset

New Rapidfire Plus shifters with Dual release

Shadow rear derailleur

Servo-Wave brakes, I think???

Photos of Hope’s new seat post have been floating around for a while but this is apparently the finished item. It looks very nice in Hope’s new 20th anniversary colour

In other news

While cleaning the Trance I spotted a crack in the dropout. I took it up to the shop and they’re going to send my fork off to Mojo Suspension to have it looked at it.

Sunday ride

2009-02-09T00:01:00.001Z

Finally after nearly a year on this bike I went out today and after some snow, lots of rain and a few frosts with the last couple of days leaving it to stew the ground had finally had enough. The mud had reached the consistency of Black Forest gateau and I was forced to stop and scoop the mud out from between my back wheel and frame several times, twice on one particularly muddy hill. With my old Stumpjumper I had to do this a lot last winter but this year I have a specific mud tire on the back and I was choosing routes known to be less muddy but sometimes nothing makes any difference, I’ve seen Orange Five’s completely blocked up by mud more than once and they have the best mud clearance there is.

After washing the bike
I proceeded to dry it off and check how the brake pads were holding up so I took the wheel out and sure enough the pads were fine, after nearly a years use there is still braking left to be done on these pads, Hayes makes a seriously long lasting pad for the power you get from the Stroker’s. Unfortunately while looking at the brake pads I found a small crack just above the dropout on the fork. I’ll have to wait until at least Wednesday before I can find the time to take it up to the bike shop to have the fork checked out to find out if it’s just cosmetic or if it’s an actual crack in the dropout.

Bike bits

2009-02-06T23:54:00.003Z

I think by the end of this I will have planned every component and had to plan it again at least twice. The latest was the handlebars, first it was going to be Ritchey 710mm 10d flat but they‘re unavailable in that length in the UK, then 710mm Niner Flat Top but they’re out of stock until March and now it will hopefully be 690mm Syncros AM Flat Top bars. Doubtless there will be some problem with getting those too so I think I’m gonna wait until these components are sitting in my hands before announcing anymore. And on that note here is the first component sitting in my hands and ready to roll, or “stop”. 2009 Magura Julie brakes with 160mm rotors

What they refer to as “an extreme weather event”

2009-02-02T23:46:00.007Z

Just a few statistics, this was the most snow here in 18years, 3000 schools have been closed, 1000miles of traffic jams of which the longest was over 50miles, all of London’s buses were stopped and same goes for a good proportion of the rest of the trains and buses in south east England, 20% of the working population including me didn’t make it to work, car accidents increased by something like 10x and it all costs the UK economy £1.2bn. To top it off most of the airports were closed and a plane got stuck in the grass at Heathrow because the pilot couldn’t see the runway under the snow. WTF? Way to be an unprepared country for a little snow…and yet, although I couldn’t take a train, when I got the car out and drove up to where the most snow fell for a ride it was fine.

Perhaps that sign should be seasonal

Snowy trails

Shame I had to jump off the bike half way up!

Handlebar view

Saddle view

Time to start building

2009-01-30T20:58:00.008Z

I took a little trip up to Head For The Hills in Dorking to pick up my new Singular Swift 29er frame today. There it was, all wrapped up and ready for unwrapping so I rushed home to unwrap it and take some photos with my dads new camera, it doesn’t focus all that close with the current lens but it takes great images.

While I was at the shop I was going to order silver Truvativ Stylo 180mm SS cranks for the bike but they only sell the black ones in the UK and by the time I got there the price for Shimano XT cranks had already risen to £75 more than the Stylo’s so black it is. Similarly I was going to order a set of Shimano M575 brakes but like many people this year I’m trying to get away with a cheap build and the price had gone up on those too, Magura hasn’t raised its prices so I’ve ordered a set of Julie’s, hopefully they will be good brakes even if the lever is on the ugly side, on the plus side the rotor looks a lot nicer than the one on the Shimano’s I was considering. As you can see in the pics the frame is generously supplied with a seat collar, rigid fork and Phil Wood eccentric bottom bracket and with the head tube and BB faced.

You can get a solid silver head badge but I’m the only one that will know it’s there so I stuck with the plastic one. The frame seems very nicely made and I’m glad I got one before Singular merge the ordinary and SS frames together with more cable guides, I mean it’s a good idea but I want simple. Don’t forget there is always more photos on Flickr!

Kona Wah Wah flat pedal review

2009-01-30T00:05:00.010Z

Kona pedals aren’t usually anything worth looking at but the Wah Wah’s are different. Firstly, they’re only 17mm thick, which is thinner than most of the flat pedals out there at the moment. Secondly, they weigh in at a respectable 478g...lighter than either of the pedals I had previously, Shimano DX and DMR V12. Thirdly and very importantly they spin on a cartridge bearing and DU bushing combination which is a significant improvement over the loose ball bearings found in other Kona pedals. Atomlab makes some nearly identical pedals so you know these are ging to be good. There are 10 long back loading pins per side giving excellent grip and so far remaining tight. Finish toughness seems very good and the paint doesn’t chip like it did on my DMR V12’s. Out on the trail these pedals feel solid and smooth. The profile and shape is just right, being somewhat bigger than many other pedals they will suit people with bigger feet (like me). Even these 17mm thick pedals have a reasonable dip in the middle for my foot to sit in which is a problem with some other flats, Crank Brothers for instance. The pins rust pretty quickly but that doesn't seem to cause a problem and so far the bearing and bushing combo is proving very reliable. These are my favourite flat pedals to date!

Monaday news and views

2009-01-26T22:27:00.005Z

Well, I can officially say that yesterday’s ride was the wettest ever, there were three important contributing factors in this, rain, rain again and more rain! This resulted in nearly all of my route being under water or an inch of mud and the rest of the ride being in what I can only assume is the river which seems to be attempting to change direction. By the end it didn’t matter how much mud I’d been through because there was 10 times as much rain water just around the next corner waiting to wash it all straight off again so the bike actually came back cleaner. No pics though, two cameras were being used elsewhere and another new one was waiting for a new lens…

The singlespeed project

After using the Cannondale M600 as a test mule to find out if I like singlespeeding and finding that it was great I have finally made a choice of frame for a proper singlespeed rigid winter bike. It’s also my first 29er, don’t know how much difference that will make in the mud but it should make a rigid bike a lot more comfortable around here. So what is it? A Singular Swift with eccentric bottom bracket in blue, I should be getting the frame soon, along with the included rigid fork. All that’s finalised in the build is an SDG Bel-Air saddle, DT370 hubs and the usual Shimano DX pedals. Truvativ Stylo 180mm SS cranks, Shimano M575 brakes, Mavic TN719 rims and Maxxis Ardent tires are also on the cards along with some wide sweeping flat bars but I need money to purchase those which might take a while, more importantly some of those may not even be available yet.

Hopefully the bike should end up looking like this…or nicer!

My cranks should be in the Super Aluminium finish (silver)

if I have anything to say about it...

Other news

I’ve heard via the grapevine that Shimano prices will soon go up for the second time in 6 months, other companies have done the same but Shimano is doing it a little more than others. £120 was the retail for XT cranks, then £150 and according to the rumours they will soon be fetching a modest £205. I’ve also heard that Magura has decided not to raise prices which is good. Don't know whether either of these are true or if they apply to counties other than the UK though.

Sunday ride

2009-01-19T00:06:00.004Z

Yesterday’s ride was a bit damp, mainly because it rained all night and it’s about 14degrees warmer than last weeks frostiness. The route involved a start near Wellcross Grange Airstrip and on through Itchinfield, Barns Green, Brooks Green and back through Two Mile Ash Forest and along the Downs Link, in West Sussex if your not familiar with where I ride. Most of the forest was under a few inches of water and mud, I was definitely soaked by the end of the ride but it was fun. I think the bike may have even felt a little faster without the bash ring and Alfine "plastic thingy"…

Halfway up Itchingfield Hill…

Two Mile Ash Forest…

A nice pile of firewood for the Trance to sit on…

Trance update

2009-01-18T23:53:00.006Z

I’ve been getting rather annoyed having to peel leaves off the cog and scrape all the mud out from between the chainring and bash guard and Alfine “plastic thingy” so I took them both off, or rather I took the bash guard off and neatly cut off the “plastic thingy”. The bike doesn’t look quite as nice now but it’s lighter and even more mud/leaf friendly. The Alfine itself is still going great and so is everything else on the bike except the headset which needs taking apart and greasing again, definitely don’t think FSA makes the best sealed headsets. Anyway, here’s a few pics of the changes near the start of today’s ride at the back of Wellcross Grange Airstrip...

Looks a bit different without them...

No bash ring...

Genesis is now selling their bikes without the "plastic thingy", I suppose they don't think there is any need for one...

Casio G-SHOCK watches

2009-01-16T16:56:00.001Z

Every now and then I’m given a new watch, they all look very nice and work well for a while but eventually they all die. That’s where my modest collection of Casio G-SHOCK watches comes in, they’re all still alive. No matter how many times I drop them, damage them or they take a dip in water they keep on going. The battery lasts a long time too, 10 years if you only use the light for 1.5seconds per day and use the alarm for 10seconds per day on some models. This model has a more powerful light and is designed more to look good than other G-SHOCK watches so it on has a 5year battery. It also has a range of features including world time just in case I get the urge to check the time in Cairo. I think they’re really good for mountain biking too but the mud and sweat wouldn’t look too good on this particular one…

Google and a little Slaying

2009-01-09T00:37:00.005Z

Finally a few months ago it happened, I installed the beta version of Internet Explorer 8, my life immediately turned to crap, I’ve never seen a beta product with so many problems, and even without those problems it doesn’t work as well as other browsers. After trying Firefox and Opera I’m now running Google Chrome, it’s the fastest, least temperamental and nicest to use. The reason I bring this up is that I recently switched to another one of Google’s services, Google Analytics to keep an eye on this blog, turns out a lot of the readers are also using Google Chrome. It’s also interesting to see where your viewing from, everywhere from Columbia to South Africa with most of the visitors coming from New Zeeland, lots of the US states and here in the UK. The 2009 Turner 5 Spot, Charge Spoon review and Hutchinson Toro review seem to be my most popular posts by a long way.

Right, back to bikes

It’s been very cold here for a couple of weeks now, no real snow but it went down to -9 Monday night, that means all the trails are nicely frozen so lots of fast riding and no mud. I took the Slayer out on Sunday, mainly so I could check out what bits weren’t working too well on it and to put on the pedals I took off the Trance. The headset has completely had it, the fork needs an oil change and the gears don’t feel too good so I’m going to start off by putting the XT/XTR gears off of the Trance onto the Slayer. If you look closely you might notice what brakes I’m running on the Slayer??? They’re 9 year old Shimano Deore brakes and to this date they’re still the best brakes I’ve ever tried or had. They’re so reliable it seems stupid not to move them from bike to bike like people do with Chris King headsets. Brake manufacturers have had nine years to make a better brake than this...they have failed big time.

Sunday’s ride included a nice ride along the farm track at the top of Itchingfield Hill, and through Itchingfield itself.

Then on to Barns Green, perhaps you’ve heard of Barns Green? Lawn mower championships?Finally I rode back along the Christ’s Hospital section of the Downs Link.

Last ride of the year

2008-12-31T00:03:00.003Z

I might not have time for a ride tomorrow so today’s ride will probably be my last of 2008. Todays ride was along a disused railway track running between the north and south Downs called the Downs Link.

I only did the Slinfold to Rudgwick section today because I wanted to have a look down all the little footpaths and bridleways that branch off it but the whole length can be done in a day. It’s so smooth I think the Trance was overkill, I should have taken the Dale and tried out some lower pressures in the tires which I’ve been meaning to do for a while.

The good thing is that I’ve found some nice new routes to explore in the new year…

Christmas goods

2008-12-30T00:27:00.002Z

In the bicycle department I received a lovely new front wheel and a nice set of flat pedals. As previously mentioned the front wheel on my Trance wasn’t performing its duties to an acceptable standard so I built up a new one. Yep, Simon from Nirvana Cycles taught me how to build a wheel, it’s surprisingly easy actually but then Simon did do most of the truing for me to get it 100%, then it was whisked out of my sight so I could practice putting on an authentic look of surprise for when I unwrapped it! Hope ProII hub and Mavic 321 rim, solid and reliable…

I also received a set of Kona Wah Wah flat pedals to take the place of the Shimano DX’s that were previously on my Trance. The DX’s are amazing but I wanted something better than amazing, the Wah Wah’s are thinner, lighter and the pins are taller giving better grip. So far they feel great and have a decently smooth and hopefully well sealed bearing and bushing combo in the axle.

2008-12-25T00:34:00.000Z