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I was at a local bike shop yesterday and they’d just had a visit from a sales rep whose company distributes Colorado-based Astrix mountain bikes. The rep left the shop with a couple of frames for people like me to look at; I checked out the unfortunately-named Huckster, a full-suspension frame targeted at the freeride / downhill market.
The Huckster features 8″ of travel and a Manitou Swinger 4-way coil over rear shock. Astrix has developed the Motolink suspension system a patented design that “isolates the shock from the rear system while the suspension remains active and neutralizes pedaling over a broad range of suspension travel.” Combined with well balanced angles (66.5 degree head angle, 67 degree seat angle) and a reasonable bottom bracket height (14 inches) the Huckster looks like a decent all-round freeride bike. There doesn’t seem to be any adustability with the frame, although not having ridden it (yet), I can’t say whether this is necessary.
Using the shop scale the Huckster frame weighed in at about 11.25 pounds, which is in line with other frames in the same category. The frame runs a 135mm rear hub, which is an interesting choice when many of the bikes in the category are moving towards 150mm rear hubs. Astrix went the 135mm route to increase the versatility of their product by making it compatible with the widest range of available wheelsets.
Suggested retail on the frame is $1499 (usd) or $1999 (cad).
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21 June »
How tos »
Cory
In a perfect world, everyone would be able to walk into their local bike store, pick the bike of their dreams, plunk down a bunch of cash and ride out of the store with a five mile smile on their faces. Unfortunately the real world doesn’t work like that, and cyclists looking for a decent ride often are forced to look through the classifieds for a quality used bike.
If you fall into the latter category more than you do the former, here’s a list of things you should look at (closely) when considering at a used bike:
- Cracks or dents in the frame : Fractures and cracks can turn up pretty much anywhere, although the most common locations for frame cracks are in the head tube area and on the rear end of the bike. Dents freqently appear on the front end of the bike; look carefully at the down tube and the top tube for unintentional depressions (and keep in mind that some bikes, like the Santa Cruz Bullit, have indentations that are part of the frame design). Since cracks or dents can compromise the integrity of the frame, if you find ANY such marks on the bike you’re looking at, walk away.
- Leaky fork or damaged stanchions : If you can see oil around the dust seal where the stanchions enter the lowers, it’s a sign that the fork might need a rebuild. If the stanchions are scratched, scraped, or otherwise knicked, be absolutely sure that the marks don’t affect fork performance because, in most cases, it’s cheaper to get a new fork than it is to replace the stanchions.
- Worn or dirty drivetrain : Check to see that the chain rings aren’t worn and the bike’s gears don’t skip when you pedal under load. Worn rings have ’sharper’ teeth than rings that are good to go. If the bike has a dirty drivetrain, the alarm bells should go off — if the person doesn’t care enough to keep the most important part of their bike clean, think about how they treated the rest of it.
- True wheels and decent tires : When buying a used bike, you can’t expect new equipment but you should look for straight wheels without major dents or flat spots. If you’re looking at a bike with v-brakes, be sure that the rims’ sidewalls aren’t ready to separate from the rest of the wheel. Similarly bald tires won’t do you any good on the trail and are a fairly expensive upgrade if you need to do it right away.
- Check brake pads and rotors (when applicable) : Check to see the status of the brake pads. Although pads are nowhere near as expensive as they used to be, they’re still something that you shouldn’t need to deal with right away. Similarly, be sure that the rotors on the bike aren’t worn away to paper-thickness.
- Bearing check : Check the bearings in the headset, the pedals, and at all pivot points (if you’re looking at a full suspension bike).
- Cranks / bottom bracket : Make sure the crank-bb interface is solid and there is no creaking when you pedal under load. Also make sure that the cranks arms and pedals are in good shape. If either of the items is bent, you’ll be looking at a significant expense after the fact.
- Warranty : Most frame manufacturers attach non-transferrable warranties to their products. This means that they will consider warranty claims made by the original purchaser (with a receipt) but will not do so from anyone else.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list, it’s a good start and, if you’re looking at a new, used bike, you’ll get a better bike following these recommendations than you would otherwise. If you have anything you’d like me to add, drop me a line.
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Images of Marzocchi’s 2006 suspension lineup have started to appear on the internet.
“What’s new?” you ask? Well, in addition to new lowers (featuring post mounts for disc brakes) and different external bits (like rebound knobs) on the forks, Marz has lowered the ride height of their 888 and 66 — something that was criticized by many riders in the past year. Also, Marzocchi seems to be close to having their long-awaited rear shock ready for action.
2006 Marzocchi sneak peeks
I’ll post more links to other sources as soon as I become aware of them. Feel free to e-mail me info about this lineup.
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20 June »
Reviews »
Cory
The Mallet C (the ‘C’ stands for chromoly) is one of Crank Bros.’ entries into the freeride / downhill clip pedal market (the other is the Mallet M — ‘M’ for magnesium). Like all other Crank Bros. mountain bike pedals, the Mallet C is built around the ‘egg beater’ clip system, which is one of the most effective systems available when it comes clearing mud from the pedal. Read the rest of this entry »
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Bike Magazine published on their website a brief (and I do mean brief) review of the Cannondale Prophet 2000, a 27 pound bike that’s marketed by Cannondale as a trail-enduro bike. The Prophet 2000 features the Manitou Swinger 3-way air shock in the rear, the Cannondale Lefty up front, a Shimano XT drivetrain (well, with the exception of its XTR rear derailleur), XT brakes and dual-control levers, Mavic 819 rims, and some Cannondale house parts that I have no knowledge of or experience with.
With an MSRP of $3300usd, the Prophet 2000 is priced in line with trail bikes like the Giant Reign 1 and Specialized Enduro Expert. While I’m not a huge fan of single-pivot bikes for descending because of their braking characteristics (the rear suspension is susceptible to ‘brake jack’, where it ‘packs up’ and becomes inactive) and I’m not sure that the option of reducing your head angle to 67.5 degrees is that beneficial on an all-purpose trail bike, the Prophet 2000 looks like a decent ride.
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Following up on a review of the Thule Super G bike rack, Feedthehabit.com just posted a review of the Yakima King Cobra bike rack. Unlike other Yakima products that allow your bike to sway unnervingly from side-to-side, the King Cobra keeps your bike locked down and secure. In addition to being easy to use, the King Cobra is versatile in ways that many other roof-mounted racks aren’t: you can mount your 20″ BMX or your 29″ cross country bike without issues; and funny shaped frames (like my Norco) aren’t relegated to the trunk-mounted rack with the King Cobra, since bikes are affixed to the carrier at the wheels…
While I haven’t used this specific rack myself a number of my friends have and, based on their experiences, I will pick up a Yakima Cobra to use as my primary bike transport system in the near future. The Cobra is identical to the King Cobra except for the fact that it’s lacking a cable lock. I’ll take the Cobra because a) I never leave my bike on my car alone and b) because you need to purchase Yakima’s proprietary locking cores to lock the rack. If you go with the Cobra, you’ll save yourself $50-$100 (depending on whether you purchase the rack in the States or in Canada).
Keep in mind that these types of mounting systems are expensive. If you’re interested in the King Cobra and you don’t already have a set of Thule or Yakima bars, towers, and locking cores, you’ll be on the hook for a good deal more than the initial price of the King Cobra.
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Earlier this week, Kona enduro team rider Sean Noonan published a review of the Kona King Kikapu on his website.
I looked at the King Kikapu when I was thinking about a new full suspension 4″ bike earlier this year but I eliminated the bike early on, mostly because of the bike’s build spec. The King Kikapu features a Scandium frame paired with a Fox RP3 rear shock, a Fox FRL100 fork up front, Hayes HFX-9 Carbon brakes, and Shimano XT derailleurs and shifters. Everything looks good so far, right?
When you move on to the rest of the parts spec for this bike, a number of obvious questions arise. First, why is Kona spec’ing a high end bike (it’s the most expensive full suspension cross country bike in their bike lineup) with Deore hubs? My Giant Rainier, which cost me just over $1000cad, came with the same set of hubs. Second, the King Kikapu comes stock with a Shimano LX 9 speed cassette. Aside from the fact that the LX doesn’t perform nearly as well as the XT, it’s significantly heavier (about 70 grams). Combined with the weight difference between XT hubs and Deore hubs and the Race Face Evolve XC crankset and the Deus XC crankset, you’re looking at about 200-250 grams in extra weight on your bike. While that’s ‘only’ a half-pound, on a high end bike intended for racing it’s quite a bit over the course of a 3 hour marathon or a 6 hour enduro.
I understand that Kona is trying to fit the King Kikapu into a lower price bracket without compromising the performance of the bike too much. However, are riders who are looking to drop about $3000 on a bike going to quibble about a couple of hundred more for higher end parts? I’m sure Kona did their research when putting the bike together, but I know I’d prefer to have better hubs, a top-notch drivetrain, and the weight savings of the Deus XC cranks when I purchased a King Kikapu rather than having to upgrade select parts at retail prices after 6 or 12 months.
Technorati Tags: Kona King Kikapu, mountain bike, review
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I was riding at Whistler yesterday and, about halfway through the day, noticed a couple of what looked like chromed 2006 Stinkys making their way onto the lifts. Looking a little closer, I noticed that the bikes weren’t, in fact, the Stinkys but were new Stabs. Up front one of the bikes had a Marzocchi 888 while the other had a Marz 66. Other than that, the bikes were spec’d identically: e.13 chainguides, Diabolous cranksets, SRAM drivetrains, and a covered up coil-over shock. I have no real idea what was underneath the covers but the shocks did have a funky shaped reservoir (that looked a little bit like the reservoirs the 2006 Marzocchi rear shocks have been using).
In person, the bikes look a little better than they do in photos (and I have no photos — the camera stayed at home). The Stab with the 66 did look as though the head angle was a little steep, but it could’ve been the angle I was able to sneak a peek from…
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This entry isn’t a mountain bike entry per se, but it is interesting and it does illustrate what serious (and I mean SERIOUS) training can do for the body. Researchers from the University of Texas-Austin put Lance Armstrong's training regimen to the test, analyzing the changes in Armstrong’s physiological responses to cycling-based activity.
What they found does not raise any questions about doping; instead, the researchers indicate that Armstrong’s ‘transformation’ in 1999 (the year of his first of seven consecutive Tour de France victories) was a result of a marked change in the cyclist’s output capacity:
An independent physiologist familiar with the study commented: ‘This study shows that long term training has a lot bigger effects than we thought. They followed Armstrong – a well-known hard trainer – and the changes in his efficiency over seven years are really quite amazing. We wouldn’t be surprised if some major physiological changes happened, but here’s a real quantified example.’
He added: ‘Generally there are two ways to improve efficiency: Train your maximum capacity to be very high, or train your sub-maximal capacity to be very efficient. In Armstrong’s case, he did both. In the lab they measured his performance against standard oxygen consumption and by the end of the study he was much more efficient utilizing the same amount of oxygen. But on the road,’ he pointed out, ‘it means he can go faster and get more guys off his wheel.’
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I’d actually started writing an entry about the benefits associated with a clean bike when I came across an article discussing the same thing. Keeping your bike clean does a number of things, the most important of which is allowing you to maintain your bike’s level of performance.
The article stresses that, in addition to performing regular checkups on your bike, it’s important to replace things like worn or dirty cables and cable housings on a semi-regular basis to ensure reliable shifting and (when applicable) good braking.
- Check tire pressure regularly. Instead of running the pressures recommended in the article, talk with local shops and see what they recommend; many riders in my neck of the woods rarely run pressures above 30 PSI.
- Lube your chain regularly. Use bike-specific chain lube, not WD-40 or other similar products.
- Replace your chain once per year. When you do this, make sure you check your cassette and chain rings for wear as well; quite often you’ll need to replace the entire thing to keep your bike pedalling smoothly.
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