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Back in June, I published my review of the Crank Bros. Mallet C pedals. By and large, I liked the pedals and my only real criticisms related to the removable traction plate and the need for shims to create tread clearance on most popular shoe brands. Five months removed from my original review and the pedals are going strong — both pedals are in need of a rebuild kit but, other than that, perform as well now as the day they were first mounted.
Today, the folks at Bike Magazine posted up their review of the Mallet C. The review brings up a couple of other things that might be an issue for some riders — the required use of shims and the traction plates don’t just bother me — but, all in all, the Mallet Cs receive the accolades they deserve.
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asilvertouch zine has a solid review of the new Maxxis UST downhill tires. The review touches on a lot of the things that people experience when first running tubeless tires on their bikes (like burping and imperfect tire seating) and gives some worthwhile troubleshooting advice on how to get around these issues.
Although I haven’t run Maxxis tires for a couple of years, I have a couple of friends who swear by the High Roller and the Minion. And as the new Maxxis downhill tires continue to receive accolades from consumers and reviewers, it’s likely that they’ll keep the other ‘biggies’ (including companies like Michelin and Kenda) on their toes and push others to develop a wider range of high-performance tubeless tires.
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Yesterday I crashed my bike. I nosed in really hard on a fifteen foot gap jump before sliding off the trail and into a tree. Fortunately I was wearing my full face helmet and hydration pack — I’m sure those two pieces of gear provided some protection against a more serious injury.
My bike made it through the crash without too much damage and I was able to walk off the mountain with the help of a friend (who took care of my bike on the way down). I did take a precautionary trip to the emergency room at our local hospital to have x-rays taken and the verdict was a good one — a sprained neck and sore muscles all around but no broken bones. Given the speed at which I smacked the tree (I would guess it was about 20-25km/h) and how exposed my body was during the fall, today I count myself as a particularly lucky duck.
So what happened? The crash occurred on a trail I helped build and have ridden about 50 times this year alone, so familiarity wasn’t an issue. As many of you might recall, I have a new fork for my bike and that surely played a role in the crash (I need to turn up the high speed compression).
Regardless, I blame myself for my injury. I’m an experienced rider and I should have taken a pass on the jump or the trail in its entirety, especially since I was running a new piece of equipment and because I was a little fatigued from recent rides.
So this message is a warning to all of you riders out there: anyone can crash at any time and you need to be prepared when you’re out in the hills. When you do crash, you need to keep your wits about you and understand the implications of walking out or waiting for the local Search and Rescue unit. And it’s always a good idea to have friends to ride with.
As for me, I’m going to take it easy for a few days, let the swelling go down, and have my stiff neck checked out again by a medical professional during the coming week. I’ll be back on the bike as soon as possible, but I won’t be pushing it for a while. I’ll be as active as possible with this site, but my focus is going to be on getting healthy again.
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Pinkbike posted up a follow up review of the Cannondale Prophet 600, after an initial writeup that praised Cannondale for a solid build kit that was bolted on to an all-purpose frame.
The second review is a good idea, mostly because it shows that not all people riding mountain bikes discard them for new rides at the end of each season. Also, it shows how easy it is to tailor a bike to your specific riding style (well, it’s easy as long as you have the cash) as long as you have a frame that continues to meet your needs.
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A while back, I mentioned that I was going to pick up a Rock Shox Pike and ride it during my next round of product testing. Unfortunately for me, the 2005 Pike Team was completely sold out in Canada by the time I placed my order.
Things being as busy as they are around here, I pushed the fork thing onto the backburner. A couple of things happened during this time that moved me away from the Rock Shox Pike and towards the Fox 36. The first was that I cancelled my Interbike plans; the second was the absolutely smoking deal Maple Ridge Cycle gave me on the Fox.
The fork arrived and today and, after spending a little bit of time getting the bike cleaned up, it was installed and is now ready to go (pic here).
All you readers can expect a thorough review of the Fox 36 TALAS RC2 in a couple of months, just in time for Christmas.
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CamelBak has made rugged hydration packs for a long time and it shows. The company’s design experience allows it to put together a pack that impresses nearly everyone with its durability, easy of use, and relatively good fit.
A while back, I posted a review of the CamelBak HAWG. In general, I liked the pack for all of the reasons mentioned above, but I did have some issues when it came to strapping on armour and pads for the climb up the mountain.
It seems as though other riders made similar observations and, in response, CamelBak developed the Havoc. The pack is meant to appease riders who prefer not to wear armour and other protective gear on their way up the mountain. Bike Magazine just published a review of the Havoc and, by and large, the reviewer (Vernon Felton) had an experience that was similar to mine. Felton concludes that the Havoc is a solid performer meant for serious abuse and a long performance life.
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20 October »
How tos »
Cory
A quick apology for the lack of recent updates but I’ve been stricken with unpleasant things like a hard drive failure and a head cold. Each of these things kept me occupied taking care of things other than this website.
Excuses aside, Ashwin over at Team MWC, FTJ, NGT weblog has posted up a bunch of entries outlining an off-season training routine for cyclists. There are some great thoughts on strength training and on interval training.
Definitely worth the read if you’re into this sort of thing.
Sources: Via Go Clipless | Team MWC, FTJ, NGT
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Canadian bike manufacturer Devinci Bicycles now has their entire 2006 bike lineup online.
Changes for 2006 are relatively minor on the freeride / downhill end of things which makes sense, since almost every person I know who’s owned a Devinci in the past couple of years loves their bikes. In the ‘all mountain’ or ‘freeride light’ category, Devinci repositioned their lineup and fit it more into the all mountain end of things, with cross-country style parts specs on each of their ‘remix’ models. Other interesting items of note? No hardtails in the mountain bike lineup, the disappearance of personal faves (the Magma / Guzzler).
Another thing to consider when thinking of Devinci bikes is the fact that, at least until last year, the models available in Canada differed from those available in the United States — Specialized’s ownership of the Horst-link patent prevented Devinci from using said linkage on bikes destined for the American market. So if you’re American and are interested in one of the company’s bikes because of the suspension design, you’d be well advised to check into this ‘issue’ before you place your order.
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Mountain Bike Action is reporting that Specialized Bikes lured Christoph Sauser away from Siemens-Cannondale. I’m convinced that this move is all about marketing, since it’s probably safe to assume that Sauser is going to continue his successful career on the World Cup race circuit, and Specialized is set to cash in on his top-notch performances.
Now that Cannondale’s powerhouse on the cross country race scene is riding another company’s bikes, I’ll be interested to see how the vaunted Cannondale Scalpel does on the World Cup race circuit. I understand that Cannondale won’t be able to replace a rider like Sauser — especially a rider in the prime of his racing career — but a company that based so much of its marketing material on the bike’s success in reaching the podium likely needs to continue its run to maintain credibility with consumers.
Similarly, I’m interested to see what (and how) Specialized does with Sauser and a bunch of strong up-and-comers (like Liam Killeen).
Update - 14 October 2005: Colour me purple, but is sounds like there’s a little bit of bitterness in the Cannondale camp in regards to Sauser leaving for the big ‘S’;. Not that I’d blame them but, to be fair, the life of a pro cyclist doesn’t seem to be an easy one and cashing in on their talent is their perogative.
Oh the drama.
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Following up on an earlier post about Mountain Bike Action’s foray into digital publishing comes news that Apple has made available Red’s Dream, a 1987 Pixar short film about a unicycle, to users of its iTunes store. While I’m not too sure about Red’s Dream itself — and I’m hesitant to drop $3 on it, since I’m not what you call an animation afficionado — the entire concept of digital delivery for video is an intriguing proposition for consumers and content providers.
With the recent growth in the availability of broadband Internet access and reputable online services showing that it is, in fact, possible to provide legal, commercial free, high quality video to consumers (who are willing to pay for it), I’d like to think that Pixar’s animated short is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to online video content. As someone without cable television, I’d love to be able to purchase bike-related content (like the individual stages of the Tour de France) instead of relying on the goodwill of my cable enabled friends.
Of course, time will tell but it’s likely that this writeup will be obsolete in two or three years. At least I’m hoping it will.
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