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27 October »
Reviews »
Adrian
There comes a time for in every biker’s life when he or she needs tools. Most people invest big money in their bikes but don’t do the maintenance they need to have their bike operate at its best. I built up my previous tool kit over the past five years with bits and pieces that I had picked up over time.
One thing I found was that I was always missing one or two tools to do the jobs that I needed to do. With this in mind I looked at the option of buying individual pieces and decided that the cost was too great. I finally decided that I needed a whole new toolkit (as you do) and the result after much hard selling of old bike bits on eBay and wife convincing was the Park Tools PK 57 Tool kit and a nice roller tool chest.
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18 August »
Reviews »
Cory
A while back, I picked up a set of Hayes El Caminos for my trail bike, despite plenty words of warning from a number of friends who logged serious time with these things on their dh rigs. The primary complaint was about the way the brakes faded or pumped up on fast runs but I figured I’d be all right since my set wasn’t going to be used at Whistler or for heavy duty gravity-fed action.
I’ve spent a couple of solid months with these brakes in conditions that ranged from steep, wet, and sloppy to dry, dusty, and really freakin’ fast, and have a pretty good idea about their strengths and limitations. They weren’t as bad as my friends claimed, but the El Caminos definitely are not the best brake in their price range; in fact, because of the all-round performance of the brakes, there are a number of less expensive hydraulic brakes that I’d choose over these things. Read the rest of this entry »
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24 July »
Reviews »
Dan
In the last couple of years, the market for energy drinks, bars, gels, tablets and powders has become incredibly watered down, to say the least. Where there once was only a drink invented by students trying to help the University of Florida Gators football team (hence the name Gatorade), there are now dozens of alternatives out there, all claiming to give you the nutrients and elements needed to keep you pedalling.
Amino Vital is a relatively new product to North America, but it is making huge strides thanks to aggressive marketing and more importantly, the fact it’s a solid product that lives up to its hype.
The product was invented in Japan and, under the corporate name Ajinomoto, was a huge seller in Asia. For years professional baseball teams there used the branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) drink to keep themselves hydrated and recovering properly. It’s hard to say exactly when or how Amino Vital first made its way into North America, but the common thought is that Japanese ball players on teams such as the Seattle Mariners brought it with them and shared it with their teammates. Read the rest of this entry »
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11 July »
Reviews »
Guitar Ted
Almost all of the 29”er bikes out there owe something to WTB, which introduced the very first 29″er-specific two-inch plus fat tire way back in 1999. WTB’s early commitment to the format with the Nano Raptor help ensure the survival of the big-wheeled mountain bike. Since then, the marketplace has started to fill out, as more options become available for the intrepid 29″er rider; one of the more recent tire additions to the scene is the WTB Exi Wolf 29”er tire.
The Exi Wolf gives the 29”er rider the type of large volume, all-mountain type tire that simply wasn’t available before its introduction in 2005 and, since then, the tire has found a wide audience with manufacturers of 29 inch wheeled bikes.
Look for many of the new 2007 29″ wheeled bikes to be sporting these treads. Read the rest of this entry »
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12 June »
Reviews »
Dan
Recently, I was given the chance to take a set of 160mm Marta SL disc brakes out for a good thrashing in the field. Thanks to our good friends over at SpokeWrench.com, an online shop based in Ontario, for hooking me up with this stuff. These are the same guys who are making preparations to run the TransRockies later this summer.
If you want a lightweight disc brake for cross country use there are only a few really good options. In many of the head to head tests on disc brakes, the offerings from Avid have come out as being the standard that other companies have to live up to. The Avid BB7 mechanicals are simply the best and most powerful cable-actuated disc brakes on the market, and the Avid Juicy 7s are among the best hydraulic disc brakes available. When SRAM/Avid unveiled the Juicy Carbon with a lighter weight and the same ease of use, it gave competitors another bar to try and clear.
But at the same time Avid was working on the Juicy Carbon, Magura was already tweaking and refining it’s Marta SL brake. For 2006, the Marta SL offers a gorgeous setup that performs as well as it looks.
The Marta SLs were installed on my Cannondale Rush 1000, which is now sporting a SRAM X.0-dominated drivetrain with Shimano XTR cranks. Prior to installing the Maguras, I had been running Juicy 7s and the Avids fit perfectly with the X.0 triggers; they were highly adjustable, powerful and, generally, just a fantastic brake. So the Martas had a lot to live up to. Read the rest of this entry »
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1 June »
Reviews »
Cory
Off Road to Athens is a documentary that tells the story of eight American cross country racers as each tried to secure one of three spots on the US Olympic team prior to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
The project was put together by Gripped Films, and the production team travelled around the world with the riders and used their unfettered access to their subjects (and plenty of editing) to put together two hours of intense, insightful footage that shows what it takes to roll with the best in the world. The riders — Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, Todd Wells, Adam Craig, Jeremiah Bishop, Alison Dunlap, Sue Haywood, Mary McConneloug, Shonny Vanlandingham — give it their all and wear their emotions on their sleeves throughout the film, something that in-and-of-itself adds to the drama created by the race footage.
Over the course of about two hours, viewers are treated to fine examples of top-notch cross country racing, really good interviews with the riders, and insightful criticism of the sport and its governing bodies. Read the rest of this entry »
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24 May »
Reviews »
Cory
Sorry for the crappy bike pic! I’ll update with a nicer shot when I get a chance.
I do a lot of product reviews for this site and I run a lot of different gear over the course of the season. Even so, I have my own preferences and I think that showing you my primary mountain bike — a 2005 Giant Trance setup for aggressive trail riding — in its current setup says a lot about the gear that I really like.
And for components that I have been using for a long time, maybe read this post as a long term update for the item, and an endorsement of sorts. Read the rest of this entry »
19 Comments »
23 May »
Reviews »
Ashwin
This writeup compares a fiber-based liquid tire sealant called Flat Attack to the popular Stan’s Latex Sealant.
An overview of Stan’s No Tubes system
I’ve been using Stan’s No Tubes tubeless conversion for almost 2 years and, while it’s not without its issues, I really like the system for xc riding and racing. During installation, you use a special rim strip combined with a regular non-UST tire.
The rim strip alone will usually allow you inflate a tire, although it leaves you with no flat protection against thorns or cuts. To gain this feature, you have to use some sort of liquid sealant. Stan’s sells a latex-based sealant and the instructions call for 2 ounces of sealant for a typical mountain bike tire. Read the rest of this entry »
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22 May »
Reviews »
Cory
I haven’t seen too many reviews of forks that manufacturers are slotting into the burgeoning ‘trail’ market. I recall reading a recent review in one of the major mountain bike publications but, other than that, there doesn’t seem to be too much print about forks like the Rock Shox Revelation, the Marzocchi Marathon SL, the Fox TALAS 130, and the subject of this review — the Manitou Minute: 04.
My initial impressions of this fork were generally positive; I was impressed by the Minute: 04’s adjustability, its stiffness, the cushiness of the fork when the SPV Evolve damping wasn’t in its platform stage, and its all-black good looks. I was less impressed by the fork’s limited range of rebound damping and the fact that it was a little less sensitive in the small-bump compliance department.
I’ve had another full month on the fork since my first writeup and I’ve got some more things to write about it, so read on… Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments »
17 May »
Reviews »
Ashwin
Before I start, I think it’s important to let you know that I am the Imelda Marcos of bike shoes. I don’t know what it is, but I just seem to buy new shoes at the drop of a hat and then send them back or resell them when I find something small that bothers me. For a time, I was buying and selling shoes on eBay at a mind-boggling rate of one pair per month, so I feel I’m pretty qualified to talk about fit, features, and flaws.
This writeup takes an early, pre-abuse look at the 2005 Adidas Adistar XC Race mountain bike shoe. I hope that my dissection of the shoe makes it easier for you to get a decent idea about the way it fits, its construction, and a host of other things. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment »