Tag: mountain bike

Is Shimano Di2 Electric Shifting Going Off-Road?

Road cyclists have been able to do the electronic shifting thing for a while now. Shimano, which introduced the first successful (key word is successful) electronic shifters with its Dura Ace line that the pros seem to love, brought Di2 to its step down (but still very high-end) Ultegra line last year, and this season will see rival Campagnolo also going electronic. Meanwhile there have been efforts to develop electronic shifting for off-road, but only in the aftermarket world… until now.

BikeRadar.com reported that a Shimano XTR Di2 drivetrain was spotted. Canadian cross-country racer Geoff Kabush posted an image on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon that indicates that Shimano is indeed bringing Di2 to mountain bikes. Meanwhile Shimano has no official comment. Continue reading Is Shimano Di2 Electric Shifting Going Off-Road?

“Pedal-Driven” a Documentary on Mountain Bike Access

 

The  land managers of  U.S. federal, state and local public lands and the citizens that pay their salaries have been engaged in the issue of access for as long as there have been ‘public lands’. The land managers have been tasked with the job of protecting these resources, while the citizens have wanted to use the land for their own agenda. From mining to hunting and from climbing to dirt biking, each of these activities, along with countless others, have some sort of impact on the land. But who is right and who is wrong? That sometimes depends on environmental impact studies; education of both land managers and citizens about the ‘use‘; and frankly, public opinion. “Pedal-Driven: a bikeumentary,” is a new documentary by Howell at the Moon Productions that is making its way around the country looking into one such land access battle and how both sides may seem to be at odds, but are really fighting for the same goal – “the rights of Americans to play in the woods.”.
Additional videos after the jump

Stormin’ iPhone Bike Mount

The iPhone can be a great cycling computer, but this means exposing the expensive smartphone to the elements. For those who go off road there is the StormCruiser from Joy Factory, a bicycle mount designed to tackle spills and the elements. The StormCruiser is designed for the iPhone 4/4S, and the scratch resistant case offers protection from water, dust and grease. It can be mounted on the body frame, between the handle bar, or on the top tube.

At just $49.95, Joy Factory’s StormCruiser adds just enough protection, while allow riders to concentrate on the trail and not have a little less worry about their expensive handset.

Joy Factory StormCruiser Official Website

Enve Releases Carbon Fiber All Mountain Tubeless Rims

Click on the image for a larger photo

Those looking for the tubeless ride off road are in luck. While tubeless compatibility was once an exception to the rule off road, bike parts manufacturer Enve has stayed true to its goal. The company released the first mountain clinchers in 2006, and brought out the first full carbon fiber mountain clincher in 2008. Enve has now had several years to tweak the product as the clincher wheel has gained popularity. The latest is one to get up early for, the Enve AM.

Enve uses a proprietary manufacturing process to produce the Enve AM. It involves targeted laminate and a purpose-driven design. The rim is 30 mm deep and features a 24 mm width between the hook beds, which works for tires between 2.2-2.4-inches wide. Several structural modifications give the AM clinchers better ride performance and strength without adding weight.

The new tubeless compatible Enve AM rims are available in both 26- and 29-inch models and in hole counts of both 28 and 32 holes. A set will retail for $860 with pre-built wheelsets on DT Swiss or Chris King hubs start at $2400.

Enve Official Website
[via Bike rumor: Enve Official Launches Carbon Fiber All Mountain Tubeless RIMS]

MotionSports Adrenaline Gets Momentum on Xbox, PS3

Ubisoft just released MotionSports Adrenaline for the Xbox 360 Kinect and PlayStation Move for the PlayStation 3. The game takes advantage of the motion-sensing controls to encourage movement. MotionSports Adrenaline has a number of extreme activities such as wingsuit, mountain bike, rock climbing, kayak, kitesurf, extreme skiing.

Continue reading MotionSports Adrenaline Gets Momentum on Xbox, PS3

Louis Garneau Intros Carve Helmet

Each year helmets get lighter, but they also get stronger. Technology lends itself to a higher degree of protection using lighter-weight materials. However, even when you’re going to get down and dirty off road you’ll still want to look good doing so. For 2012 Louis Garneau will release the Carve helmet, which will offer that higher degree of protection without sacrificing style.  This new helmet promises to be lightweight, highly ventilated and totally geared toward mountain bikers.

Continue reading Louis Garneau Intros Carve Helmet

Hands On: 2011 Moots Mooto X YBB

A little over a month ago, a new bike was being assembled to join the fleet in my garage. The initial impressions of the new 2011 Moots Mooto X YBB 29er were detailed in “Mooto X YBB: Building a ‘Dream’ Bike First Impressions” and in that post it was mentioned that a 29er fork was ordered, but it had not arrived. The Fox F29 fork arrived the same day that the post went live so the build could really begin in earnest.

The parts selected for this build included a mix of Sram XO, Chris King, Fox, Stan’s and Race Face. The intention was to move most of the parts over from my older 26-inch wheeled Moots YBB, but the eight weeks required by Moots to build the frame gave enough time to gather all new parts except for the Ibis Ancotech titanium handlebar and Hope titanium skewer. Continue reading Hands On: 2011 Moots Mooto X YBB

Turning on No Axle

Pedals are a very personal thing on bikes, and mountain bikers often times like prefer platform pedals that involve no clipping in. This is good for downhill and trials riding – as opposed to trail riding where riders typically want that clipped in feeling. Regardless of the system, most pedals are the same in that these are built around a sturdy axle.

But does it have to be that way? In other words, why can’t flat platform pedals in fact be actually flat? And not just flat but thin as well? To date the thickness of platform pedals has been determined by the thickness of the axle, which is where the Tioga ZEROaxle MT-ZERO comes in. It is ultra thin because it essentially loses the axle, with the result being a pedal that is just 7mm thick, making it the world’s “thinnest dual-concave mountain bike pedal.” And it is concave, so instead of the thickest part being the middle, it is actually the outer edges that are 7 mm, with the inside being just 4 mm thick, with the weight being just 450 grams or 15.87 oz. Continue reading Turning on No Axle

2012 Moots MX Divide – Interbike Sneak Peek!

Typically if a bike company has a major product announcement, it will be reserved for an industry trade show like the upcoming 2011 Interbike in Las Vegas, but it appears that Moots of Steamboat Springs, Colorado has decided to let their ‘friends’ on Facebook have a sneak peek of what appears to be an exciting new design.

There are few details as of right now, but it appears that the new 2012 MX Divide is a complete redesign of their somewhat archaic current cross country bike, the Zirkel. The most significant difference with the new MX Divide is that Moots teamed up with the Sotto Group of Watsonville, California to design this new frame using a single pivot design and position the rear shock more inline with the travel of the rear triangle. Sotto Group is well known in the bicycle industry, plus they have the experience to design and test making them a perfect resource for this new design. Since the MX Divide is designed to be a cross country bike, the frame has 4-inches of rear travel and is designed to work with a 100mm (4-inch) suspension fork. The rear triangle uses a combination of titanium seat stays and aluminum chain stays with a carbon fiber swing link connecting the seat stays and rear Fox shock.

Along with the new frame design, the MX Divide features an inset 44mm oversized head tube and press fit BB30 bottom bracket which is becoming more standard on mountain bikes due to both items increasing the overall stiffness of a frame.

Another feature that will be appreciated by current Moots owners (such as this reporter) is the curved down tube. I had recently completed building a 2011 Mooto X YBB and personally had an issue with the adjusting knobs of the 2012 Fox F29 fork hitting the down tube. The new curved down tube alleviates this issue and will hopefully appear on other 2012 Moots frames.

This ground-up approach by Moots has produced what appears to be an exciting new bike that we hope to swing a leg over at Interbike to hit some trails. The 19-inch frame MX Divide shown in the photo reportedly weighs just 24.5 pounds which should make this one fast bike on the trails!

Moots Official Website

A New Mountain Bike Standard?

Mondraker, a ten year old bicycle company based in Spain, has announced the upcoming release of what they are claiming will be a new mountain bike standard. The 2012 Podium has features that we have seen before – a carbon fiber frame, internal cable routing and a BB30 bottom bracket; but the feature that they are touting as the new standard is an integrated stem.

The new Podium is a front suspension, hard tail design specifically designed for cross country racing and riding. By integrating the stem as a virtual extension of the top tube, the rider’s weight and center of gravity is lowered on the bike. This increases stability and provides for better pedaling efficiency. Continue reading A New Mountain Bike Standard?

Porsche Lends its Design to Bikes

You may not be able to pack it in your Porsche to drive to a ride, but you can look stylish on a Porsche bike. The performance auto maker just announced two bikes, the Porsche RS and S, which will be released in the fall in sizes S, M and L.

Both the RS and S bikes are 29ers, a trend in mountain bikes that uses wheel sizes similar to that on road and cyclocross bikes. The Porsche Bike S is constructed with a belt drive, which minimizes maintenance with a rubber belt in place of a chain. Continue reading Porsche Lends its Design to Bikes

Trek Suspension Calculator for Trek 2011 and 2012 Mountain Bikes

Setting up the suspension on a mountain bike can be a little confusing. How much air pressure is required? How many turns are needed for compression and/or rebound knobs? What springs are used? Does a shock from Rock Shox require a different setup configuration than one from Fox? Where are the instruction manuals?!?! If you are the owner of a 2011 or 2012 full suspension Trek mountain bike, Trek has made this job a little easier for you.

Trek has recently created a calculator to assist these owners in setting up their bikes. Simply navigate over to the site, select your bike and enter your weight. The calculator returns all of the settings that you will need to adjust your shocks. Once you have your settings, you will need your shock pump, sag meter and preferably a friend to help make these adjustments. The sag meter is usually a simple plastic clip attached to the upper leg of a suspension fork to measure the distance the fork sinks when the rider sits on the bike. The friend helps in the process since, it’s sometimes difficult to visually see how much the bike sags under the weight of the rider, if you’re the rider.

The Trek suspension calculator provides the rider a good starting point for adjusting their shocks – certainly not the final settings. Usually the hardest part of adjusting all of the variables on a full suspension bike is knowing where to start. Once this starting point is determined, minor adjustments can then be made with regards to air pressure, compression and rebound to achieve a truly ‘custom’ ride. This calculator is an excellent tool to help Trek owners setup up there bikes to achieve its full potential.

Trek Suspension Calculator


Mooto X YBB: Building a ‘Dream’ Bike First Impressions

Maybe I have an addiction, but so what. My addiction isn’t the bottle or pills – it is a bit larger and may cost as much as a substance addiction, but it is much more beneficial to my health. I have once again fallen victim to my addiction…I am putting together a new bike.

When I build bikes, I usually know if it is going to be one that I keep for a few years or in excess of a decade. The last ‘dream’ bike that I built was back in 1998 and it also started as a titanium frame – that Merlin XLM is still hanging in garage. My Merlin XLM has taken me through thousands of miles of trails from sea level to over 12,000’. It has been with me during 24 hour races and numerous Leadville Trail 100 races. I still love to take that bike out and rip through tight, smooth singletrack, but that ‘dream’ bike is soon to have a new friend. Continue reading Mooto X YBB: Building a ‘Dream’ Bike First Impressions